Publications

Web

A Marketing Revolution - The Art of American Advertising

Clubs Faculty & Research Business & Environment Business History Christensen Center for Teaching & Learning Entrepreneurship Faculty & Research Global Healthcare HBS Working Knowledge Institute for Strategy & Competitiveness Leadership... View Details

23 Jan 2014
News

Market Reaction

Keywords: FIELD program; FIELD 2; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade

18 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 18, 2018

enjoys a positive VoC under general conditions. We conduct numerical simulations to study the magnitude of the VoC and find that it can be substantial—in our simulations, retailers that switched from a fixed to a sequential assortment... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

06 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 6

benefits from racial diversity but that diversity is a liability when society's negative stereotypes about racial minorities' competence inhibit such interactions. We analyze two years of data from 496 retail bank branches to investigate... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Career Coach

Cheryl Rousseau

transitions of all kinds: On-Boarding; Inter-Company Movements; Succession/Planned Exits; Out-Boarding; Job Search; Boards Seats. Cheryl has an MBA in Finance and Strategy (Kellogg ’87) and gained first-hand executive knowledge in a... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Retail; Retail; Retail; Retail; Retail; Retail; Retail; Retail

01 Jun 2017
News

Streamlining the Supermarket

full-time employees, slashing labor costs by 90 percent. Those two innovations are expected to add up to a net profit margin of three times that of the overall industry. “And that is really powerful,” Pedró says. “You can actually give those benefits back to your... View Details

Keywords: Francis Storrs

September 2011
Case

Driving Profitable Growth at US Auto Parts

USAP faces extraordinary opportunities to change the way that automobiles are serviced in the US by selling parts at fair prices though online channels. View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Disruptive Innovation; Business Model; Internet and the Web; Business Strategy; Internet and the Web; Machinery and Machining; Cost Management; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States

11 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: Dec. 11

conditions. During normal or expansion periods in the economy, the dynamics of cost of capital generate an upward sloping term structure; however, in times of high economic uncertainty, the term structure flattens and can be downward... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2010 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Better World Books

By: Michael I. Norton, Fiona Wilson, Jill Avery and Thomas J. Steenburgh

Better World Books, a young start-up, provides a socially conscious alternative to Amazon, collecting and selling used books to keep them out of the waste stream, while donating a portion of their profits to support global literacy efforts. The case presents an... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Public Opinion; Social Issues; Online Technology; Retail Industry

February 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Greening Walmart: Progress and Controversy

By: Rebecca Henderson and James Weber

In 2005, Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, launched a sustainability initiative aimed at reducing waste and making the company more environmentally and socially conscious. By 2015, the company had made progress on multiple dimensions: energy efficiency in its... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Motivation and Incentives; Reputation; Environmental Sustainability; Retail Industry; United States

16 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Peeling Back the Global Brand

powerful countries—homes of transnationals—are less persuaded by the dimensions," said Holt. And as national borders become less important, niches or pockets of consumer preferences become more important. A good global brand strategy... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Retail; Retail

14 Oct 2015
News

How Ford CEO Mark Fields Is Channeling Henry Ford To Solve Society's Mobility Problems

Keywords: Retail Trade; Retail Trade

02 Oct 2015
News

The ‘F’ Word

Emory University, where she graduated with 40 percent more credits than required. A year out of HBS, Wallace and classmate Alex Nelson cofounded Quincy Apparel, an online retailer providing stylish, affordable work clothes for women in a... View Details

Keywords: Walt Disney Studios

September 2023
Supplement

Design and Evaluation of Targeted Interventions

By: Eva Ascarza

Targeted interventions serve as a pivotal tool in business strategy, streamlining decisions for enhanced efficiency and effectiveness. This note delves into two central facets of such interventions: first, the design of potent decision guidelines, or targeting... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Design; Business Strategy; Policy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

01 Mar 2008
News

Negotiating with Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, sold $315.6 billion worth of goods in 2006. With its single-minded focus on “EDLP” (everyday low prices) and the power to make or break suppliers, a partnership with Wal-Mart is either the Holy Grail or the kiss of death,... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Retail Trade; Retail Trade

01 Dec 2005
News

Buy the Book

retailers (such as Wal-Mart and Costco) that only stock twenty or so bestsellers yet are responsible for 34 percent of book sales in the United States. “Something hits as a success and dominates the market,” Deighton comments. “It’s... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Market Research, Photo, Translation, Veterinary and Other Services; Professional Services

01 Feb 1997
News

OPM Celebrates 21st Anniversary at Gala Florida Reunion

Discussing examples of how service-oriented organizations deliver breakthrough service, Sasser urged his audience to take a "quantum leap" in their customer satisfaction efforts and to develop strategies to prevent customers from... View Details

October 2013 (Revised July 2024)
Teaching Note

Amazon in 2024

By: Sunil Gupta

Amazon launched its website in July 1995 to sell books online and by 2020 it has grown to become a digital giant with over $280 billion in annual sales. A large part of its growth came from expanding into a variety of businesses that some see as unrelated. Has it... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry