Publications

February 1981 (Revised November 1981)
Case

Mason Household Products

By: W. Earl Sasser

Keywords: Consumer Products Industry

December 1997
Case

Birman Industrial Products Corporation

By: Janice H. Hammond

Keywords: Product Design; Strategic Planning; Industrial Products Industry

November 1990 (Revised June 1993)
Background Note

The Economics of Product Variety

Examines the economic tradeoffs affecting a firm's decision to offer one or more versions of a product to a segmented market. Also presents some arguments for and against product variety. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Segmentation

August 2021
Article

Information Seeding and Knowledge Production in Online Communities: Evidence from OpenStreetMap

By: Abhishek Nagaraj

The wild success of a few online communities (like Wikipedia) has obscured the fact that most attempts at forming such communities fail. This study evaluates information seeding, an early-stage intervention to bootstrap online communities that enables contributors to... View Details

Keywords: Online Communities; Knowledge Production; Crowdsourcing; Innovation; Digitization; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Social and Collaborative Networks; Analytics and Data Science; Knowledge Dissemination

Read Now

May 2003
Module Note

Product Development Process Design and Improvement

By: Stefan H. Thomke

Describes the conceptual foundations and pedagogy for a module on the design and improvement of processes for the development of products and services. Can also be used as part of a more general course on Managing Technology and Innovation. Central to Managing Product... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Design; Performance Improvement; Innovation and Management; Information Technology; Customers; Information Management; Business Processes; Learning; Transformation; Service Operations

24 Jul 2017
Blog Post

Transitioning to Product Management at HBS

project 15% yoy growth in excel’ kind of way). In researching a role that might be best fit for me, I more or less stumbled upon product management, and once I had a rudimentary understanding of how multi-faceted the role can be, I was... View Details

Research Summary

Building and Managing Product Centric Organizations

By: Stefan H. Thomke

Building and Managing Product Centric Organizations View Details

December 1980 (Revised July 1991)
Case

Loctite Corp.: Industrial Products Group

By: John A. Quelch

A new product introduction strategy covering all elements of the marketing mix must be planned for equipment designed to dispense industrial adhesives. The equipment and adhesives are manufactured by the same company. View Details

Keywords: Product Marketing; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry

August 1998
Case

Electronic Commerce at Air Products

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Melissa Dailey

In 1998,chief information officers (CIOs) in the highly competitive international gases and chemicals business faced the reality that electronic commerce capability was a strategic necessity. The results of annual surveys of technology officers in the chemical industry... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Information Technology; Globalized Markets and Industries; Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Business Strategy; Chemical Industry; United States

February 1983 (Revised May 1984)
Case

Managing Product Safety: The Ford Pinto

Presents an accounting of Ford Motor Company's handling of a product safety controversy (1970-77) surrounding its Pinto subcompact car. May be used as part of a series, Managing Product Safety, that provides an opportunity to compare and contrast the social response... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Crisis Management; Product; Auto Industry; United States

December 1986 (Revised January 1988)
Case

Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (C)

By: Benson P. Shapiro and Lawrence B. Levine

Focuses on the development of a "market driven" culture at Hewlett-Packard (HP); the conflict between autonomous, well integrated divisions making products responsive to their own markets and a greater degree of systems integration at the corporate level; and the... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Production; Organizational Culture; Research and Development; Sales; Integration; Manufacturing Industry

Teaching Interest

Leading Product Innovation

By: Stefan H. Thomke

For several years, Apple has ranked as the most innovative business in the world. How does this winning company continue to achieve success in its quest to develop—in the words of Steve Jobs—insanely great products? This program takes a deep dive into the latest... View Details

June 1987
Supplement

Product Management, Video

By: John A. Quelch

August 1985
Case

Peripheral Products Co.

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Keywords: Distribution Channels; Distribution; Planning

30 May 1996
Conference Presentation

Science Based Product Development

By: M. Iansiti and J. West

Keywords: Product Development; Science