Publications

February 2007 (Revised February 2009)
Case

A Differentiation Strategy at ASDA

By: David E. Bell and Nitin Sanghavi

The Wal-Mart CEO has challenged his company to do more to help mankind. The British subsidiary, ASDA, is reviewing its activities in the environment/social arena. View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Trends; Values and Beliefs; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

January 2006 (Revised August 2008)
Case

Vivaldi Food Concepts--The Start-up of an Asian Venture (A)

Joel Silverstein needs to raise an additional $1.5 million from private investors to round out the equity financing for his new Quick Service Restaurant venture in China, Korea, and Japan. How should he pitch the opportunity? What should be the terms? View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Business Startups; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Japan; China; South Korea

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March 2005
Teaching Note

7-Eleven, Inc. (TN)

By: David E. Bell

Teaching Note to (9-504-057). View Details

Keywords: Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Japan; United States

October 2002 (Revised June 2005)
Case

McDonald's Corporation (Abridged)

McDonald's has over many years built an operating strategy based on consistency and quality through a limited product range. Competitive forces have drawn the company into a much wider variety of foods and services to maintain growth. Now, new competitors threaten to... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Competition; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

February 2001 (Revised April 2001)
Case

Warnaco Group, Inc. (A)

By: David F. Hawkins

Warnaco's history of nonrecurring charges is traced from 1990 through 2000 along with the stock market and security analysts' response to these charges. Teaching Purpose: To expose students to the accounting for a variety of new recurring accounting items. View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Financial Reporting; Restructuring; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

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October 1997 (Revised May 1998)
Supplement

Asda (B)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

Describes Archie Norman's efforts over a five-year period to turn around the company by regaining financial control, delivering management, creating experimental projects where individuals felt free to innovate, instituting a back-to-roots strategy that put customers... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Customer Relationship Management; Governance Controls; Innovation and Invention; Management; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

20 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 20, 2007

Roger's big bet. Implementing it required making six other bets: continuing to sell stand-alone DVRs in the retail market, despite rapidly eroding market share; distributing TiVo service in partnership with cable and satellite TV... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

12 Mar 2007
Research & Ideas

The New Real Estate

reclassified as a part of North America, as opposed to Latin America, by CALPERS a few years back, huge amounts of capital are being poured into that country, notably in the housing and retail sectors with office bouncing back strongly.... View Details

Keywords: by Arthur I. Segel; Construction; Real Estate

28 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 28, 2018

focus. The theory includes many realistic elements such as salespeople’s multi-dimensional effort, heterogeneity in ability, product focus, and forward-looking behavior. We test our theory through a field experiment in which we vary the sales force compensation scheme... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

07 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 7

brands and manufacturing network, he intends to reposition the company as a branded retailer of furniture and home fashions. Just as management is poised to implement a new strategy that involves a heavy investment in brand advertising, a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Feb 2001
Research & Ideas

The Ten Deadly Mistakes of Wanna-Dots

them. Many wanna-dots will ultimately arrive in cyberspace, although not necessarily by the same route, as we will see in the two examples that follow. The story of cookware catalog vendor and retailer Williams-Sonoma shows how barriers... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

24 Jul 2019
Lessons from the Classroom

Can These Business Students Motivate Londoners to Do the Right Thing?

economists working to solve problems. Retailers such as Walmart are also putting together behavioral teams. New frameworks are continuing to develop, and the broader use of behavioral economics has continued to scale at an impressive... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

20 Feb 2001
Research & Ideas

What’s Next for Japan

Japan. "Wireless Internet is a reality in Japan," he said, speculating that broadband, digital content, and semiconductors will all be controlled by Japan by 2005. Vogel commented that finance and retail were also promising new... View Details

Keywords: by Hilah Geer

24 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 24, 2009

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=209029 The Restructuring of Daiei Harvard Business School Case 209-060 In 2004, the Industrial Revitalization Corporation of Japan (IRCJ) was given the task of restructuring Daiei, one of the largest... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

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; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; California