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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013 (Revised from original 2008 version)

  Bernd Beetz: Creating the New Coty

  Geoffrey Jones and David Kiron

  Considers the creation of the world's largest fragrance company by Bernd Beetz, appointed chief executive of Coty Inc. in 2001. In 1990 the German consumer goods company Benkiser began acquiring fragrance and cosmetics brands with the intent of developing a beauty business. These included the long-established, but relatively small, U.S. fragrance company Coty. In 1996 the beauty business was spun off under the name Coty. When Beetz was hired as chief executive, it was still a fragmented collection of recently acquired brands. The case describes how Beetz re-ignited the dormant celebrity fragrance business with the successful launch of a new Jennifer Lopez fragrance line. Fashioning a new entrepreneurial culture based on the principles of "faster, further, freer," Coty hired longstanding executives from other firms and liberated their entrepreneurial capabilities, refreshing brands which had been tarnished into a global mass color cosmetics brand. In 2005 the acquisition of Calvin Klein from Unilever, and its renewal, catapulted Coty into the position of the world's largest fragrance company. The case provides an opportunity to examine the entrepreneurial, cultural, and organizational factors which enable acquired brands and employees to be re-invigorated and molded into a dynamic new global business. It asks if the cultural and other factors behind its rapid growth can sustain the company as it seeks growth much further as a top-five beauty company.

  Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Germany; United States;

  Citation:

  Jones, Geoffrey, and David Kiron. "Bernd Beetz: Creating the New Coty." Harvard Business School Case 808-133, April 2013. (Revised from original June 2008 version.)

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• Chapter | Oxford Bibliographies: Management | 2013

  Technology and Innovation Management

  Elizabeth J. Altman, Frank Nagle and Michael Tushman

  The goal of this annotated bibliography on technology and innovation is to organize and present the most important literature relevant to a scholar seeking to understand and advance the field. It includes articles that are highly-cited and foundational pieces, as well as recent articles that help give the reader a sense of where the field is headed and where likely opportunities for future research lie. This article seeks to strike an equilibrium among the variety of perspectives that exist in technology and innovation literature, balancing new and old research as well as economic, organizational, and cross-disciplinary methodologies. The innovative process is broadly considered here, as well as the technologies that result from it, including business model innovation, service-level innovation, and product innovation, highlighting articles that utilize diverse levels of analysis.

  Keywords: technology; technological change; innovation streams; organizational evolution; executive leadership; organizational architecture; Technology; Technological Innovation; Innovation and Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Organizational Design;

  Citation:

  Altman, Elizabeth J., Frank Nagle, and Michael Tushman. "Technology and Innovation Management." In Oxford Bibliographies: Management, edited by Ricky W. Griffin. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2012 (Revised from original 2011 version)

  Aquion Energy

  Thomas R. Eisenmann and David Kiron

  Leaders at Aquion Energy, a Pittsburgh-based battery start-up, are deciding on a market entry strategy. Should they pursue the large but unproven grid utility market or a smaller, but higher margin market?

  Keywords: Business Startups; Production; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Performance Capacity; Energy Industry;

  Citation:

  Eisenmann, Thomas R., and David Kiron. "Aquion Energy." Harvard Business School Case 811-047, November 2012. (Revised from original February 2011 version.)

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