Publications

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26 Aug 2009
Op-Ed

Where Cash for Clunkers Ran Off the Road

short term but, in reality, the promotion stole largely from future sales with taxpayers subsidizing over half a million new car sales that would have occurred anyway. C4C disrupted the even flow of supply... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Auto

January 2017 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Susan Cassidy at Bertram Gilman International

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer and Michael Norris

In 2016, Susan Cassidy, VP of sales and marketing for the packaged foods division at CPG firm Bertram Gilman International, has to make a promotion decision. Should she choose the person she has been grooming for the position or another candidate recommended by central... View Details

Keywords: People Analytics; Algorithms; Promotion Decision; Human Resources; Business Processes; Consumer Products Industry; United States

11 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Strategy Execution and the Balanced Scorecard

organization with no sense of priorities or impact from process improvements. Consequently, much effort does not show up in tangible results. Companies need a formal process for using strategic objectives to... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

August 2010 (Revised November 2020)
Module Note

Integrating Around the Job to Be Done

By: Clayton Christensen, Rory McDonald, Laura E Day and Shaye Roseman

Unlike traditional market segmentations that are based on a correlation of product sales or service with the attributes of the purchaser (such as age, gender, income level, and education level), jobs-based segmentation seeks to understand the causal roots of... View Details

Keywords: Integration Planning; Jobs; Market Segmentation; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing; Jobs and Positions; Marketing Strategy; Segmentation; Integration; Planning

August 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

New Hope Liuhe: Building an Integrated Agri-Food Business

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Shu Lin, Natalie Kindred and Nancy Hua Dai

In October 2018, LIU Chang (Angela), chairman of Beijing-based New Hope Liuhe (NHL), was considering the strategy of the firm. With $9 billion in sales and a presence in nearly 20 countries, NHL was China’s largest animal feed producer and a major pork and poultry... View Details

11 Aug 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Perfecting the Project Pitch

Overcoming that obstacle can be a difficult process, especially for entrepreneurs who have a background in a technical, engineering, or another non-sales discipline. They are not used to having to convince anyone of the merits of their projects, and can be downright... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher

January 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Exercise

WineMaster.com (A-2): Confidential Instructions for HomeBase

By: Guhan Subramanian

A two-person negotiation exercise involving the potential sale of a small e-commerce company to a large company. The parties need to negotiate four issues: the number of shares in the deal, the vesting period for the shares, whether the seller will get a seat on the... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Negotiation Process

October 2023
Case

Driving Sustainability at AB InBev

By: Ethan Rouen and Antonio Manuel Oftelie

It was the height of the summer in 2022, and Michel Doukeris, the CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), and Peter Kraemer, the company’s Chief Supply Officer, gazed across the vast desert surrounding Zacatecas, Mexico. They were visiting their Grupo Modelo Brewery,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Transformation; Decisions; Environmental Sustainability; Leading Change; Growth Management; Business Model; Food and Beverage Industry; Mexico

November 2009 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Warner Bros. Entertainment

By: Gary P. Pisano and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Examines the process used by a major motion picture studio to develop and select movie projects. Warner Bros.' strategy is to focus its efforts on a small number of major "event" films (i.e., films with the potential to generate gross box office receipts of $300... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Film Entertainment; Risk Management; Product Development; Strategic Planning; Projects; Sales; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

October 2007
Article

The Effectiveness of Pre-Release Advertising for Motion Pictures: An Empirical Investigation Using a Simulated Market

By: Anita Elberse and Bharat N. Anand

One of the most visible and publicized trends in the movie industry is the escalation in movie advertising expenditures over time. Yet, the returns to movie advertising are poorly understood. The main reason is that disentangling the causal effect of advertising on... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Stocks; Investment Return; Price; Revenue; Quality; Mathematical Methods; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

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June 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Kvadrat: Leading for Innovation

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2013, Anders Byriel, CEO of the family-owned Danish textiles company, Kvadrat, considered the firm's strategic plan. In 2000, Byriel and Mette Bendix, Kvadrat's Product Director, had taken over management of the company from their fathers, who had founded Kvadrat... View Details

Keywords: General Management; Organizational Behavior; Strategy; Performance Management; Leadership; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Human Resources; Denmark; Europe; Asia

June 2001
Case

Privatization of Anatolia National Telekom, The: ANT Confidential Instructions

Anatolia National Telekom is a multiparty negotiation simulation patterned after the Turkish government's aborted attempt to privatize its state-owned telecommunications monopoly, Turk Telekom, in late 1997. Provides participants with an opportunity to identify and... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Emerging Markets; Privatization; State Ownership; Telecommunications Industry; Turkey

10 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 10, 2017

to lower end consumer price, through which media to convey Afrezza's benefits, and how to streamline the process of performing the lung test and getting the drug into the hands of patients. But would all these changes and initiatives, no... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Exercise

WineMaster.com (A-1): Confidential Instructions for WineMaster

By: Guhan Subramanian

A two-person negotiation exercise involving the potential sale of a small e-commerce company to a large company. The parties need to negotiate four issues: the number of shares in the deal, the vesting period for the shares, whether the seller will get a seat on the... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Negotiation Process

November 2021
Case

LKQ-Stahlgruber

By: Guhan Subramanian and Caeden Brynie

Through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, LKQ Corp. became the leading aftermarket auto parts distributor in the U.S. by the early 2000s. Beginning in 2012, the company began similarly consolidating the European marketplace. However, by 2017, the... View Details

Keywords: Consolidation; Acquisition; Decision Making; Strategy; Opportunities; Europe; Germany

April 2011 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Talismark

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Talismark, which helped its customers manage their waste, was considering re-engineering its business fundamentals to dramatically increase profitability by changing its sales and information processes. Implementing the changes would be expensive and would interrupt... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Business Processes; Information Management; Sales; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Wastes and Waste Processing

March 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Astra/Merck Group

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Marie Bell

Astra/Merck (A/M), originally a joint venture of AB Astra and Merck & Co., is preparing to be an independent company in 1993. Since the company does not engage in basic research and development of drugs, it is essentially a distribution organization. Fundamental to... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Marketing Strategy; Distribution; Performance Evaluation; Research and Development; Risk and Uncertainty; Sales; Competitive Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry