Publications

December 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Todovino: Can Your Rival be Your Friend?

Todovino sells Spanish wines through wine clubs and web sites. Founder-CEO Gonzalo Verdera has partnered with many companies to create cobranded wine clubs, but now he is pondering a joint venture with one of his rivals, a brick-and-mortar wine chain, where Todovino... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Growth and Development Strategy; Agreements and Arrangements; Partners and Partnerships; Competition; Cooperation; Online Technology; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

October 2001 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Philipp Justus at eBay Germany (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Maria Farkas

A week after becoming country manager of eBay's recently acquired German auction site, Philipp Justus must steer the company through a massive technical integration with eBay's Web site. Throughout the seven-month project, Justus and his team must master the challenge... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Design; Leadership; Internet and the Web; Globalized Firms and Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Managerial Roles; Management Teams; Management Practices and Processes; Auctions; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Germany

Dr. Jill Avery is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration and C. Roland Christensen Distinguished Management Educator in the marketing unit at Harvard Business School. She is a respected authority on branding and brand management, customer relationship... View Details

Keywords: retailing; retailing; retailing; retailing; retailing; retailing; retailing; retailing; retailing

Program

Creating Brand Value

decisions Develop a strong personal brand Who Should Attend Mid to senior-level marketing executives charged with creating, nurturing, and managing brand value Entrepreneurs who want to create or grow their own brands in the consumer/retail space Consumer and View Details

21 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Buy Now, Pay Later: How Retail's Hot Feature Hurts Low-Income Shoppers

Online shopping features that let consumers pay for goods in interest-free installments exploded during the pandemic, but new research questions the riskiness of such services: Are people getting in over their heads? Buy now, pay later... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Retail; Retail; Retail

May 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Lowe's: Improving the Total Home Strategy

By: Elie Ofek, K. Shelette Stewart and Alicia Dadlani

In 2023, Marvin Ellison, CEO of Lowe’s, contemplated enhancements to the company’s Total Home Strategy to accelerate performance and grow market share. In the last five years since becoming CEO, Ellison had championed a turnaround of the company, completing a... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Competition; Brands and Branding; Business Strategy; Retail Industry; United States; North Carolina

23 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 23, 2008

Working PapersSecuring Online Advertising: Rustlers and Sheriffs in the New Wild West Author:Benjamin G. Edelman Abstract Read the news of recent computer security guffaws, and it's striking how many problems stem from View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

21 Jan 2014
First Look

First Look: January 21

these features may also facilitate discrimination based on sellers' race, gender, age, or other aspects of appearance. In this paper, we test for racial discrimination against landlords in the online rental marketplace Airbnb.com. Using a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 1999 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Onsale, Inc.

By: Youngme E. Moon

Onsale has been a pioneer in electronic commerce, offering excess and refurbished goods using an online auction format. The company is now planning to become a player in the highly competitive world of first-run computer merchandise as well. However, unlike other... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Transformation; Customers; Brands and Branding; Auctions; Network Effects; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Internet and the Web; Retail Industry

05 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: iPads, Kindles, and the Close of a Chapter in Book Publishing

future? Olson has some thoughts—but no easy answers—to those questions. What About The Customer? E-book pricing is one of the biggest sources of friction. In a recent dustup between Amazon and Macmillan, the online View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Information; Publishing; Entertainment & Recreation

02 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 2, 2018

occupation or possession by grant/gift, and tributary or chieftaincy. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54766 Opportunistic Returns and Dynamic Pricing: Empirical Evidence from Online View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

June 2011 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Wal-Mart Update, 2011

By: David B. Yoffie and Renee Kim

In 2011, Wal-Mart was the world's largest company with $420 billion in sales and operations in 14 countries. Yet it found itself searching for the right growth strategy moving forward. U.S. same-store sales had declined for eight consecutive quarters and Wal-Mart was... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Global Range; Business Strategy; Retail Industry

23 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 23

failures of early online grocers such as Webvan, grocery remains both the largest single U.S. retail category and one of the few that has not yet migrated online. Amazon began testing its grocery delivery... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2017
Case

Shift Technologies, Inc.

By: Thomas Eisenmann and Nicole Tempest Keller

In 2017, management at Shift, an online marketplace that uses a “high touch,” concierge approach to buy and sell used cars, was formulating plans for the San Francisco–based startup’s next phase of expansion. One option was to preserve Shift’s current business model... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Market Design; Multi-Sided Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States

February 2001 (Revised November 2009)
Case

Amazon.com (C)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

At the end of 1998, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos ponders the next moves for his company. Having secured the leadership position as the leading online book seller in the United States, Amazon.com has now moved into the product categories of CDs and videos by... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Internet and the Web; Business Growth and Maturation; Books; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Germany; United Kingdom; United States

January 2017 (Revised August 2019)
Case

X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Is Amazon a Friend or Foe? (A)

By: Feng Zhu and Angela Acocella

Three years after launching his brick-and-mortar store, X Fire Paintball and Airsoft, Steve Herbert Sr. and his sons began selling products on Amazon.com’s third-party Marketplace, and online sales expanded rapidly. Over time, X Fire noticed that products of which it... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Competition; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Small Business; Retail Industry; Canada

17 Jan 2024
HBS Case

Psychological Pricing Tactics to Fight the Inflation Blues

percent off bargain. Online retail giants, such as Temu and Shein, are known for regularly using this tactic, displaying crossed-out anchor prices along with deeply discounted sale prices. “Transparency goes... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Retail; Retail

January 2017 (Revised August 2019)
Supplement

X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Is Amazon a Friend or Foe? (B)

By: Feng Zhu and Angela Acocella

Three years after launching his brick-and-mortar store, X Fire Paintball and Airsoft, Steve Herbert Sr. and his sons began selling products on Amazon.com’s third-party Marketplace and online sales expanded rapidly. Over time, X Fire noticed that products of which it... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Competition; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Small Business; Retail Industry; Canada