Publications

March 1993
Case

Liz Claiborne, Inc. and Ruentex Industries, Ltd. (Abridged)

By: Roy D. Shapiro and Marie-Therese M. Flaherty

Details the evolution of a value-creating supplier-buyer partnership. Describes the buyer's (Liz Claiborne) manufacturing and marketing strategy, and details the workings of the firm's relationship with an important Taiwanese supplier of piece goods (Ruentex Industries... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Production; Supply Chain Management; Alliances; Value Creation; Manufacturing Industry

08 Sep 2015
First Look

September 8, 2015

team owner, is now the time to sell while franchise value and fan support are at their peaks, or will the business of the NFL be viable for years to come? Purchase this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/815071-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 815-104... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

August 2001 (Revised March 2003)
Case

PassAct, Inc.

PassAct is a virtual distributor for high-tech R&D components and products, taking orders from researchers within companies, passing them on to appropriate suppliers, and monitoring fulfillment. Customers order from a Web-based catalog with built-in work-flow... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Web Services Industry

Find at Harvard

21 Feb 2007
Op-Ed

What a U.N. Partnership with Big Business Could Accomplish

insufficient. Fulfillment of community needs such as clean air and human rights is every bit as important. This concept offers multinationals a mechanism to do well with minimum risk and maximum efficiency. It also provides them with a... View Details

Keywords: by George C. Lodge & Craig Wilson

May 2003
Background Note

How to Induce Retailers to Reduce Stockouts?

By: V.G. Narayanan

Describes how the lack of incentive alignment between retailers and their vendors can lead to stockouts. Also describes various means to reduce incentive misalignment and hence stockouts. View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Supply Chain Management; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Distribution; Alignment; Business Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Retail Industry

April 2008
Supplement

Ti-Tech (B)

By: Benson P. Shapiro and John T. Gourville

This case concerns the selection and scheduling of orders by a small industrial titanium fabricator that recently has been plagued by poor deliveries and a lack of capacity. At the time of the case, Ti-Tech must decide which of four orders to accept, with capacity... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Production; Performance Capacity; Marketing Strategy; Bids and Bidding; Manufacturing Industry; Industrial Products Industry; United States

14 Feb 2005
Research & Ideas

Desktop Search and Revenue Streams

different products. His answer, "our monetization strategy today, which has been effective over quite a long period for Yahoo, is to fulfill the unmet need of the user." Lahiri said his company has taken a similar approach over... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette

April 2008 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Ti-Tech (A)

By: Benson P. Shapiro, John T. Gourville and Craig E. Cline

This case concerns the selection and scheduling of orders by a small industrial titanium fabricator that recently has been plagued by poor deliveries and a lack of capacity. At the time of the case, Ti-Tech must decide which of four orders to accept, with capacity... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Metals and Minerals; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Supply Chain Management; Performance Capacity; Industrial Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry

03 Feb 2018
Op-Ed

How to Heed BlackRock's Call for Corporate Social Responsibility

entities across sectors to refine them and arrive at meaningful and useful standards. Besides holding companies accountable, we also have to help them as they transition to pursuing social objectives alongside financial ones. Too few managers are familiar with View Details

Keywords: by Julie Battilana

October 2011 (Revised September 2014)
Case

Moda Operandi: A New Style of Fashion Retail

By: Mukti Khaire

Moda Operandi is a startup in the fashion industry. The firm organizes online trunk shows of designers' collections, allowing its members to directly order clothes from the collections shown in Fashion Weeks all over the world. Moda Operandi conveys the preorders to... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Distribution Channels; Internet and the Web; Design; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry

February 2001 (Revised November 2019)
Case

Delivery Problems at Arrow Electronics, Inc. (A)

By: Andrew P. McAfee, Frances X. Frei and Kerry Herman

Describes a dramatic decrease in service levels (on-time shipments) from the warehouse network of a large electronics distributor. Students need to analyze the root cause of the problem and propose actions. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Order Taking and Fulfillment; Problems and Challenges; Business Processes; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry

17 Apr 2017
HBS Case

This Turkish Debt Collector Is Customer-friendly

experience with a debt collector, it reduces the risk of regulatory scrutiny and may incline them more toward doing business with the bank again in the future. Lastly, Turkasset’s methods are better for employees, as well, who see themselves as performing a mission to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

08 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Management Education’s Unanswered Questions

give back, is misguided. The heart of a profession is that it is in the course of doing one's work that one is actually doing good and fulfilling the duty that is demanded of professionals. My worry—and this is not limited to business... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

23 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

Product Disasters Can Be Fertile Ground for Innovation

technological complexity only magnifies the challenge. Many companies, meanwhile, are apt to see investment in safety as the cost of fulfilling regulatory requirements or protecting against lawsuits, rather than as an opportunity to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health; Medical Devices & Supplies

13 Dec 2004
Research & Ideas

Sharing News That Might Be Bad

fulfill her commitments and still protect the business by shifting the focus of the conversation to the future, says Heath Shackleford, manager of public relations at Nashville-based American Healthways. "What the manager really... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Michelman

12 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Waking Up a Sleeping Company

choice but to make the Medtronic culture more performance-oriented if we were going to fulfill our mission. Otherwise, we would lose out to more aggressive competitors and never earn the right to serve those patients. ... the organization... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

June 2022
Case

Zalando: Becoming the Starting Point for Fashion

By: Antonio Moreno, Leela Nageswaran, Emilie Billaud and Federica Gabrieli

Born in 2008 as a small startup selling flip flops, by mid-2021 Zalando had turned into an online fashion company with an assortment of more than 4,500 international brands, 45 million active customers, and a presence in 23 European markets. An essential component in... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Customer Value and Value Chain; Digital Platforms; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Service Operations; Strategy; Business Strategy; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Distribution Industry; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Europe