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    • News  (19)
    • Research  (38)
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  • Faculty Publications  (27)

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  • All HBS Web  (75)
    • News  (19)
    • Research  (38)
    • Events  (1)
  • Faculty Publications  (27)
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  • March 13, 2023
  • Article

Sales Teams Need to Stop Focusing on the Customer Funnel

By: Frank V. Cespedes
Understanding where customers are, how they navigate streams in your market, and how to interact with them in a given stream is now central to crafting a good customer experience, and that has implications. Among other things, companies need to shift from thinking... View Details
Keywords: Customer Experience; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior
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Cespedes, Frank V. "Sales Teams Need to Stop Focusing on the Customer Funnel." Harvard Business Review (website) (March 13, 2023).
  • August 2015
  • Case

Building an e-Commerce Brand at Wayfair

By: Thales Teixeira and Elizabeth Anne Watkins
Wayfair, Inc. comprised five home goods, furniture, and décor e-commerce brands. Wayfair.com, the main brand, which was responsible for the majority of sales, targeted the mass-middle home-goods market. AllModern, DwellStudio, Joss & Main, and Birch Lane were niche... View Details
Keywords: E-commerce; Wayfair; Wayfair.com; Amazon; Retailing; Furnishing; Funnel; Attribution; "Marketing Analytics"; Brand Building; Digital Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Media; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Communication; Advertising; Resource Allocation; Decisions; Advertising Industry; Communications Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry; United States
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Teixeira, Thales, and Elizabeth Anne Watkins. "Building an e-Commerce Brand at Wayfair." Harvard Business School Case 516-028, August 2015.
  • 2017
  • Book

HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business: Think Big, Buy Small, Own Your Own Company

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff
Find, acquire, and run your own business. Are you looking for an alternative to a career path at a big firm? Does founding your own start-up seem too risky? There is a radical third path open to you: you can buy a small business and run it as CEO. Purchasing a small... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Entrepreneurs; Small Companies; Small Business Finance; Negotiation; Due Diligence; Sourcing; Search Funds; Search; Deal Sourcing; Deal Structuring; Funnel; Debt Financing; Small And Medium Enterprises; Small Business; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Negotiation Deal; Ownership; Equity; Borrowing and Debt
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Ruback, Richard S., and Royce Yudkoff. HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business: Think Big, Buy Small, Own Your Own Company. Harvard Business Review Press, 2017.
  • March 2022
  • Case

Skills-First Hiring at IBM

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah Mehta
This case reviews IBM’s efforts to widen its hiring funnel and broaden its talent pool. View Details
Keywords: Competency and Skills; Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Human Resources; Employees; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Jobs and Positions; Job Design and Levels; Job Interviews; Society; Social Issues; Technology Industry; United States; New York (city, NY)
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Groysberg, Boris, and Sarah Mehta. "Skills-First Hiring at IBM." Harvard Business School Case 422-013, March 2022.
  • October 2021 (Revised June 2022)
  • Case

PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion

By: Ayelet Israeli
PittaRosso, a traditional Italian shoe retailer, is implementing an AI system to provide pricing and promotion recommendations. The system allows them to implement changes that would affect both the top of funnel and bottom of funnel activities for the company: once... View Details
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Pricing; Pricing Algorithm; Pricing Decisions; Pricing Strategy; Pricing Structure; Promotion; Promotions; Online Marketing; Data-driven Decision-making; Data-driven Management; Retail; Retail Analytics; AI; Price; Advertising Campaigns; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Digital Marketing; Budgets and Budgeting; Marketing Strategy; Marketing; Transformation; Decision Making; AI and Machine Learning; Retail Industry; Italy
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Israeli, Ayelet. "PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion." Harvard Business School Case 522-046, October 2021. (Revised June 2022.)
  • October 2021 (Revised March 2022)
  • Supplement

PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion

By: Ayelet Israeli and Fabrizio Fantini
PittaRosso, a traditional Italian shoe retailer, is implementing an AI system to provide pricing and promotion recommendations. The system allows them to implement changes that would affect both the top of funnel and bottom of funnel activities for the company: once... View Details
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Pricing; Pricing Algorithm; Pricing Decisions; Pricing Strategy; Pricing Structure; Promotion; Promotions; Online Marketing; Data-driven Decision-making; Data-driven Management; Retail; Retail Analytics; Price; Advertising Campaigns; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Digital Marketing; Budgets and Budgeting; Marketing Strategy; Marketing; Transformation; Decision Making; Retail Industry; Italy
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Israeli, Ayelet, and Fabrizio Fantini. "PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 522-710, October 2021. (Revised March 2022.)
  • February 2008 (Revised April 2008)
  • Case

Avaya (A)

Avaya's top management wants to improve demand generation. This requires an improvement in the relationship between Sales and Marketing. This case series (Avaya (A)-(D)) walks the student through each phase of this process. The (A) case begins with background on the... View Details
Keywords: Marketing; Demand and Consumers; Performance Improvement; Relationships; Sales; Cooperation
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Godes, David B. "Avaya (A)." Harvard Business School Case 508-048, February 2008. (Revised April 2008.)
  • August 22, 2017
  • Article

Find the Right Metrics for Your Sales Team

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Robert Marsh
This article reports the results of a survey of key performance indicators (KPIs) used by more than 800 sales groups across industries. The most common KPIs are closed deals and salesperson performance against quota, which, on average, firms measure monthly. But a... View Details
Keywords: Sales; Performance Evaluation; Measurement and Metrics; Salesforce Management
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Cespedes, Frank V., and Robert Marsh. "Find the Right Metrics for Your Sales Team." Harvard Business Review (website) (August 22, 2017).
  • February 2008
  • Supplement

Avaya (C): Implementing Demand Generation in Brazil

Avaya's top management wants to improve demand generation. This requires an improvement in the relationship between Sales and Marketing. This case series (Avaya (A)-(D)) walks the student through each phase of this process. The (A) case begins with background on the... View Details
Keywords: Marketing; Relationships; Sales
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Godes, David B. "Avaya (C): Implementing Demand Generation in Brazil." Harvard Business School Supplement 508-050, February 2008.
  • February 2008
  • Supplement

Avaya (B)

Avaya's top management wants to improve demand generation. This requires an improvement in the relationship between Sales and Marketing. This case series (Avaya (A)-(D)) walks the student through each phase of this process. The (A) case begins with background on the... View Details
Keywords: Marketing; Relationships; Sales
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Godes, David B. "Avaya (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 508-049, February 2008.
  • February 2008 (Revised May 2009)
  • Supplement

Avaya (D): Early Results of the Demand Generation Initiative

Avaya's top management wants to improve demand generation. This requires an improvement in the relationship between Sales and Marketing. This case series (Avaya (A)-(D)) walks the student through each phase of this process. The (A) case begins with background on the... View Details
Keywords: Marketing; Cooperation; Sales
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Godes, David B. "Avaya (D): Early Results of the Demand Generation Initiative." Harvard Business School Supplement 508-051, February 2008. (Revised May 2009.)
  • October 2016
  • Technical Note

Product Development Fundamentals

By: Marco Iansiti, Michael Toffel, Kerry Herman and Julia Kelley
This note introduces key managerial issues in new product development. It describes the product development funnel and alternative approaches to structuring product development teams including functional, lightweight, heavyweight, and autonomous/dedicated teams, which... View Details
Keywords: Product Development; Groups and Teams; Operations; Management
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Iansiti, Marco, Michael Toffel, Kerry Herman, and Julia Kelley. "Product Development Fundamentals." Harvard Business School Technical Note 617-024, October 2016.
  • November 2022 (Revised February 2024)
  • Case

The Globalization of Manchester City Football Group

By: Maria P. Roche, Tiona Zuzul, Exequiel Hernandez and Amy Klopfenstein
This case describes the efforts of City Football Group (CFG) to purchase Esporte Clube Bahia (Bahia), a Brazilian professional soccer club. CFG’s strategy was to acquire under-performing clubs worldwide, invest money in high-profile players, and improve the teams’... View Details
Keywords: Business Ventures; Acquisition; Business Conglomerates; Geography; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Globalization; Global Strategy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Markets; Demand and Consumers; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Sports; Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Diversification; Expansion; Sports Industry; Europe; United Kingdom; England; South America; Brazil
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Roche, Maria P., Tiona Zuzul, Exequiel Hernandez, and Amy Klopfenstein. "The Globalization of Manchester City Football Group." Harvard Business School Case 723-391, November 2022. (Revised February 2024.)
  • March 2017
  • Teaching Note

Showpad

By: Frank Cespedes
Showpad is a startup that provides a sales enablement platform and tools. The venture has grown 100% annually since its founding four years ago, and the founders are evaluating growth options and decisions in three areas: adding product features, possible pricing... View Details
Keywords: Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Sales
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Cespedes, Frank. "Showpad." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 817-121, March 2017.
  • April 2018
  • Case

Hawk Electronics, Inc.

