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- March 2021
- Article
Assortment Rotation and the Value of Concealment
By: Kris J. Ferreira and Joel Goh
Assortment rotation—the retailing practice of changing the assortment of products offered to customers—has recently been used as a competitive advantage for both brick-and-mortar and online retailers. We focus on product categories where consumers may purchase multiple...
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- Winter 2021
- Article
How Would-Be Category Kings Become Commoners
By: Rory McDonald and Keith Krach
Category creation is the holy grail in business, but more often than not, the very companies that establish lucrative new markets don’t end up being the category kings. Why? Many executives undermine their own ventures’ standing by misinterpreting and misfiring on...
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- June 2, 2020
- Article
How to 'Re-engineer' Your Business for Safety
By: Hubert Joly
Process reengineering was a massive trend in the 1990s. By focusing on improving either cost, quality, or service, a company could gain benefits in all three categories. Today, the principles that underpin process reengineering can be applied anew, with safety as a...
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- 2021
- Working Paper
The Project on Impact Investments' Impact Investment Database
By: M. Diane Burton, Shawn Cole, Abhishek Dev, Christina Jarymowycz, Leslie Jeng, Josh Lerner, Fanele Mashwama, Yue (Cynthia) Xu and T. Robert Zochowski
Impact investing has grown significantly over the past 15 years. From a niche investing segment with only $25 billion AUM in 2013 (WEF 2013), it experienced double-digit growth and developed into a market with an estimated $502 billion AUM (Mudaliapar and Dithrich...
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- April 2020
- Background Note
U.S. Food Retail During the Pandemic: March 2020
By: José B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred
This note, written in late March 2020 and mainly U.S. focused, looks at the unfolding impact of the coronavirus pandemic on food retailers and their suppliers. It allows student to consider the challenges facing food retail executives as they navigate urgent supply...
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- 2019
- Working Paper
Does Apple Anchor a Shopping Mall? The Effect of the Technology Stores on the Formation of Market Structure
By: Doug J. Chung, Kyoungwon Seo and Reo Song
This study examines the effect of technology stores—company-owned Apple and Microsoft retail stores—on mall configuration. We formulate a structural model that considers the endogenous location decisions of retail stores, taking into account both market characteristics...
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- October 2019 (Revised August 2020)
- Case
The Predictive Index
By: Lynda M. Applegate and James Weber
Mike Zani and Daniel Muzquiz needed to decide next steps to create a new category in the human resources consulting industry and scale their company.
Zani and Muzquiz, serial entrepreneurs, acquired Predictive Index in 2014. Previously, as clients of the... View Details
Zani and Muzquiz, serial entrepreneurs, acquired Predictive Index in 2014. Previously, as clients of the... View Details
- August 2019
- Case
Lemonade: Disrupting Insurance with Instant Everything, Killer Prices, and a Big Heart
By: Elie Ofek and Danielle Golan
Launching its first products in the fall of 2016 in New York, insurtech startup Lemonade was on a mission to disrupt the insurance market by using AI and behavioral economics principles. The company offered renters, homeowners, and condo insurance and mainly targeted...
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- August 2019
- Article
When and How to Diversify—A Multicategory Utility Model for Personalized Content Recommendation
By: Yicheng Song, Nachiketa Sahoo and Elie Ofek
Sometimes we desire change, a break from the same or an opportunity to fulfill different aspects of our needs. Noting that consumers seek variety, several approaches have been developed to diversify items recommended by personalized recommender systems. However,...
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- November 2018 (Revised May 2019)
- Case
Almarai Company: Milk and Modernization in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
By: Kristin Fabbe, Safwan Al-Amin, Esel Cekin and Natalie Kindred
With SAR 14 billion ($3.7 billion) in 2017 revenues, Almarai was Saudi Arabia’s largest dairy producer, distributor, and marketer, with a large portfolio of branded dairy products, juices, bakery goods, and infant formula and a sales presence across the Gulf region,...
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Keywords:
Dairy;
Agriculture;
Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia;
Almarai;
Schorderet;
Food Security;
Public Policy;
Self Sufficiency;
Gulf;
GCC;
Business And Government;
Agribusiness;
Marketing;
Distribution;
Change Management;
Leading Change;
Strategy;
Government and Politics;
Policy;
Diversification;
Integration;
Horizontal Integration;
Vertical Integration;
Food;
Brands and Branding;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Business and Government Relations;
Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Saudi Arabia;
Middle East
- April 2018
- Teaching Note
Formlabs: Selling a New 3D Printer
By: Frank Cespedes
Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-001. Formlabs is a venture that manufactures and sells 3D printers used in a variety of industries and applications. As the young company prepares to ship its latest model, the head of Customer Development is tasked with developing a...
