Publications
Publications
- December 2006
- HBS Case Collection
Vipp A/S
By: Robert D. Austin and Daniela Beyersdorfer
Abstract
Rapidly growing Vipp sells highly differentiated (and expensive) "designer" versions of a product that most buyers think about in purely functional terms: Trash bins. Examines how the company successfully produces and positions a trash bin so that it is regarded as an "art object" (and which has been displayed as such as the Paris Louvre). Though it is a tangible product, a Vipp bin's price cannot be even remotely justified by its functional features; customers, rather, pay dearly for the intangible aspects of the product, which the firm works very hard to keep integrated with the physical product. Deals with a range of issues confronting creative economy companies, such as how to produce products with very important intangible components, how to assure and manage the design integrity of a family of products, how far to extend a brand, how to manage creative employees, and where to source creative work.
Keywords
Citation
Austin, Robert D., and Daniela Beyersdorfer. "Vipp A/S." Harvard Business School Case 607-052, December 2006.