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and John J. Lafkas
Hawk Electronics ("Hawk") presents the problems that a company can encounter when its divisions have distinct strategies, especially when one division has been favored at another's expense. It also highlights how such problems can reflect cognitive biases, which... View Details
Keywords: Business Divisions; Resource Allocation; Strategy; Innovation and Management
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Hamermesh, Richard G., and John J. Lafkas. "Hawk Electronics, Inc." Harvard Business School Brief Case 918-521, April 2018.
  • May 2016 (Revised June 2017)
  • Case

Sales Compensation Vignettes

By: Frank V. Cespedes
This case study is comprised of two vignettes about startup companies considering whether and how to change their sales compensation plans. ElMenus.com is a restaurant app venture in Egypt seeking to lower customer churn while confronting new competition. BigBelly is a... View Details
Keywords: Compensation; Sales; Strategy
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Cespedes, Frank V. "Sales Compensation Vignettes." Harvard Business School Case 816-092, May 2016. (Revised June 2017.)
  • June 2025
  • Exercise

Full-Funnel Advertising on TikTok: An Experiment

By: Jeremy Yang and Ayelet Israeli
TikTok’s Marketing Science team developed a new type of advertising strategy beyond branding and performance advertising, called full-funnel advertising. Branding ads focused on brand building at the top of the funnel by generating consumer awareness, while performance... View Details
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Yang, Jeremy, and Ayelet Israeli. "Full-Funnel Advertising on TikTok: An Experiment." Harvard Business School Exercise 525-066, June 2025.
  • 2022
  • Chapter

Buying Time? The Vietnam War and Southeast Asia

By: Mattias Fibiger
This article examines the “buying time thesis”—the idea that the American war in Vietnam bought time for the rest of Southeast Asia to build up political, economic, military, and diplomatic defenses against communism. It finds that there is some truth to claims that... View Details
Keywords: Vietnam War; Impact; Legacy; Geopolitics; War; History; Government and Politics; Southeast Asia
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Fibiger, Mattias. "Buying Time? The Vietnam War and Southeast Asia." In The Vietnam War in the Pacific World, edited by Brian Cuddy and Fredrik Logevall, 231–256. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2022.
  • February 2008 (Revised November 2008)
  • Case

Radical Collaboration: IBM Microelectronics Joint Development Alliances

By: Willy Shih, Gary Pisano and Andrew A. King
IBM's "Radical Collaboration" model has been an innovative approach to meeting the challenges of the huge R&D and capital investments that are needed to stay competitive in the global semiconductor industry. This model has required a rethinking of what is proprietary,... View Details
Keywords: Cost Management; Investment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Problems and Challenges; Alliances; Networks; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Competitive Advantage; Semiconductor Industry
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Shih, Willy, Gary Pisano, and Andrew A. King. "Radical Collaboration: IBM Microelectronics Joint Development Alliances." Harvard Business School Case 608-121, February 2008. (Revised November 2008.)
  • May 2024
  • Supplement

HubSpot and Motion AI (B): Generative AI Opportunities

By: Jill Avery
The technologies driving artificial intelligence (AI) had progressed significantly since HubSpot’s acquisition of Motion AI in 2017. Generative AI was the newest major development. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies such as HubSpot were analyzing how generative AI... View Details
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; CRM; Chatbots; Sales Management; Generative Ai; SaaS; Marketing; Sales; AI and Machine Learning; Customer Relationship Management; Applications and Software; Technological Innovation; Competitive Advantage; Technology Industry; United States
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Avery, Jill. "HubSpot and Motion AI (B): Generative AI Opportunities." Harvard Business School Supplement 524-088, May 2024.
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