Publications

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

14 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 14

the scientists themselves. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52220 January 2017 American Economic Review Are Online and Offline Prices Similar? Evidence from Large Multi-Channel Retailers By: Cavallo,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Priceline WebHouse Club

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Jon K Rust

Priceline empowered consumers to "name their own price" for airline tickets and hotel rooms; then it shopped these offers to marketers. Priceline's founder Jay Walker described the resulting transactions as a new ecosystem, that helped consumers realize lower prices... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Retail Industry

October 2018 (Revised July 2019)
Case

BulkWhiz: Negotiating as a Startup Founder in the UAE

By: Katherine Coffman, Christine Exley and Alpana Thapar

This case follows Amira Rashad as she founds BulkWhiz, a Dubai-based buy-in-bulk grocery delivery platform. Following its launch in September 2017, BulkWhiz experiences rapid growth of 30 percent per month in the United Arab Emirates. Despite this initial success,... View Details

March 2014 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Clef Company: Turnover

By: Frank V. Cespedes

The Clef case focuses on the issue of turnover in a firm's sales force. Students must analyze the factors contributing to turnover as well as the role of the field sales force in Clef's profitable business strategy. Among other things, the Clef case illustrates that... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Marketing; Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States

22 Feb 2022
News

March 2022 Alumni and Faculty Books

and Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption By Steve Dennis (MBA 1984) LifeTree Physical retail isn’t dead—but boring retail is. Remarkable Retail equips the savvy View Details

March 2003 (Revised November 2003)
Case

Resourcery, Ltd.

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Feyi A. Boroffice

Recounts the story of how a successful Nigerian entrepreneur has expanded his systems integration/networking business. He now faces the problem of raising growth capital in a developing country. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Growth Management; Expansion; Race; Entrepreneurship; Developing Countries and Economies

01 Dec 2019
News

Case Study: Farming It Out

thereby leveraging its core into both market expansion and product enhancements. —Jean-Louis Danis (MBA 1974) Got a case? To take part in a future “Case Study,” send an outline of your company’s challenge to bulletin@hbs.edu View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Agriculture

October 2004 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Rakuten

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Andrew P. McAfee, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Masako Egawa

Rakuten, a native Japanese, e-commerce start-up and highly successful company, is expanding into new categories and new countries. It must figure out how to continue its trajectory of growth and profitability. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Japan

September 2010 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Liza Davis and the Bargain Hunting Customer

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez and Lisa Brem

Liza Davis, an upscale women's fashion retailer, is reeling from worldwide recession and lower demand. Should the company target the fast-growing bargain hunter segment or hold the line on price discounts to preserve their brand image? Customer profitability... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Price; Product Positioning; Customer Value and Value Chain; Business Cycles; Financial Crisis; Profit; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

24 Dec 2013
First Look

First Look: December 24

We contribute to institutional theory by identifying selective disclosure as a corporate symbolic strategy and by revealing how scrutiny and norms limit this symbolic behavior. Download working paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1836472... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

March 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Sealed Air Corporation: Globalization and Corporate Culture (A) (Abridged)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Karen Wruck

Sealed Air Corp.'s CEO and COO are considering what approach they should take to building a seamless corporate culture worldwide. Anticipating continuing growth and expansion, especially outside the United States, they are concerned with preserving and promoting the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Policy; Leadership; United States; Europe; Asia

20 Dec 2018
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Stories and Research Papers of 2018

earners, who may also exploit additional strategies to increase the share of total income that accrues to the top 1 percent, according to Ethan Rouen and colleagues. Shipping Fees and Product Assortment in Online View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

28 May 2008
First Look

First Look: May 28, 2008

Case 508-074 The largest retailer of diesel fuel in the U.S., Flying J, is rethinking its growth strategy as the economy goes into a recession. Its major customer base, owner-operated truck drivers, are... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

11 Feb 2008
Research & Ideas

Does Democracy Need a Marketing Manager?

Dean's youthful Internet backing failed to generate enough votes at the polls. In the recent New Hampshire primary, Hillary Clinton's surprise win is attributable in part to her superior grassroots organizing there—the political equivalent of View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

January 1997 (Revised June 1997)
Case

Corporate New Ventures at Procter & Gamble

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Dean Whitney

Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble is faced with an urgent need to revitalize new-product innovation, given its recent focus on incremental product improvements and its aggressive growth goals. As part of this effort, the company's top executives form a small,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Creativity; Working Conditions; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Groups and Teams; Retail Industry; Ohio