Publications
Publications
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(5,044)
- Faculty Publications (1,360)
- 2023
- Chapter
Marketing Through the Machine’s Eyes: Image Analytics and Interpretability
By: Shunyuan Zhang, Flora Feng and Kannan Srinivasan
he growth of social media and the sharing economy is generating abundant unstructured image and video data. Computer vision techniques can derive rich insights from unstructured data and can inform recommendations for increasing profits and consumer utility—if only the... View Details
- March 2023 (Revised May 2025)
- Case
On
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karolin Frankenberger and Sascha Mader
Founded in 2010, in just one decade, the Swiss company On had established itself as a main player in global sports footwear and apparel. Based on an unconventional strategy which one of the founders labeled as “obsessively distinct,” On grew its sales with a compound... View Details
Keywords: Brands and Branding; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Digital Marketing; Disruptive Innovation; Distribution Channels; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Global Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Marketing Strategy; Product Design; Product Development; Product Marketing; Social Media; Strategy; Supply Chain Management; Technological Innovation; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Europe; Switzerland; Germany; United States
- March 2023
- Case
Best Buy: Renew Blue (A)
By: Sunil Gupta, Dave Habeeb and Amram Migdal
Preabstract: The A Video Case should be assigned to students in advance of class. The B case is intended to be used in class by educators and the C case can be assigned to students during or after class. The product is designed as a low-prep case for students, with... View Details
- March 2023
- Teaching Note
Ransomware Attack at Colonial Pipeline Company
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 123-069. On the morning of May 7, 2021, Colonial Pipeline Company became aware that the company had been the victim of a malicious ransomware attack that had stolen and locked up company data. The extortionists demanded 75 bitcoins (worth... View Details
Keywords: Disruption; Communication; Communication Strategy; Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Policy; Employees; News; Cybersecurity; Digital Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Information Management; Internet and the Web; Crisis Management; Business or Company Management; Resource Allocation; Risk Management; Negotiation Tactics; Failure; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Attitudes; Behavior; Perception; Reputation; Trust; Public Opinion; Social Issues; Infrastructure; Distribution Industry; United States; Alabama
- March 2023
- Case
Ransomware Attack at Colonial Pipeline Company
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni
On the morning of May 7, 2021, Colonial Pipeline Company became aware that the company had been the victim of a malicious ransomware attack that had stolen and locked up company data. The extortionists demanded 75 bitcoins (worth about $4.4 million at the time) in... View Details
Keywords: Disruption; Communication; Communication Strategy; Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Policy; Employees; News; Cybersecurity; Digital Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Information Management; Internet and the Web; Crisis Management; Business or Company Management; Resource Allocation; Risk Management; Negotiation Tactics; Failure; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Attitudes; Behavior; Perception; Reputation; Trust; Public Opinion; Social Issues; Infrastructure; Distribution Industry; United States; Alabama
- March 13, 2023
- Article
Sales Teams Need to Stop Focusing on the Customer Funnel
Understanding where customers are, how they navigate streams in your market, and how to interact with them in a given stream is now central to crafting a good customer experience, and that has implications. Among other things, companies need to shift from thinking... View Details
- February 2023 (Revised February 2025)
- Case
Doing Business in Nairobi, Kenya
By: Archie L. Jones, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Kuria Kamau
This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Nairobi, Kenya. It highlights Kenya's economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2024 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main... View Details
Keywords: Business History; Business and Government Relations; Technological Innovation; Foreign Direct Investment; Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Kenya; Nairobi; Africa
- February 22, 2023
- Article
How to Seed Organic Marketing in a Video-First World
By: Ayelet Israeli, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Matt Higgins
Early direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies relied on plentiful capital and low-cost digital marketing to power growth. But as this sector has matured, capital is more constrained, social media is more cluttered, and customer acquisition costs are rising. DTC companies... View Details
Keywords: Online Business; Ecommerce; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Omnichannel Retail; Omnichannel Retailing; Influencer Marketing; Consumer; Organic Growth; Video Advertising; Promotion; Celebrities; Online Advertising; Online Channel; Online Communities; Online Community; Go To Market Strategy; Platform; Media; Media Content; Digital; Digital Culture; Digital Influencers; Direct To Consumer Marketing; Direct-to-consumer; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Sales; Digital Platforms; Digital Marketing; Digital Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Internet and the Web; Advertising; Business Model; Growth Management; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Communication Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; North America
