Value Chain - Publications - Faculty & Research

12 Mar 2018
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Why BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Is Not a Socialist

cost-cutting; in fact, cutting infrastructure, supply chain costs, and excess expenses should be done all the time, in good times and bad. This is the approach used by ExxonMobil as it has been one of the greatest View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Banking

December 1989 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Destin Brass Products Co.

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

A specialized manufacturer of brass valves, pumps, and flow controllers is troubled by competitive pricing in pumps and higher than expected margins for flow controllers. Managers suspect that cost accounting and cost allocations to products may be to blame. Two... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Activity Based Costing and Management; Five Forces Framework; Customer Value and Value Chain; Competition; Business Strategy; Design; Inflation and Deflation; Asset Pricing; Governance Controls; Manufacturing Industry

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07 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Market Investors Pay More for Resilient Companies

The steep market drop in the early days of the COVID-19 crisis is being used as a laboratory to study the importance of companies investing in stakeholder relations with their employees, suppliers, and customers, and how those investments could be strategic resources... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Financial Services

28 May 2012
Research & Ideas

A Pragmatic Alternative for Creating a Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy

the company's bottom line, as well as the environmental or social impacts of one or more of its value chain partners. Theatre 3 encompasses programs targeted at fundamentally changing the business's... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

01 Mar 2017
News

Case Study: Moment in the Sun

a large hotel chain reached out to express interest, Hoskins began to see the promise of B2B sales in the hospitality market. “They got the value right away,” says Hoskins. “It’s automatic: Your customers... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell

09 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Starbucks’ Lessons for Premium Brands

"Stores no longer have the soul of the past and reflect a chain of stores vs. the warm feeling of a neighborhood store." Starbucks tried to add value through innovation, offering wi-fi service and... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Retail

Web

Business of Ideas - Course Catalog

“ideas” and how they shape the world in which we operate; and the big businesses that nurture, launch, and sustain idea creators as well as the supply chains that create value from them. Several questions... View Details

25 Feb 2020
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for March 2020

Edited by Margie Kelley Alumni Books Valuing U.S. National Parks and Programs by Linda J. Bilmes (MBA 1984) Routledge In Valuing U.S. National Parks and Programs, author Linda J. Bilmes develops a... View Details

07 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 7

experiment to measure the value of shareholder proxy access. We find that firms that would have been most vulnerable to proxy access, as measured by institutional ownership and activist institutional ownership in particular, lost View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 May 2016
HBS Case

Food Safety Economics: The Cost of a Sick Customer

when more than 50 people in 11 states were sickened by an initial E. coli outbreak. “Do those smaller local organic growers have the experience, resources, and commitment to test their products for various food safety risks?” The chain... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

12 Jun 2006
Research & Ideas

The Promise of Channel Stewardship

Most company distribution systems are designed ad-hoc when needed, and serve neither value chain partners nor end users well—just look at the frustrating new-car buying process set up by American auto... View Details

Keywords: by V. Kasturi Rangan & Marie Bell; Consumer Products

May 2004 (Revised July 2004)
Case

Clarence Saunders: The Comeback King

By: Nitin Nohria and Bridget Gurtler

Follows the rise and fall of the founder of the modern supermarket, Clarence Saunders. Prior to 1915, all staple shopping took place in the market or general store, where a clerk behind a counter pulled items from shelves for customers , measured them from a barrel, or... View Details

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Mission and Purpose; Business Processes; Leadership; Consumer Behavior; Leadership Style; Advertising; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Order Taking and Fulfillment

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04 Aug 2006
What Do You Think?

What Happens When the Economics of Scarcity Meets the Economics of Abundance?

terms of where value is added in the supply chain . The value is created through the service of helping customers find what they want within the sea of choice . It is ironic... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

June 2022
Case

Zalando: Becoming the Starting Point for Fashion

By: Antonio Moreno, Leela Nageswaran, Emilie Billaud and Federica Gabrieli

Born in 2008 as a small startup selling flip flops, by mid-2021 Zalando had turned into an online fashion company with an assortment of more than 4,500 international brands, 45 million active customers, and a presence in 23 European markets. An essential component in... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Customer Value and Value Chain; Digital Platforms; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Service Operations; Strategy; Business Strategy; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Distribution Industry; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Europe

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23 Jul 2021
Blog Post

Trends in Consumer Products

Solstice and Social Club Seltzer. As we head out of Covid, we see long-term trends accelerating. Consumers are now even more interested in health and wellness. Value is even more important due to the economic fallout of Covid. We at... View Details

21 Aug 2017
Blog Post

From Germany to HBS

classroom truly becomes a magical place. While discussing a wide range of topics, from the strategy of Airbus to supply chain ethics in the Bangladeshi garment industry, you draw from each other’s experiences in frequently heated but... View Details

Profile

Amanda Pratt

year. "All of the classes had a team and project focus, and a strong humanities component; many of them had a business and entrepreneurial aspect, too," says Amanda. "We valued not just the technical aspects of a problem,... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare/Biotech

September 2010 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Liza Davis and the Bargain Hunting Customer

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez and Lisa Brem

Liza Davis, an upscale women's fashion retailer, is reeling from worldwide recession and lower demand. Should the company target the fast-growing bargain hunter segment or hold the line on price discounts to preserve their brand image? Customer profitability... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Price; Product Positioning; Customer Value and Value Chain; Business Cycles; Financial Crisis; Profit; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry

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16 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Researchers Contribute Globalization of Markets Papers

Value A transnational brand is the corporate brand of firms that market globally in order to leverage economies of scale and scope, according to HBS professors Douglas Holt, John Quelch, and co-author Earl Taylor of Research... View Details

Keywords: by Working Knowledge editors

November 2019 (Revised September 2022)
Case

TripAdvisor: An Itinerary for Growth

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Spencer Rascoff and Susie L. Ma

In 2019, TripAdvisor was one of the best-known and most-trafficked online travel sites. For nearly 20 years, its founder and CEO Steve Kaufer had steered TripAdvisor through many phases of growth and profitability, but recently the company’s growth had started to slow.... View Details