Publications

Career Coach

Hillary Mann

Hillary Mann (MBA, Babson ’15; University of Michigan ’04) is a Corporate Relations Director who manages relationships with organizations in Consumer Products, Retail & Luxury Goods, Hospitality, Agribusiness, and Sustainability.... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Sports; Sports; Sports; Sports; Sports; Sports; Sports; Sports; Sports; Sports

23 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

How to Brand a Next-Generation Product

very deliberate effort to market the iPad as a sibling to the Mac. Macs keep their names with each successive upgrade, analysts noted, while iPhones sport sequential numbers and letters to indicate improvements. “Consumers don't... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

June 2005 (Revised April 2008)
Case

Whole Foods Market, Inc.

By: John R. Wells and Travis Haglock

Can a short-sleeved, sandal-wearing, college dropout create a company manifesting love, joy, and happiness? Chainsaw John Mackey did. This CEO took a five-month sabbatical to hike the Appalachian Trail. More credentials: Sales-per-square foot of $690 and rising. Hiring... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Motivation and Incentives; Food; Management Practices and Processes; Groups and Teams; Success; Leadership Style; Management Teams; Business Growth and Maturation; Emerging Markets; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Consumer Products Industry

04 Feb 2002
Research & Ideas

How a Juicy Brand Came Back to Life

by asserting that a brand might fit better in one company's portfolio than in another's. But a marketing professional would probably explain the improved fit in terms of distribution economies or manufacturing synergies. I would explain it differently: First, as every... View Details

Keywords: by John Deighton; Food & Beverage

Teaching Interest

MBA Elective Curriculum Business Marketing and Sales

Business markets differ from consumer markets in important ways. Typically, the buying process is more complex, the buying units and purchase criteria differ, and marketing decisions are more closely interrelated with firm-wide strategic choices. In addition,... View Details

18 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: ‘Collective Genius’

book excerpt Leading Innovation From Collective Genius: The Art of Practice of Leading Innovation By Linda A. Hill, Greg Brandeau, Emily Truelove and Kent Linebeck Though each of our leaders and their firms differed in key ways, all leaders paid particular attention to... View Details

Keywords: by Linda Hill; Entertainment & Recreation

October 2020
Article

IQ from IP: Simplifying Search in Portfolio Choice

By: Huaizhi Chen, Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun, Dong Lou and Christopher J. Malloy

Using a novel database that tracks web traffic on the SEC’s EDGAR servers between 2004 and 2015, we show that mutual fund managers gather information on a very particular subset of firms and insiders, and their surveillance is very persistent over time. This tracking... View Details

Keywords: Tracked Trades; Return Predictability; Institutional Trading; Insider Trading; Institutional Investing; Information; Investment Portfolio; Decisions; Management

SSRN

Find at Harvard

January 2025
Case

Apax Partners: Deciding Whether to Bid for Trader Corp.

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Edward A. Meyer

Apax Partners’ investment committee was schedule to meet on March 21, 2011, to decide whether to invest in Trader Corporation, a Canadian classified advertising business for used automobiles with both print (magazines) and digital (website) distribution. What made this... View Details

September 2011 (Revised August 2013)
Case

The Pepsi Refresh Project: A Thirst for Change

By: Michael I. Norton and Jill Avery

In 2010, for the first time in 23 years, PepsiCo did not invest in Superbowl advertising for its iconic brand. Instead, the company diverted this $20 million to the social media-fueled Pepsi Refresh Project: PepsiCo's innovative cause-marketing program in which... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Marketing Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Advertising Campaigns; Investment Return; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Social Marketing; Cost vs Benefits; Food and Beverage Industry

June 2005 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Hospital: Cardiac Care for the Poor (A)

By: Tarun Khanna, V. Kasturi Rangan and Merlina Manocaran

Describes the mission, vision, and strategy of a team of entrepreneurs headed by a charismatic heart surgeon who founded a heart hospital in Bangalore, India. The purpose of the hospital was to offer health care for the masses. This tertiary care hospital performed... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Goals and Objectives; Social Marketing; Mission and Purpose; Strategic Planning; Social Enterprise; Welfare; Health Industry; Service Industry; Bangalore

September 2002
Case

Seattle Public Schools, 1995-2002 (A): The Freedom Agenda

Describes efforts in Seattle Public Schools, under the leadership of Superintendent Joseph Olchefske, to replace the district's centralized budgeting process with school-level budgets. Olchefske's decentralization effort, referred to locally as the Freedom Agenda,... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Practices and Processes; Operations; Education; Education Industry; Seattle

Find at Harvard

August 2020 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Skillz: Esports and Skill-Based Mobile Gaming

By: Andy Wu, David B. Yoffie and George Gonzalez

Founded in 2012, Skillz offered a platform for mobile app developers to monetize skill-based games via prized tournaments. Skillz had over 20,000 registered developers that had created thousands of Skillz-powered games played by over 30 million registered users... View Details

Keywords: Video Games; Mobile; Esports; Applications and Software; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; United States

2008
Chapter

Artistic Methods and Business Disorganization

The idea that artists' work can usefully inform business practice has gained support in recent years. Managers have long described some business activities as "more art than science," but usually they've meant by this that they don't understand the activity and can't... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Creativity

24 Apr 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, April 24, 2018

development through individual contracts, the comprehensive platform would be free to doctors and pharma alike and financed via an aggressive fundraising strategy and through the sale of the prescription data collected on the app. Barry is willing to take the risk, but... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Feb 2023
HBS Case

ESG Activists Met the Moment at ExxonMobil, But Did They Succeed?

The impact-investment hedge fund Engine No. 1 made a big splash in May 2021 when it managed to get three nominees elected to the ExxonMobil board of directors. It was an open effort to prod the oil giant toward renewable energy and test whether activist investing could... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Financial Services

05 May 2011
What Do You Think?

How Ethical Can We Be?

Sports Are Played and Games Are Won. It was biased judgment on the part of supposedly unbiased referees and umpires. They hypothesize that the cause is a natural tendency to avoid excessive booing by the home View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

February 2003 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Yahoo!: Becoming a Competitor in the Career Listings Space (A)

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Nicole Nasser

In late 2001, Yahoo!'s new executive leadership team faces a decision. With online advertising revenues significantly off, the company has decided to explore new strategic businesses, including online recruiting. The team must decide whether to make a bid for... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Decisions; Recruitment; Management Teams; Negotiation Deal; Employment Industry

October 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Case

The NFL's Digital Media Strategy

By: Anita Elberse, C. Kelsey Calhoun and Daven Johnson

In late 2009, Brian Rolapp, senior vice president of media strategy and digital media for the NFL, was faced with the challenge of determining the league's strategic approach to the wireless market—and presenting his views to NFL team owners. What was the league's best... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Media; Distribution Channels; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Sports Industry

January 2016
Article

Blind Loyalty?: How Group Loyalty Makes Us See Evil or Engage in It

By: John Angus D. Hildreth, Francesca Gino and Max Bazerman

Loyalty often drives corruption. Corporate scandals, political machinations, and sports cheating highlight how loyalty's pernicious nature manifests in collusion, conspiracy, cronyism, nepotism, and other forms of cheating. Yet loyalty is also touted as an ethical... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Groups and Teams