Publications

January 2021
Article

The Effects of Menu Costs on Retail Performance: Evidence from Adoption of the Electronic Shelf Label Technology

By: Ioannis Stamatopoulos, Achal Bassamboo and Antonio Moreno

We use the adoption of electronic shelf labels (ESLs) by an international grocery retailer in 2015 to identify the effects of physical menu costs (i.e., labor and material costs of price adjustment) on retail performance. We find that the installation of ESLs increased... View Details

Keywords: Retail Operations; Dynamic Pricing; Revenue Management; Operations; Price; Revenue; Management; Retail Industry

Find at Harvard

18 Oct 2022
Cold Call Podcast

Chewy.com’s Make-or-Break Logistics Dilemma

Keywords: Re: Jeffrey F. Rayport; Retail

August 2020 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Nubank: Democratizing Financial Services

By: Michael Chu, Carla Larangeira and Pedro Levindo

Nubank, a wholly-digital solution created to disrupt Brazilian banking, with 6 million clients and a $4 billion valuation after five years, must decide whether to expand to Mexico. The company was founded in São Paulo in 2013 by Colombian-born David Vélez to seize what... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Financial Inclusion; Digital Banking; Credit Cards; Banks and Banking; Disruption; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; South America; Brazil; North America; Mexico

29 Oct 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Robots in the Boardroom

Advanced Technologies How telecom giant Vodafone incorporated big data, automation, and artificial intelligence to improve productivity while ensuring new opportunities for next-generation workers. Will Machine Learning Make You a Better... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

31 Mar 2022
HBS Seminar

John Paul MacDuffie, Wharton

April 2020 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Unilever's Response to the Future of Work

By: William R. Kerr, Emilie Billaud and Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej

In February 2020, Nick Dalton, executive vice president HR business transformation at Unilever, reflected on the changing nature of work marked by rapid advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation. Launched in 2016, Unilever’s Future of Work... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Human Capital; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Structure; Transformation; Human Resources; Consumer Products Industry; Europe

01 Feb 2022
Book

Innovation Isn’t Just for Startups: How Big Companies Can Succeed

Andrew Binns, a consultant affiliated with HBS’s Digital Initiative. Tushman, the Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, chairs the Advanced Management Program at HBS. He co-wrote the book with Binns, a principal at View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

September 2014
Case

FormPrint Ortho500

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Alisa Zalosh

The Senior Vice President of FormPrint's Medical Products business unit is considering issues raised by the upcoming introduction of a new 3D printing system, the Ortho500, which could print custom exoskeletal orthopedic splints, braces, and casts that conformed to a... View Details

Keywords: B2B Marketing; Technological Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Product Development; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

April 2009 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Nippon Steel Corporation

By: Srikant M. Datar and Akiko Kanno

Nippon Steel Corporation, the largest Japanese steel producer and second largest in the world faces challenges in pursuing strategy to become a true global player. Nippon Steel had long been the top Japanese company, however the emergence of a global player,... View Details

Keywords: History; Corporate Strategy; Problems and Challenges; International Accounting; Change Management; Restructuring; Competitive Strategy; Emerging Markets; Globalization; Global Strategy; Steel Industry; Japan

February 2002 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Chengwei Ventures and the hdt* Investment

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Bo Feng, cofounder and principal in Chengwei Ventures, one of the first sovereign venture capital firms in China, is trying to decide on the proper business model for hdt, the product of a merger between two portfolio companies. This case discusses the best way for the... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Relationship Management; Sovereign Finance; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Entrepreneurship; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Markets; Business Model; Financial Services Industry; China

10 Sep 2012
News

Join the Insurgency Against the Jobs Crisis

07 Feb 2013
HBS Seminar

Scott Cook, Intuit

Pay Harmony: Peer Comparison and Executive Compensation

This study suggests that peer comparison affects both wage setting and productivity within firms. We report three changes in division manager compensation following a 1991-1992 controversy over executive pay. We argue that this... View Details

October 2015 (Revised January 2017)
Case

P&G Canada: Old Company, New Tricks

By: Brian J. Hall, Tiffany Y. Chang and Theresa Morin Hall

P&G Canada faces ongoing global pressure to increase productivity and reduce spending. Thom Lachman, president of P&G Canada, is seemingly out of options that will make a large enough impact without harming the business, until the idea of a radical space reduction... View Details

Keywords: Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Human Resources; Change Management; Transition; Consumer Products Industry; Canada

May 1994
Background Note

Reorienting Channels of Distribution

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Traditionally, distribution channels have been viewed as vertical marketing systems where responsibility was transferred from one layer to the next, like passing a baton in a relay race. Distribution channels in the future are likely to look more like horizontal... View Details

Keywords: Distribution Channels; Customers; Supply and Industry; Alliances; Performance Efficiency; Performance Effectiveness; Change; Distribution Industry

16 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

Luxury Isn’t What It Used to Be

Cashing in on the $60 billion global luxury goods market has never been tougher—or more rewarding. Competition is keen. And consumer preferences are constantly shifting, causing the concept of luxury itself to change over time. As a... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Consumer Products

April 1999 (Revised September 1999)
Case

Compaq Computer: Consumer Notebook Group

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

Presents the background for a video of a focus group on Compaq Computer's new consumer notebook. Engineers, manufacturers, and retailers had collaborated on the product design, which has been approved by the executive committee. A launch is scheduled for nine months... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Product Launch; Product Design; Outcome or Result; Social and Collaborative Networks; Corporate Strategy; Computer Industry

April 2012
Case

Credit Rating Agency Reform in the US and EU

By: Robert C. Pozen and Brian Conroy

The purpose of this note is to explore reform options for the credit rating industry. The note examines the ways in which credit rating agencies contributed to the recent financial crisis, particularly through ratings of securitized products and sovereign debt. It... View Details

Keywords: Debt Securities; Financial Condition; Standards; Financial Crisis; Corporate Finance; Financial Services Industry; United States; European Union