Faculty & Research
David E. Bell

David E. Bell

Baker Foundation Professor
George M. Moffett Professor of Agriculture and Business, Emeritus

Baker Foundation Professor
George M. Moffett Professor of Agriculture and Business, Emeritus

Marketing
+1 (617) 495-6366
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David E. Bell
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(617) 495-6366
Featured Work Publications Research Summary Teaching

David E. Bell is a Baker Foundation Professor at HBS. He has taught marketing many times in the MBA program including as course head. He currently teaches marketing in both the AMP and GMP executive programs. For several years he ran the retailing program, both for MBAs and executives. 

During his career at HBS, David has taught a variety of other courses to both MBAs and executives, including risk management, ethics, and managerial economics. Prof. Bell runs the annual Agribusiness Seminar for executives and has taught an MBA course on the same topic. 

He has held a number of administrative positions at HBS including head of the Program for Management Development (PMD, 2002-06), terms as chairman of the School’s marketing faculty (2002-08, 2013-19) and as Senior Associate Dean for Planning and Recruiting (2008-12, 2016-18).

David has a BA degree from Oxford University and a PhD from MIT.

Featured Work
Kellogg Company/eighteen94 capital

Kellogg Company is the world’s largest producer of branded cereals and a leading manufacturer of packaged foods including cereal bars, cookies, chips, crackers and frozen waffles. The consumer packaged foods industry is under pressure from increased competition, a changing retail environment, and evolving consumer tastes. Kellogg’s leadership aimed to protect and increase its global presence in the breakfast foods and snack categories through innovation. The company identified four innovation priorities: hyper-convenience; strength, energy, and physical performance; next-generation of natural products; and digestive wellness. These priorities were to be manifested in new products along with renovations and extensions of existing products.

In 2016, Kellogg established an internal venture capital (VC) arm, eighteen94 capital, to invest in compelling innovations in ingredients, food products, and packaging. Eighteen94 capital was managed in partnership with a VC advisory firm, supported by a lean team within Kellogg. By 2017, eighteen94 had announced investments in three startups: Kuli Kuli a producer of food products that contained an ingredient called moringa, positioned as a new “superfood”; Bright Greens, which made single-serving smoothie products containing only fruits and vegetables; and Myco Technology, whose fungi-root-derived product could be used as a substitute for sweeteners to reduce bitterness in foods. Were these the right kinds of companies to invest in? Did this corporate VC model have potential?

Zespri Grows

Controlling about a third of global kiwifruit exports by volume and nearly half by value in 2018, Zespri was a grower-owned “corporatized cooperative” with the exclusive right to export New Zealand-grown kiwifruit (except to Australia). Zespri did not grow fruit, but rather managed an integrated marketing and distribution system across the value chain. This coordinated structure enabled Zespri to control quality, build a premium brand, and command high prices in export markets. In 2018, Zespri had a strategic goal of marketing the world’s leading portfolio of kiwifruit year round, with a target of nearly doubling sales by 2025.

Rapid growth presented several challenges including the need to preserve product quality and consistency while working with new growers, prioritizing customers and markets as demand outpaced supply. At the same time, the Zespri team aspired to launch new kiwifruit cultivars that met consumer demand for sweeter taste and convenience—an increasingly urgent priority as global competition in kiwifruit intensified. As it looked to the future, Zespri had to think about where its value truly lay: whether in the fruit it exported, its proprietary cultivars, its distribution network, or its marketing.

Mondelēz International

In 2006, Irene Rosenfeld took over as CEO of Kraft Inc., and in 2012, oversaw the spinout of Kraft Foods Group, a North American grocery business, and Mondelēz International an international snacking company. The case examines Mondelēz’s growth strategies in an international market with shifting consumer consumption patterns, and the challenges and opportunities Mondelēz faces. At the time of the spinout, Rosenfeld believed emerging market economies would drive Mondelēz growth and planned to introduce the company’s full product portfolio to every country. In 2014, after worsening macro-economic conditions slowed emerging market sales, Rosenfeld also focused on cost controls and increasing margins. By 2017, Mondelēz had a global footprint and the top one or two market positions in its five biggest categories: biscuits (cookies, crackers, and salty snacks), beverages, candy and gum, cheese and grocery, and chocolate. As Rosenfeld transitioned out of the CEO role, had the promise of Mondelēz been fulfilled?

