Publications

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; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Europe

November 2019
Supplement

Kids & Company: Entering the U.S.

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah Mehta and Matthew Preble

This video supplement pairs with “Kids & Company: Entering the U.S.” (case no. 418011). It contains eight individual clips that range in length from 5 to 12 minutes. Instructors can use the videos, either in whole or in part, as an additional teaching... View Details

January 2015 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Nasty Gals Do It Better

By: David Collis, Diane Chang, Matthew Shaffer and Ashley Hartman

In 2006, Sophia Amoruso started Nasty Gal, an eBay boutique selling vintage clothes. With a strong sense of style and personality, Amoruso poured herself into building the brand and developing relationships with her customers—typically the slightly edgy 18–24 year old.... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth; Brand Management; Online Retail; Clothing; Apparel; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Management; Marketing Strategy; Strategic Planning; Social Media; E-commerce; Digital Marketing; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

Profile

Annora Wang

many countries: Australia, Burma, Thailand, South Africa, Croatia, China. What position have you accepted and, ultimately, what kind of impact would you like to make? I’m working with Walt Disney, in its Corporate Strategy View Details

Keywords: Entertainment / Media

September 1999 (Revised September 1999)
Case

Convergys Corporation

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Kelley Porter

Focuses on the important issue of capturing the synergies between the two sides of the business, Information Management Group (IMG) and Customer Management Group (CMG). In addition, the case also addresses strategic issues from each of the individual businesses. For... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Service Industry; Service Industry

02 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Retail Reaches a Tipping Point—Which Stores Will Survive?

In this three-part series, we start with an overview of why retail experts Rajiv Lal, José B. Alvarez, and Dan Greenberg believe retail is at an inflection point. In Part Two, coming next week, they identify effective View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

10 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Reinventing the Industrial Giant

make it difficult for GM to meet its expectations. Kodak is another company that is attempting to reinvent itself by shifting its products and services to the new economy. Through an emphasis on View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria, Davis Dyer & Frederick Dalzell; Manufacturing

August 2000
Case

Alison Brown of Compass Records

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Amy Blitz

Highly acclaimed recording artist, banjo player, and jazz/blue grass composer Alison Brown has used her artistic experience and MBA-based business savvy to found a successful independent record company with bassist/husband Garry West. Representing a stellar roster of... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Industry Structures; Service Delivery; Business Strategy; Expansion; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

July 2003 (Revised June 2010)
Case

FrontPoint Partners

By: Jay O. Light

A hedge fund platform, a new and unique kind of asset management firm, contemplates various client markets for its services. View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Investment; Demand and Consumers; Digital Platforms; Service Delivery; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

26 May 2003
Research & Ideas

What Your Competition is Telling You

and do it more efficiently, over time. Richard E. Beville should know. The chief operating officer of Lamont Digital Systems, a Greenwich, Conn., provider of digital... View Details

Keywords: by David Stauffer

Profile

Laura Mackay

(e.g., new delivery models, digital health, etc.) is front and center. The level of access to thought leaders in the community and alumni network, as well as to entrepreneurs... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Technology

25 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Has Occupational Licensing Outlived Its Usefulness?

service provider has a license, their hiring decision is still more driven by price and online reviews than the quality assurance that comes with licensing. New research shows that tougher licensing... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Service

June 2020
Case

MOD Pizza: A Winning Recipe? (Abridged)

By: Boris Groysberg, John D. Vaughan and Matthew Preble

This is an abridged version of “MOD Pizza: A Winning Recipe?” HBS Case No. 416-004. Scott and Ally Svenson, the founders of MOD Pizza, had to make a number of decisions in planning how to scale their small company. They wanted to grow MOD from 45 stores as of May 2015... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Selection and Staffing; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Service Industry; Service Industry; United States

March 2018
Supplement

Chewy.com (B)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Matthew G. Preble

Cohen and Chewy’s other board members decided to fully insource order fulfilment and commenced building an order fulfilment center near its 3PL partner’s facility. As soon as the 3PL learned that Chewy would be managing its own order fulfillment; however, it decided to... View Details

Keywords: Pet Food; Pet Products; Retail; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Decision Choices and Conditions; E-commerce; Service Industry; Service Industry

September 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Managing Multi-Media Audiences at WHDH (Boston)

By: Thales Teixeira and V. Kasturi Rangan

WHDH's Channel 7 News rose to the #1 position in Boston-area news broadcasting through its embrace of an innovative format and for affiliating with NBC. Since the early 2000s, however, other news programs had copied their format, and young audiences had begun to use... View Details

Keywords: Online News; Television Advertising; Attention Economics; Cross-media Efforts; Competition; Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Marketing Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Digital Marketing; Television Entertainment; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Boston

March 2018 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Cadre

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Scott Duke Kominers and David Lane

Late in 2017, CEO Ryan Williams and his team debated whether Cadre should become not only a technology-enabled investment manager, but also an online trading exchange providing high levels of liquidity for investors in commercial real estate (CRE) equity. Cadre was a... View Details

Keywords: ＂Cadre,＂; Entrepreneurship; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Private Equity; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

June 2010
Teaching Note

Playing with Fire at Sittercity (A) (TN)

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Rachel Gordon

Note: This mini-Teaching Note was created to provide a brief overview of the teaching plan for this case. Please see the upcoming, fuller Teaching Note for an extensive overview of the underlying research, pedagogical approaches, and other teaching issues. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Service Delivery; Family Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Service Industry; Boston