Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,352)
- Faculty Publications (1,097)
- February 2018 (Revised January 2020)
- Case
SoulCycle: The Road Ahead
By: Ashish Nanda, Eric Van den Steen and Jeffrey Boyar
Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler founded SoulCycle, an indoor cycling studio chain, in 2006 as more than a health club; they wanted it to become a lifestyle brand that would “empower riders in an immersive fitness experience.” By early 2015, SoulCycle had grown to 38... View Details
- January 2018 (Revised October 2021)
- Case
Walmart Inc. takes on Amazon.com
This case explores how Walmart should compete with Amazon. View Details
- January 2018 (Revised March 2019)
- Teaching Note
Jumia Nigeria: from Retail to Marketplace (A) and (B)
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman
Founded in 2012, Jumia Nigeria, a startup effort by Germany-based Rocket Internet, aimed to become an African Amazon. The company entered the nascent market and immediately enjoyed an uptick in consumer spending fueled by the strength of Nigeria’s oil-based economy. By... View Details
- January 2018
- Case
OldTown Berhad
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Greg Saldutte
In December 2017, Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE, a Dutch coffee company) made an offer to acquire OldTown Berhad (OTB), a Malaysian coffee company. Three large shareholders, representing more than half of the outstanding shares, have agreed to tender their shares, and... View Details
Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Discounted Cash Flow (DCF); Malaysia; Coffee; Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG); Free Cash Flow (FCF); Multiples; Bidding Premia; Netherlands; Tender Offer; Mergers and Acquisitions; Valuation; Value Creation; Food; Investment Return; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Malaysia; Netherlands; Singapore; Asia
- January 2018 (Revised October 2021)
- Case
Château Margaux: Launching the Third Wine (Abridged)
By: Elie Ofek
Château Margaux, one of only five prestigious estates in the Bordeaux Medoc wine region to have been classified as a "first-growth", is facing a host of strategic decisions in early 2013. Up until this point the estate had been selling two red wines, a first wine whose... View Details
- January 2018
- Supplement
OldTown Berhad
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Greg Saldutte
In December 2017, Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE, a Dutch coffee company) made an offer to acquire OldTown Berhad (OTB), a Malaysian coffee company. Three large shareholders, representing more than half of the outstanding shares, have agreed to tender their shares and... View Details
Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Discounted Cash Flow (DCF); Malaysia; Coffee; Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG); Free Cash Flow (FCF); Multiples; Bidding Premia; Netherlands; Tender Offer; Mergers and Acquisitions; Valuation; Value Creation; Food; Investment Return; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Malaysia; Netherlands; Singapore; Asia
- January 2018 (Revised May 2019)
- Case
Adeo Health Science: Turning a Product into a Brand
By: Elizabeth A. Keenan and Jill Avery
For decades, American parents were warned to avoid introducing potential allergens to their babies prior to their first birthday. But two influential clinical studies caused the medical establishment to radically reverse its position. Parents were now warned that... View Details
Keywords: Startup; Health Care; Consumer; Consumer Products; Branding; Distribution; Retailing; Go To Market Strategy; Marketing; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; North America
- January 2018 (Revised January 2020)
- Case
STRIVR: Changing the Game in Virtual Reality
By: Rajiv Lal, Matt Denison, Robert Higgins and Scott Johnson
The CEO of a growing virtual reality company that trains athletes must decide whether or not to stay in sports or expand into other areas. View Details
Keywords: Virtual Reality; Strivr; Internet Of Things; Football; Retail; Training; Startup; Start-up; Start-up Growth; ＂Sports Organizations,; Experiential Marketing; Business Startups; Technological Innovation; Sports; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Technology Adoption; Sports Industry; Sports Industry; Sports Industry; United States
- January 2018 (Revised October 2020)
- Case
The Rise and Rise (?) of Walmart (A): Battling Kmart
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Eric Van den Steen and Karen Elterman
This case, set in 1990, describes the history of Walmart and asks what competitive strategies Kmart might adopt in response to Walmart's success. It discusses the strategy and organization of both companies in terms of HR practices, store location, distribution,... View Details
- December 2017 (Revised March 2019)
- Case
Armarium: Luxury Fashion Brands for Rent
By: Jill Avery, David Fubini, Natasha Dossa and Devon Stewart
Armarium, a two-sided online platform that offered consumers the opportunity to rent the most coveted, current season high fashion clothing and accessories from the top global luxury brands, had emerged from its first sales season with two distinct customer segments:... View Details
