Publications

February 2024
Case

FIGS: Scrubbing the Status Quo

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Nicole Tempest Keller

In October 2023, FIGS had revolutionized the medical scrubs industry with its fashionable and functional designs, but the venture was at a critical juncture. The digitally native vertical brand (DNVB) had gone public in a successful IPO in 2021 and reached $500 million... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Channels; Corporate Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Fashion Industry; United States; California; Los Angeles; Europe; Canada

June 2008
Case

Threadless: The Business of Community

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Zahra Kanji

Threadless.com, the online, Chicago-based t-shirt company, was not your typical fashion apparel company. The company, run by Jake Nickell, Jacob DeHart, and Jeffrey Kalmikoff, turned the fashion business on its head by enabling anyone to submit designs for t-shirts and... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Product Design; Partners and Partnerships; Social and Collaborative Networks; Apparel and Accessories Industry

February 2001 (Revised December 2002)
Case

Marshall Field and the Rise of the Department Store

By: Nancy F. Koehn

Analyzes Marshall Field's efforts to develop a market for mass retailing in late 19th-century Chicago. Examines Chicago's expansion in the 1860s and, within this context, how Field struck out on his own to, build a wholesale and retail business. Concentrates on the... View Details

Keywords: Fluctuation; Industry Growth; Corporate Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Brands and Branding; Society; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Chicago

09 Oct 2013
News

Is J.C. Penney Going to Make It?

Interview with Rajiv Lal

Rajiv Lal talks to Mint about the challenges Indian retailers face, issues of profitability and impact of FDI on kirana stores.

View Details

May 2003 (Revised May 2009)
Case

ZARA: Fast Fashion

Focuses on Inditex, an apparel retailer from Spain, which has set up an extremely quick response system for its ZARA chain. Instead of predicting months before a season starts what women will want to wear, ZARA observes what's selling and what's not and continuously... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Multinational Firms and Management; Competitive Advantage; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Spain

August 1985
Supplement

Benetton Factory Tour--Ponzano, Italy, Video

By: James L. Heskett

Shows the flow of products through Benetton's Ponzano factory, including its use of subcontractors. Includes information about Benetton's manufacturing, logistics, and retailing strategies. View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Logistics; Product; Production; Strategy; Italy

14 Jul 2015
News

Amazon’s Prime Opportunity

March 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Case

TELEXISTENCE Inc.

By: Paul A. Gompers and Akiko Saito

A case about a Japanese robotics startup aiming to enter the U.S. market with its robots that combine AI and human intervention to complete restocking tasks in retail stores. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Market Entry and Exit; Technology Adoption; Decisions; AI and Machine Learning; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Japan; United States

February 2001 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Howard Schultz and Starbucks Coffee Company

By: Nancy F. Koehn

Investigates the entrepreneur's strategic initiatives to develop a mass market for specialty coffee in the 1980s and 1990s. These initiatives included the development of premium products, rapid expansion of company-owned stores--each with attractive retail environments... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Groups and Teams; Brands and Branding; Growth Management; Employee Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior; Organizational Design; Leadership Style; Customer Relationship Management; Competitive Advantage; Vertical Integration; Food and Beverage Industry

August 2018
Supplement

Garanti Payment Systems: Digital Transformation Strategy (B)

By: Shelle M. Santana and Esel Çekin

Supplements the (A) case. Işıl Akdemir Evlioğlu, executive vice president of marketing at Garanti Payment Systems (GPS), a subsidiary of Garanti Bank, is grappling with three questions. First, should GPS create its own mobile app for credit card customers or leverage... View Details

16 Nov 2012
News

Something for the weekend

02 Mar 2017
News

For retail, the revolution is televised

11 May 2016
News

Judge’s ruling is death knell for Staples-Office Depot deal

17 Nov 2009
News

Harvard Business School Faculty Share Perspectives On Holiday Consumer Spending

September 2010
Article

Do Inventory and Gross Margin Data Improve Sales Forecasts for U.S. Public Retailers?

By: Saravanan Kesavan, Vishal Gaur and Ananth Raman

Firm-level sales forecasts for retailers can be improved if we incorporate cost of goods sold, inventory, and gross margin (defined here as the ratio of sales to cost of goods sold) as three endogenous variables. We construct a simultaneous equations model, estimated... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Forecasting and Prediction; Distribution; Goods and Commodities; Cost; Public Sector; Profit; Mathematical Methods; Analytics and Data Science; Retail Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

October 2022 (Revised September 2024)
Case

mPharma: Scaling Access to Affordable Primary Care in Africa

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Ben Creo

mPharma hopes to scale up to create the largest pan-African healthcare company ever to provide much-needed primary care in retail pharmacies; a reliable, fairly priced supply of drugs; and micro-insurance for drugs. They must prioritize launching a telemedicine... View Details

17 Sep 2014
News

Wal-Mart spokesman resigns after résumé discovery

2020
Working Paper

Reinventing Retail: The Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores

By: Ryan Raffaelli

This study examines how community-based brick-and-mortar retailers can achieve sustained market growth in the face of online and big box retail competition. The appearance of Amazon.com in 1995 led to a significant decline in the number of independent bookstores in the... View Details

Keywords: Bookstores; Competitive Strategy; Business and Community Relations; Customization and Personalization; Growth and Development; Retail Industry; United States