Retail Chains - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Apr 1998
News

Deals For Sale

purchase goods from distributors. "A retail chain store with several outlets might bid on these items, for example," he says. Auctions are held daily and are done in real time. "You go to the site, see what... View Details

Keywords: Judith A. Ross

August 2015
Supplement

Sustainability at IKEA Group: Video Supplement

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Michael W. Toffel

This video contains Q&A with IKEA Group's Chief Sustainability Officer Steve Howard and IKEA Group's Industrial Strategy Manager Per Berggren, the two primary case protagonists. They respond to student questions after the case was taught at an executive education class... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Operations; Environmental Sustainability; Retail Industry

Citation

Purchase

01 Sep 2017
News

A Jolt for the African Coffee Industry

inability to get one of the espresso-based drinks to which he had grown attached during his years working in finance in New York. Dozie hopes to solve both the supply and the demand problems with Café Neo, a coffeehouse chain he and his... View Details

Keywords: Sasha Issenberg; cafe; Cafe Neo; Retail Trade; Retail Trade

09 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Starbucks’ Lessons for Premium Brands

"Stores no longer have the soul of the past and reflect a chain of stores vs. the warm feeling of a neighborhood store." Starbucks tried to add value through innovation, offering wi-fi service and creating and selling its own... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Retail

01 Dec 2017
News

Ask the Expert: Human Intelligence

(PLDA 15, 2013) SESERI: E-commerce—and retail, more broadly—is one of the areas that will benefit the most from AI. It will enable retailers to provide much better experiences to consumers. For instance, AI will be able to predict what I... View Details

Keywords: April White

09 Feb 2012
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Online Marketing

ever-improving technology, customer loyalty programs are proving extremely popular among retailers—but merchants are not getting all they should out of them. The reason? Professor José Alvarez says retailers need to see customers as... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Technology

28 May 2013
Research & Ideas

Can LEGO Snap Together a Future in Asia?

Asia," as one LEGO executive put it. Uncertainties of Asian retail. Many Asian countries lack a developed retail network. And while big chains like Walmart and Tesco are growing in China, the country... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Entertainment & Recreation

28 Apr 2011
Op-Ed

While Waiting for Japan’s Recovery, Let’s Enhance Supplier Competitiveness at Home

Connection on January 31. Other major manufacturers and retailers are soon to join, and IBM intends to find other ways to enhance small business growth. Imagine the possibilities for a national campaign to reduce unemployment and grow the... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

16 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Marketing Wine to the World

than corporate managers who are trying to move money from "cash cows" to "growth businesses." Q: It sounds like supermarkets and chain stores are starting to dominate wine distribution—Costco is one of the largest wine... View Details

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

01 Oct 2002
News

Jeremiah P. Murphy, Jr.

Harvard Square retail community, the Coop's number was almost up when Murphy arrived on the scene. As an old-style department store that carried everything from refrigerators to intimate apparel, the store was struggling to compete in the... View Details

16 May 2016
HBS Case

Food Safety Economics: The Cost of a Sick Customer

when more than 50 people in 11 states were sickened by an initial E. coli outbreak. “Do those smaller local organic growers have the experience, resources, and commitment to test their products for various food safety risks?” The chain... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

12 Dec 2012
Research & Ideas

Power to the People: The Unexpected Influence of Small Coalitions

have a natural authority." In retail, Trumbull found more evidence that diffuse groups impact outcome, comparing retail policy in France and Germany. Mom-and-pop stores in both countries have faced the threat of large View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

May 1999 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Victory Supermarkets: Expansion Strategy?

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

Jay DiGeronimo, president of a 16-store supermarket chain, is trying to decide the timing and method for expanding his chain. The family-owned company could continue in a maintenance mode, with each family member running one store. It could expand slowly using a new... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Cost vs Benefits; Trade; Investment; Market Entry and Exit; Supply Chain Management; Private Ownership; Competition; Expansion; Retail Industry

Citation

Find at Harvard

01 Mar 2004
News

Toy Story

one was surprised. On the retail side, the large discount chains — WalMart and Target in particular — had steadily taken market share from specialty toy stores, in some cases using toys as a loss leader to... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young; toys; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Arts, Entertainment

23 Jul 2021
Blog Post

Trends in Consumer Products

simple and often logical but difficult to predict. Jake Kirsch ‘11, VP Innovation, ABinBev Covid had a massive effect on our business. Fifteen percent of our business is in bars and restaurants and they were effectively closed. Some new products scheduled for launch... View Details

21 Nov 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, November 21, 2017

chain that generalizes Antràs and Chor (2013). To assess the evidence, we construct firm-level measures of the upstreamness of integrated and non-integrated inputs by combining information on the production activities of firms operating... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Sep 2024
Blog Post

Syngenta Tomato Vision

Product Development & Marketing, where Product Development Specialists and Breeders explained the process for developing new tomato varieties. Many different factors (e.g., consumer preferences such as taste and shape, disease resistance, supply View Details

17 Apr 2023
Blog Post

Climate Stories Episode #14: Bonita Stewart (MBA 1983) – A Career Devoted to Creating the Future

Climate Stories Episode #14 – Bonita Stewart (MBA 1983) – A Career Devoted to Creating the Future Climate Story #14 examines sustainable manufacturing and retailing from the corporate board perspective of HBS alumna, Bonita Stewart (MBA... View Details

Web

Kresge Way | About

Foundation, the philanthropic organization established by his father, Sebastian S. Kresge. The elder Kresge was a legendary retailing entrepreneur who founded a chain of five-and-ten-cent stores in the... View Details

Web

Asia Pacific - Global Activities 2021

“The Great East Japan Earthquake (B): Fast Retailing Group's Response.” Reflecting on the experience, Nonomura, now managing director of IDEO Tokyo, notes, “The best cases capture decisions made by courageous people in times of trial. I... View Details

Publications