Publications

13 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Merck CEO Ken Frazier Discusses a COVID Cure, Racism, and Why Leaders Need to Walk the Talk

been a very strong theme in our politics. And I've always believed it's because historically, we've had these two big, beautiful oceans protecting us from the rest of the world. And so we could say it's all about my liberty. It's not... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Pharmaceutical

07 Jul 2019
HBS Case

Walmart's Workforce of the Future

annual revenue at those stores from $142.5 billion in 2009 to 97.7 billion in 2018. During the same time period, revenue at Walmart’s “supercenters” (larger stores that also sell groceries and often include services such as eye care, View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

August 2021 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Perfect Diary (完美日记)

By: Shunyuan Zhang and Sunil Gupta

Jinfeng (David) Huang founded Yatsen Holding Limited in 2016 and launched the first direct-to-consumer (DTC) cosmetic brand, Perfect Diary, in 2017. Perfect Diary used social influencers or key opinion leaders (KOL) to successfully build brand awareness and to grow... View Details

Keywords: Direct-to-consumer; Social Influencers; Marketing; Digital Marketing; Competitive Strategy; Brands and Branding; Expansion; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Asia

11 Apr 2022
Research & Ideas

A World of Difference: What Keeps Companies from Becoming More Inclusive

is often something small, sometimes even costless to fix, but unknowable without talking about it. Gino: What I love about this is that we think that we understand each other, but we don’t. You’re reminding me of a beautiful paper by... View Details

Keywords: by Jen McFarland Flint

11 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Branding Sells Cereal, Handbags, and Vacations. Can It Sell a Country?

secularization after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. Relevant. Governments can’t sway the opinion of a disinterested audience. The imagery and associations of the place need to matter to the targeted audience. A branding campaign that highlights France’s View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Tourism

17 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

Welcome to Retirement. Who Am I Now?

beautiful things. “Most people are very happy right from that first morning,” Amabile says. The rocky self-reflection stage of retirement Yet, for many, that giddy glow starts to wear off within weeks or months, as they shuffle through a... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Entertainment & Recreation

16 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Advice on Advice

even damage relationships. But when advice-giving does go well, it is a beautiful thing, says Margolis, the James Dinan and Elizabeth Miller Professor of Business Administration. "If you've been thinking about a problem in a certain... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

09 Dec 2019
Research & Ideas

Identify Great Customers from Their First Purchase

Testing data on 13,000 shoppers To show how the model works, Ascarza and Padilla fed it some customer data supplied by an international retailer that sells its own brand of beauty products exclusively in its stores and on its website.... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Retail; Service

16 Nov 2015
Research & Ideas

Does Competition Make Us More Creative?

a professor of mine once put it, you want to scatter your seeds widely to see what sprouts,” says Gross. “But you ought not try to make a thousand flowers bloom, or else they will all turn out weak. To get a few beautiful blossoms, you... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising

January 1981
Case

Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc.

By: John P. Kotter

Introduces the student to Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc., its business, its strategy, and its organization. Provides the necessary background for understanding the contributions of Mary Kay Ash, the company's founder and chairman. View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Business Strategy; Organizations; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

28 Mar 2012
What Do You Think?

Are Factory Jobs Important to the Economy?

which the directors toured a newly-created "beauty park" in the US, where companies cooperating to create and manufacture new fashion beauty products are located together in one light industrial park. It is a reflection of colleagues Gary... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Manufacturing

2023
Book

Deeply Responsible Business: A Global History of Values-Driven Leadership

By: Geoffrey Jones

Corporate social responsibility has entered the mainstream, but what does it take to run a successful purpose-driven business? This book examines leaders who put values alongside profits to showcase the challenges and upside of deeply responsible business. Should... View Details

21 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

Do TV Debates Sway Voters?

Intense preparation helped Hillary Clinton command the podium in her first debate with Donald Trump in September 2016—the most-watched presidential debate in US history. In one of the debate’s most memorable moments, Clinton called out Trump for ridiculing a View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

10 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Key to Doing Your Best at Work? Be Yourself

idea of reframing or reworking your expectations. [One] person who comes to mind when I think about authenticity—she’s African American and a woman—is filmmaker and writer Ava DuVernay. What’s beautiful about her is that she decided to... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette

August 2020 (Revised September 2020)
Case

Facelift at Olay (A)

By: Sunil Gupta, Rajiv Lal and Olivia Hull

By October 2017, Procter & Gamble’s skincare brand Olay has been struggling with declining sales for several years. The team has tried many remedies, but none has returned the brand to growth. As pressure grows from Olay’s competitors, including hundreds of new... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Demographics; Age; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Digital Marketing; Transformation; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States; Ohio

24 Jan 2011
HBS Case

Terror at the Taj

On November 26, 2008, 175 people died in Mumbai, India, when 10 terrorists simultaneously struck sites. Of the five locations—all well-known landmarks—the beautiful domes of the hotel known as the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower would become... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Accommodations

18 Feb 2019
Book

What’s Really Disrupting Business? It’s Not Technology

If women wanted to shake up their makeup regimen 10 years ago, Sephora was the place to go. Beauty product junkies loved Sephora’s candy store-like display of sample-size face creams, glittery lip glosses, and eyeshadows in every shade... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Beauty & Cosmetics; Beauty & Cosmetics; Beauty & Cosmetics; Beauty & Cosmetics

January 2009
Article

From Regional Star to Global Leader

By: Nitin Nohria

Yang Jianguo was recently promoted from country manager for China to global head of product development at a staid French perfume maker. He was chosen for his technical smarts and his knowledge of emerging markets—a critical avenue for growth, given that sales in the... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Globalized Firms and Management; Leadership Development; Management Teams; Emerging Markets; Product Development; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; China; Paris

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