Publications

January 2018
Supplement

OldTown Berhad

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Greg Saldutte

In December 2017, Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE, a Dutch coffee company) made an offer to acquire OldTown Berhad (OTB), a Malaysian coffee company. Three large shareholders, representing more than half of the outstanding shares, have agreed to tender their shares and... View Details

Article

The Upside to Large Competitors

By: Neeru Paharia, Anat Keinan and Jill Avery

Large companies are often viewed as a major threat for startups and small companies; big companies have more financial resources and greater scale, market power, and brand awareness than small ones. However, our research finds that a smaller brand can actually benefit... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Competition; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

May 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Service and Value in e-Commerce

This collection of readings illustrates the importance of service and logistics in e-commerce, focusing on e-Toys' disastrous 1999 holiday season. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Internet and the Web; Service Operations; Logistics; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

September 2020 (Revised June 2023)
Supplement

Spreadsheet Supplement to Artea Teaching Note

By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli

Spreadsheet Supplement to Artea Teaching Note 521-041. 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... View Details

Keywords: Targeted Advertising; Algorithmic Data; Bias; Advertising; Race; Gender; Diversity; Marketing; Customer Relationship Management; Prejudice and Bias; Analytics and Data Science; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States

September 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Exercise

Artea (D): Discrimination through Algorithmic Bias in Targeting

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: Targeted Advertising; Discrimination; Algorithmic Data; Bias; Advertising; Race; Gender; Marketing; Diversity; Customer Relationship Management; Prejudice and Bias; Analytics and Data Science; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States

March 2016
Case

IC Group A/S

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

IC Group owned several of Scandinavia's leading premium fashion brands. How should it respond to the decline of its primary wholesale distribution channels (independent fashion boutiques and department stores)? Should it open more physical stores or focus on... View Details

November 2011
Case

WrapItUp: Developing a New Compensation Plan

By: W. Earl Sasser Jr. and Rachel Shelton

A restaurant chain based in California offers made-to-order sandwich wraps using fresh, healthy ingredients. The founders of the company take a very active role in day-to-day business and tightly control every aspect of the restaurant operation from hiring store... View Details

Keywords: Empowerment; Middle Management; Human Resource Management; Compensation; Incentives; Motivation; Motivation and Incentives; Change Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Service Delivery; Entrepreneurship; Employees; Compensation and Benefits; Service Industry; Service Industry; Service Industry; California

November 2012
Case

New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. (Abridged)

By: H. Kent Bowen, Robert S. Huckman, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Matthew Preble

Considers whether New Balance, one of the world's five largest manufacturers of athletic footwear, should respond to Adidas' planned acquisition of Reebok—a transaction that would join the second- and third-largest companies in the industry. Highlights the unique... View Details

Keywords: Production; Competitive Strategy; Supply Chain; Brands and Branding; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Asia; United States

14 Mar 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, March 14

somewhere to stay. Clustering created positive externalities drawing new entrepreneurs into the industry who could also learn from knowledge spillovers. There were downsides to the new industry. The creation of the national image of a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Sep 2010
News

Five Honored for Missions Accomplished

capacity she helped lead the MBA Silicon Valley Immersion Experience Program. As a newspaper industry analyst at DLJ early in your career, did you anticipate the industry’s decline? I put a “sell” on newspapers in 1988 when I saw threats... View Details

Keywords: awards; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade

08 Mar 2016
First Look

March 8, 2016

analysis of 82,235 customers exploits the varying competitive dynamics in 644 geographically isolated markets in which a nationwide retail bank conducted business over a five-year period. We find that customers defect at a higher rate... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Supplemental Financial Information - Annual Report 2020

sales at airports, retail outlets, and other brick-and-mortar locations, declined 10 percent from fiscal 2019. COVID-19 significantly reduced consumer traffic at those locations, which trimmed book sales and prompted merchants to return... View Details

30 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 30, 2015

underlying the ratings. Our tests examine whether these forms of disclosure reflect firms' real efforts to combat corruption or are cheap talk. We find that the ratings are related to enforcement and monitoring, country and industry... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

16 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

The Times Captures History of American Business

chapter on consumption, for example, is by the late columnist William Safire, who wrote about how he came to own 38 shirts. His column is grouped with a reader's response and a set of stories about developments in the retail environment.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Journalism & News

Research Summary

Overview

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Rayport focuses his teaching and research on launching and scaling technology ventures, with emphasis on digital media, e-commerce, and multi-channel retail. View Details

20 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

Here’s How Businessman Trump Is Likely to Approach the Presidency

the military — in the last 40 or 50 years. Today, businesses and other enterprises are flatter, much less hierarchical, and much more diverse than the companies that first grew to great scale and came to define the modern industrial... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese

21 Jun 2010
Research & Ideas

Strategy and Execution for Emerging Markets

fills a void by making the market between, on the one hand, thousands of producers of goods and services and on the other, big-box retailers and many others in the United States that want to source from emerging markets. Li & Fung... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

August 2024
Case

Lucky Ones Coffee: Employing People with Disabilities

By: Richard S. Ruback, Robin Greenwood, Joe Higgins, Matthew Preble and Dave Habeeb

Katie Holyfield and Taylor Matkins founded The Lucky Ones Coffee in 2017 with a mission to create jobs in Park City, Utah for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The company quickly earned strong support from the local community, and by early 2023... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Selection and Staffing; Growth and Development Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Service Industry; Service Industry; Service Industry; Service Industry; Utah; United States