Publications

September 2002
Case

Pura Vida Coffee

By: James E. Austin and Allen S. Grossman

Tells the story of two HBS graduates who sell gourmet coffee over the Internet to support an outreach ministry in Costa Rica. View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Internet and the Web; Food and Beverage Industry; Costa Rica

28 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Helping Yelp Create More Accurate Reviews

and its reviews drop from three stars to two—does the rating system pick up on this change in a timely manner that is meaningful to diners? Is the same merit placed on old reviews as new ones? How will a diner know that the View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Food & Beverage

07 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

How to Help Small Businesses Survive COVID's Next Phase

America small-business owners moved quickly when COVID-19 started shuttering shops in March. Fine dining restaurants shifted to takeout. Book shops introduced curbside pickup. Gyms offered classes online. Business owners, it seemed, just needed to face this... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Food & Beverage; Food & Beverage

13 Jul 2010
News

Setting an Industry Standard

Keywords: beer; brewaries; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing

November 1983 (Revised December 1984)
Case

Frito-Lay, Inc.: Grandma's ""Ready-To-Eat"" Cookies

Mr. Kenneth Treece, marketing director of Frito-Lay's Grandma's (R) Cookie division has received the final test market figures for the new supermarket line of Grandma's Ready-To-Eat cookies. One set of data, the Kansas City test results, was extremely encouraging;... View Details

Keywords: Product Launch; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

Keywords: Environmental Management; Operations Management; Sustainable Operations; Environmental Regulation; Operations; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

January 2016 (Revised February 2016)
Course Overview Note

The Sustainable Core: Operations Management

By: Michael W. Toffel and L. Beril Toktay

This note is designed to help faculty embed environmental sustainability content into their core Operations Management course at the MBA or undergraduate level. It can also be used to identify cases with environmental content that can be used in operations electives... View Details

14 Nov 2019
News

Keeping Red Lobster Fresh

to do is work on is following a phased plan. And there are three phases to the plan. Phase one was fixing the fundamentals of the business, which are making sure you're operating well, making sure you got high-quality View Details

Keywords: Food Services and Drinking Places; Food Services and Drinking Places

August 2018
Case

Tapping Growth at Lord Hobo Brewing Company

By: Ethan Rouen and Susanna Gallani

Lord Hobo Brewing Company accounts for its inventory process as it prepares to create its first set of professional financial statements for investors. View Details

Keywords: Inventory; Start-ups; Craft Brewing; Investing; GAAP; Brand Management; Accounting; Working Capital; Entrepreneurship; Private Equity; Business Startups; Business and Shareholder Relations; Food and Beverage Industry; Boston; New England; United States

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools

30 Jul 2019
News

Turning Around Tesco

The British-based grocery chain Tesco—the third-largest retailer in the world—recently marked its 100th anniversary with a record-setting, 30-hour dance relay in Wembley Stadium. There were other reasons to celebrate, too: The chain is back in the black after surviving... View Details

Keywords: Tesco; Food and Beverage Stores; Food and Beverage Stores

01 Sep 2012
News

First Pitch

Ario Keshani (MBA 2011) took his turn during his class’s One-Year Reunion to make a 30-second elevator pitch for souschef meals, a Maryland-based start-up that delivers ready-to-cook meals to customers’ doorsteps. Keshani was one of 20 classmates who participated in... View Details

27 Jun 2016
News

Ulf Mark Schneider Has Plans to Make Nestlé Healthy

the company since 1922. A piece in Fortune notes that the appointment “could trigger a series of acquisitions by the Swiss food giant to further its ambitions in nutrition and medical foods.” Schneider comes... View Details

21 Jan 2021
News

New Menu

imports 90 percent of its food supply, considered the uncertainties climate change is introducing into the global food market and set a target of fulfilling 30 percent of its... View Details

01 Sep 2011
News

The Spangler Effect

around food and drink. A frequent campus visitor, Dick Spangler remembers the day in Dean Clark’s office when the subject of a campus center first came up. “The Dean said, ‘I need to talk to you about... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools

September–October 2022
Article

Should Your Company Sell on Amazon?: Reach Comes at a Price

By: Ayelet Israeli, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Matt Higgins and Sabir Semerkant

Selling on Amazon allows brands to reach millions of consumers—but that exposure comes with costs. They include smaller margins, more competition, the risk of commoditization, and less knowledge about customers. In this article, the authors present a scorecard to... View Details

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February 2003 (Revised November 2003)
Exercise

McDonald's: Super-Sized Troubles (B)

This case is the second of two cases that describe the situation and poor performance at McDonald's Corp. in early 2003. This exercise directs students to employ a structured problem-solving process to evaluate the McDonald's strategy. View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Decision Making; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

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February 2003 (Revised February 2003)
Exercise

McDonald's: Super-Sized Troubles (A)

This case is one of two cases that describe the situation and poor performance at McDonald's Corp. in early 2003. This exercise instructs students to employ an unstructured brainstorming process to develop strategic options for McDonald's. View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Decision Making; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

December 1996 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Parker's Biscuits, Inc.: Venturing into China

Carol Wittenberg's first major task as president of the Asia/Pacific business for Parker's Biscuits is to set up a joint venture to manufacture biscuits in China. The team that Wittenberg has put together to find a joint venture partner has narrowed the choice down to... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Decision Choices and Conditions; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; China