Publications

17 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

Amazon, Whole Foods Deal a Big Win for Consumers

Source: 400tmax Editor's Note. Online retailing behemoth Amazon announced June 16 that it would acquire upscale grocery chain Whole Foods Market in a deal valued at more than $13 billion. Though the company has dabbled with the idea of a brick-and-mortar footprint in... View Details

Keywords: by Jose Alvarez and Len Schlesinger; Retail

March 2016
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Doug Rauch and the Daily Table

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Peter Zimmerman and Penelope Rossano

Former Trader Joe’s President Doug Rauch developed an innovative idea to address the challenge of food insecurity, food waste, and nutrition. His concept was a new retail grocery model, offering nutritious affordable food to a food insecure population in the inner city... View Details

Keywords: Food Waste; Poverty; Food Security; Food Labeling; Nonprofit; Food; Social Entrepreneurship; Social Enterprise; Nonprofit Organizations; Nutrition; Health

January 2013
Supplement

SMARTBITES (D): February 2010

By: Michael Roberts and Amar Bhide

The case describes a Turkish brother and sister team who are evaluating the option of acquiring and operating a franchise of a large US bakery/cafe for Turkey. They are comparing this option to that of simply starting a similar business. View Details

Keywords: Franchising; Startups; Franchise Ownership; Business Startups; Food and Beverage Industry; Turkey

January 2013
Supplement

SMARTBITES (C): June 2009

By: Michael Roberts and Amar Bhide

The case describes a Turkish brother and sister team who are evaluating the option of acquiring and operating a franchise of a large US bakery/cafe for Turkey. They are comparing this option to that of simply starting a similar business. View Details

Keywords: Franchising; Startups; Franchise Ownership; Business Startups; Food and Beverage Industry; Turkey

16 Jun 2017
News

Does Amazon’s Acquisition of Whole Foods Check Out?

Fast Answer

Sustainability in CPG and Retail

Background readings Consulting firm reports McKinsey: Direct Google search for the firm's reports on sustainability and packaging (e.g., Sustainability in packaging: Inside the Minds of US Consumers. October 2020). Working with Suppliers for Sustainable... View Details

January 2013
Supplement

SMARTBITES (B): May 2009

By: Michael Roberts and Amar Bhide

The case describes a Turkish brother and sister team who are evaluating the option of acquiring and operating a franchise of a large US bakery/cafe for Turkey. They are comparing this option to that of simply starting a similar business. View Details

Keywords: Franchising; Start-up; Franchise Ownership; Business Startups; Food and Beverage Industry; Turkey

10 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Winners and Losers in the Retail Revolution

The new book Retail Revolution: Will Your Brick-and-Mortar Store Survive? lays out the thesis that traditional store-front retailing is at an inflection point, under tremendous pressure from ecommerce and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

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

08 May 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Organizational Design and Control across Multiple Markets: The Case of Franchising in the Convenience Store Industry

Keywords: by Dennis Campbell, Srikant M. Datar & Tatiana Sandino; Retail; Retail

March 2021 (Revised January 2023)
Background Note

The Pandemic's Impact on the U.S. Food System

By: José B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

This note is intended not as a comprehensive account but as a starting point for discussion about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. food system. Written in late 2020, the note describes, in part through the voices of industry leaders, how the pandemic... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Agribusiness; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Leadership; Change Management; Safety; Health; Health Pandemics; Disruption; Adaptation; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Consumer Behavior; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States

March 2011
Case

Cash Flow Productivity at PepsiCo: Communicating Value to Retailers

PepsiCo developed a new metric that better measured the value added by Pepsi products than did gross margin, the traditional metric used by retailers to determine shelf space and promotional activity. The new metric, cash flow productivity, captured the value of... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Cash Flow; Measurement and Metrics; Distribution; Performance Productivity; Value Creation; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

Find at Harvard

18 Mar 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Modeling Expert Opinions on Food Healthiness: A Nutrition Metric

Keywords: by Jolie Mae Martin, John Leonard Beshears, Katherine Lyford Milkman, Max H. Bazerman & Lisa Sutherland; Retail

November 2008
Supplement

Whole Foods Acquires Wild Oats (B)

Keywords: Communication Technology; Problems and Challenges; Acquisition; Management Teams; Retail Industry; United States

November 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Infarm: Betting the (Indoor) Farm on Food Security

By: Elie Ofek

In the summer of 2023, the co-founders of Infarm, a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) company, were contemplating a major pivot going forward. While Infarm had successfully shown it could grow over 75 products—mainly herbs, leafy greens and mushrooms—in modular... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Business Model; Market Entry and Exit; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Transition; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Europe; North America; Toronto; Northeastern United States

November 2008 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Whole Foods Acquires Wild Oats (A)

Examines the implications of Whole Foods' CEO's anonymous message board postings including its potential impact on the company's proposed merger with Wild Oats. View Details

Keywords: Forms of Communication; Acquisition; Communication Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

5 Sep 2013
Conference Presentation

The Color of Taste: Selling Food in Clear Packages in the Early-Twentieth-Century United States

By: Ai Hisano

This paper examines the role of color in the marketing and retailing of food products by focusing on the increasingly popular presentation of food in clear packages in the early-twentieth-century United States. In the 1910s, a candy company began using cellophane to... View Details

Keywords: Food; Product Marketing; Food and Beverage Industry