Publications

Find at Harvard

October 2005 (Revised July 2009)
Case

MD Beauty, Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman and Elizabeth Kind

Describes some of the issues confronting the entrepreneurial team responsible for creating a highly successful natural beauty and skin care company. They are considering selling all or some portion of the company's stock. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Stocks; Financial Strategy; Management Teams; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

Find at Harvard

15 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 15, 2017

before 1938. Rubinstein is widely considered the single most important female entrepreneur in the United States in the 20th century. She was born in Poland but immigrated to Australia where she started a cosmetics company. She... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Feb 2020
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for March 2020

who is invested in keeping it that way. The book presents a new vision of how health care could work if it were truly designed to meet consumer needs, creating a call to action on how to demand and help create such a system. A wake-up... View Details

10 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Winners and Losers in the Retail Revolution

disproportionately to Quick Serve Restaurants [QSRs]) and filling in their non-perishable needs (household items, canned goods, health and beauty care) on separate store-based... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

January 2014 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Nivea (A)

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Johann Fuller, Volker Bilgram and Greta Friar

The case describes the efforts of Beiersdorf, a worldwide leader in the cosmetics and skin care industries, to generate and commercialize new R&D through open innovation using external crowds and "netnographic" analysis. Beiersdorf, best known for its consumer brand... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Innovation Management; Crowdsourcing; Big Data; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Knowledge Management; Knowledge Sharing; Research and Development; Social and Collaborative Networks; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Analytics and Data Science; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

10 Jun 2022
Blog Post

New Venture Competition 2022: Business and Environment Ventures

sustainable food future. We’re engineering microalgae to be sustainable and cost-efficient substitutes for palm oils. TROVEMarketCaroline Walton, MBA 2023; Andrew Morgan, MBA 2023The packaged food industry... View Details

June 2011 (Revised May 2012)
Case

L'Oréal: Global Brand, Local Knowledge

By: Rebecca M. Henderson and Ryan Johnson

Worldwide, and in the U.S. marketplace in particular, the French cachet of L'Oréal was one of its most powerful marketing tools. However, with the opening up of emerging markets, L'Oréal had to cater to a diverse customer base: an aging population in the West, ethnic... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Change Management; Sales; Emerging Markets; Segmentation; Innovation and Invention; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; France; United States

29 Apr 2013
News

The fragrance series – Part 3

25 Jun 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

FIELD Trip: Conquering the Gap Between Knowing and Doing

designing and delivering in real-time." “Two-thirds of students graduate into industries where work is done predominantly in teams.” Rising to the task, faculty initially faced a difficult paradox: how... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Education

January 2014 (Revised January 2017)
Supplement

Nivea (B)

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Johann Fuller, Volker Bilgram and Greta Friar

This supplementary case follows up on an innovative R&D approach by Beiersdorf,a skin care and cosmetics company. The case relates what happened to the product launched by Beiersdorf, to its Nivea line, following the events of the A case, and how the commercial success... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Innovation Management; Marketing; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Research and Development; Product Design; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

Profile

Marla Malcolm Beck

nature.” As the founder and CEO of Bluemercury, the highly successful luxury cosmetics retailer, Beck has lived an entrepreneur’s dream. She started the company in 1999, just as the dot.com boom was at... View Details

01 Feb 1998
News

Women at the Top

They came from as far away as Nigeria and as close as Harvard Square, from industries ranging from banking to television. They were entrepreneurs who headed their own companies, senior executives at major... View Details

Keywords: Marguerite Rigoglioso and Susan Young

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Geoffrey G. Jones

I currently teach the history of global entrepreneurship over the last 200 years. The 28-session course called Entrepreneurship and Global Capitalism has become one of the most popular second year electives in the MBA program at the Harvard Business School. The cases,... View Details

Clubs

Health & Wellness Club

Web

Polaroid: At The Intersection of Science & Art: Edwin H. Land and the Polaroid Corporation

invention and creativity within the culture of a small, science-based research and manufacturing company. He argued that the industrial process should be "dedicated to the... View Details

March 1990 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Mary Kay Cosmetics: Sales Force Incentives (A)

By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston

Describes the incentive system by which Mary Kay Cosmetics motivates the sales force of 200,000 independent agents who comprise the firm's only distribution channel. Illustrates the powerful effect on sales-force behavior that results when creative types of employee... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Cost Management; Salesforce Management; Distribution Channels; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States

November 2024
Case

Meghna Modi at Revlon India: Leading with a Bold Purpose

By: Aiyesha Dey, Sarah Mehta and Sarah Sasso

This case is about Meghna Modi, the head of struggling cosmetics company Revlon India, as she tries to both turn the company around and implement her personal purpose at work. Influenced by her own life struggles, Modi feels compelled to empower her frontline... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Business or Company Management; Performance; Personal Development and Career; Gender; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Power and Influence; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Asia; India; Delhi