Publications

03 Oct 2019
HBS Seminar

Christopher Tang, UCLA Anderson School of Management

May 1995
Case

Hannaford Brothers: Leading the Grocery Channel Transformation

The merchandising manager of a supermarket chain leads an effort to reorganize the process of buying and delivering products from manufacturers to their warehouse for further distribution to stores. The company is an early mover in implementing efficient consumer... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Supply Chain Management; Distribution Channels; Customer Focus and Relationships; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

Research Summary

Managing the Manufacturer-Retailer Interface

By: Janice H. Hammond

Janice H. Hammond is studying the impact of coordination on the performance of manufacturing and retail channels. The focus of her research is on the supply "channel", the set of firms that undertakes the chain of activities that begins with acquisition of raw... View Details

July 2012 (Revised January 2014)
Case

HGRM: Bringing Back High Touch Hospitality

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Gabriele Piccoli

The case centers on the dilemma faced by Carlo Fontana, the owner-operator of a small chain of two four-star urban hotels located in Lugano, Switzerland, and the other in Milan, Italy. Having developed an extensive customer service and operations information system,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Customer Relationship Management

04 Oct 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com

Keywords: by Michael Luca; Food & Beverage

October 1994
Case

Kamakura Ironworks Company, Ltd.

Describes cost management techniques in a supplier chain in the Japanese automotive industry. Exposes students to interorganizational cost management systems and explores when cost systems are required and when they can be switched off. Also illustrates supportive... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Cost Management; Supply Chain; Auto Industry; Japan

Find at Harvard

January 2025 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Food for Thought: Exiting Russia? (A)

By: Clayton S. Rose, Hugo Etchegoyhen and Lena Duchene

In September 2022, the French food companies Bonduelle and Danone each grappled with the difficult decision of whether to exit Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in February. Both companies were deeply embedded in Russia’s agricultural supply chains and local... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Ethics; Market Entry and Exit; Public Opinion; War; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; France; Russia

February 2002 (Revised December 2003)
Case

H-E-B Own Brands

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

H-E-B is a $9 billion grocery chain located in Southwest Texas. This case focuses on H-E-B's private label strategy, a product category that accounts for 19% of H-E-B's sales and one that earns gross margins 50% higher than national brands. A leader in its markets,... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Market Entry and Exit; Supply Chain Management; Private Ownership; Sales; Strategy; Competitive Strategy

January 2012 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Tough Decisions at Marks and Spencer

By: George Serafeim

In 2007, under the leadership of CEO Stuart Rose, the iconic British retailer Marks and Spencer, with great fanfare, announced its "Plan A" initiative. Based on the five essential pillars of climate change, waste, sustainable materials, fair partnership, and health,... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry

September 2013
Case

Management Levels at Staples (A): Company and Organization (Abridged)

By: David A. Garvin

Abridged version of one of six cases that describe the roles and responsibilities of managers at each of the hierarchical levels of management within the U.S. Stores business unit of Staples, the world's largest office supply company. Together, the cases form a... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Managerial Roles; Organizational Design; Management Practices and Processes; Job Design and Levels; Business Processes; Consumer Products Industry; United States

Research Summary

Crowdsourced reviews

To determine whether online consumer reviews influence the way that reputation is formed, Professor Luca has combined reviews from the website Yelp.com with public restaurant data. He has shown that a one-star increase in Yelp ratings results in a 5- to 9-percent... View Details

April 2002
Case

Contingent Workforce Planning at Motorola, Inc.

Details the rationale for and design of a unique organizational response by Motorola to the challenges of contingent staffing at its semiconductor facility in Austin, Texas. The new outsourcing strategy is built on principles of supply chain management and business... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Semiconductor Industry; Texas

November 2015 (Revised February 2020)
Teaching Note

IDEO: Human-Centered Service Design

By: Ryan W. Buell

The case describes IDEO, one of the world's leading design firms, and its human-centered innovation culture and processes. It is an example of what managers can do to make their own organizations more innovative. In reaction to a rapidly changing competitive landscape,... View Details

Keywords: Design Thinking; Innovation; Service Management; Service; Design; Service Delivery; Innovation and Management; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Peru

September 2010
Case

Quanta Research Institute: Rainforest or Hothouse?

By: Willy C. Shih, Jyun-Cheng Wang and Ho Howard Yu

Barry Lam, the CEO and founder of Quanta Computer (the largest notebook computer manufacturer worldwide), has recognized for many years that he had to transform the company to decrease its dependence on producing commodity hardware for other global brands and move the... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Research and Development; Computer Industry; Taiwan

15 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Business IT Innovation is so Difficult

firms do to upgrade their IT-based business processes? Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. "It's not just about writing a check to an IT vendor," McElheran explains. "There's a complicated assembly of processes and people and organizational structures and View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

2011
Other Unpublished Work

Aligning Collective Production with Demand: Evidence from Wikipedia

Economic markets align supply and demand through prices. However, many social phenomena lack pricing to inform producers about consumer demand. This can lead to the over- or under-production of certain goods and services. In this paper, I propose a social mechanism... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry

SSRN

14 Apr 2015
First Look

First Look: April 14

launch of new products. A series of questions are presented that companies should keep in mind when poised to launch a product. Questions about advertising, pricing, and branding are explored, as well as who in a product's supply View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2001 (Revised June 2001)
Case

eSurg (A): Negotiating the Start-Up

By: Jay O. Light and Anthony Massaro

The founders of an online medical supplies firm must negotiate with an established hospital distributor and a venture capital firm. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Negotiation; Internet and the Web; Financing and Loans; Business Startups; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

April 2012 (Revised February 2013)
Case

H-E-B: Creating a Movement to Reduce Obesity in Texas

By: Jose B. Alvarez, Jason Riis and Walter J. Salmon

In January 2012, H-E-B Grocery Co., a private retail chain with stores located in Texas and Mexico, was introducing its Healthy at H-E-B program to its customers. The program, which started with the company's employees a few years earlier, was an effort to educate and... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Profit; Leading Change; Customer Focus and Relationships; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; Texas