Publications

February 1996
Case

Spartan Stores Incorporated: Reengineering for Efficient Consumer Response

Describes an effort to rationalize operations at a leading grocery wholesaler, enabled by information systems. Spartan Stores, Inc., is cooperatively owned by its 238 retailers and, through training, consulting, systems support, and cost of goods efficiencies, strives... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Restructuring; Information Technology

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13 Apr 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Incorporating Price and Inventory Endogeneity in Firm-Level Sales Forecasting

Keywords: by Saravanan Kesavan, Vishal Gaur & Ananth Raman; Retail

August 2023
Case

WayCool: Reimagining the Food Supply Chain

By: Paul Gompers and Kairavi Dey

Founded in 2015, WayCool, is an Indian agri-tech start-up that built a B2B operation acquiring fruits and vegetables from product-specific agriculture companies and small-holding farmers. It sold them to business customers, such as local retail stores, restaurants, and... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Digital Transformation; Operations; Business Strategy; Supply Chain; Performance; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Technology Industry; Web Services Industry; Asia; South Asia

June 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Hennes & Mauritz, 2012

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2012, Hennes & Maurtiz (H&M) was the second-largest specialty apparel retailer in the world. Sales for fiscal 2012 were $18.1 billion and operating profits were $3.3 billion. H&M operated 2,776 stores, 93% of them outside its home base of Sweden. Over the past... View Details

Keywords: Fashion; Strategic Decision Making; Strategy; Supply Chain; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Fashion Industry; Europe; Sweden

April 2019
Case

Boxed

By: Laura Huang, Andy Wu and Jiayi Bao

Boxed.com (“Boxed”) is an ambitious e-commerce retailer start-up, founded by visionary CEO Chieh Huang in 2013. From starting in Huang’s garage in 2013, to winning Emerging E-Retailer of the Year in 2016, to having 4 operational distribution centers in 2018, Boxed used... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Business Startups; Leadership; Strategy; Success; E-commerce; Retail Industry

January – February 2008
Article

Managing the Impact of Employee Turnover on Performance: The Role of Process Conformance

By: Zeynep Ton and Robert S. Huckman

We examine the impact of employee turnover on operating performance in settings that require high levels of knowledge exploitation. Using 48 months of turnover data from U.S. stores of a major retail chain, we find that, on average, employee turnover is associated with... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Governance Compliance; Retention; Standards; Service Operations; Business Processes; Retail Industry; United States

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September 2019
Teaching Note

Boxed

By: Laura Huang and Andy Wu

Boxed.com (“Boxed”) is an ambitious e-commerce retailer start-up, founded by visionary CEO Chieh Huang in 2013. From starting in Huang’s garage in 2013, to winning Emerging E-Retailer of the Year in 2016, to having 4 operational distribution centers in 2018, Boxed used... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Business Startups; Leadership; Strategy; Success; E-commerce; Retail Industry

27 Jun 2019
Working Paper Summaries

The Effect of Payment Choices on Online Retail: Evidence from the 2016 Indian Demonetization

Keywords: by Chaithanya Bandi, Toni Moreno, Donald Ngwe, and Zhiji Xu; Retail

Janice H. Hammond

Janice H. Hammond is the Jesse Philips Professor of Manufacturing. She currently serves as coursehead for the new MBA required course, Data Science for Managers. She serves as program chair for the HBS Executive Education International Women’s Foundation and Women’s... View Details

Keywords: retailing; retailing; retailing; retailing; retailing; retailing; retailing

Awards

Ralph Gomory Best Industry Studies Paper Award

By: Ananth Raman

Winner of the 2016 Ralph Gomory Best Industry Studies Paper Award from the Industry Studies Association for "The Impact of Supplier Inventory Service Level on Retailer Demand" (Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Fall 2016) with Nathan Craig and... View Details

31 Aug 2020
Blog Post

Five Important Steps before Taking the Entrepreneurial Leap

that pioneered conversational commerce. At Hilma, Hilary leverages her personal passion for consumer products and integrative health with her Harvard MBA, and impressive professional history of launching new consumer brands, to build and View Details

October 2022
Supplement

Framebridge (B): A New Approach

By: Rembrand Koning and Alicia Dadlani

In 2022, after revamping operations and expanding retail stores, Framebridge founder and CEO Susan Tynan is optimistic for the future but realizes changing market dynamics. New competitors are entering the market, and margin pressures remained. This case is part two of... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Business Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Operations; Market Entry and Exit; Consumer Products Industry; United States; District of Columbia; Kentucky

24 May 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Improving Store Liquidation

Keywords: by Nathan Craig & Ananth Raman; Retail

29 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

Why Do Outlet Stores Exist?

having these stores and just having a sales rack in the back?" As a doctoral student in economics at Columbia, Ngwe was fascinated by the incredible range of products that retailers offer to consumers, and wondered just how this... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Retail; Retail

January 2015 (Revised November 2016)
Case

La Martina: Leveraging Polo's Luxury Lifestyle

By: Anat Keinan, Maria Fernanda Miguel and Sandrine Crener

Founded in 1984 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, La Martina has grown from a high-end polo equipment company into a global fashion brand with operations in 56 countries. Polo, which is not only a sport but also a way of life, is at the core of the brand DNA. Polo is a... View Details

October 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Zappos.com 2009: Clothing, Customer Service, and Company Culture

By: Frances X. Frei, Robin J. Ely and Laura Winig

On July 17, 2009, Zappos.com, a privately held online retailer of shoes, clothing, and other soft line retail categories, learned that Amazon.com, a $19 billion multinational online retailer, had won its board of directors' approval to offer to merge the two companies.... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Internet and the Web; Valuation; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

September 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Bank of America (A)

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Describes how Bank of America is creating a system for product and service innovation in its retail banking business. Emphasis is placed on the role of experimentation in some two-dozen real-life "laboratories" that serve as fully operating banking branches and as... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Problems and Challenges; Innovation and Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Change; Failure; Banks and Banking; Learning; Banking Industry