Publications

January 1998 (Revised April 1998)
Case

Lincoln Electric: Venturing Abroad

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Jamie O'Connell

Lincoln Electric, a 100-year-old manufacturer of welding equipment and consumables based in Cleveland, Ohio, motivates its U.S. employees through a culture of cooperation between management and labor and an unusual compensation system based on piecework and a large... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Restructuring; Transformation; Construction; Compensation and Benefits; Management; Market Entry and Exit; Labor and Management Relations; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Manufacturing Industry; Ohio

July 1995 (Revised April 1996)
Case

Cambridge Technology Partners (A)

By: Teresa M. Amabile, George P. Baker III and Michael Beer

Cambridge Technology Partners uses a highly innovative product strategy, supported by a human resources strategy, that has been very successful. However, high growth rates jeopardize product quality while tension about relative compensation levels between sales and... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Compensation and Benefits; Organizational Culture; Quality; Human Resources; Relationships; Innovation and Invention; Consulting Industry; Massachusetts

01 Nov 2014
News

Smart Connected Products: Killing Industries, Boosting Innovation

Iavor I. Bojinov

Iavor Bojinov is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration and the Richard Hodgson Fellow at Harvard Business School. He is the co-PI of the AI and Data Science Operations Lab and a faculty affiliate in the Department of Statistics at Harvard University and... View Details

December 1983 (Revised July 1988)
Case

General Electric--Thermocouple Manufacturing (A)

By: David A. Garvin

GE is considering introducing a "just-in-time" production system to reduce inventory in its thermocouple manufacturing area. The case presents students with a description of the present inventory management system, the production process, and the perspectives of... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Time Management; Production; Supply Chain; Perspective; Energy Industry; Technology Industry

June 2018
Case

The Grommet in 2018

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Karen Gordon Mills and Lena Goldberg

The Grommet, an online product launch platform, was at the brink of scaling its business. The Grommet's daily launch and sale of innovative consumer products, using personal videos created by product makers, had led to its initial success. In 2014, the company launched... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Value Capture; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Product Launch; Value; Retail Industry

2013
Tool

Harvard Business Review's Go to Market Tools: Pricing for Profit

By: Thomas Steenburgh and Jill Avery

What price is right? Figuring out the best price for your product or service can be nerve-wracking. Your new product launch or marketing campaign's success—perhaps even your career advancement—may hinge on the price you choose. So how do you select a price that's... View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Analysis; Tools; Pricing; Profitability Analysis; Pricing Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Marketing

Career Coach

Jamal Eason

Jamal (HBS’11, West Point ‘04) enjoys working with alumni & students to navigate their career paths in product management and general management in the tech sector. Leveraging his 16 years of experience in general management,... View Details

Keywords: Technology

April 1993 (Revised May 1993)
Case

Northern Telecom (A): Greenwich Investment Proposal

By: Robert J. Dolan

The business products division has developed a business proposal asking for $50 million to fund the creation of a new telephone system for the small business market. The company's last entry into this marketplace lost $70 million. The new product would face 100... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Communication Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Investment; Product Development; Telecommunications Industry; Canada

November 1978 (Revised June 1985)
Case

Hanson Industries (B)

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Julie H. Hertenstein

Provides a complete description of the processes used in preparing a budget (annual operating plan). Starting with basic product line decisions, management prepares a budget that integrates production and marketing within constraints of financial feasibility. The... View Details

Keywords: Production; Negotiation; Marketing; Financing and Loans; Budgets and Budgeting; Planning

Satish Tadikonda is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School. In the MBA program, Satish teaches The Entrepreneurial Manager, a required first-year MBA course, and Entrepreneurship in Life Sciences, an elective course for... View Details

December 2006 (Revised December 2008)
Case

Wireless Generation

Reflecting on an innovative joint venture that his company executed with a public school district in 2004, the CEO of Wireless Generation, a five-year-old, privately held educational technology company, is contemplating the company's product development strategy in... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Education; Government Legislation; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Business and Government Relations; Education Industry

April 2013
Article

Information and Subsidies: Complements or Substitutes?

By: Nava Ashraf, B. Kelsey Jack and Emir Kamenica

Does providing information about a product affect the impact of price subsidies on purchases of new or unfamiliar products? This question is particularly relevant for the introduction of health products in developing countries where consumers may be uncertain about... View Details

Keywords: Subsidies; Information; Consumer Behavior; Health; Zambia

Read Now

April 2016 (Revised November 2017)
Case

InMobi: Reimagining Mobile Advertising

By: Sunil Gupta and Saloni Chaturvedi

InMobi, a mobile advertising company, considered one of India's first unicorns, has launched a new product called Miip. InMobi hopes that the product will grow its revenue eight times by 2018. Visually identified by a mascot, Miip seeks to reimagine adverting by... View Details

Keywords: Mobile App; Advertising; India; Applications and Software; Globalization; Digital Marketing; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Advertising Industry; China; India

May 1986 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Moet-Hennessy Group

By: Malcolm S. Salter

Presents the strategic and organizational problems of a venerable French firm pursuing product and financial diversification in an international context. View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Product Marketing; Organizations; Diversification; France

February 1994
Case

Alpha-Beta Technology, Inc.: Pioneering Carbohydrate Technology

Alpha-Beta was founded in 1988 by two scientist-entrepreneurs with ten patents on carbohydrate technology. In 1991, the company faces critical questions about how to focus its product definition from among several promising, but risky, choices. How should they analyze... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Product Design; Entrepreneurship; Product Development; Biotechnology Industry

Das Narayandas is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. His academic credentials include a Bachelor of Technology degree in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB), a Post-Graduate... View Details

Keywords: beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products; beauty products

January 2008
Teaching Note

Lenovo: Building A Global Brand (TN)

By: John A. Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Teaching Note for [insert case product number]. View Details