Publications

March 1997 (Revised December 1999)
Case

Alden Products, Inc.--European Manufacturing

By: Robert H. Hayes

The European organization of Alden Products, Inc. is contemplating a doubling of unit sales over the next ten years. Their largest plant, located in Holland, was set up 25 years earlier to supply all demands of the EEC countries on the continent. It has since expanded... View Details

Keywords: Production; Growth Management; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Strategic Planning; Performance Capacity; Business Strategy; Netherlands; Europe

March 2022 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Hometown Foods: Changing Price amid Inflation

By: Julian De Freitas, Jeremy Yang and Das Narayandas

During the early part of the 2021 Covid-19 pandemic, Hometown Foods, a large seller of flour-based products, thrived as consumers hoarded baked goods and took up baking to pass the time and find comfort. Then, amid growing shortages in commodities, a vaccine arrived,... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Consumer Behavior; Supply Chain; Inflation and Deflation; Spending; Price Bubble; Price; Volatility; Food and Beverage Industry

April 1988 (Revised September 1992)
Case

Frito-Lay, Inc.: The Backhaul Decision

By: Janice H. Hammond

Prior to the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, companies with private trucking fleets were generally prohibited from selling transportation services to other companies. The deregulation of the trucking industry in 1980 allowed private carriers to offer for-hire transportation... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Revenue; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Marketing Strategy; Distribution; Service Operations; Sales; Salesforce Management; Transportation; Food and Beverage Industry

2011
Working Paper

The Impact of Forward-Looking Metrics on Employee Decision Making

By: Pablo Casas-Arce, F. Asis Martinez-Jerez and V.G. Narayanan

This paper analyzes the effects of providing forward-looking metrics on employee decision making. We use data from a southern European bank that, in April 2002, started providing its branch managers with customer lifetime value (CLV) information about mortgage... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Choices and Conditions; Mortgages; Employees; Information; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Service Delivery; Banking Industry; Europe

August 2006
Case

Dreyer's Slow Churned(TM) Ice Cream

By: Noel H. Watson, Steven C. Wheelwright and Brian DeLacey

Examines capacity forecasting and planning in a complex new product introduction scenario. The introduction at Dreyer's, a large dairy snack manufacturer, involves not only a new product but a new manufacturing process and product package, thus implying a significant... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Forecasting and Prediction; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Development; Planning; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

August 1976 (Revised April 1995)
Background Note

The Integration of Mass Production and Mass Distribution

Describes the sudden appearance of the large industrial enterprise in the 1880s. Reviews the three types of mass-production industries in which the new form came: those producing perishable products; those making low-priced semi-perishable products; and makers of... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Production; Manufacturing Industry

November 1999 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Granny's Goodies, Inc.

By: Das Narayandas and Katherine B. Korman

The young entrepreneurs of Granny's Goodies, Inc., a corporate gift package specialist, face the challenge of finding ways to create consistent revenue streams and reduce sales costs. Outside of a few long-term contracts, the two founders have had to work very hard for... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Customer Relationship Management; Entrepreneurship; Cost Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Design; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Segmentation; Service Industry

December 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Cann: High Hopes for Cannabis Infused Beverages

By: Ayelet Israeli and Anne V. Wilson

Founded in 2018 by Jake Bullock and Luke Anderson, Cann sold “social tonics,” or cannabis-infused beverages. By 2022, the company had several notable celebrity investors and talent partners, had sold over 10 million beverages to consumers, was distributing in six... View Details

March 2001 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Syncra Systems

Syncra Systems makes Internet-based software that allows supply chain partners to compare disparate forecasts and production plans, to uncover any discrepancies among them, and to address these issues. However, many potential Syncra customers perceive that they will... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain Management; Applications and Software; Sales

22 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 23

industrial production (Alfaro and Chen, 2014). Using a unique worldwide plant-level dataset that reports detailed location, ownership, and operation information for plants in over 100 countries, we construct a spatially continuous index... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Benetton Group S.p.A., 2012

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

On May 31, 2012, after 36 years on the Milan Stock Exchange, Benetton was officially delisted and taken private by Edizione, the Benetton family's holding company. Since 2000, Benetton shareholders had seen its market value fall from $4.3 billion to $720 million at the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Fashion; Retail; Privatization; Family Ownership; Performance Improvement; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Globalized Firms and Management; Change Management; Restructuring; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Italy

16 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Weighing Digital Tradeoffs in Private Equity

intelligence (AI) and data analytics into an organization’s day-to-day operations to streamline workflows and gain data-driven insights to improve the business. “At this time, PE firms are finding that there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

October 2011 (Revised May 2015)
Case

The American Repertory Theater

By: Rohit Deshpande, Allen S. Grossman and Ryan Johnson

When Diane Paulus, artistic director and CEO of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) first started in 2008, she attracted media coverage around an aesthetic that aimed to give the audience more ownership over the theater experience, excited theatergoers by... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Arts; Business Model; Leading Change; Media; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Nonprofit Organizations; Competitive Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; North and Central America

February 2013 (Revised February 2013)
Case

King Abdullah Economic City in 2009: Population Drivers and Cash Flow

By: John D. Macomber

CEO of high profile new economic city in Saudi Arabia must decide how to allocate limited investment funds across projects under duress. Issues include understanding core economic drivers, planning infrastructure investment and return, attracting multinationals, energy... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Infrastructure; Real Estate Industry; Saudi Arabia

August 2000 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Omnitel Pronto Italia

By: Rajiv Lal, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Suma Raju

Describes the situation faced by Omnitel soon after launching its mobile telecommunication services in Italy in December 1995. Competing against the Italian monopoly, TIM, Omnitel had positioned its services to be better on the quality dimension. However, sales were... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Market Entry and Exit; Product Development; Sales; Competition; Segmentation; Value Creation; Telecommunications Industry; Italy