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- All HBS Web
(168)
- News (59)
- Research (75)
- Multimedia (1)
- Faculty Publications (53)
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- July 2019 (Revised November 2019)
- Case
Osaro: Picking the Best Path
By: William R. Kerr, James Palano and Bastiane Huang
The founder of Osaro saw the potential of deep reinforcement learning to allow robots to be applied to new applications. Osaro targeted warehousing, already a dynamic industry for robotics and automation, for its initial product—a system which would allow robotic arms... View Details
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning; Robotics; Robots; Ecommerce; Fulfillment; Warehousing; AI; Startup; Technology Commercialization; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Logistics; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Information Technology; Commercialization; Learning; Complexity; Competition; E-commerce
Kerr, William R., James Palano, and Bastiane Huang. "Osaro: Picking the Best Path." Harvard Business School Case 820-012, July 2019. (Revised November 2019.)
- 20 Jan 2015
- First Look
First Look: January 20
working with high-end apparel retailers such as Bonobos, Gilt Groupe, and Zara. What distinguishes the company from its rivals is its use of Kiva robots, which collect customer items within the warehouse and bring them to the appropriate... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- September 2023 (Revised January 2024)
- Case
RightHand Robotics: Choosing the First Market
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Stacy Straaberg
In early 2015, RightHand Robotics’s (RHR) leadership faced several decisions in commercializing the startup’s robotic picking solution. RHR’s central product was the RightPick integrated robotic picking system which featured a robotic arm, a three-fingered robotic hand... View Details
Keywords: Business Startups; Market Entry and Exit; Product; Research and Development; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Information Infrastructure; Technological Innovation; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts
Eisenmann, Thomas R., and Stacy Straaberg. "RightHand Robotics: Choosing the First Market." Harvard Business School Case 824-006, September 2023. (Revised January 2024.)
- February 2021
- Case
Threadless: The Renewal of an Online Community
By: Shane Greenstein, Karim Lakhani and Christian Godwin
Threadless, an online apparel company and artist community which Jake Nickell founded in 2000, continued to maintain its status as a top company in the online apparel industry during its second decade. From 2010 to 2020, Threadless continued to operate its... View Details
Keywords: Business Model; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Leading Change; Management; Marketing; Product Launch; Operations; Supply Chain; Distribution; Networks; Sales; Strategy; Adaptation; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Technology Industry; North America
Greenstein, Shane, Karim Lakhani, and Christian Godwin. "Threadless: The Renewal of an Online Community." Harvard Business School Case 621-056, February 2021.
- July 2004 (Revised May 2008)
- Case
Beacon Lakes
By: Arthur I Segel, Robert Barlick Jr and Jose Gonzalez
In September 2001, Armando Codina, the CEO and chairman of Codina Group, is facing the decision of whether to go ahead as planned with its $220 million Beacon Lakes project, a 6.6-million-square-foot warehouse and office park in Miami's Airport West submarket. Although... View Details
Keywords: Decision Making; Urban Scope; Business and Government Relations; Natural Environment; Expansion; Environmental Sustainability; Real Estate Industry; Everglades National Park; Miami
Segel, Arthur I., Robert Barlick Jr, and Jose Gonzalez. "Beacon Lakes." Harvard Business School Case 805-023, July 2004. (Revised May 2008.)
- 15 Mar 2016
- First Look
March 15, 2016
Case 516-059 Ocado 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... View Details
- October 2014
- Supplement
Quiet Logistics (B)
By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred
This two-part case focuses on how to identify and manage strategic uncertainties in an innovative, entrepreneurial start-up company. In the (A) case, students learn about Quiet Logistics, an e-commerce fulfillment company working with high-end apparel retailers such as... View Details
Keywords: Strategy Execution; Strategic Uncertainties; Managing Growth; Disruptive Change; Robotics; Disruptive Technologies; Managing Start-ups; Management Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Business Growth and Maturation; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Disruptive Innovation; Crisis Management; Risk Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; E-commerce; Distribution Industry; Technology Industry; United States
Simons, Robert, and Natalie Kindred. "Quiet Logistics (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 115-003, October 2014.
