Publications

September 1994
Case

BayFunds

By: Alvin J. Silk, Lisa Klein Pearo and Jamie Harper

In June, 1994, the Senior Vice President of BayBank's Investment Management Group is preparing a strategic plan for her organization's line of mutual funds. Sixteen months earlier, BayBank, Massachusetts's leading retail bank, had entered the mutual fund business by... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Investment Funds; Product Marketing; Integration; Financial Services Industry

January 2009 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Gucci Group in 2009

By: David B. Yoffie and Renee Kim

The Gucci Group had transformed itself into the world's third largest luxury retailer with multiple brands. The company had performed well even after the departure of star designer Tom Ford and former CEO Domenico De Sole. However, the challenging global economic times... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Brands and Branding; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Luxury; Corporate Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

May 2019
Teaching Note

JUUL and the Vaping Revolution

By: Michael W. Toffel, Trevor Fetter, John Masko and Sarah Mehta

Teaching Note for HBS No. 619-006. View Details

July 2011
Teaching Note

Shanghai Diligence Law Firm (TN)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Penelope Rossano

Teaching Note for 409065. View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Opportunities; Brands and Branding; Competitive Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Compensation and Benefits; System; Talent and Talent Management; Legal Services Industry; Shanghai

January 2021
Supplement

Bespoken Spirits: Disrupting Distilling

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

On October 7, 2020, Bespoken Spirits publicly announced it had received $2.6 million of seed funding for its “sustainable maturation process,” a process that could produce award-winning whiskeys in just days rather than years using a novel technology and data science. ... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Cash Flow; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Brands and Branding; Business Model; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; United States; California

26 Jan 2016
First Look

January 26, 2016

paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50433 Harvard Business School Case 515-072 onefinestay Miranda Cresswell, marketing director, and Greg Marsh, founder and CEO of onefinestay, were grappling with branding and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Aug 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

HBS Introduces Marketing Analysis Tools for Managers

marketing decision-making. These could include marketing research concepts such as conjoint analysis and perceptual mapping, and brand analysis techniques such as calculating brand equity and conducting... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

15 May 2013
Research & Ideas

From McRibs to Maseratis: The Power of Scarcity Marketing

Editor's note: Think money can't buy happiness? Behavioral economists Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton beg to differ. It actually can, they say—but only if we spend it the right way. In their book released this week, Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending, Dunn... View Details

Keywords: Re: Michael I. Norton

June 2011 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Reversing the AMD Fusion Launch

By: Elie Ofek and Ryan Johnson

AMD management needs to make a critical decision on the launch sequence of its next-generation technology called Fusion. The Fusion processor concept merges the central and graphics processing units (CPU and GPU) onto one chip-- yielding advantages in performance... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Performance Effectiveness; Strategic Planning; Competition; Value Creation; Computer Industry; Technology Industry

September 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Arnold Communications

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Jeremiah Weinstock

The new owner and CEO of Arnold Advertising, a relatively small regional agency, aims to build it into Arnold Communications--a much larger, stronger firm competing successfully for national accounts. As part of this growth strategy, the agency develops a process for... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Creativity; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Business Processes; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; Advertising Industry

May 1992 (Revised May 2002)
Case

NIKE in Transition (B): Phil Knight Returns

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

After returning to the CEO/COO job, Phil Knight makes changes to Nike's strategy, organization, and management between 1983 and 1987 aimed at making Nike more responsive to the market place. He takes cost-cutting measures, and experiments with several management and... View Details

Keywords: Change; Entrepreneurship; Cost Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Strategy

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Confronting the Challenges that Face Bricks-and-Mortar Stores

grocery-shopping system that grouped cold cereals by their main ingredients (rice, corn, or wheat, for example). Many shoppers had trouble finding their favorite brands because they didn't know the ingredients. Lesson 6: Study The Effects... View Details

Keywords: by Raymond Burke; Retail

12 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship and Multinationals Drive Globalization

global standard. This was historically contingent on the unique circumstances prevailing at that time, but once the standard was in place, the marketing and branding strategies of firms helped to make it reinforcing. The momentum behind... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Pharmaceutical

February 2022 (Revised February 2023)
Case

TikTok in 2020: Super App or Supernova? (Abridged)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Dan Maher and Dan O'Brien

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, was launched in 2012 around a simple idea—helping users entertain themselves on their smartphones while on the Beijing Subway. In less than a decade, it had become one of the world’s most valuable private companies, with investors... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platform; Artificial Intelligence; AI; Mobile App; Mobile App Industry; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; China

June 2009
Supplement

Mary Kay Inc.: Asian Market Entry (B)

By: John A. Quelch

By 2008, over half of Mary Kay Cosmetics' $2.8 billion sales were from outside the U.S. Sales from China exceeded $500 million in 2008 through over 450,000 beauty consultants. China was Mary Kay Cosmetics' second most important national market with revenues growing at... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Emerging Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Asia; China

October 1995 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Disney Consumer Products in Lebanon

By: John A. Quelch

The managing director of Disney Consumer Products for Europe and the Middle East is reviewing recent market research in Lebanon regarding the sales potential of Disney licensed products and assessing the pros and cons of several distribution options. View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Multinational Firms and Management; Market Entry and Exit; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; Lebanon