by Rajiv Lal - Publications - Faculty & Research

Rajiv Lal

Rajiv Lal, is the Stanley Roth, Sr. Professor of Retailing at Harvard Business School. He is currently teaching an elective MBA course on the Business of Smart Connected Products/IOT. He has been responsible for the retailing curriculum and has served as the course... View Details

Interview with Rajiv Lal

Rajiv Lal talks to Mint about the challenges Indian retailers face, issues of profitability and impact of FDI on kirana stores.

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24 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Busting Six Myths About Customer Loyalty Programs

markets is a sector notorious for its lack of differentiation between players. Once location has played out its magic, retailers tend to get squeezed in a business characterized by the infernal duo of low margin and high fixed cost. In... View Details

Keywords: by Marcel Corstjens & Rajiv Lal; Retail; Consumer Products

10 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Retailing Revolution: Category Killers on the Brink

declined or held flat, and return on invested capital (ROIC) has suffered dramatically. This decline in ROIC has been exacerbated by the significant growth in store square footage before the recession. Retail store count exploded through... View Details

Keywords: by Rajiv Lal & Jose B. Alvarez; Retail

01 Mar 2003
News

Naina Lal Kidwai

Raised in Mumbai and Delhi, Naina Lal Kidwai (MBA ’82) went away to school in Simla, in the Himalayas, and has conducted her career at similarly lofty heights ever since. A Delhi University alumna and the first Indian woman to graduate... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Finance

15 May 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Mobile Money Services-Design and Development for Financial Inclusion

Keywords: by Rajiv Lal & Ishan Sachdev; Banking

28 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Six Lessons from Mobile Money Ventures in Developing Countries

business strategy 101 for most entrepreneurs, so why have so many mobile money service offerings failed? It’s a question being studied by Rajiv Lal, the Stanley Roth, Sr. Professor of Retailing at Harvard... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services; Telecommunications

Research Summary

Bricks and Clicks: The Effect of Store Assortment on E-tail Format (with R. Lal and E. Ofek)

An often neglected aspect in existing studies of the Internet selling process is the high volume of product returns. Such returns reflect a major logistic expenditure on behalf of companies that sell over the net. The problem is reduced when consumers shop in physical... View Details

18 Jul 2019
Lessons from the Classroom

The Internet of Things Needs a Business Model. Here It Is

however, is only the beginning of what is possible through the IoT. “What you see in the consumer domain is interesting, but it’s not where the economic action is,” says Rajiv Lal, the Stanley Roth Sr. Professor of Retailing at Harvard... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Computer

21 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

What Went Wrong at J.C. Penney?

backfire. Sales last year fell 25 percent, resulting in a net loss of $985 million, and the blood-letting continued in quarterly results released this week. In a recent interview, Harvard Business School marketing expert Rajiv Lal, the... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Retail

21 Mar 2004
Research & Ideas

Loyalty: Don’t Give Away the Store

written by Lal with HBS colleague David Bell, was published in Quantitative Marketing and Economics last June. Lal discusses his findings with Manda Salls. Salls: Frequent... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls; Consumer Products; Retail

05 Mar 2012
Research & Ideas

Is JC Penney’s Makeover the Future of Retailing?

haircuts?), are scheduled to debut in 2013. Johnson expects the transformation to be complete by 2015. "All department stores either rise or fall on their ability to execute a strategy," Lal says. "These are... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Retail

17 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Where Did My Shopping Mall Go?

of our interview with authors Rajiv Lal and José B. Alvarez, they discuss what the future of storefront retailing looks like and how its transformation will also change the economy and society. Sean... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

10 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Winners and Losers in the Retail Revolution

three-part interview with Harvard Business School Marketing professors Rajiv Lal and José B. Alvarez, they discuss who is winning this revolution and which brands appear to be losing ground. Sean... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail