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  • January 2011
  • Case

Clean Edge Razor: Splitting Hairs in Product Positioning

By: John A. Quelch and Heather Beckham
After three years of development, Paramount Health and Beauty Company is preparing to launch a new technologically advanced vibrating razor called Clean Edge. The innovative new design of Clean Edge provides superior performance by stimulating the hair follicles to... View Details
Keywords: Project Management; Interdepartmental Relations; Organizational Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Conflict Management; Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Relationships; Product Development; Consumer Products Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry
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  • September 2013 (Revised November 2015)
  • Case

Living Proof: Are We a Technology Company or a Beauty Company?

By: Willy Shih

Jon Flint came up with the idea of a science-based beauty company while talking with his hairdresser about the problems with typical hair and skin care products. Together with a small team that included Professor Robert Langer of MIT, he committed to assemble a team... View Details

Keywords: Hair Care; Personal Care; Science-based; R＆D; Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Product Positioning; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Corporate Strategy; Technology Platform; Expansion; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States; Boston; Cambridge
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  • February 2021 (Revised July 2022)
  • Case

Sarah Breedlove: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Max Saffer
This case describes the rise of Sarah Breedlove, who later called herself Madam C.J. Walker, from the cotton fields of Louisiana to the head of a successful, nationwide beauty company providing opportunity and hair care products to Black women. The case describes how... View Details
Keywords: Brands; African-american Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Values and Beliefs; Personal Characteristics; Success; Work-Life Balance; Business Startups; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Personal Development and Career; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States
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  • February 2008
  • Article

Blonde and Blue-eyed?: Globalizing Beauty, c.1945–c.1980

By: Geoffrey Jones
This article examines the globalization of the beauty industry between 1945 and 1980. The industry grew quickly. Firms employed marketing and marketing strategies to diffuse products and brands internationally, despite business, economic, and cultural obstacles to... View Details
Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Globalized Markets and Industries; Product Marketing; Standards; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry
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  • 11 Jul 2006
  • Working Paper Summaries

Globalizing the Beauty Business Before 1980

Keywords: by Geoffrey G. Jones
  • 23 Jan 2008
  • First Look

First Look: January 23, 2008

employed marketing and marketing strategies to diffuse products and brands internationally, despite business, economic, and cultural obstacles to globalization. The process was difficult and complex. The globalization of toiletries proceeded faster than cosmetics, skin... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
  • 24 Oct 2023
  • HBS Case

From P.T. Barnum to Mary Kay: Lessons From 5 Leaders Who Changed the World

relationship caused her hair to thin. Breedlove found a product that revitalized it, and started selling the tonic, leaning hard on family and friends for labor and customers. “I was convinced it would be a success,” she said of the... View Details
Keywords: by Avery Forman
  • 19 Apr 2010
  • Research & Ideas

The History of Beauty

congressional hearings, but this had no discernible impact on either Revson or his company. Television also proved a medium that new entrants could use to challenge incumbents. During the late 1950s, Leonard Lavin used television advertising to grow the tiny... View Details
Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics
  • 20 Jun 2005
  • Research & Ideas

Creating a Positive Professional Image

story of managing your professional image, says Roberts. You also belong to a social identity group—African American male, working mother—that brings its own stereotyping from the people you work with, especially in today's diverse workplaces. You can put on a suit and... View Details
Keywords: by Mallory Stark
  • 22 Nov 2004
  • Research & Ideas

Side Effects: The Case of Propecia

You are the marketing director of Propecia, a new drug for hair restoration that's about to hit the market. But the drug can only be purchased via a physician's prescription. So do you advertise directly to balding men? Do you concentrate... View Details
Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Health; Pharmaceutical
  • 13 Nov 2013
  • Research & Ideas

Should Men’s Products Fear a Woman’s Touch?

women's shaving brand at Gillette. The company made a point of building products from the ground up for the distinct hair removal needs of both men and women. But it also made a point of creating a different brand name for Gillette's... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage; Auto
  • 11 Feb 2002
  • Research & Ideas

Secrets of the Successful Businesswoman

had seized business opportunities despite formidable odds. They included the first African-American millionaire, Celeste Walker, a child of slaves who founded a hair care empire that targeted other... View Details
Keywords: by Martha Lagace
  • 18 Nov 2002
  • Research & Ideas

Enterprising Women—a History

Madame C. J. Walker is an example of an entrepreneur who took advantage of industrial change, Koehn said. Walker, a creator of hair care products, built a brand and brought it to market. But she needed the... View Details
Keywords: by Laura Linard
  • 14 May 2020
  • Research & Ideas

What Leaders Can Do to Fight the COVID Fog

deftly: “How to most effectively communicate with all employees remotely and show empathy, while running around with [my] hair on fire trying to save the current business while at the same time trying to shape the future of the company in... View Details
Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams
  • 17 Aug 2015
  • Research & Ideas

Who is Boss in the Sharing Economy?

hair salons to real estate agencies have long organized themselves as associations of individuals, with the company itself exerting more or less control over the interaction between service provider and customer. Some View Details
Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Service; Technology
  • 15 Oct 2013
  • First Look

First Look: October 15

a Technology Company or a Beauty Company? Jon Flint came up with the idea of a science-based beauty company while talking with his hairdresser about the problems with typical hair and skin care products.... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
  • 04 Aug 2021
  • Research & Ideas

Worried About the Great Resignation? Be a Good Company to Come From

While managers feared that all the top talent would leave, instead Recruit grew to become a $20 billion tech company (roughly the equivalent of Salesforce) that employs 50,000 people globally. They have created a suite of products including platforms that help... View Details
Keywords: by Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta
  • 29 Oct 2014
  • Research & Ideas

Inventing Products is Less Valuable Than Inventing Ideas

by contrast, has been very careful about monetizing its site only gradually over time through the collection of customer data—all the while developing the idea by layering on new services such as messaging, photo sharing, and location... View Details
Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology
  • 14 Feb 2017
  • First Look

First Look at New Research: February 14

institutionalized in America over subsequent decades in a way that has been difficult to replicate in other countries. The role of history helps to explain why. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52209 December 8, 2016 Harvard Business... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

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