Publications

April 2005
Case

Handleman Company

By: Janice H. Hammond and Kevin Dolan

Describes the organization and operations of the Handleman Co., an intermediary in the music industry that buys recorded music and resells it to mass retailers such as Wal-Mart. The company provides distribution, inventory management, retail merchandising, and category... View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; Music Entertainment; Cost Management; Growth and Development; Business or Company Management; Distribution Channels; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Online Technology; Value Creation; Music Industry

February 2020
Supplement

Indigo Agriculture: Harnessing Nature

By: Michael W. Toffel and James Barnett

Indigo Agriculture used a digital-enabled research and development (R&D) process to launch its initial product, microbial coatings for agricultural seeds, which increase crop yields while reducing the need for fertilizers. In doing so, the company developed direct... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Supply Chain; Social Enterprise; Product Development; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Digital Platforms; Environmental Sustainability; Science-Based Business; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts

August 2007 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Gome Electronics: Evolving the Business Model

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan, Gao Wang, Fei Li, Tracy Manty and Waishun Lo

After 20 years of expansion, Gome Electronics has become China's largest consumer electronics retailer. It has opened stores in almost every province in China, acquired some of its competitors, and went public in Hong Kong. However, it has begun to experience a... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Distribution Channels; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology; Industry Growth; Marketing Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Product; Electronics Industry; Retail Industry; China

February 2000 (Revised April 2001)
Case

CNET 2000

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Pauline M Fischer

CNET's managers explain the strategic analysis that led to their decision to increase their annual marketing budget from $1 million to $100 million. CNET is an online information intermediary that helps consumers make purchase decisions about PC hardware and software,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Budgets and Budgeting; Financial Strategy; Decisions; Growth and Development; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Divisions; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Consumer Behavior; Online Technology; Information Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

20 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 20, 2007

development strategy in 2006. Highlights the strengths and limitations of developing products for public sector organizations in markets created by legislation, as well as the opportunities and challenges of developing a product for mass View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2018
Case

MISHA: Modernizing the World of Shisha

By: William R. Kerr and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in 2017 with two of the five co-founders of MISHA telling the company’s CEO Michal Portz that they believe it is time for the global venture to shut down its operations and cease investments. Portz and another co-founder believe MISHA can still... View Details

Keywords: Innovation And Management; Entrepreneurship; Private Sector; For-profit Firms; Business Strategy; Decision; Business Startups; Emerging Markets; Business Model; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Market Entry and Exit; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technology Industry; Qatar; United States

March 1998 (Revised March 1999)
Case

Dell Online

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

Dell started online commerce for its PCs in 1996, and by 1997 had achieved a sales rate of $3 million a day. The case describes the internal process that led to these dramatic results and poses the question of how the firm should leverage this activity to meet Michael... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Market Transactions; Goals and Objectives; Business Processes; Distribution Channels; Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure; Competitive Advantage; Computer Industry; Retail Industry

16 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Marketing Wine to the World

wholesale clubs, and the like. For instance, Robert Mondavi now sells 10 percent of its wine in unit terms through Costco. These changes in the retail and distribution channels present substantial challenges... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage

06 Jul 2015
News

Lights! Camera... Market!

snack his company produces from the potatoes grown on the very farm featured in the movie. While not a single package of Terra Chips graced the screen, the company’s behind-the-scenes financial, marketing, and distribution support of the... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Food Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries; Information

15 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 15

Distributed Innovation Author:Carliss Y. Baldwin Abstract Systems of distributed innovation-so-called business ecosystems-have become increasingly prevalent in many industries. These entities generally... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

10 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

Lessons from the Browser Wars

diffused into the market. The debate was this: Did Microsoft win because its Internet Explorer was the technologically superior product to Netscape Navigator, or was Microsoft just more successful at the distribution end by convincing... View Details

Keywords: by Sara Grant; Computer; Consumer Products; Technology

29 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 29

Self-Service Distribution Channels: Evidence from Customer Behavior in an Online Banking Channel Authors:Dennis Campbell and Frances X. Frei Publication:Management Science (forthcoming) Abstract This paper... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

18 Mar 2009
Research & Ideas

Marketing After the Recession

out under-performing distributors, shed unprofitable or unreliable customers, deleted poor-selling products from your portfolio, and concentrated your marketing dollars on media and channels that you could prove delivered a strong return... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Retail

10 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Cable TV: From Community Antennas to Wired Cities

abundant channel capacity, cable could become the savior of American television, which had become a "vast wasteland" in the hands of greedy capitalists. 12 In "wired cities," citizens could produce their own... View Details

Keywords: by Thomas R. Eisenmann; Media & Broadcasting; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation

01 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 1

channel offers potential benefits in selling to customer segments that value the convenience of online shopping, but it also raises new challenges. These include the higher likelihood of costly product returns when customers' ability to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2000 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Borders Group, Inc.

By: Zeynep Ton and Ananth Raman

Describes Borders Group, a well-known retail chain, in late 1999 and its traditional strengths and rapid growth in the 1990s. By 1990, however, the company had fallen behind Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble in leveraging the Internet for book retailing, although it... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Distribution Channels; Service Operations; Business Growth and Maturation; Economic Growth; Industry Growth; Growth and Development; Internet; Business Model; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Supply and Industry; Retail Industry; Publishing Industry