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Keywords:
3D Printing And Manufacturing;
Sales Channel Development;
Sales Strategy;
Entrepreneurial Management;
Product Engineering;
Prototype;
Prototyping;
Entrepreneurship;
Product Launch;
Hardware;
Business Startups;
Customers;
Technological Innovation;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Technology Adoption;
Marketing Channels;
Marketing Strategy;
Product Positioning;
Demand and Consumers;
Sales;
Salesforce Management;
Technology Industry;
Computer Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
United States;
Massachusetts;
Europe;
Asia
- January 2018
- Case
Under Armour
By: Rory McDonald, Clayton M. Christensen, Daniel West and Jonathan E. Palmer
After 20 years of growth unprecedented in the sports apparel industry, Under Armour finds itself with a new record to beat: making the leap from $5 to $10 billion in sales—a feat only accomplished to date by competitors Nike and Adidas. At the heart of this challenge...
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Keywords:
Under Armour;
Nike;
Adidas;
＂Jobs To Be Done;
Purpose Brands;
Entrepreneurship;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Innovation Strategy;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Growth Management;
Innovation Leadership;
Sports Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Fashion Industry;
Health Industry;
Technology Industry;
Retail Industry;
United States;
Maryland;
Baltimore
- 2017
- Article
Self-Managing Organizations: Exploring the Limits of Less-Hierarchical Organizing
By: Michael Y. Lee and Amy C. Edmondson
Fascination with organizations that eschew the conventional managerial hierarchy and instead radically decentralize authority has been longstanding, albeit at the margins of scholarly and practitioner attention. Recently, however, organizational experiments in radical...
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- September 2017
- Case
Under Armour: Evolution of a Purpose Brand
By: Rory McDonald, Clayton M. Christensen, Daniel West and Jonathan Palmer
After twenty years of growth unprecedented in the sports apparel industry, Under Armour finds itself with a new record to beat: making the leap from $5 to $10 billion in sales — a feat only accomplished to date by competitors Nike and Adidas. At the heart of this...
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Keywords:
Under Armour;
Nike;
Adidas;
＂Jobs To Be Done;
Purpose Brands;
Entrepreneurship;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Innovation Strategy;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Growth Management;
Innovation Leadership;
Sports Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Fashion Industry;
Health Industry;
Technology Industry;
Retail Industry;
United States;
Maryland;
Baltimore
- May 2017
- Teaching Note
Partners Group: Ain't No Mountain High Enough
Partners Group (PG), a Swiss-based PE manager, initiated a series of strategic shifts and evolved from a predominately fund-of-funds manager into a large, multi-asset class PE firm focused on direct investments. PG was the first PE firm to go public in 2006. A number...
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- February 2017
- Case
Aston Martin: A Second Century of Performance and Luxury
By: Vish V. Krishnan, Karim R. Lakhani and Amram Migdal
Following the March 2016 launch of DB11, Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd.’s first new sports car platform in over a decade, this case discusses the future strategy of the famed British luxury auto manufacturer. Since its founding in 1902, Aston Martin has been characterized...
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Keywords:
Luxury;
Auto Brand;
Luxury Auto;
Growth;
Innovation;
Business or Company Management;
Goals and Objectives;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Brands and Branding;
Product Marketing;
Product Launch;
Product Positioning;
Operations;
Product Design;
Product Development;
Production;
Innovation and Invention;
Transportation;
Innovation and Management;
Innovation Strategy;
Change;
Transformation;
Management;
Marketing;
Auto Industry;
Europe;
United Kingdom;
England
- November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
- Module Note
Strategy Execution Module 7: Designing Asset Allocation Systems
By: Robert Simons
This module reading provides tools and analyses for acquiring and allocating resources. The module begins by reviewing the importance of setting strategic boundaries as a basis for asset acquisitions. Next, a distinction is made between new assets acquired to meet...
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- September 2016
- Case
Partners Group: Ain't No Mountain High Enough
By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Ricardo Andrade
Partners Group (PG), a Swiss-based PE manager, initiated a series of strategic shifts and evolved from a predominately fund-of-funds manager into a large, multi-asset class PE firm focused on direct investments. PG was the first PE firm to go public in 2006. A number...
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- 2020
- Working Paper
Category Kings or Commoners? Market-Shaping and its Consequences in Nascent Categories
By: Rory McDonald
For a new market category to materialize, ventures must actively bring it into existence. Yet it remains a mystery how entrepreneurs, whose resources are stretched thin, can accomplish this task. Prior research emphasizes the importance of market-shaping but overlooks...
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- August 2015 (Revised March 2017)
- Case
Planters Nuts
By: Robert J. Dolan and Donald K. Ngwe
In 2012 Planters had about $1 billion in U.S. annual revenues, but had experienced declining unit sales and household penetration over the past six years. The snack nuts category was growing overall, but household spending was shifting away from peanuts, cashews, and...
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