Retail - 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

11 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 11

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52472 Harvard Business School Case 717-474 Walmart: Navigating a Changing Retail Landscape As the largest company, by revenue, in the world, Walmart has been a lightning rod for criticism.... View Details

11 Nov 2013
Research & Ideas

A Smarter Way to Reduce Customer Defections

Companies spend significant sums to acquire customers. Once hooked, marketers protect those investments by attempting to keep patrons happy, engaged, and most of all, loyal. Reducing customer attrition, or "churn" in marketing parlance, often involves offering... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail; Retail

Research Summary

Overview

By: John C. Mulliken

My research involves climate strategy, climate finance, and building climate technology ventures. View Details

Keywords: Climate; Climate Risk; Climate Finance; Governance; Climate Change; Strategy; Retail Industry

December 1980 (Revised February 1981)
Case

Allied Stores Corp. (B)

By: Milton P. Brown and Jay W. Lorsch

Keywords: Retail Industry

Citation

Find at Harvard

November 1974 (Revised June 1985)
Case

Federated Department Stores

By: Joseph L. Bower and Richard G. Hamermesh

Keywords: Retail Industry

Citation

Find at Harvard

2001
Teaching Note

Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Teaching Note

By: R. Lal, Jennifer B. Lawrence and Josie Parr

Keywords: Retail Industry; California

Citation

June 1994 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Safeway, Inc.'s Leveraged Buyout (C): Media Response

Focuses exclusively on the controversy by presenting the media responses to the LBO and its aftermath, including full text of Faludi's interview with Safeway CEO Peter Magowan, and her subsequent Journal article. View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Media; Retail Industry; United States

Citation

Educators

Purchase

June 1991 (Revised February 1993)
Teaching Note

Tiffany & Co., Teaching Note

By: Samuel L. Hayes III

Teaching Note for (9-288-022). View Details

Keywords: Retail Industry

Citation

Purchase

2024
Working Paper

The Operational Impact of Customer Location in On-Demand Services

By: Natalie Epstein, Santiago Gallino and Antonio Moreno

The rapid growth of on-demand delivery services, particularly in the food and grocery sectors, has driven the expansion of hyperlocal fulfillment centers (FCs). This paper uses data from an on-demand grocery delivery platform in Latin America to assess how customer... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Logistics; Geographic Location; Service Delivery; Quality; Retail Industry; Latin America

Citation

SSRN

January 2022
Case

Walmart Goes Global (A)

By: Juan Alcácer

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Success; Globalized Markets and Industries; Expansion; Market Entry and Exit; Failure; Retail Industry; Germany; China; Argentina; South Korea; Canada; Japan; Brazil; Africa; United Kingdom; United States; Mexico

Citation

Educators

February 2020
Teaching Note

Essential Explorations at MUJI

By: Tomomichi Amano and Das Narayandas

Launched as a private brand in 1980 to counter the increasingly brand-conscious consumer in Japan, MUJI offered beautifully designed, fairly priced, no-frills quality goods. The once modest private label brand with 40 products had expanded significantly by 2019 to more... View Details

Keywords: Product Portfolio Management; Brands and Branding; Product; Management; Change Management; Mission and Purpose; Retail Industry; Japan

Citation

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July 31, 2019
Blog Post

Customer Centricity: Easy to Talk About, Hard to Implement: 3 Keys to Closing the Gap Between the Theory and the Reality of Putting the Customer First

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Keywords: Customer Experience; Customer Engagement; Retail Industry

Citation

Read Now

February 2019 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Scandal at Steinhoff

By: Kristin Mugford and Phil Caruso

Keywords: Volatility; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Liquidity; Bonds; Corporate Accountability; Failure; International Finance; Restructuring; Business Conglomerates; Crime and Corruption; Retail Industry; South Africa; Austria; Netherlands

Citation

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March 2018 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Managing Religion in the Workplace: Abercrombie & Fitch and Masterpiece Cakeshop

By: Derek van Bever

Challenges related to managing religion in the workplace are on the rise, as are religious discrimination claims and monetary settlements, in the United States and around the world. This case examines two incidents of alleged religious discrimination that made their... View Details