Publications

Article

Multi-Echelon Inventory Management Under Short-Term Take-or-Pay Contracts

By: Joel Goh and Evan L. Porteus

We extend the Clark–Scarf serial multi-echelon inventory model to include procuring production inputs under short-term take-or-pay contracts at one or more stages. In each period, each such stage has the option to order/process at two different cost rates; the cheaper... View Details

Keywords: Inventory Management; Multi-echelon Inventory Theory; Karush Lemma; Clark-Scarf Model; Convex Ordering Cost; Advance Commitments; Supply Chain

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May 1999 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Marshall Industries

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Confounding predictions that the Internet would "disintermediate" commerce, making "middle man" companies all but obsolete, Marshall Industries, a leading electronics distributor, used the Internet and digital technologies to reinvent itself. Marshall continued to sell... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain; Emerging Markets; Customer Focus and Relationships; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry

Rethinking the Profession Formerly Known as Advertising: How Data Science Is Disrupting the Work of Agencies

Speaker's Box, Journal of Advertising Research

“Speaker’s Box” invites academics and practitioners to identify potential areas of research affecting marketing and advertising. Its intention is to bridge the gap between the length... View Details

01 Mar 2021
News

Manage the Suppliers That Could Harm Your Brand

14 Dec 2017
HBS Seminar

Andrew Davis, Johnson, Cornell University

05 Dec 2019
HBS Seminar

Georgia Perakis, MIT Sloan School of Management

December 2024
Case

Yum China: People First

By: David E. Bell, Shu Lin and Nancy Dai

Joey Wat, CEO of Yum China Holdings, Inc., which operated KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell in mainland China, oversaw KFC’s milestone as the first Western quick-service chain in China to surpass 10,000 stores, with Pizza Hut exceeding 3,000 locations. This expansion was... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Franchise Ownership; Performance Efficiency; Expansion; Employees; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; China

Laura Alfaro

Laura Alfaro is the Warren Alpert Professor of Business Administration. At Harvard since 1999, she served as Minister of National Planning and Economic Policy in Costa Rica from 2010-2012, taking a leave from HBS. She is Co-Editor of the Journal of International... View Details

March 2011
Article

Restaurant Organizational Forms and Community in the U.S. in 2005

By: Glenn R. Carroll and Magnus Thor Torfason

Recent sociological theory and research highlights food, drink, and restaurants as culturally meaningful and related to social identity. An implication of this view holds that the prevalence of corporate chain restaurants affects the sociological character of... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Age; Supply Chain Management; Culture; Balance and Stability; Income Characteristics; Research; Civil Society or Community; Identity; Theory; Society; Service Industry; United States

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Read Now

14 Nov 2019
HBS Seminar

Volodymyr Babich, Georgetown University

Research Summary

Innovations in Logistics: The Impact of Channel Coordination

By: Roy D. Shapiro

Roy D. Shapiro is studying innovative systems and management approaches that integrate and coordinate material and information flows through the supply chain so as to reduce or eliminate the redundant activities that tend to characterize these channels. His research... View Details

June 2004 (Revised September 2007)
Case

Zara: IT for Fast Fashion

In 2003, Zara's CIO must decide whether to upgrade the retailer's IT infrastructure and capabilities. At the time of the case, the company relies on an out-of-date operating system for its store terminals and has no full-time network in place across stores. Despite... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Value and Value Chain; Information Management; Infrastructure; Supply Chain Management; Information Technology; Retail Industry

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

12 Sep 2016
Research & Ideas

What Brands Can Do to Monitor Factory Conditions of Suppliers

brand-name multinationals that contract out the work. “In a sense, global supply chains are serving a regulatory function, with companies imposing an additional layer of rules and investing resources to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

06 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: February 6, 2018

abnormal returns also are positively correlated with CEOs’ tendency to focus their speech more on work-related topics than personal topics. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53858 A New Categorization of the U.S. Economy: The Role... View Details

02 May 2020
News

The Great Convergence: Mass Schooling and Skill Accumulation in Africa and Asia since 1870

Tracking the Short-Run Price Impact of U.S. Tariffs

This paper examines the short-run impact of the 2025 U.S. tariffs on consumer prices using a unique integration of high-frequency retail pricing data, product-level country-of-origin information, and detailed tariff classifications. By linking daily prices from major... View Details

2025
Working Paper

Tracking the Short-Run Price Impact of U.S. Tariffs

By: Alberto Cavallo, Paola Llamas and Franco Vazquez

Keywords: Tariffs; Trade; Price; Inflation and Deflation