Publications

29 Mar 2019
News

Callaway Golf Takes a Swing at Outdoor Apparel

Keywords: golf; retail; aquisitions; leadership; risk; Retail Trade; Retail Trade

March 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

ASOS PLC

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Launched in 2000, ASOS was one of the world’s largest online fashion specialists in 2018. Focusing on young consumers aged 16–25 years, the company offered over 85,000 items on its websites, many times more than the largest fashion stores, and added several thousand... View Details

Keywords: ASOS; AsSeenOnScreen; Online Fashion; Online Apparel; Nick Beighton; Nick Robertson; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Social Media; Marketplaces; Shipping; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Startups; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Age; Gender; Currency Exchange Rate; Profit; Revenue; Geography; Geographic Scope; Global Range; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business History; Selection and Staffing; Journals and Magazines; Human Capital; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Succession; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Social Marketing; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Vertical Integration; Segmentation; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United Kingdom; England; London

Fall 2016
Article

How Do Customers Respond to Increased Service Quality Competition?

By: Ryan W. Buell, Dennis Campbell and Frances X. Frei

When does increased service quality competition lead to customer defection, and which customers are most likely to defect? Our empirical analysis of 82,235 customers exploits the varying competitive dynamics in 644 geographically isolated markets in which a nationwide... View Details

Keywords: Service Quality Competition; Retail Banks; Empirical Operations; Retention; Service Operations; Quality; Competition; Banking Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

February 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Case

CVS Health: Prescription for Transformation

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Tuna Cem Hayirli

In 2021, new CEO Karen Lynch (named the most powerful woman in business) considered the next transformation phase for CVS Health (a Fortune 5 corporate giant. The 2018 acquisition of Aetna insurance brought her to the company as part of its long evolution from a... View Details

Keywords: COVID; Caregiving; Healthcare; Access; Change; Retail; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

May 2016
Case

The Inexorable Rise of Walmart? 1988—2016

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In October 2015, Walmart surprised investors by announcing that it expected flat sales growth for 2015 and growth of only 3% to 4% over the coming three years. Profits would also fall due to significant investments in people and technology. The company’s stock price... View Details

Keywords: Asda; Costco; David Glass; Convenience Stores; Discount Retailing; Dollar Stores; Doug McMillon; E-commerce; Online Retail; General Merchandise; Grocery; Lee Scott; Mike Duke; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Neighborhood Market; Sam Walton; Sam's Club; Store Formats; Supercenter; Supermarket; Warehouse Clubs; Merchandising; Walmart; Wal-Mart; Globalized Firms and Management; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Units; Business Divisions; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Banks and Banking; Price; Profit; Revenue; Food; Global Range; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Business History; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Human Capital; Labor Unions; Wages; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Management Succession; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Distribution; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Diversification; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Internet; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Web; Web Sites; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States; Arkansas; Bentonville

March 2018
Supplement

Chewy.com (B)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Matthew G. Preble

Cohen and Chewy’s other board members decided to fully insource order fulfilment and commenced building an order fulfilment center near its 3PL partner’s facility. As soon as the 3PL learned that Chewy would be managing its own order fulfillment; however, it decided to... View Details

Keywords: Pet Food; Pet Products; Retail; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Decision Choices and Conditions; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

August 1984
Article

Kourigyou ni okeru Atarashii Data Kanri System no Kousou: Bumon-betsu ROI no Kaihatsu to Bunseki (A Plan for a New Data Management System in the Retailing Industry)

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi

Keywords: Management; System; Sales; Business Ventures; Retail Industry

Find at Harvard

December 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Case

Ocado

By: José Alvarez, David E. Bell and Damien McLoughlin

In 2015, U.K.-based Ocado was the world's largest pure player in the online home-delivery grocery business and was gaining a growing share of the highly competitive U.K. grocery market. Ocado had made heavy investments in technology, including a highly automated... View Details

07 Mar 2012
News

Fashion Tech Startups Emerge from HBS

Keywords: online retail; online shopping; fashion; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade

20 Jul 2016
News

How Amazon Adapted Its Business Model to India

Keywords: Amazon; online retail; market entry; innovation; Retail Trade

10 Jul 2014
News

Birchbox Store Opens in NY

Keywords: bricks and mortar; retail; customer engagement; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Miscellaneous Store Retailers

October 2012 (Revised May 2014)
Case

J Sainsbury Plc, Road to Recovery

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2012, J Sainsbury Plc (Sainsbury's), the number three supermarket chain in the UK with £22.3 billion in sales, appeared to have put the troubles of the past behind it. For over 70 years, Sainsbury's had been the UK's largest grocer, but Tesco had overtaken it in... View Details

Keywords: United Kingdom; Retailing; Food; Tesco; Sainsbury; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Global Strategy; Retail Industry; United Kingdom

October 2012
Supplement

Hill Country Snack Foods Co., Spreadsheet for Students (Brief Case) (CW)

By: W. Carl Kester and Craig Stephenson

Keywords: United States; Debt Management; Retail Trade; Risk Management; Food; Capital Structure; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Strategy; Retail Industry; United States

July 2014 (Revised November 2014)
Background Note

The Structure and Functioning of the Fashion Industry

By: Mukti Khaire and Hannah Catzen

Fashion is the quintessential social-consumption good; all consumers comply with or react to fashion. Although very few consumers actually control trends, virtually every consumer is affected by fashion and contributes to it by adopting or rejecting popular styles. A... View Details

Keywords: Fashion And Creative Industries; Fashion; Retail; Creativity; Supply and Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

October 2012
Teaching Note

Hill Country Snack Foods Co. (Brief Case)

By: W. Carl Kester and Craig Stephenson

Keywords: United States; Debt Management; Retail Trade; Risk Management; Food; Capital Structure; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Strategy; Retail Industry; United States

February 2019
Teaching Note

Zalora Philippines: From Growth to Profitability

By: Donald Ngwe

Teaching Note for HBS No. 517-009. View Details

Keywords: E-commerce; Online Retail; Emerging Markets; Philippines

26 Jun 2014
News

Digital Innovation at Sephora

Keywords: Internet retail; digital marketing; digital innovation

01 Jun 2023
News

Buy Big, Sell Small

If you live in a rural village or small city in India and run low on toothpaste, rice, or cooking oil, you’ll likely visit your local kirana, the equivalent of a US neighborhood variety store and a mainstay of the country’s $932 billion View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; retail; supply chain management; entrepreneurship; leadership; innovation; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Miscellaneous Store Retailers

Article

La innovación minorista para los consumidores emergentes en América Latina [Retail innovation for emerging consumers in Latin America]

By: Guillermo D'Andrea, Andres Terech and Luciana Silvestri

La innovacion de producto—el tipo de innovacion mas difundida y mas investigada—es dificil de intentar por parte de los minoristas. Estos casi nunca tienen incidencia en las especificaciones, funcionalidades o el diseño de la mayoria de los productos que venden. Por... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Business Model Innovation; Emerging Economies; Business Model; Emerging Markets; Innovation and Invention; Retail Industry