Publications

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04 Oct 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com

Keywords: by Michael Luca; Food & Beverage

September 2020 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Briscola—Pizza Society: Scaling Affordable Luxury

By: Gary P. Pisano and Federica Gabrieli

Riccardo Cortese and Federico Pinna were the CEOs of Briscola—Pizza Society, a restaurant chain they had founded in 2014 with a clear ambition: create a distinctive international pizza chain that would combine a fast-casual format with the devotion to quality that... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Geographic Location; Business Model; Ownership Type; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; Italy

October 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

McDonald's Board of Directors (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

In October 2019, the McDonald’s Corporation board of directors, chaired by Enrique Hernandez, Jr., gathered to learn the results of their outside counsel’s investigation into the conduct of the CEO. On the surface, the iconic fast-food chain was thriving as growing... View Details

24 Oct 2011
News

The Yelp Factor: Are Consumer Reviews Good for Business?

21 Apr 2020
News

Kura Sushi Will Return Its $6 Million Federal Loan After Outrage

08 Aug 2013
News

Study finds online ratings vulnerable to bias

17 May 2024
Video

Getting to Know 2024 Class Day Student Speaker Erik Roberts

12 Mar 2020
Video

Robert Brozin

Robert Brozin, the co-Founder of Nando’s, a South African-based restaurant chain specializing in Portuguese food, discusses how after building his business he sought a greater purpose, and found this purpose in... View Details

22 Dec 2020
Blog Post

The Forward Fellowship Convinced Me That I Belong at HBS

single-parent household in rural Kentucky - I am talking about a town of 4,000 people and one incredible Betty’s OK Country Cooking restaurant with an out-of-this-world catfish buffet. My parents did not graduate from college, neither did... View Details

26 Mar 2020
News

Coronavirus Is Widening the Corporate Digital Divide

18 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 18

expenditures, general consumer inability to budget and forecast, bank incentives, and community norms and social capital. Furthermore, using both national data and a natural experiment, we find that access to payday lending seems to lead to higher rates of involuntary... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2011
Case

WrapItUp: Developing a New Compensation Plan

By: W. Earl Sasser Jr. and Rachel Shelton

A restaurant chain based in California offers made-to-order sandwich wraps using fresh, healthy ingredients. The founders of the company take a very active role in day-to-day business and tightly control every aspect of the restaurant operation from hiring store... View Details

Keywords: Empowerment; Middle Management; Human Resource Management; Compensation; Incentives; Motivation; Motivation and Incentives; Change Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Service Delivery; Entrepreneurship; Employees; Compensation and Benefits; Service Industry; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; California

December 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Flagstar Companies, Inc.

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Jeremy Cott

A large restaurant chain undergoes a leveraged buyout and subsequent recapitalization. Financial and operating problems at the company force it to consider various restructuring options, including a "prepackaged" Chapter 11 exchange offer to its public bondholders. A... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Capital; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Debt Securities; Financial Services Industry; United States

Research Summary

Crowdsourced reviews

To determine whether online consumer reviews influence the way that reputation is formed, Professor Luca has combined reviews from the website Yelp.com with public restaurant data. He has shown that a one-star increase in Yelp ratings results in a 5- to 9-percent... View Details

November 2014 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Cravia: Launching High Growth Ventures in the Middle East

By: Lynda Applegate and Michael Norris

Walid Hajj (HBS '95), CEO of Dubai-based restaurant franchising company Cravia considers how best to expand his business in the fast-growing Gulf region. Should he add more American brands, expand to nearby countries, or open more of his current lineup of restaurants? View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship In Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurs; Middle East; Franchise; Food Retail Franchising; Franchise Ownership; Entrepreneurship; Emerging Markets; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry; United Arab Emirates; Dubai

P.F. Chang's

Excited yet apprehensive after being named CEO of P.F. Chang's beginning July 1st, 2020, Damola Adamolekun was well aware of the extraordinary challenges facing the firm. The closure of businesses deemed "nonessential" owing to the COVID-19 pandemic had... View Details

January 2006 (Revised August 2008)
Case

Vivaldi Food Concepts--The Start-up of an Asian Venture (A)

Joel Silverstein needs to raise an additional $1.5 million from private investors to round out the equity financing for his new Quick Service Restaurant venture in China, Korea, and Japan. How should he pitch the opportunity? What should be the terms? View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Business Startups; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Japan; China; South Korea

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12 Mar 2020
Video

Robert Brozin

Robert Brozin, the co-Founder of Nando’s, a South African-based restaurant chain specializing in Portuguese food, discusses the challenges of starting his business during the apartheid regime before 1994, and... View Details

December 2004 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Chez Cora

By: David E. Bell, Hal Hogan and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Chez Cora is a chain of breakfast restaurants that successfully expanded from Quebec to Ontario. Is it organized appropriately for more growth? Could the concept work in the United States? If so, how should a migration to the United States be structured? Includes color... View Details

Keywords: Food; Global Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Growth Management; Service Operations; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; Canada; United States