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    • News  (116)
    • Research  (399)
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Show Results For

  • All HBS Web  (586)
    • People  (2)
    • News  (116)
    • Research  (399)
    • Events  (2)
  • Faculty Publications  (109)
Page 1 of 586 Results →
  • April 2011
  • Case

Designs by Kate: The Power of Direct Sales

By: John A. Deighton and Sarah Abbott
The sales representatives at Designs by Kate (DBK) sell private label jewelry at hosted parties and through online social media channels. They are also responsible for recruiting, training, and managing new sales reps. CEO and founder Kate Creevey designed the... View Details
Keywords: Direct Sales; Consumer Marketing; Marketing Management; Personal Selling; Sales Compensation; Sales Organization; Motivation and Incentives; Marketing Strategy; Salesforce Management; Performance; Compensation and Benefits; Apparel and Accessories Industry
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Deighton, John A., and Sarah Abbott. "Designs by Kate: The Power of Direct Sales." Harvard Business School Brief Case 114-284, April 2011.
  • April 2011
  • Teaching Note

Designs by Kate: The Power of Direct Sales (Brief Case)

By: John A. Deighton and Sarah Abbott
Teaching Note to 4277. View Details
Keywords: Direct Sales; Consumer Marketing; Marketing Management; Personal Selling; Sales Compensation; Sales Organization; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Channels; Compensation and Benefits; Sales
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Deighton, John A., and Sarah Abbott. "Designs by Kate: The Power of Direct Sales (Brief Case)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 114-285, April 2011.
  • April 2011
  • Supplement

Designs by Kate: The Power of Direct Sales, Faculty Spreadsheet (Brief Case)

By: John A. Deighton and Sarah Abbott
Keywords: Direct Sales; Consumer Marketing; Marketing Management; Personal Selling; Sales Compensation; Sales Organization; Marketing Strategy; Sales
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Deighton, John A., and Sarah Abbott. "Designs by Kate: The Power of Direct Sales, Faculty Spreadsheet (Brief Case)." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 114-288, April 2011.
  • August 2022 (Revised March 2025)
  • Case

Wasabi Technologies (A)

By: N. Louis Shipley and Mel Martin
After launching a successful hot cloud storage company, Founder and CEO David Friend is ready to scale the venture rapidly. Wasabi Technologies had focused primarily on direct sales, but an opportunity to pivot to channel sales was on the horizon. The company’s major... View Details
Keywords: Direct Sales; Channel Sales; Information Management; Sales; Product Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Divisions; Information Technology Industry; United States
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Shipley, N. Louis, and Mel Martin. "Wasabi Technologies (A)." Harvard Business School Case 823-021, August 2022. (Revised March 2025.)
  • 12 Feb 2007
  • Working Paper Summaries

Adding Bricks to Clicks: The Effects of Store Openings on Sales through Direct Channels

Keywords: by Jill Avery, Mary Caravella, John Deighton & Thomas Steenburgh; Retail
  • January 2019 (Revised October 2019)
  • Case

Commercial Sales Transformation at Microsoft

By: Doug J. Chung
Industry leaders should adapt to changes in the business context and consider different ways to grow. Advances in technology had shifted software demand to the cloud. As a result, Microsoft announced a strategic shift in direction from its existing ‘Windows first’... View Details
Keywords: Sales; Strategy; Transformation
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Chung, Doug J. "Commercial Sales Transformation at Microsoft." Harvard Business School Case 519-054, January 2019. (Revised October 2019.)
  • January 2010 (Revised March 2010)
  • Background Note

A Note on Direct Selling in Developing Economies

By: Michael Chu and Joel Emilio Bregman Segre
Informal and formal direct selling play a particularly important role in developing countries characterized by markets with limited retail sectors. This note explores the practice of direct selling for the company, the sales person, and the consumer, as well as the... View Details
Keywords: Customers; Developing Countries and Economies; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Emerging Markets; Sales
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Chu, Michael, and Joel Emilio Bregman Segre. "A Note on Direct Selling in Developing Economies." Harvard Business School Background Note 310-068, January 2010. (Revised March 2010.)
  • Research Summary

Overview

Dr. Burch’s research focuses on capitalism, work, and gender in the twentieth-century United States. Her work reinterprets the history of direct selling by placing it at the center, rather than on the margins, of narratives about advanced capitalism. Examining the... View Details
Keywords: Business History; Political Economy; Labor History; Gender; Marketing; Sales Force Management; Direct Sales; United States
  • October 1990 (Revised June 1992)
  • Case

Direct Product Profitability at Hannaford Brothers Co.

By: Walter J. Salmon
Concerns the pioneering use of a method of accounting in retailing which takes into account not only sales and the cost of goods sold but, at the item level, all of the variable costs associated with each item that is sold. Focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of... View Details
Keywords: Accounting; Cost; Price; Sales; Opportunities; Retail Industry
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Salmon, Walter J. "Direct Product Profitability at Hannaford Brothers Co." Harvard Business School Case 591-002, October 1990. (Revised June 1992.)
  • Program

Aligning Strategy and Sales

marketing, HR, finance, service, or general management Executives in business-to-business product or service companies—or business units of large enterprises—that depend on a direct sales force for all or... View Details
  • May 2018
  • Case

Sagacity Tea: What Direction for Growth?

