Retailers - Publications - Faculty & Research

Bernard A. Edison

Taking the helm of the family business from his father and uncle, Edison went on to lead it through its strongest period of growth and financial performance. He dramatically expanded operations, opening new designer footwear stores including Baker’s, Chandler’s, and... View Details

Keywords: Retail

Justin Dart

Dart transformed United Drug into a profitable firm again. He did this by going with the Rexall banner, which the founder Louis Liggett had made into a household name, and discarding most of the other names in use by the company. Eventually, the company took the name... View Details

Keywords: Retail

Edward W. Carter

Carter developed the first suburban shopping center in 1947 in Los Angeles and popularized regional chain stores. Carter started with three regional stores in Los Angeles in 1946, and by 1980, had grown that number to 47. Carter expanded the company nationally through... View Details

Keywords: Retail

Gonzalo Restrepo

Keywords: Retail

Reinaldo Solari

Keywords: Retail

01 Jul 2021
Office Hours

Readers Ask: Which Companies Are Transforming Work?

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated workforce shifts that had been gaining momentum before the public health crisis, thrusting employers and workers into a new era within months. Joseph Fuller, a professor at Harvard Business School and co-leader of the School’s Managing... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Retail; Retail

19 Oct 2016
Book

Three Critical Mistakes Digital Businesses Make With Content

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Retail

May 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Lowe's: Improving the Total Home Strategy

By: Elie Ofek, K. Shelette Stewart and Alicia Dadlani

In 2023, Marvin Ellison, CEO of Lowe’s, contemplated enhancements to the company’s Total Home Strategy to accelerate performance and grow market share. In the last five years since becoming CEO, Ellison had championed a turnaround of the company, completing a... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Competition; Brands and Branding; Business Strategy; Retail Industry; United States; North Carolina

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December 1985 (Revised October 1986)
Case

J.C. Penney (A)

An assistant treasurer at J.C. Penney is looking at various alternatives for financing the company's $2.5 billion store expansion and modernization program. The case provides a listing of different ways/capital markets issues to obtain this financing. Designed to be... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Capital Markets; Financing and Loans; Retail Industry; United States

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March 2019
Supplement

KITEA (D): Further Changes

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in February 2016, when the official date of IKEA’s store opening (March 16, 2016) is announced after a five-month delay. It reviews the changes that Amine and Othman Benkirane had made to KITEA’s workforce in the extra five months afforded by the delay... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Strategy; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Retail Industry; Africa; North Africa; Morocco

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March 2019
Supplement

KITEA (C): A Surprise Delay

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu

This case describes the delay of IKEA’s store opening in Morocco in 2015. After Sweden ordered an internal review of its position on the independence of Western Sahara, a territory Morocco regarded as part of its own, the Moroccan government declared that IKEA did not... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Strategy; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Retail Industry; Africa; North Africa; Morocco

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Article

Amazon's $15 Minimum Wage Might Cost Some Workers

By: Scott Duke Kominers

Keywords: Economics; Retail Industry; United States

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June 2018
Supplement

Knowledge Sharing at REMA 1000 (B)

By: Tatiana Sandino and Olivia Hull

Supplement to HBS No. 118-007, "Knowledge Sharing at REMA 1000 (A)." Chief Human Resources Officer Tore Høylie was proud of REMA 1000 (REMA)’s strong employee engagement with Workplace, Facebook’s corporate social media platform; however, some users complained that the... View Details

Keywords: Social Network; Enterprise Social Media; Facebook; Workplace; Social and Collaborative Networks; Communication Technology; Problems and Challenges; Social Media; Retail Industry; Norway

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March 2018
Teaching Note

Making Target the Target: Boycotts and Corporate Political Activity (A) and (B)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Victor Wu

Through the challenges facing Target, the case examines the ways in which corporations can become involved in political and legislative debates and processes, ranging from campaign contributions to lobbying. In 2016, Target CEO Brian Cornell must determine how to... View Details

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May 2017
Teaching Note

Wal-Mart Update, 2017

By: David B. Yoffie

This Teaching Note is designed for the case, “Wal-Mart Update, 2017,” HBS No. 717-468. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Retail Industry

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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

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October 2013 (Revised July 2024)
Teaching Note

Amazon in 2024

By: Sunil Gupta

Amazon launched its website in July 1995 to sell books online and by 2020 it has grown to become a digital giant with over $280 billion in annual sales. A large part of its growth came from expanding into a variety of businesses that some see as unrelated. Has it... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry

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