Publications

06 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

Cut Salaries or Cut People? The Best Way to Survive a Downturn

agents at adjacent firms, competitive outside options abounded,” the study notes. The exit begins Once pay reductions were announced, “highly productive” workers, or those who took in 20 to 25 percent more revenue per call than average,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

January 2004 (Revised November 2004)
Case

Rwandan Tea Industry, The: Looking into the Future

By: Debora L. Spar

In 2003, the Rwandan government was focused on transforming the nation's tea industry into a world-class competitor. To accomplish this objective and stave off the downward prices that plagued the international tea market, the government believed that the industry... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Market Entry and Exit; Competitive Strategy; Privatization; Government and Politics; Developing Countries and Economies; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Rwanda

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October 2016
Supplement

24 Hour Fitness (B): Ownership Changes, 2005–2016

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In 2016, 24 Hour Fitness was the number-two fitness chain in the United States, generating revenues of $1.4 billion from 441 clubs serving 3.8 million members. Based in San Ramon, California, 24 Hour Fitness operated clubs in 13 states. Having grown rapidly to become... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Buildings and Facilities; Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Age; Training; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Health; Nutrition; Business History; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Journals and Magazines; Human Capital; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Demand and Consumers; Market Entry and Exit; Media; Organizational Design; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Groups and Teams; Sales; Salesforce Management; Situation or Environment; Welfare or Wellbeing; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Internet; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Software; Web Sites; Value; Valuation; Health Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States; California; San Francisco

25 Oct 2010
HBS Case

Tesco’s Stumble into the US Market

makes ideal Harvard Business School case material for teaching everything from multinational strategy to on-the-ground logistics. Marketing professor John A. Quelch recently introduced Tesco PLC: Fresh & Easy in the United States,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

Web

Student Research - Doctoral

Dafny Private equity (PE) ownership of physician practices is increasing, with owners targeting sales, or exits, in 3 to 7 years. Little is known about the association of exit with physician retention and subsequent employment. Using... View Details

June 2005 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Samsung Electronics

By: Jordan I. Siegel and James Jinho Chang

When is it possible to create a dual advantage of being both low cost and differentiated? In this case, students assess whether Samsung Electronics has been able to achieve such a dual advantage, and if so, how this was possible. Moreover, Samsung Electronics'... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Electronics Industry; China; South Korea

July 2023
Case

DayTwo: Going to Market with Gut Microbiome (Abridged)

By: Ayelet Israeli

DayTwo is a young Israeli startup that applies research on the gut microbiome and machine learning algorithms to deliver personalized nutritional recommendations to its users in order to minimize blood sugar spikes after meals. After a first year of trial rollout in... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Nutrition; Market Entry and Exit; Product Marketing; Distribution Channels

06 Jul 2023
News

Lessons from Major League Baseball's Game-Changing Innovations

numbers, and—in most games—umpires don't miss any calls on the field. And today, that expanded instant replay system is only employed once every other game. "We designed the system based on the data and not based on the perception," Marinak says. Marinak is now the... View Details

17 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 17

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-090.pdf Why Every Company Needs a CSR Strategy and How to Build It Authors:Kash Rangan, Lisa A. Chase, and Sohel Karim Abstract The authors argue for a strategic and pragmatic, rather than ideological,... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

December 1995 (Revised February 1999)
Case

Toys "R" Us Japan

By: Debora L. Spar

Documents the American retailer's process of entry into the Japanese toy market. Discusses the history of Toys "R" Us in the United States as well as the history of the Japanese toy market, distribution, wholesaling, and retailing systems. Eager to enter the world's... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Retail Industry; Japan; United States

October 1996 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Tweeter etc.

By: John T. Gourville and George Wu

In the early 1990s, Tweeter etc., a small regional retailer of higher-end audio and video equipment, faced increasing competitive pricing pressures from several large regional and national consumer electronics chains. In response, in 1993, they introduced "Automatic... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Customer Focus and Relationships; Price; Market Entry and Exit; Supply Chain Management; Competition; Electronics Industry; Retail Industry

2012
Article

Wider dem sauren Mund. Beiersdorfs U.S.-Geschaeft mit der Zahnpastamarke Pebeco

By: G. Jones and Christina Lubinski

This article examines the growth and ultimate demise of the toothpaste brand Pebeco, which was created by the German personal care company Beiersdorf in 1903. The brand was an enormous international success, becoming for a time the largest toothpaste brand in the... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Marketing Strategy; Markets; Change; Customers; Social Psychology; Science; Brands and Branding; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Germany

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September 2003 (Revised June 2007)
Case

Virgin Mobile USA: Pricing for the Very First Time

Dan Schulman, the CEO of Virgin Mobile USA, must develop a pricing strategy for a new wireless phone service targeted toward consumers in their teens and twenties, many of whom are believed to have poor credit quality and uneven usage patterns. Contrary to conventional... View Details

Keywords: Price; Market Entry and Exit; Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry; United States

December 2023
Case

Food & Life Companies

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Akiko Saito

Founded in 1984 in Japan, Food & Life Companies Ltd. (F&LC) operated Sushiro, the largest conveyor belt sushi restaurant chain in Japan, and other types of restaurants that offered sushi and fish cuisine. F&LC was committed to offering high-quality sushi at an... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry; Japan; Asia; United States

01 Jun 2023
News

Pet Project

Illustration by Shane Cluskey Like pet owners everywhere, Katie Spies (MBA 2019) would do anything for her dog. In 2014, when her Italian greyhound, George, started experiencing seizures and other health problems that didn’t respond to medications, the vet recommended... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade; Sporting Goods, Hobby, Musical Instrument, and Book Stores; Retail Trade

January 2006 (Revised December 2006)
Case

Wal-Mart's Business Environment

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee

In 2004, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. proposed to build a new supercenter in Inglewood, a low-income community near Los Angeles. The proposal was a part of Wal-Mart's strategy to bring its supercenter format to California. Introduced in the late 1980s, supercenters added a... View Details

Keywords: Goals and Objectives; Expansion; Market Entry and Exit; Corporate Strategy; Labor Unions; Conflict and Resolution; Retail Industry; Los Angeles

14 Mar 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, March 14

Cross-Boundary Teaming for Innovation: Integrating Research on Teams and Knowledge in Organizations By: Edmondson, Amy C., and Jean-François Harvey Abstract—Cross-boundary teaming, within and across organizations, is an increasingly popular View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restaurant Revolution: How the Industry Is Fighting to Stay Alive

be working increasingly from home. Previously, site selection strategies for restaurants focused on density of both working and residential population—depending on the concept, the relative density of each provided key input for... View Details

Keywords: by Michael S. Kaufman, Lena G. Goldberg, and Jill Avery; Food & Beverage

October 2014 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Mobileye: The Future of Driverless Cars

By: David B. Yoffie

Mobileye was an Israeli company, officially headquartered in The Netherlands, which was a Tier 2 supplier to the global automobile industry. After 15 years of building a leading technology for autonomous driving systems, Mobileye emerged in 2014 as one of the most... View Details

Keywords: Driverless Car; Competitive Advantage; Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Technology; Auto Industry; Semiconductor Industry; Technology Industry; Israel