Books
Journal Articles
Book Chapters
  • Bell, David E., and Ralph L. Keeney. "Altruistic Utility Functions for Joint Decisions." In The Mathematics of Preference, Choice and Order, edited by Steven Brams, William V. Gehrlein, and Fred S. Roberts, 27–38. Studies in Choice and Welfare. Springer, 2009. View Details
  • Bell, David E. "Utility and Risk Preferences." In Advances in Decision Analysis, edited by Ward Edwards, Ralph Miles, and Detlof von Winterfeldt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. View Details
  • Lal, Rajiv, David E. Bell, and Walter J. Salmon. "Globalization of Retailing." In The Global Market: Developing a Strategy to Manage Across Borders, edited by John A. Quelch and Rohit Deshpandé. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2004. View Details
  • Bell, D. E. "Measuring Risk and Return for Portfolios." In Wise Choices: Decisions, Games, and Negotiations, edited by Richard Zeckhauser, Ralph Keeney, and James Sebenius. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1996. View Details
Working Papers
Cases and Teaching Materials
Research Summary
The Food Chain
The world's production of food has been keeping pace with the global population, but needs to step up the pace to meet not only the growing Asian population but also their growing consumption per capita. Through case studies, Bell is examining how farming is adapting to the challenge. He is also investigating how changing demand for foods and food distribution is affecting the system.
Managerial Decision Analysis
David E. Bell and Arthur Schleifer, Jr. are concluding a multiyear project aimed at producing more field-oriented case material for the Managerial Economics course, specifically, materials on decision, data, and risk analysis. A series of case- and textbooks (with accompanying instructor's manuals) published by Course Technology, Inc./Southwestern Publishing Company, includes the following titles: Decision Making under Certainty; Decision Making under Uncertainty; Data Analysis, Regression, and Forecasting; and Risk Analysis.

Risk Measurement
David E. Bell has completed research on the measurement of financial risk. The concepts of risk and return are widely used, at least informally, in the appraisal of financial opportunities. Return is typically measured by the expected value of a project, risk by the standard deviation of its returns. In general, these measures are not compatible with economists' view that decisions should maximize expected utility. Bell has identified a new measure of risk, or spread, that is compatible with both theory and intuitive perceptions of risk.
The Location Component of Pricing Strategies
David E. Bell is examining retail pricing strategies in the context of location. He finds that customers' willingness to visit a particular store depends on their price expectations, the likelihood that a suitable item will be in stock, and the store's proximity to other stores of interest. Bell's research is intended to contribute to store siting strategy. In related work, Bell has completed (with WALTER J. SALMON) a case book on retailing for use in graduate instruction and company education programs.
Teaching
Agribusiness - MBA Elective Curriculum

The course will provide a survey of the global food and agribusiness system. In addition to studying the management problems of farmers, processors, branded consumer goods manufacturers and food retailers, we will consider consumer trends, technological advances, public policy issues, food safety and risk management. The pervasiveness of food and agribusiness makes the course suitable for future consultants and investment bankers in addition to those who have a direct interest in the industry; it may also be of interest as a general management course due to its integrative, cross-functional approach and emphasis on strategy.

Related Link: course description
Agribusiness Seminar - Executive Education
In the agribusiness industry, every year brings new trends and challenges. While demand continues to grow, consumer needs shift, production challenges increase, and evolving technology impacts every part of the value chain. The complex network of businesses that brings food and other agricultural products to market must continually reconfigure itself in such a highly dynamic environment. This creates timely opportunities for those agribusiness leaders who are ready to think innovatively—and move quickly.
Related Link: program description
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