Publications

June 1981 (Revised August 1985)
Case

Shopfair Supermarkets (A)

By: John A. Quelch

The marketing vice president of the leading supermarket chain in a major metropolitan area has to plan his 1981 strategy in light of increasing warehouse store competition. Considers relationships with major manufacturers who are supplying warehouse stores with deal... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Marketing Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

19 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

How Mercadona Fixes Retail’s ’Last 10 Yards’ Problem

Imagine a retail chain that offers customers not only the lowest prices but also personalized customer service. Employees receive above-average wages and 20 times more training than the average American retailer. Sounds like a recipe for... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Food & Beverage

07 May 2014
Video

Donald Ralph, Ann Drake, Jane Garvey, and Tom Rice

12 Jul 2022
Cold Call Podcast

Can the Foodservice Distribution Industry Recover from the Pandemic?

Keywords: Re: David E. Bell; Service; Food & Beverage

November 2023
Case

Gabon Special Economic Zone

By: John Macomber and Wale Lawal

Tropical rain forest covers about 80% of the West African nation of Gabon, part of the Congo Basin and the "lungs of the world." Gabon is one of the first nations to earn revenue from carbon sequestration...as long as the rain forest remains intact. There are... View Details

Keywords: Economic Development; Forestry; Wood; Carbon Credits; Supply Chain; Economic Growth; Developing Countries and Economies; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Government Administration; Business and Government Relations; Strategy; Forest Products Industry; Africa; Gabon

March 2007 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Fabindia Overseas Pvt. Ltd.

By: Mukti Khaire and Prabakar (PK) Kothandaraman

Fabindia is a for-profit Indian retail company with the stated mission of providing employment to weavers and traditional handicraft artisans in rural India. Established in 1960 as an exporter of home furnishings, Fabindia has grown as a consumer-facing retailer of... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Growth and Development Strategy; Supply Chain; Mission and Purpose; Expansion; Retail Industry; India

29 May 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Can Marshall’s Clusters Survive Globalization?

Keywords: by Giulio Buciuni & Gary P. Pisano

09 Jun 2022
News

A Radical Treatment for Insulin Pricing

12 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

Rocket Science Retailing: A Practical Guide

The New Science of Retailing: How Analytics Are Transforming the Supply Chain and Improving Performance (Harvard Business Press). As a practical guide, The New Science of Retailing helps retailers mine their... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Retail; Auto

Research Summary

Optimal Decision Making Under Uncertainty

Inventory control problems in supply chains. In this stream of theoretical research, Professor Goh has investigated how inventory should be optimally managed in supply chains. Specifically, he has studied how supply chains can make decisions to operate... View Details

April 2018 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Maersk: Betting on Blockchain

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

In March 2018, international shipping giant Maersk is getting ready to debut a trade digitization platform. Maersk hopes the platform will help streamline global trade since shipping goods internationally is an extraordinarily complicated and inefficient process.... View Details

Keywords: Maersk; IBM; Blockchain; Shipping; Shipping Line; Trade; Bitcoin; Digitization; Container Shipping; Joint Ventures; Ship Transportation; Transportation Networks; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Applications and Software; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry

June 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Nissan's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: Ananth Raman, William Schmidt and Ann Winslow

In January 2020, Ashwani Gupta took over as COO at Nissan Motor Corporation, and several weeks later, the COVID-19 pandemic began. Nissan’s Business Continuity Plan (BCP) had been key to the resilience of Nissan’s supply chain. It had enabled Nissan to recover from... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Supply Chain Management; Health Pandemics; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Japan; India

Summer 2014
Article

Designed for Workarounds: A Qualitative Study of the Causes of Operational Failures in Hospitals

By: Anita L. Tucker, W. Scott Heisler and Laura D. Janisse

Frontline care providers in hospitals spend at least 10% of their time working around operational failures, which are situations where information, supplies, or equipment needed for patient care are insufficient. However, little is known about underlying causes of... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain; Health Care and Treatment; Failure; Business Processes; Health Industry

Read Now

March 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Background Note

Physical Climate Risk

By: Michael W. Toffel, Spencer Glendon and Alison Smart

This note describes how managers can identify and manage their company’s physical climate risks, which can increase their operations and supply chain costs and risks, and affect demand for their goods and services. Can be paired with the video “Preparing business... View Details

Keywords: Resilience; Maps; Climate Risk; Climate Impact; Modeling And Analysis; Climate Change; Risk Management; Demand and Consumers; Supply Chain; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Disruption

2024
Working Paper

Open Devices and Slices: Evidence from Wi-Fi Equipment

By: Do Yoon Kim, Roberto Fontana and Shane Greenstein

Prior studies suggest that openness shapes the introduction of new products. This study collects novel data on all routers and subcomponents introduced between 2000 and 2018. We characterize each firm's position in a supply chain as upstream component providers... View Details

Keywords: Open Source Distribution; Product Development; Supply Chain

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Article

The Re-Industrialization of the United States?

By: Willy C. Shih

Talk of "re-industrialization" in the United States has been supported by a seeming resurgence in manufacturing, but this is driven more by the end of labor arbitrage and increasing coordination costs of offshore manufacturing. Aggressive restructurings and significant... View Details