By: John A. Quelch and Amy Handlin
Kate Moran, CEO and cofounder of Sagacity Tea, a small, Vermont-based ready-to-drink tea brand, is considering a consumer-product group (CPG) broker's proposal for the product's launch in several cities along the East Coast of the United States. The commitments in the... View Details
Keywords: Product Launch; Marketing; Distribution; Growth Management; Marketing Channels; Decision Choices and Conditions
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Quelch, John A., and Amy Handlin. "Sagacity Tea: What Direction for Growth?" Harvard Business School Brief Case 918-527, May 2018.
  • October 2014
  • Article

Putting Sales at the Center of Strategy

By: Frank Cespedes
Research indicates that relatively few firms execute their strategies effectively, and, on average, companies deliver just 50% to 60% of the financial performance that their strategies promise. One reason is a disconnect between strategic goals and field implementation... View Details
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Cespedes, Frank. "Putting Sales at the Center of Strategy." Harvard Business Review 92, no. 10 (October 2014): 23–25.
  • September 1986 (Revised November 1994)
  • Case

Lotus Development Corp. Channel Choice: Direct vs. Distribution

By: V. Kasturi Rangan
Lotus Development Corp., the number one microsoftware firm has traditionally sold to its customers through a distributor-retail dealer network. In early 1986, the company is considering the option of selling direct to large corporate customers. Students are expected to... View Details
Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels; Sales; Software; Information Technology Industry; United States
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Rangan, V. Kasturi. "Lotus Development Corp. Channel Choice: Direct vs. Distribution." Harvard Business School Case 587-078, September 1986. (Revised November 1994.)
  • 27 Oct 2002
  • Research & Ideas

Want a Happy Customer? Coordinate Sales and Marketing

direct mail, catalogues, advertising, and diverse distribution channels. Often in the past, these were the sole purview of the marketing people. Now, the marketing and sales organizations must make joint... View Details
Keywords: by Benson Shapiro
  • December 2012 (Revised October 2022)
  • Case

Plastiq

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Gaurav Jain, Liroy Haddad, Luke Langford and Matt Noble
The young CEO of a venture-backed startup needs to figure out his go to market strategy and the right profile for his first key sales hires. Should he develop partnerships with channels that would provide leverage or build out a direct sales force? And should the sales... View Details
Keywords: Payments; Sales; Channels; Credit Cards; Digital Platforms; Selection and Staffing; Cost vs Benefits; Salesforce Management; Marketing Channels; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Management Systems
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Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Gaurav Jain, Liroy Haddad, Luke Langford, and Matt Noble. "Plastiq." Harvard Business School Case 813-125, December 2012. (Revised October 2022.)
  • November 2019 (Revised April 2020)
  • Case

Purple Innovation, Inc.: The Online to Offline Marketing Challenge

By: Elie Ofek and Nakisha Williams
This case focuses on Purple Innovation Inc. (Purple), a company that started out in the Direct to Consumer (DTC) mattress space. In late 2018, after a successful launch and IPO with sales predominantly originating from its website, Purple was looking to sustain its... View Details
Keywords: Offline Sales; Marketing Strategy; Digital Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry
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Ofek, Elie, and Nakisha Williams. "Purple Innovation, Inc.: The Online to Offline Marketing Challenge." Harvard Business School Case 520-040, November 2019. (Revised April 2020.)
  • Web

Entrepreneurial Sales 101: Founder Selling - Course Catalog

While all true and all necessary, this course focuses mainly on selling to customers, whether that is through a direct sales force, a channel sales force, or building an OEM... View Details
  • Research Summary

The Effects of Firm Size and Sales Growth Rate on Inventory Turnover Performance in the U.S. Retail Sector

We review and extend recent academic literature on the inventory turnover performance of public-listed U.S. retailers using firm-level financial data. Past research has shown that there is a large variation in the inventory turnover performance of retailers across... View Details
  • January 2016 (Revised July 2018)
  • Case

Cyberdyne: A Leap to the Future

By: Doug J. Chung and Mayuka Yamazaki
Cyberdyne Inc. was a Japanese technology venture that wanted to commercialize a hybrid assistive limb (HAL). HAL was a robotic exoskeleton system for people who had difficulty walking due to nervous system disabilities resulting from stroke, spinal cord injury (SCI),... View Details
Keywords: Go-to-market Strategy; Pricing; Sales Channel; Technological Innovation; Marketing; Sales; Distribution; Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry
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Chung, Doug J., and Mayuka Yamazaki. "Cyberdyne: A Leap to the Future." Harvard Business School Case 516-072, January 2016. (Revised July 2018.)
  • December 2017
  • Article

Discordant vs. Harmonious Selves: The Effects of Identity Conflict and Enhancement on Sales Performance in Employee-Customer Interactions

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Nancy Rothbard and Steffanie Wilk
Across multiple studies, we examine how identity conflict and enhancement within people affect performance in tasks that involve interactions between people through two mechanisms: role-immersion, operationalized as intrinsic motivation, and role-taking,... View Details
Keywords: Identity; Interpersonal Communication; Sales; Performance
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Ramarajan, Lakshmi, Nancy Rothbard, and Steffanie Wilk. "Discordant vs. Harmonious Selves: The Effects of Identity Conflict and Enhancement on Sales Performance in Employee-Customer Interactions." Academy of Management Journal 60, no. 6 (December 2017): 2208–2238.
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