Publications

30 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

The Upside of Highlighting a Product's Downsides

customers more control and set their brands apart. The online apparel retailer Everlane provides detailed descriptions about the factories that produce its clothing. And Lemonade has upended traditional insurance by taking a set portion... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

28 Jan 2020
Book

Advanced Leadership Requires More Than Outside-The-Box Thinking

uses examples and stories from dozens of high-performing managers and entrepreneurs. Is there one person, one quote, that you think most brilliantly captures the spirit of Think Outside the Building? Kanter: Doug Rauch, former president of Trader Joe’s, who founded... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

11 Jul 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Deconstructing 'Customer Experience'

with customers. Fix This! Why is it so Painful to Buy a New Car? Car-buying sends shivers up the backbones of American consumers, so why hasn’t the industry stepped up to create a better experience? Amazon vs. Whole Foods: When Cultures CollideAmazon's acquisition of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail; Retail

14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

simultaneous increase in demand for home deliveries, which raised the need for operators in stores. The company worked with catering and cooking associations, whose operations were temporarily closed, to share labor. Instead of staying at home, View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

November 2004 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Ice-Fili (Abridged)

By: John R. Wells, Pai-Ling Yin and Michael G. Rukstad

Designed as an overview of all aspects of the strategy process: industry analysis, positioning, dynamics and sustainability, and scope issues of corporate strategy, including vertical integration, horizontal diversification, and location issues. Ice-Fili is the largest... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Geographic Location; Competition; Vertical Integration; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Russia

November 1991 (Revised April 1994)
Case

Taco Bell Corp.

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Roger H. Hallowell

John Martin, Taco Bell CEO, brings the company into line with its competitors through incremental change during the 1980s. In the early 1990s, he adopts breakthrough approaches to improve service levels while reducing prices, providing a distinct competitive advantage.... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Food; Competitive Advantage; Innovation and Management; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

from a fast-growing "miracle" economy into one afflicted by recession and inflation. Unilever found itself burdened by low-margin businesses. The growing strength of European retailers and private labels undermined the... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Background Note

Leadership and Teaming

By: Ethan Bernstein

Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail... View Details

May 2020 (Revised March 2022)
Case

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and the Global Economy (A)

By: Alberto Cavallo and Christian Godwin

In April 2020, the world struggled to contain the exponential escalation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Dozens of countries had imposed restrictions on travel, work, and social gatherings. A large share of the global population was under lockdowns and... View Details

05 Nov 2021
Op-Ed

Is the Business World Finally Ready for the Wisdom of Shibusawa?

stability. He put his lessons into practice and poured effort into communicating Lawson’s purpose to employees through training programs. When a massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in 2011, Niinami prioritized getting food and... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Rei Morimoto; Retail; Retail

June 2011
Case

Reed Supermarkets: A New Wave of Competitors

By: John A. Quelch and Carole Carlson

Reed Supermarkets is a high-end supermarket chain with operations in several Midwestern states. Meredith Collins, vice president of marketing, visits stores located in Columbus, Ohio, an important region with the largest market and the greatest impact on revenue... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Brands and Branding; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Ohio

06 Dec 2017
What Do You Think?

Is It Time To Break Up Amazon, Apple, Facebook, or Google?

it has acquired Whole Foods, the market value of US big name retailers selling foods immediately drops 10 to 20 percent. The exchange of information and news, fake or fact, among large segments of the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology; Web Services

15 Mar 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

More Than 900 Examples of How Climate Change Affects Business

This word cloud is composed of blog posts by more than 900 students describing how individual organizations are likely to be affected by climate change. Image by Patrick Clapp Last fall, first-year MBA students at Harvard Business School received a new assignment in... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Green Technology

August 2016 (Revised July 2017)
Case

Diageo and Mey Icki: Turkish Delight or Turkish Hangover?

By: Dante Roscini and Gamze Yucaoglu

In September 2013, two years after its $2.1 billion acquisition of Mey Icki Sanayi ve Ticaret AS (Mey Icki), the principal spirits company in Turkey specializing in the local beverage, raki, Diageo, the world’s leading premium drinks company, was concerned about new... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Emerging Markets; Government Legislation; Taxation; Valuation; Business and Government Relations; Government and Politics; Risk Management; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Middle East; Turkey

28 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

How to Avoid a Price Increase

that along to consumers in one form or another, the most common being an increase in the retail price. Other times, they may redesign the product to lower production costs or replace more expensive ingredients with less expensive... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

December 2005 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Ben & Jerry's: Preserving Mission & Brand within Unilever

By: James E. Austin and James Quinn

In the months after Ben & Jerry's was acquired by Unilever, Ben & Jerry's head social mission faces challenges and opportunities unique in the company's history, including: how to manage employee morale; whether to include synthetic ingredients to meet consumer... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Problems and Challenges; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Management Teams; Governing and Advisory Boards; Value Creation; Corporate Governance; Employee Relationship Management; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

October 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

McDonald's Russia: Managing a Crisis

By: Youngme E. Moon and Kerry Herman

In August 1998, George Cohon, founder and senior chairman of McDonald's Russia, is facing an economic state of emergency. Russia is in the midst of a severe currency crisis--the ruble has plummeted in value, creating massive inflation and widespread economic disarray.... View Details

Keywords: Currency; Crisis Management; Brands and Branding; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Russia