Publications

July 1993 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Goodyear: The Aquatred Launch

By: John A. Quelch

After many years of R&D, Goodyear has developed the Aquatred, an innovative new tire. However, the tire industry has matured and evolved, raising questions concerning the Aquatred's ability to gain support from Goodyear's independent tire dealers. Students must use... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Consumer Behavior; Distribution Channels; Brands and Branding; Innovation and Invention; Auto Industry; Rubber Industry; United States

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Jill J. Avery

Creating Brand Value (MBA elective course)

Overview:

In the consumer/retail space, brands are often companies’ most valuable assets and sources of their sustainable competitive advantage. But, managing brands to achieve their full value potential... View Details

28 Nov 2007
Research & Ideas

B2B Branding: Does it Work?

Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business Online. It is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge.Many business-to-business (B2B) CEOs view marketing as the domain of View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Consumer Products

22 Apr 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Where is the Pharmacy to the World? International Regulatory Variation and Pharmaceutical Industry Location

Keywords: by Arthur Daemmrich; Pharmaceutical

February 2018
Case

Montes Calcados: A Step Ahead

By: James L. Heskett and James T. Kindley

Montes Calçados (MC) is a well-known "fast-fashion" Brazilian manufacturer of casual, but fashionable, shoes for women aged 18–35 in major cities worldwide. To boost its declining revenues, MC must evaluate two growth options: whether to expand distribution online (at... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Distribution Channels; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Global Range; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

February 2012 (Revised January 2013)
Case

The New York Times Paywall

By: Vineet Kumar, Bharat Anand, Sunil Gupta and Felix Oberholzer-Gee

On March 28, 2011, The New York Times website became a restricted site where most of the content was protected behind a "paywall." Users who exceeded the limit of 20 free articles per month were required to pay for either a digital or print subscription. The newspaper... View Details

Keywords: Newspapers; Strategy; Journalism and News Industry; Publishing Industry

16 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

What Customers Want from Your Products

researcher then spent a long day in a restaurant seeking to understand the jobs that customers were trying to get done when they hired a milk shake. He chronicled when each milk shake was bought, what other products the customers purchased, whether these View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen, Scott Cook & Taddy Hall; Consumer Products

2011
Working Paper

The 'IKEA Effect': When Labor Leads to Love

By: Michael I. Norton, Daniel Mochon and Dan Ariely

In a series of studies in which consumers assembled IKEA boxes, folded origami, and built sets of Legos, we demonstrate and investigate the boundary conditions for what we term the "IKEA effect&"—the increase in valuation of self-made products. Participants saw their... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Labor; Resource Allocation; Valuation

Read Now

October 1993 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Catalina Marketing Corp.

By: David E. Bell, Walter J. Salmon and Dinny Starr

Catalina Marketing is a very successful marketing service firm. Their current customers include major supermarket retailers and consumer products manufacturers nation-wide. Catalina provides a unique way for these clients to distribute coupons for their products via... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Information Management; Expansion; Product; Salesforce Management; Information Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Value and Value Chain; Advertising Industry

February 1980 (Revised April 1981)
Case

Poland Spring Bottling Corp.

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Poland Spring is a small domestic bottler of mineral water trying to compete in a rapidly expanding market against Perrier, the dominant brand, and 20 other foreign and domestic waters. Company management must decide how to position and promote its product with limited... View Details

Keywords: Product Marketing; Product Positioning; Competition; Globalized Markets and Industries; Food and Beverage Industry; Distribution Industry; United States

24 Aug 2018
News

Lenders Shunned Risky Personal Loans. Now They’re Competing for Them.

December 2002 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Cargill (A)

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Jose M. M. Porraz

Cargill is one of the world's leading marketers, processors, and distributors of agricultural, food, industrial, and financial products. In 1998, the company decided to develop a strategic intent to restructure and refocus the company. It did so in response to the... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Agribusiness; Restructuring; Industry Structures; Global Strategy; Genetics; Demand and Consumers; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

September 2019
Article

The Persistence of Broadband User Behavior: Implications for Universal Service and Competition Policy

By: Andre Boik, Shane Greenstein and Jeffrey Prince

In several markets, firms compete not for consumer expenditure but consumer attention. We examine user priorities over the allocation of their time, and interpret that behavior in light of salient tensions in policy discussions over universal service, data caps, and... View Details

Keywords: Broadband Service; Attention Allocation; Consumer Behavior; Household; Internet and the Web; Competition; Policy