Buzzell
Photo Courtesy HBS Communications
An expert in strategic marketing, Robert D. Buzzell, the Sebastian S. Kresge Professor of Marketing, died last November in Virginia. He was 71.
Buzzell was perhaps best known for his role in the formulation and analysis of a large-scale research program known as the Profit Impact of Marketing Strategies (PIMS), designed to identify and measure the determinants of profits in individual businesses.
The author or coauthor of eleven books, Buzzell worked extensively on subjects such as marketing economics; the economic effects of advertising; retail and wholesale distribution; strategic planning; and the application of mathematical and statistical methods to marketing issues. A member of the HBS faculty from 1961 to 1993 and chair of the Marketing faculty from 1972 to 1977, he taught generations of MBA and doctoral students as well as thousands of Executive Education participants.
Contributions in Buzzell’s memory can be made to the ALS Association, 615 South Frederick Ave., Suite 308, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 20877, or to the Little River United Church of Christ, 8410 Little River Turnpike, Annandale, Virginia 22003.
