Publications

2007
Working Paper

Mental Accounting and Small Windfalls: Evidence from an Online Grocer

By: Katherine L. Milkman, John Beshears, Todd Rogers and Max H. Bazerman

We study the effect of small windfalls on consumer spending decisions by examining the purchasing behavior of a sample of online grocery shoppers over the course of a year. We compare the purchases customers make when redeeming a $10-off coupon they received from their... View Details

Keywords: Spending; Consumer Behavior; Mathematical Methods; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

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August 1991 (Revised December 1994)
Supplement

Marks and Spencer Ltd. (C)

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery

Describes post-acquisition activity in Brooks Brothers and Kings Supermarkets from 1988 to 1991. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

March 1999 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Coop, The: Market Research

By: Ruth Bolton and Youngme E. Moon

Daryl Buckmeister, CEO of The Chicken Coop, must decide whether to invest in market research, how much money to spend, and which programs to fund. His two vice presidents (of quality and marketing) have presented very different proposals. View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Cost; Research; Markets; Quality; Decisions; Management Teams; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

May 1978 (Revised June 1978)
Case

Campbell Warehouse Supermarkets

By: Walter J. Salmon

Keywords: Retail Industry; Retail Industry

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October 1997 (Revised May 1998)
Case

Asda (A1)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Crisis Management; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United Kingdom

Web

2018 Symposium - Race, Gender & Equity

Personnel/Human Resources Research Group (PHRRG), and has been recognized as a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP). His research interests include demographic disparities in work outcomes, diversity,... View Details

12 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 12, 2006

through successive stages of industry evolution. We then show how this strategy was used by Sun Microsystems against Apollo Computer in the 1980s and by Dell against Compaq and other personal computer makers in the 1990s. Download working... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 25, 2007

Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=608053 Dell Computers (B): The Transition Harvard Business School Supplement 607-081 The case presents the outcome of the (A) case and explores challenges in the PC View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2017 (Revised April 2018)
Background Note

Introduction to Incentive-based Sales Compensation Systems

By: Willy Shih

This background note explains the structure of incentive-based sales compensation systems. View Details

Keywords: Sales Compensation; Sales Force Compensation; Sales Force Management; Sales; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; United States

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

April 2007 (Revised January 2010)
Supplement

Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Ellen Knebel

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Relationships; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

September 2001
Teaching Note

adM@rt (A) and (B)TN

By: F. Warren McFarlan

Teaching Note for (9-301-046) and (9-301-083). View Details

Keywords: Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Hong Kong

April 2001 (Revised November 2009)
Teaching Note

(TN) Amazon.com (A), (B), (C), and (D)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Dickson Louie and William A. Sahlman

Teaching Note for (9-897-128), (9-898-084), (9-901-021), and (9-901-022). For book only. View Details

Keywords: Retail Industry; Retail Industry

October 2000 (Revised October 2001)
Case

adM@rt(A)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Carin-Isabel Knoop and David Lane

Describes the complex policy alternatives facing an online Hong Kong grocery company as it tries to apply Webvan-type concepts in the Hong Kong marketplace. Captures the extraordinary process of adaptation the company is going through as it tries to find the right... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Markets; Marketing; Business Strategy; Business Model; Decisions; Problems and Challenges; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Hong Kong

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September 1999 (Revised June 2001)
Case

eBay, Inc.

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Kelley Porter

eBay was the world's largest and most popular person-to-person trading community on the Internet. In early 1999, the company was doing very well and seemed to have solved many of its early problems. However, on March 30, 1999, Amazon.com announced that it was entering... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Planning; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

September 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Exercise

Artea (B): Including Customer-Level Demographic Data

By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli

This collection of exercises aims to teach students about 1)Targeting Policies; and 2)Algorithmic bias in marketing—implications, causes, and possible solutions. Part (A) focuses on A/B testing analysis and targeting. Parts (B),(C),(D) Introduce algorithmic bias. The... View Details

Keywords: Targeting; Algorithmic Bias; Race; Gender; Marketing; Diversity; Customer Relationship Management; Demographics; Prejudice and Bias; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States

November 2018 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Michael Rubin and Fanatics (A)

By: Robert F. Higgins and John Masko

In 2016, Michael Rubin’s Fanatics was the U.S.’ largest sports e-commerce company and operator of the official online store for all the major American sports leagues. That year, Fanatics began to dabble in manufacturing licensed sports merchandise, securing limited... View Details

Keywords: Fanatics; Licensed Merchandise; E-commerce; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Sports; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States