Product Distribution - Publications - Faculty & Research

November 2017
Teaching Note

Reinventing Best Buy

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Teaching Note for HBS No. 716-455. On March 1, 2017, Best Buy Company, Inc., North America’s largest retailer of consumer electronics and appliances, announced a third year of comparable-store sales increases and a 20.8% increase in domestic comparable online sales.... View Details

Keywords: Best Buy; Hubert Joly; Renew Blue; Showrooming; Webrooming; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Marketplaces; Turnaround; Consumer Electronics; Consumer Electronics Accessories; Appliances; Stores-within-stores; Store Experience; Store Size; Store Pickup; Store Management; Delivery; Delivery Models; Amazon; Amazon.com; Pricing Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Theater Entertainment; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Cost; Selection and Staffing; Reports; Technological Innovation; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Human Capital; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Media; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Distribution Channels; Infrastructure; Product; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Programs; Groups and Teams; Sales; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Technology; Hardware; Information Technology; Internet; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Search Technology; Software; Web; Web Sites; Wireless Technology; Resource Allocation; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Video Game Industry; United States; Minnesota; Minneapolis; Saint Paul; St. Paul

Citation

Purchase

03 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

Cut Payroll Costs with Transparency, Fairness, and Compassion

were instituted, the company’s most productive salespeople left the firm at a significantly higher rate (28 percent) than other agents. The result was a 6 percent sales decline. However, among those who stayed, their workloads did not... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

August 2023
Supplement

Reimagining Hindustan Unilever (B)

By: Sunil Gupta and Rachna Tahilyani

In April 2023, as the CEO and MD of Hindustan Unilever (HUL), India’s largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firm, prepared to hand over the firm’s reins to his successor, he proudly reflected on the last decade. His quest to digitally transform HUL into an... View Details

Keywords: Experimentation; Digital Transformation; Digital Strategy; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Strategy; Marketing; Performance; Competition; E-commerce; Consumer Behavior; Transformation; Distribution; Decisions; Consumer Products Industry; Asia; India

Citation

05 Sep 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Making the Right Technical Hire

hiring process is what could be the difference between a great product in the market versus something basic that is slow to ship. Below are some tips on how to be more strategic about hiring: 1. Product... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin; Technology

01 Mar 2024
News

Giving All Stakeholders a Voice

traditional approaches in building enterprises, their governance, and growth.’’ The technology is open source, so different teams can build together. Participants value open information flow, universal accessibility, and decentralized governance of businesses and View Details

Keywords: April White

19 Oct 2021
Research & Ideas

Fed Up Workers and Supply Woes: What's Next for Dollar Stores?

merchandise into their distribution centers. All retailers are suffering from a shortage of truckers, a shortage of trailers, shortage of capacity in all the logistics networks to move goods around. At the same time, we’re seeing... View Details

Keywords: by Christine Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Retail

12 Aug 2014
First Look

First Look: August 12

http://hbr.org/product/aspada-in-search-of-the-right-structure-for-impact-investing/an/314099-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 214-085 Financial Policy at Apple, 2013 (A) By the end of 2013, Apple had $137 billion in cash and marketable securities. This case... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Nov 2015
First Look

November 3, 2015

funding leads to a net increase of 2.3 patents. Though valuing patents is difficult, we report a range of estimates for the private value of these patents using different approaches. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50038 Catering... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Dec 2022
News

Future Vision

out of poverty, providing products and services that have improved people’s standards of living, and creating fulfilling jobs and careers. But the challenges facing the world today require business to do even more—to address persistent... View Details

Keywords: Brian Kenny; Educational Support Services; Educational Services

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; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; Africa

Citation

Educators

Purchase

25 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Why IT Does Matter

effectiveness has come the ability to do things truly differently. American Hospital Supply's distribution software and American Airlines' SABRE reservation system are examples of victories in past technologies. The firms were the first... View Details

Keywords: by F. Warren McFarlan & Richard L. Nolan

12 Jan 2016
First Look

January 12, 2016

approximation of a fully sequential test for the maximum hazard ratio of the drug over multiple adverse events. A numerical study verifies that our method delivers Type I /II errors that are below pre-specified levels and is robust to View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

31 May 2017
What Do You Think?

Can Amazon Do What Walmart Couldn’t, Stop the 'Wheel of Retailing'?

for growth for the company; what would consumers want to purchase online that would fit into a rapid response distribution model? Students rejected numerous options involving lower-value items such as dog food, which would require... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

14 Mar 2024
Blog Post

IFC India: SELCO - Last Mile Solar Powered Energy for Rural India

expanded services to include the supply and distribution of sustainable energy through solar lighting, thermal water heaters, and inverter systems, enabling the underserved sector to receive sustainable energy at affordable costs. SELCO... View Details

14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

considered essential? How could employees’ safety be guaranteed? And, most recently, how can businesses preserve financial viability in the face of rapidly declining demand for products and services? The experiences we collected show... View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

July 2023 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service

By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel, Lena Duchene and Daniela Beyersdorfer

The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of millions of single-use take-out food... View Details

Citation

Educators

Purchase

12 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 12, 2019

both brick-and-mortar and online retailers. We focus on product categories where consumers may purchase multiple products during a season and investigate a new reason why frequent assortment rotations can be... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Web

Research & Development, Project Code SX-70 - Edwin H. Land & Polaroid | Harvard Business School

worked with Vectographs during the war effort, signed off on an experiment conducted by researcher Eudoxia Muller in which she transferred a negative onto a positive image. 53 One of Clarence Kennedy's students who graduated from Smith College, Muller had also been... View Details

21 Jan 2022
Blog Post

Tipping Point: Investing in the Women of Kenya’s Coffee Farms

to 25 percent. The company also matches the gratuities; the total has been rising steadily since Trader Joe’s began stocking the product in its 200 California stores in 2021, and Nyamumbo expects it to grow significantly following the... View Details

September 2017
Case

Tencent

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Tencent had undergone many transformations since it was founded in 1998 as a simple messaging service. In 2017, it was the largest online games provider in China with a wide range of game types, China’s largest social networking service provider with several of the... View Details