- February 2023 (Revised March 2025)
- Case
Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (A)
By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield
In July 2019, Graphic Packaging CEO Michael Doss was proposing a $600 million investment in a new machine to produce coated recycled board (CRB), a type of paper packaging used for consumer products (cups, cereal boxes, beverage boxes, etc.) that utilized recycled... View Details
- February 2023
- Supplement
Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (A) Courseware
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Scott Mayfield
In July 2019, Graphic Packaging CEO Michael Doss was proposing a $600 million investment in a new machine to produce coated recycled board (CRB), a type of paper packaging used for consumer products (cups, cereal boxes, beverage boxes, etc.) that utilized recycled... View Details
- January 2023 (Revised December 2023)
- Case
OhmConnect: Energizing the Future
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Jennifer Fonstad and Nicole Tempest Keller
Founded in 2013, OhmConnect was a free consumer web app that alerted customers about peak hours of electricity demand, and paid them to lower their energy use at home during these periods. The company sold the aggregated reductions generated by thousands of households... View Details
Keywords: App Development; Renewable Energy; Electricity Usage; Regulations; VC; Technology; Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC); Scalability; Applications and Software; Growth and Development Strategy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business Model; Venture Capital; Energy Industry; United States; California; Texas; Europe
- January 2023
- Supplement
Apple: Privacy vs. Safety (B)
By: Henry McGee, Nien-hê Hsieh and Christian Godwin
In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, Apple and Google partnered to develop a contact tracing application that would collect information about users infected with the disease and notify those who they had been in contact with. While Apple/Google’s... View Details
Keywords: Iphone; Encryption; Data Privacy; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Making; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Globalized Firms and Management; Government and Politics; Health; Health Pandemics; Leadership; Markets; Safety; Social Issues; Information Technology; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Europe
- January 2023
- Case
Kavnia Coffee
By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Kumba Sennaar, Sarah Mehta and Jiyoon Han
Case on a coffee hardware startup where a series of experiments and pivots led founder to conclude that the venture was no longer viable. View Details
- January 2023 (Revised May 2023)
- Case
Learning Resources: Driven by Purpose
By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah Mehta and Heather Poco
In January 2023, CEO Rick Woldenberg must make several strategic decisions for his family-owned toy company Learning Resources. View Details
- January 2023
- Case
Crow Holdings Development: Mass Timber Construction
By: John D. Macomber, Robert Hernandez and Kyle MertensMeyer
Jim McCaffery and Cody Armbrister of Crow Holdings Development evaluate the pros and cons of committing to mass timber construction instead of conventional concrete or steel for a new 260,000 SF multi-story office building in Texas. Benefits include substantially... View Details
Keywords: Real Estate Development; Architecture; Air Quality; Health ＆ Wellness; Office Property; Sustainability; Carbon Abatement; Natural Environment; Environmental Accounting; Green Buildings; Design; Construction; Cost vs Benefits; Environmental Sustainability; Construction Industry; Real Estate Industry; Texas
- January 2023
- Article
Calculators for Women: When Identity-Based Appeals Backfire
By: Tami Kim, Kate Barasz, Michael I. Norton and Leslie K. John
From “Chick Beer” to “Dryer Sheets for Men,” identity-based labeling is frequently deployed by marketers to appeal to specific target markets. Yet such identity appeals can backfire, alienating the very consumers they aim to attract. We theorize and empirically... View Details
Keywords: Categorization Threat; Stereotypes; Identity; Labels; Gender; Perception; Consumer Behavior
- December 2022 (Revised July 2023)
- Case
Applegate Farms
By: Forest L. Reinhardt, José B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred
- December 2022
- Case
The Magic of Marks & Spencer Food
By: David E. Bell, Natalie Kindred and Damien McLoughlin
- December 2022
- Case
Mission Produce in 2022
By: Forest Reinhardt, Jose B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred
Founded by CEO Steve Barnard in 1983, California-based Mission Produce was a leading supplier of Hass avocados with a global sourcing, marketing, and distribution network and $892 million in 2021 sales. Barnard had been influential in the global avocado trade’s... View Details
- December 2022
- Technical Note
Risks and Opportunities from the Transition to a Low Carbon Economy: A Business Analysis Framework
By: George Serafeim
The transition to a low carbon economy introduces many risks and opportunities for businesses. Risks emerge from regulatory actions, such as carbon taxes and cap and trade systems, technological innovation that develop alternatives for customers making existing... View Details
Keywords: Risk Assessment; Opportunities; Environmental Sustainability; Carbon Footprint; Risk Management; Competitive Dynamics; Business Analysis; Climate Change; Accounting; Finance; Valuation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Technological Innovation; Transition; Product Positioning; Renewable Energy; Analysis