Publications

07 May 2021
News

A Best Buy CEO on What It Takes to Fix a Struggling Retailer

August 2020 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Migros Turkey: Scaling Online Operations (A)

By: Antonio Moreno and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in November 2019 as Ozgur Tort and Mustafa Bartin, CEO and chief large-format and online retail officer of Migros Ticaret A.S. (Migros), Turkey’s oldest and one of its largest supermarket chains, are contemplating what the best fulfillment format and... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Grocery; Business Model; Emerging Markets; For-Profit Firms; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Value Creation; Globalization; Competition; Expansion; Logistics; Profit; Resource Allocation; Corporate Strategy; Turkey

14 Oct 2015
News

An emerging trend in retail should scare everyone from Michael Kors to Macy's

12 Jan 2017
News

Trump Thanks L.L. Bean, the Latest Retailer Caught Between Him and His Critics

17 Aug 2020

Life at HBS Chat Series: MBA Students in Retail & Luxury Goods Club

Hear straight from current HBS students regarding their MBA experience. Students will share their backgrounds and how they have cultivated their personal and professional interests while at HBS through club associations. View Details

September 1999
Article

Process Variation as a Determinant of Bank Performance: Evidence from the Retail Banking Study

By: F. Frei, R. Kalakota, A. Leone and L. Marx

Keywords: Performance; Information

12 Feb 2020
News

How Indie Bookstores Beat Amazon At The Bookselling Game: Lessons Here For Every Retailer

March 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Teaching Note

Afterpay U.S.: The Omnichannel Dilemma

By: Antonio Moreno and Anibha Singh

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-086. In 2018, Nick Molnar, the founder of the Australia-based online payment service Afterpay began its expansion to the U.S. market. The service had gained a loyal following in Australia by enabling customers to pay for online... View Details

January 2010 (Revised February 2010)
Supplement

IBM Retail Business Assessment at Dillard's, Inc.: Managing Staffing Levels to Improve Conversion (CW)

IBM consultants are convinced that there is a positive relationship with staffing levels and conversion rate. How should Dillard's, a large department store chain, use this insight to manage their staffing levels? View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Operations; Retail Industry

January 2014 (Revised November 2021)
Case

Filene's Basement: Inside a Fired Customer's Relationship

By: Jill Avery and Susan Fournier

How, in a business climate in which building relationships with customers has dominated both managerial thought and marketing budgets, could Filene's Basement have fired a loyal customer, one who was formally and informally recognized as a best customer? This case... View Details

Keywords: CRM; Retailing; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Retail Industry; United States

January 2014
Case

Tesco Group Food

By: Jose B. Alvarez, Damien P. McLoughlin and Mary Shelman

In 2010, the world's third largest retailer created a new centralized sourcing department for fresh food and store-brand grocery products in response to changes in global supply and to better meet the needs of a new multi-channel retail environment. The case, set in... View Details

Keywords: Food Retailing; Multichannel Retailing; Sustainable Supply Chains; Agribusiness; Food Marketing; Supply Chain Management; Marketing; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United Kingdom

Article

Channel Integration, Sales Dispersion, and Inventory Management

By: Santiago Gallino, Antonio Moreno and Ioannis Stamatopoulos

We study the effects of the introduction of cross-channel functionalities on the overall sales dispersion of retailers and the implications of these effects for inventory management. To do that, we analyze data from a leading U.S. retailer who introduced a... View Details

Keywords: Retail Operations; Online Retail; Channel Integration; Sales Dispersion; Long Tail; Empirical Operations; Inventory Management; Omnichannel Retail; Marketing Channels; Integration; Sales; Logistics; Operations; Management; Retail Industry

2002
Chapter

Cooperative Customer Management: Is There Strategic Potential for a New Relationship between Retail and Industry?

By: Christian H.M. Ketels, Dirk Seifert and Alexander Kracklauer

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Cooperation; Supply Chain Management; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

June 2007
Article

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Mood Congruity, Self-monitoring and Retail Context Preference

By: Nancy M. Puccinelli, Rohit Deshpandé and Alice M. Isen

Keywords: Sales; Social Psychology

December 2022
Article

The Contribution of Price Growth to Pharmaceutical Revenue Growth in the United States: Evidence from Medicines Sold in Retail Pharmacies

By: Pragya Kakani, Michael Chernew and Amitabh Chandra

Context: To what extent does pharmaceutical revenue growth depend on new medicines versus increasing prices for existing medicines? Moreover, does using list prices, as is commonly done, instead of prices net of confidential rebates offered by manufacturers, which are... View Details

Keywords: Revenue; Price; Policy; Business Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry

October 2014
Case

Mothercare, 2014

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In early 2014, Mothercare was the UK's leading retailer of mother-and-baby products. In fiscal 2013, it generated £341 million in revenues from its 255 UK stores and £128 million online, and was more than three times the size of its next biggest competitor, Mama and... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Turnaround; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Retail Industry; United Kingdom

September 2015 (Revised September 2020)
Case

Gap Inc.: Refashioning Performance Management

By: Joshua Margolis, Paul McKinnon and Michael Norris

In 2014, clothing retailer Gap Inc. rolled out a new performance management process for headquarters staff that did away with a traditional rating and ranking system. The new process involved informal monthly meetings between managers and their reports, and it more... View Details

Keywords: Performance Management; Retail; HR; Motivation and Incentives; Performance; Management; Human Resources; Performance Evaluation; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

25 Feb 2014
News

Is Gap Inc.'s Minimum Wage Hike Good Retail Politics? Harvard Historian Nancy Koehn Weighs In

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; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Italy