- 26 Aug 2019
- Research & Ideas
Lipstick Tips: How Influencers Are Making Over Beauty Marketing
Influencer marketing has quickly become the best way to reach beauty consumers, proving more effective than celebrity endorsements and company ads, according to research by Alessia Vettese. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 14 Mar 2019
- Cold Call Podcast
How Helena Rubinstein Used Tall Tales to Turn Cosmetics into a Luxury Brand
Professor Geoff Jones examines the career of Helena Rubinstein, one of the trailblazing female entrepreneurs of the 20th century. Using guile, brilliant branding, and more than a few falsehoods, Rubinstein lifted cosmetics from an accessory item for prostitutes to a great luxury product during the Great Depression. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 18 Feb 2019
- Book
What’s Really Disrupting Business? It’s Not Technology
Technology doesn't drive disruption—customers do. In a new book, marketing professor Thales Teixeira argues that successful disruptors are faster to spot and serve emerging customer needs than larger competitors. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 22 May 2017
- Lessons from the Classroom
A Luxury Industry Veteran Teaches the Importance of Aesthetics to Budding Business Leaders
Pauline Brown, a former top executive with French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, now teaches a Harvard Business School course called The Business of Aesthetics, which culminates in a competition called “Aesthetic Idol.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Jan 2017
- HBS Case
How Should Advertisers Respond to Consumer Demand for Whiter Skin?
Skin-lightening creams are a fast-growing market in India. Rohit Deshpandé explores what firms should do when a product is decidedly popular—but may be promoting discrimination. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Dec 2015
- Research & Ideas
Why Immigrant Workers Cluster in Particular Industries
Anyone who lives in an American city can see how immigrants tend to cluster in industries along ethnic lines. Professor William R. Kerr explains why, and what this means for the US economy. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 12 Mar 2014
- Research & Ideas
Entrepreneurship and Multinationals Drive Globalization
Why is the firm overlooked as a contributor when we identify the drivers of globalization? Geoffrey Jones discusses his new book, Entrepreneurship and Multinationals: Global Business and the Making of the Modern World. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Jan 2013
- Lessons from the Classroom
Culture Changers: Managing High-Impact Entrepreneurs
In her new Harvard Business School course, Creative High-Impact Ventures: Entrepreneurs Who Changed the World, professor Mukti Khaire looks at ways managers can team with creative talent in six "culture industries": publishing, fashion, art-design, film, music, and food. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 13 Sep 2012
- Working Paper Summaries
Entrepreneurship in the Natural Food and Beauty Categories Before 2000: Global Visions and Local Expressions
How do entrepreneurs create a market? Geoffrey Jones takes a historical approach and focuses on influential figures who created new categories of natural and organic food, agriculture, and beauty products over the course of the twentieth century. At first these pioneering entrepreneurs, often motivated by ideological or religious convictions, faced little consumer demand for "green" products and little consumer knowledge of what they entailed. The creation of new categories thus involved a lengthy process with three overlapping waves of entrepreneurship. First, the diffusion of ideas through publishing, and promotion of research and education, engaged many entrepreneurs. They were, in effect, making the ideological case for natural products, and providing the basis for them to be made available. Second, entrepreneurs engaged in the creation of industry associations which could advocate, as well as give the nascent industry credibility and create standards. Finally, entrepreneurial ventures established retail stores, supply and distribution networks, and created brands. Key concepts include: Entrepreneurial cognition and motivation frequently lay in individual, and very local, experiences, combined with strong global visions about the need for environmental sustainability. There was a notable international transfer of ideas and concepts. Exposure to Asia, or an imagined Asia, was a significant influence on many pioneering entrepreneurs. Many individual entrepreneurs suffered from personal illnesses which appeared to have motivated their subsequent careers. A significant sub-set of the influential historical figures were articulate in expressing strong religious convictions. These entrepreneurs believed that business could and should be used as a vehicle to preserve and protect the natural environment. By the 1990s, entrepreneurs encouraged a much wider range of businesses to enter the natural categories, some genuinely, but others seeking to green wash conventional businesses. This created confusion and skepticism in consumer minds. There were also legitimacy issues caused by growing scale. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 16 Aug 2011
- Working Paper Summaries
Managing Political Risk in Global Business: Beiersdorf 1914-1990
After the outbreak of World War 1, management of political risk became a central concern for firms, especially those operating internationally. These risks were on many levels, from expropriation to exchange controls and other economic policies. German firms, which had flourished during the second industrial revolution of the late nineteenth century, and enthusiastically expanded internationally, found themselves especially exposed to such risks. Focusing on one such firm, Beiersdorf, a German-based pharmaceutical and skin care company (and, during the Nazi years, a so-called Jewish business), the authors examine corporate strategies of political risk management during the twentieth century, especially the volatile years of Nazi Germany. The history of Beiersdorf highlights areas of managerial discretion. Faced by the worst of all worlds, the firm survived and was able, albeit at great cost, to rebuild its business. Key concepts include: The historical case of the German multinational Beiersdorf, the maker of the global skin care brand Nivea, is used to explore the growth of host and home country political risk in the twentieth century. The firm had its international factories and trademarks expropriated during World War 1, and again after World War 2, and as a Jewish firm faced great difficulties in its home economy during the Nazi era 1933-1945. Beiersdorf pursued several management strategies in response to growing risk. In Nazi Germany, it removed its Jewish management, and partly adapted its marketing message to the regime's ideology. It survived. Internationally, after World War 1 the firm developed an elaborate organizational structure designed to avoid future expropriations. It transferred international businesses to trusted associates. This had short-term success, but in the longer term it did not prevent the loss of factories and the Nivea trademark. After World War 2 Beiersdorf needed to spend decades rebuilding the fragmented Nivea brand. It only recovered ownership of the brand in the United States and Great Britain in 1973 and 1992, respectively. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 19 Apr 2010
- Research & Ideas
The History of Beauty
Fragrance, eyeliner, toothpaste—the beauty business has permeated our lives like few other industries. But surprisingly little is known about its history, which over time has been shrouded in competitive secrecy. HBS history professor Geoffrey Jones offers one of the first authoritative accounts in Beauty Imagined: A History of the Global Beauty Industry. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Jun 2007
- Research & Ideas
HBS Cases: Beauty Entrepreneur Madam Walker
She may have been the first self-made African American millionaire. Born of emancipated slaves, Madam C.J. Walker traveled from the cotton fields to business fame as a purveyor of hair-care products that offered beauty and dignity. Harvard Business School's Nancy F. Koehn and Katherine Miller explain what motivated her triumph. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 29 Oct 2000
- Research & Ideas
Building a Powerful Prestige Brand
Leveraging ambition, customer input, intuition, and a keen commercial imagination, a daughter of immigrant shopkeepers created a leader in the global prestige cosmetics market. HBS professor Nancy Koehn examines the genius of Estée Lauder. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
The Beauty Industry: Products for a Healthy Glow or a Compact for Harm?
Many cosmetics and skincare companies present an image of social consciousness and transformative potential, while profiting from insecurity and excluding broad swaths of people. Geoffrey Jones examines the unsightly reality of the beauty industry.