Publications

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December 2019 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Mãe Terra and Unilever (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Priscilla Zogbi

The case concerns the sale of Mãe Terra, one of Brazil's leading brands for packaged organic foods, to the consumer goods giant Unilever in 2017. Working with Unilever management, Mãe Terra’s CEO Alexandre Borges must determine whether and how to keep Mãe Terra's B... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Sustainability; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Environmental Sustainability; Organizational Culture; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil; Latin America

08 Apr 2011
News

Investing in the Family Brand

Keywords: Real Estate

2012
Chapter

Firing Your Best Customers: How Smart Firms Destroy Relationships Using CRM

By: Jill Avery and Susan Fournier

With incidences in the 20%–25% range, the practice of firing customers has become increasingly attractive as firms try to maximize the lifetime value of their customer portfolios. This chapter traces the relationship trajectory of a 30-year customer of Filene's... View Details

Keywords: Brands; Brand Management; CRM; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customers; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

December 2019
Supplement

Mãe Terra and Unilever (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Mariana Cal

Unilever is making strides to integrate the operations of Mãe Terra—one of Brazil's leading brands for packaged organic foods—into its own structures, after acquiring the company in 2017. Mãe Terra’s CEO, Alexandre Borges, must decide whether to implement his original... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Sustainability; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Environmental Sustainability; Organizational Culture; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil; Latin America

October 2023
Case

Leading Transformation at IHCL

By: Krishna G. Palepu, V.G. Narayanan and Malini Sen

In November 2017, Puneet Chhatwal, took charge as MD and CEO of IHCL, popularly referred to as the Taj Hotels. Despite being India’s largest hospitality company by market capitalization and respected for its values and service, IHCL had made losses for the last seven... View Details

Keywords: Turn Around Management; Hospitality Industry; Brand Management; Financial Strategy; Business Model; Restructuring; Asset Management; Leadership Style; Crisis Management; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Segmentation; Asia; India

24 Sep 2018
News

Why Bad “Plot Twists” Ruin Brand Stories

November 2018 (Revised February 2019)
Case

Israel at 70: Is it Possible to (re)Brand a Country?

By: Elie Ofek and Sarah Gulick

In the spring of 2018, Israel was set to celebrate its 70th anniversary. While there was much to rejoice in reaching this milestone, the country’s brand image internationally was far from ideal. Past efforts to impact perceptions of Israel, spearheaded by the Ministry... View Details

Keywords: Branding; Brand Management Of Places; Nation Branding; Brand Positioning; Public Diplomacy; Marketing Communication; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Perception; Change; Israel

24 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Building ’Brandtopias’—How Top Brands Tap into Society

center of much discussion. The advice most often provided to managers is to weave the brand into the most potent popular culture trends. Recently, consultants and ad agencies began emphasizing the reverse:... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

May 2023
Teaching Note

Away: Scaling a DTC Travel Brand

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Jill Avery

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 520-051. Away, a direct-to-consumer, digital native e-commerce seller of travel luggage, is debating how to invest its latest round of venture funding. How quickly could and should Away scale and what were the most promising growth... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Segmentation; Venture Capital; Consumer Products Industry

2015
Chapter

Framing the Game: How Brands' Relationships with Their Competitors Affect Consumer Preference

By: Neeru Paharia, Jill Avery and Anat Keinan

In this chapter, we explore how brands' relationships with their competitors affect consumers' preferences. Through a series of experiments, we show that the competitive context in which a brand operates can affect consumers' purchase interest and purchase frequency.... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; CRM; Customer Relationship Management; Marketing Strategy; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Customer Focus and Relationships; Competition; Consumer Products Industry

Find at Harvard

15 Dec 2008
Research & Ideas

The Surprisingly Successful Marriages of Multinationals and Social Brands

to managers and stimulating reflection among scholars, a new working paper by HBS professors James E. Austin and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard looks at how and why such acquisitions occur and how to View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage

Web

Creating Brand Value - Course Catalog

appropriate for: Marketing professionals charged with creating, nurturing, and managing brand value; Entrepreneurs looking to create their own brands in the consumer/retail... View Details

October 1992 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Gap, Inc., The: Building a Brand

By: Walter J. Salmon and David Wylie

Explores the circumstances under which a specialty store chain can profitably engage in large-scale non-price advertising. View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Brands and Branding; Supply Chain Management

01 Mar 2004
News

Protecting against the Erosion of Brand Value

brands of premium cachet and the premium prices that come with it. “The same forces that cause the commoditization of products and services precipitate the commoditization of brands,” they continue. Fortunately, View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

Web

Online Personal Branding Course | HBS Online

this course. I discovered a lot of information about brands, including the steps that should take place while creating, building, keeping, and evaluating a brand over time. A lot of what I've learned I've applied to my work, and I've seen... View Details

May 2019
Case

Whiskey and Cheddar: Ingredient Branding at the Caesan Cheese Cooperative (Brief Case)

By: John A. Quelch and Katherine B. Hartman

The Caesan Cheese Cooperative is considering introducing a new high-quality, high-margin artisan whiskey cheddar cheese. Deidra Kelly, vice president of marketing and product development at Caesan, must recommend to the Board of Directors whether to launch the product... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Product Development; Management; Product Marketing; Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Food and Beverage Industry

Research Summary

Rethinking Brand Contamination: How Consumers Maintain Distinction When Symbolic Boundaries Are Breached"

If consumers view their brands as extensions of themselves, what happens when undesirable consumers adopt these same brands? I address this question by examining an issue that is of great concern to managers of high-status brands: the rampant spread... View Details

January 2008 (Revised December 2011)
Case

Inner Mongolia Yili Group: China's Pioneering Dairy Brand

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan and Tracy Yuen Manty

Setting up the goal to become one of the top 20 enterprises in the world dairy industry by 2010, the Inner Mongolia Yili Group had ambitious plans. As one of China's biggest national dairy companies, its main challenge was competing as a local company against... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Competition; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; China