- April 2020
- Background Note
U.S. Food Retail During the Pandemic: March 2020
By: José B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred
This note, written in late March 2020 and mainly U.S. focused, looks at the unfolding impact of the coronavirus pandemic on food retailers and their suppliers. It allows student to consider the challenges facing food retail executives as they navigate urgent supply... View Details
Keywords: Coronavirus Pandemic; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Food; Supply Chain; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Trade; Crisis Management; Health Pandemics; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Retail Industry; United States
Alvarez, José B., and Natalie Kindred. "U.S. Food Retail During the Pandemic: March 2020." Harvard Business School Background Note 520-098, April 2020.
- October 2019
- Case
Agility Africa
By: Juan Alcacer, Caroline M. Elkins and Esel Çekin
This case illustrates the challenge and opportunities that firms face when developing and executing new business models in high-risk, low-infrastructure, low-trust countries. It features a global logistics group, Agility, that aimed to become the leader in supplying... View Details
Keywords: Strategy; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Expansion; Emerging Markets; Decision Choices and Conditions; Real Estate Industry; Distribution Industry; Africa
Alcacer, Juan, Caroline M. Elkins, and Esel Çekin. "Agility Africa." Harvard Business School Case 720-357, October 2019.
- 20 Nov 2007
- Working Paper Summaries
The “Fees → Savings” Link, or Purchasing Fifty Pounds of Pasta
- 09 Jun 2022
- HBS Case
From Truck Driver to Manager: US Foods’ Novel Approach to Staff Shortages
workers to select and manage products in its warehouses. By the middle of 2021, US Foods, which employs about 26,000 workers, had 1,000 unfilled driving and warehouse positions. "You’re saying you might be a truck driver for a while, but... View Details
Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds
- 07 Mar 2011
- Research & Ideas
Why Companies Fail—and How Their Founders Can Bounce Back
jibe with customer demand. "Instead of going into the venture with a broad hypothesis, they commit in ways that don't allow them to change," Ghosh says. He cites as an example the failed dot-com-era grocer Webvan, which bought View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 14 May 2018
- Research & Ideas
Amazon vs. Whole Foods: When Cultures Collide
Walmart, which had entered the organic space. By 2017, Whole Foods had started closing stores. Turning data into customer value Amazon, by contrast, had always been about low costs and efficiency, pursuing a frugal focus and rigorous performance measurement in its... View Details
- 24 Jan 2005
- Research & Ideas
Rethinking Activity-Based Costing
is measured in other units. For example, the capacity of a warehouse or vehicle would be measured by space provided, while memory storage would be measured by megabytes supplied. In these situations, the manager would calculate the... View Details
Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & Steven R. Anderson
- 30 Mar 2003
- Research & Ideas
The Future of IT Consulting
communicating with warehouse computers, which in turn directly communicate with manufacturer computers, and, again in the chain, manufacturers' computers directly communicate with their supplier computers. In addition,... View Details
- 01 Jul 2015
- Research & Ideas
A Bank That Takes Parmesan as Collateral: The Cheese Stands a Loan
fresh milk to single-product producers, most of which are limited liability cooperatives of farmers, and most of whom outsource the maturation process to warehouse operators. Before it hits store shelves, cheese is matured for 18, 24, 30,... View Details
- 26 Nov 2001
- Op-Ed
Why Corporate Budgeting Needs To Be Fixed
international heavy-equipment manufacturer, managers were so set on hitting their quarterly revenue target that they shipped unfinished products from their plant in England all the way to a warehouse in the Netherlands, near the customer,... View Details
Keywords: by Michael C. Jensen
- 17 Oct 2016
- HBS Case
Business Solutions That Help Cut Food Waste
perfect, employees eliminate a product that doesn’t look right, throwing it into the compost heap. That drives similar behavior in warehouse and packing house workers. It goes all the way to the person who picks the fruit and passes over... View Details
- 10 Mar 2015
- Research & Ideas
The Surprising Winners and Losers in the Retail Revolution
printing dollars, it's minting quarters. It's very, very problematic. Walmart has a new strategy that uses smaller stores, supercenters, and their warehouses in an ecosystem that includes ecommerce, but it's going to be a lot of work for... View Details
- 07 Jan 2002
- What Do You Think?
Did Consumer Behavior Tracking Come of Age on September 11?
name of tracking terrorists that we begin to take it for granted as consumers? In fact, will we one day look back on September 11 as a point in time when data warehousers were able to take a significant step forward in fully utilizing the... View Details
Keywords: by James Heskett