Keywords: Brand Management; Retailing; Sharing Economy; Luxury Brand; Ecommerce; Startup; Fashion; Brand Positioning; Customer Acquisition; Internet Marketing; Marketing; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Business Startups; Luxury; Consumer Behavior; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Media; E-commerce; Fashion Industry; Fashion Industry; Fashion Industry; United States; North America
- December 2017
- Supplement
Bega Cheese: Bidding to Bring Vegemite Back Home
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Lauren G. Pickle
In January 2017, the leadership team of Bega Cheese—the Australian dairy company—was considering a bid for Mondelēz International’s Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) grocery business which included several leading consumer brands (Vegemite—the iconic Australian spread,... View Details
Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Value Drivers; Discounted Cash Flow (DCF); Dairy Industry; Corporate Scope; Diversification; Consumer Goods; Iconic Brands; Australia; Corporate Finance; Bidding Strategy; Cross Border; Mergers and Acquisitions; Valuation; Value Creation; Business Divisions; Capital Structure; Food; Bids and Bidding; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Australia; United States
- January 2018
- Supplement
Jumia Nigeria PowerPoint Supplement
Founded in 2012, Jumia Nigeria, a startup effort by Germany-based Rocket Internet, aimed to become an African Amazon. The company entered the nascent market and immediately enjoyed an uptick in consumer spending fueled by the strength of Nigeria’s oil-based economy. By... View Details
- November 2017
- Teaching Note
Predicting Consumer Tastes with Big Data at Gap
By: Ayelet Israeli and Jill Avery
CEO Art Peck was eliminating his creative directors for The Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic brands and promoting a collective creative ecosystem fueled by the input of big data. Rather than relying on artistic vision, Peck wanted the company to use the mining of big... View Details
Keywords: Brands; Brand ＆ Product Management; Big Data; ＂Marketing Analytics＂; Consumer Behavior; Predictive Analytics; Forecasting; Preferences; Operation Management; Distribution Channels; Marketing; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Forecasting and Prediction; Data and Data Sets; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States; North America
- November 2017 (Revised October 2018)
- Case
Brandless: Disrupting Consumer Packaged Goods
By: Jill Avery
Brandless, an online direct-to-consumer seller of upscale private-label consumer packaged goods, offered consumers a limited assortment of values-conscious products delivered directly to their homes with the simplicity of one fixed $3 price point that promised an... View Details
Keywords: Brand; Brand Management; Retailing; Retailing Industry; Private Label; Direct To Consumer Marketing; Ecommerce; Digital Marketing; Consumer Packaged Goods; Startup; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Disruption; Food; Product Marketing; Marketing Channels; Consumer Behavior; Brands and Branding; Venture Capital; E-commerce; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; North America
- November 2017
- Case
Loss Prevention at Mac's Convenience Stores (A)
By: Francesca Gino, Katherine DeCelles and Olivia Hull
Faced with a persistent robbery problem at his convenience store company, Sean Sportun, security and loss prevention manager at Mac’s of Central Canada, looked to standardize safety measures and devise a new way of preventing employee injury. But as a 32-year old with... View Details
- November 2017
- Supplement
Loss Prevention at Mac's Convenience Stores (B)
By: Francesca Gino, Katherine DeCelles and Olivia Hull
Supplement to HBS No. 918-001. The case describes the inventive approaches to retail crime prevention that Sean Sportun, security and loss prevention manager at Mac’s Convenience Stores, implemented between 2007 and 2017. View Details
- October 2017
- Case
Shift Technologies, Inc.
By: Thomas Eisenmann and Nicole Tempest Keller
In 2017, management at Shift, an online marketplace that uses a “high touch,” concierge approach to buy and sell used cars, was formulating plans for the San Francisco–based startup’s next phase of expansion. One option was to preserve Shift’s current business model... View Details
- October 2017 (Revised October 2022)
- Case
Jumia Nigeria: from Retail to Marketplace (A)
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Namrata Arora
Founded in 2012, Jumia Nigeria, a startup effort by Germany-based Rocket Internet, aimed to become an African Amazon. The company entered the nascent market and immediately enjoyed an uptick in consumer spending fueled by the strength of Nigeria’s oil-based economy. By... View Details
- October 2017 (Revised September 2018)
- Supplement
Jumia Nigeria: from Retail to Marketplace (B)
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Namrata Arora
This follow up case study explores the ramifications of Jumia's decision to move from a retail-led to a markplace business model for its e-commerce platform. The case visits the company's successes as well as its many failures when adopting this vendor-led strategy. ... View Details