Publications

January 2017 (Revised August 2019)
Supplement

X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Is Amazon a Friend or Foe? (B)

By: Feng Zhu and Angela Acocella

Three years after launching his brick-and-mortar store, X Fire Paintball and Airsoft, Steve Herbert Sr. and his sons began selling products on Amazon.com’s third-party Marketplace and online sales expanded rapidly. Over time, X Fire noticed that products of which it... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Competition; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Small Business; Retail Industry; Canada

February 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Store24

By: Susan L. Kulp, V.G. Narayanan and Dennis Campbell

Illustrates how nonfinancial performance measures can be used to manage a business and evaluate the success of a strategy. View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Balanced Scorecard; Performance Evaluation; Strategy; Retail Industry

02 Nov 2015
News

Making Higher Ed Accessible to Africans

ambitious and bold—both criteria that have framed Royster’s career from the start. His initial break with convention occurred after his first year in college, when he took a year off from Duke to work retail near his hometown, in Newton,... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken

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

27 Aug 2007
Op-Ed

Mattel: Getting a Toy Recall Right

problem themselves rather than clog customer service desks at Mattel's retail outlets, which would strain Mattel's dealer relations and cost the company extra dollars in processing fees. Mattel's recall Web site is a model of excellence.... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Consumer Products

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

23 Oct 2015
News

Staples Founder Thomas Stemberg Dies at 66

Keywords: 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

April 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Exporting Livability: Investing in New Urban Centers

By: John D. Macomber and Essie Alamsyah

Can Singapore urban design, policy continuity, and system of laws be exported outside of Singapore to accelerate the effective development of new urban agglomerations? Nina Yang, CEO of Sustainable Urban Development at Ascendas-Singbridge, a large real estate company... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Projects; Design; City; Business and Government Relations; Expansion; Real Estate Industry; China; Singapore

10 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Cable TV: From Community Antennas to Wired Cities

formal permission—which almost never was granted—before importing distant signals. 8 The FCC's restrictions may have slowed cable's expansion into urban markets, but the overall rate of growth for the industry actually accelerated during... View Details

Keywords: by Thomas R. Eisenmann; Media & Broadcasting; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation

01 Dec 2019
News

Accelerating a Gas-on-demand Startup

Model T owners—and it was basically the last major innovation in gasoline retailing for more than 100 years, says Bryan Frist (MBA 2015). “The gas station was stuck in the 20th century.” That revelation led to a question: If you can get... View Details

Keywords: April White; startups; on-demand economy; entrepreneurship; Personal Services

July 2020
Case

Super 30: Educating the Elite Poor

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Tarun Khanna and Shreya Ramachandran

In the summer of 2019 in New Delhi, S K Shahi and his daughter, Meenakshi, faced a difficult problem. India had 19 centers of their non-profit, the Center for Social Responsibility and Leadership. Also called the 'Super 30' program, this offered free training for... View Details

Keywords: Non-profit; Inclusive Growth; Education; Higher Education; Diversity; Nonprofit Organizations; Operations; Expansion; Geographic Location; Strategy; Decision Making; India

July 1994
Case

Microsoft: Multimedia Publications (A)

By: Marco Iansiti and Ellen Stein

Microsoft Corp. has built a highly successful business around computer software (both applications and system software) using a particular organizational structure. Now that the company has chosen to enter the consumer market with a CD-ROM product, how should Microsoft... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Organizational Structure; Applications and Software; Design; Expansion; Consumer Products Industry; Information Technology Industry; Washington (state, US)

June 2022
Case

The SAH Group: The Time is Right

By: Juan Alcacer and Alpana Thapar

In January 2021, Jalila Mezni, cofounder and CEO of the SAH Group, was preparing to present the company’s future growth plans to its board of directors. The Tunisian company was a leading producer and distributor of personal care and packaged hygiene products. In 2019,... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Expansion; Business Divisions; Product Positioning; Brands and Branding; Competition; Presentations; Consumer Products Industry; Tunisia; Kenya

June 2011 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Procter & Gamble: Marketing Capabilities

By: Rebecca M. Henderson and Ryan Johnson

P&G had become known and recognized as a marketing machine. It was the largest advertiser in the world, with 2010 spending of $8.68 billion. From the company's early exploitation of broadcast media (radio and television) for its soap products to more recent experiments... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Change Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Innovation Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Expansion; Consumer Products Industry

February 2008
Teaching Note

Innovation at Timberland: Thinking Outside the Shoe Box (TN)

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Matthew Bird

Teaching Note for [306064]. View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Organizational Culture; Sales; Customer Value and Value Chain; Brands and Branding; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry

01 Jun 2016
News

Case Study: On the Table

consider a partnership with a bank, building your own payment gateway, or taking cash on delivery. A lot of e-commerce companies in India take cash on delivery for online orders. —Kiran Brahmandam (GMP 15, 2013) Partner with home goods View Details

December 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

WayCool: Addressing Food Loss

By: Rajiv Lal and Kairavi Dey

Headquartered in Chennai, India, WayCool started by focusing on solving the growing challenge of food losses and low farmer incomes. Dasari and Jayaraman, surprised at the amount of fruits and vegetables lost in the agricultural supply chain, set up the company with... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Food; Supply Chain; Loss; Expansion; Distribution Channels; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Asia; India; Bangalore; Chennai

February 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Creating and Measuring Purpose at Viega

By: Ethan Rouen, Suraj Srinivasan and James Barnett

At its headquarters in Attendorn, Germany, Viega’s chairwoman Anna Viegener gathered the company’s leadership team to discuss their progress on formalizing purpose-driven leadership as a strategic driver within the organization. Viega manufactured and distributed... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Employee Relationship Management; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Expansion; Measurement and Metrics; Germany