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June 2024 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Cementos Argos in the U.S.: Go Big or Go Home?

By: Jorge Tamayo, Ruth Costas, Pedro Levindo and Karina Souza

In April 2011, Colombian group Cementos Argos had to decide on whether to double down its business in the U.S., amidst the U.S. cement industry’s lowest performance in 30 years. Argos— Colombia’s leading cement producer and one of the “jewels” of Grupo GEA, the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Organization; Business Subsidiaries; Talent and Talent Management; Cost vs Benefits; Financial Crisis; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Business Strategy; Construction Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Latin America; South America; North and Central America; United States; Colombia

16 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Marketing Wine to the World

Michael Roberto: My parents are Italian immigrants, and my family back in Tuscany and the Campania region of Italy continue to make their own wine. Therefore, I've always had an interest in the wine-making process. A few years ago, when... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage

2009
Working Paper

Strategic Interactions in Two-Sided Market Oligopolies

By: Emmanuel Farhi and Andrei Hagiu

Strategic interactions between two-sided platforms depend not only on whether their decision variables are strategic complements or substitutes as for one-sided firms, but also -and crucially so- on whether or not the platforms subsidize one side of the market in... View Details

Keywords: Two-Sided Markets; Strategic Complements; Strategic Substitutes; Cost; Investment; Profit; One-Sided Platforms; Two-Sided Platforms; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Competitive Advantage

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08 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

A Manager’s Guide to International Strategy

multinational firms, then a framework for how to craft an international strategy that creates shareholder value, Collis provides students and new managers with an integrated perspective on international... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

February 2015
Case

Transforming Verizon 2015: Going Above the Network

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Daniel Fox

In 2015, the Chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications reflects on his four years leading the company and considers strategic repositioning for the future. Meanwhile, a rising leader within the organization, Marni Walden, leads change with a new, company-wide product... View Details

09 Sep 2015
News

Go North, Lost Leader

December 2009
Case

TruEarth Healthy Foods: Market Research for a New Product Introduction

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sunru Yong

Topics covered include: consumer marketing, market research, new product introduction, and quantitative analysis. TruEarth Healthy Foods, a maker of gourmet pastas, sauces, and meals, wants to build on its successful introduction of fresh whole grain pasta by... View Details

Keywords: Market Research; Consumer Marketing; Brands; Food; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Forecasting and Prediction; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

January 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Supplement

MoviePass: The 'Get Big Fast' Strategy

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

In August 2017, MoviePass dramatically lowered its subscription price from $50 per month to just $10 for up to one movie per day. The idea was to rapidly scale the business to the point where they could generate incremental revenue streams form related businesses... View Details

2013
Chapter

Market Imperfections and Sustainable Competitive Advantage

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Dennis Yao

This chapter reviews the main theories in strategic management that seek to explain persistent differences in profitability across companies. We argue that these differences are ultimately explained by market imperfections. Studying differences in financial performance... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Management; Market Imperfections; Five Forces Framework; Competitive Advantage; Profit

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17 Jan 2020
Blog Post

Going the Distance for Investment Excellence

financial analyst position with Goldman Sachs in mortgage trading and investment banking—but not until first earning a GMAT score he felt would later secure his acceptance at HBS. “In those seven weeks after graduation I did little but study,” said Cameron. “I knew I... View Details

August 2016 (Revised July 2017)
Background Note

Brand Portfolio Strategy and Brand Architecture

By: Jill Avery

While companies choose to brand their products and services in many different ways, there are some central tenets that help define an optimal brand portfolio and associated brand architecture. Brand portfolio strategy involves the design, deployment, and management of... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Brand Portfolio; Brand Extension; Brand Portfolio Strategy; Brand Architecture; Consumer Behavior; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy

February 2010
Background Note

Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Market Size and Market Share Analysis

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery

Marketers frequently need to estimate the size of their markets—both for existing products so that sales forecasts can be developed and for new products so that market opportunities can be assessed. This toolkit enables students to size a market and generate a sales... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Markets; Demand and Consumers; Size; Strategic Planning; Sales

February 5, 2009
Comment

In Praise of Marketing

By: John A. Quelch

Many dismiss marketing as manipulative, deceptive, and intrusive. Marketing, they argue, focuses too much of our attention on material consumption. More recently, Benjamin Barber, in his 2007 book Consumed, claims that marketing is "sucking up the air from every other... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Consumer Loyalty; Local Vs. Global Branding; Multi-national Brands; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Satisfaction; Globalized Economies and Regions; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning

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September 2006 (Revised December 2007)
Case

Go Red For Women: Raising Heart Health Awareness

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

In 2003, the $654 million American Heart Association (AHA) approached Cone, Inc. (a brand and communications agency) to develop a corporate sponsorship strategy that would raise $75 million over three years. Within 12 months, the AHA launched the highly successful Go... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Marketing Communications; Social Marketing; Nonprofit Organizations; Social and Collaborative Networks

Article

Putting Patients First: Social Marketing Strategies for Treating HIV in Developing Nations

By: Zoe Chance and Rohit Deshpandé

It is more than mere coincidence that the highest rates of HIV occur in the world's poorest countries. Of the over 40 million people currently living with HIV, 95 percent are in the developing world. The first part of this paper explores the economics of HIV and... View Details

Keywords: Health Disorders; Developing Countries and Economies; Poverty; Health Care and Treatment; Social Marketing; Perspective; Customer Focus and Relationships; Profit; Africa; Asia; South America

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August 2004 (Revised August 2005)
Background Note

Online Auction Markets

eBay, Yahoo!, and Amazon.com entered the online auction market within four years of one another, along with a host of smaller Web sites. Five years later, eBay clearly outstripped its competitors, despite the fact that Yahoo! and Amazon both had a huge installed base... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Auctions; Network Effects

March 2021
Case

Astralis Group: Determining a Brand Strategy

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej and Emilie Billaud

After launching a Danish esports company in July 2019, and going public in December 2019 with multiple brands associated with different games, the Astralis leadership team was contemplating a shift to a single, corporate brand. While the original arguments for... View Details