Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,069)
- Faculty Publications (228)
- January 2020 (Revised October 2021)
- Case
Zara: An Integrated Store and Online Model (A)
By: Antonio Moreno
In 2010, amidst the growth of ecommerce and the emergence of new, purely online, fashion players, Zara launched its first online store, Zara.com. Since then, Zara’s online business had grown at a fast pace. By 2018, 12% of Inditex Group’s total sales came from the... View Details
Keywords: Stores; Integration; Operations; Business Model; Strategy; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Europe
- December 2019
- Case
Walmart Ecommerce (B): Omnichannel Pursuits
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman
This case is an abridged version (part 2 of 2) of "Walmart's Omnichannel Strategy: Revolution or Miscalculation?" HBS Case No. 720-370. The (B) case describes Walmart’s omnichannel strategy in 2018 as it battled Amazon for online retail market share. Walmart aimed to... View Details
- December 2019
- Article
The Impact of Increasing Search Frictions on Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment
By: Donald Ngwe, Kris J. Ferreira and Thales Teixeira
Many online stores are designed such that shoppers can easily access any available discounted products. We propose that deliberately increasing search frictions by placing small obstacles to locating discounted items can improve online retailers’ margins and even... View Details
- Article
Can Big-Box Retailers Provide Local Health Care?
National retailers, most notably Walmart and Best Buy, are making big bets on their ability to fill this need for local health care. At first glance, these moves are a bit surprising given that these companies have not traditionally been focused on health care... View Details
- 2020
- Working Paper
Tariff Passthrough at the Border and at the Store: Evidence from U.S. Trade Policy
By: Alberto Cavallo, Gita Gopinath, Brent Neiman and Jenny Tang
We use micro data collected at the border and the store to characterize the price impact of recent US trade policy on importers, exporters, and consumers. At the border, import tariff passthrough is much higher than exchange rate passthrough. Chinese exporters did not... View Details
- August 2019
- Case
Walmart's Omnichannel Strategy: Revolution or Miscalculation?
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman
This case describes Walmart's omnichannel strategy in 2018 as it battled Amazon for online retail market share. The case discusses Walmart's early forays into online retail, as well as its 2018 strategy, which aimed to integrate Walmart's enormous brick and mortar... View Details
- August 2019 (Revised January 2020)
- Case
Essential Explorations at MUJI
By: Tomomichi Amano, Das Narayandas, Naoko Jinjo and Akiko Kanno
Launched as a private brand in 1980 to counter the increasingly brand-conscious consumer in Japan, MUJI offered beautifully designed, fairly priced, no-frills quality goods. The once modest private label brand with 40 products had expanded significantly by 2019 to more... View Details
- April 2019 (Revised December 2021)
- Case
Sears: The Demise of an American Icon
By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott
In 2019, ESL Investments’ $5.2 billion offer to purchase Sears Holdings out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was accepted, despite opposition from the company's unsecured creditors and other parties. ESL, which was led by Eddie Lampert, had acquired a stake in Sears following... View Details
- March 2019
- Supplement
KITEA (B): Getting Ready to Face IKEA
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu
The case opens in September 2015, when IKEA is about to open its first store in Morocco. It then chronicles the efforts of KITEA CEO Amine Benkirane and his son Othman between 2013 and 2015 to prepare KITEA for IKEA’s entry. After incurring losses for the first time in... View Details
Keywords: Retail; KITEA; IKEA; Furniture; Furniture Industry; Entry Strategy; Responding To Entry; Localization; Competitive Interaction; Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Strategy; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Business Model; Market Entry and Exit; Retail Industry; Morocco; Africa; North Africa
- March 2019
- Supplement
KITEA (C): A Surprise Delay
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu
This case describes the delay of IKEA’s store opening in Morocco in 2015. After Sweden ordered an internal review of its position on the independence of Western Sahara, a territory Morocco regarded as part of its own, the Moroccan government declared that IKEA did not... View Details
- March 2019
- Supplement
KITEA (D): Further Changes
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu
The case opens in February 2016, when the official date of IKEA’s store opening (March 16, 2016) is announced after a five-month delay. It reviews the changes that Amine and Othman Benkirane had made to KITEA’s workforce in the extra five months afforded by the delay... View Details
- March 2019
- Supplement
KITEA (E): IKEA's Opening Day
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu
The case opens in 2016 as Amine Benkirane, CEO of the furniture retailer KITEA, observes KITEA’s dormant sales on the day IKEA opens its first store in Morocco. It then provides information on IKEA’s Morocco store, as well as a detailed pricing comparison between IKEA... View Details
- March 2019 (Revised April 2021)
- Case
The DivaCup: Navigating Distribution and Growth
By: Ayelet Israeli
When the mother-daughter founders of DivaCup set out with a mission to disrupt the menstrual care industry with an innovative product form, they initially struggled to gain legitimacy and convince retailers to carry their unique product. Fifteen years later, the... View Details
Keywords: Female; Female Ceo; Female Entrepreneur; Female Protagonist; Health ＆ Wellness; Healthcare; Price Policies; Minimum Advertised Price; Differentiation; Positioning; Growth; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Price; Disruption; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Competitive Strategy; Competition; Growth Management; Mission and Purpose; Product Development; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Advertising; Business Startups; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Social Issues; Social Enterprise; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Canada; United States; United Kingdom
- 2019
- Working Paper
The Impact of Increasing Search Frictions on Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment
By: Donald Ngwe, Kris J. Ferreira and Thales Teixeira
Many online stores are designed such that shoppers can easily access any available discounted products. We propose that deliberately increasing search frictions by placing small obstacles to locating discounted items can improve online retailers’ margins and even... View Details
- January 2019 (Revised January 2021)
- Case
KITEA (A): Democratizing Furniture in Morocco
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu
The case opens in 2013 as Amine Benkirane, founder and CEO of the leading Moroccan furniture company KITEA, contemplates the loss his company has incurred for the first time in its 20-year history. The case then describes KITEA’s origins and provides a detailed... View Details
Keywords: Retail; KITEA; Furniture; Furniture Industry; Entry Strategy; Responding To Entry; Localization; Competitive Interaction; Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Model; Business Strategy; Strategic Planning; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Retail Industry; Africa; Morocco
- December 2018 (Revised December 2019)
- Case
Commonwealth Joe Coffee Roasters
By: Alexander MacKay and Ramon Casadesus-Masanell
At the end of 2016, the leadership team of Commonwealth Joe Coffee Roasters—Robert Peck, Chase Damiano, and Jeremy Martin—had begun an ambitious retail expansion strategy in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area for their specialty coffee business. That October, they... View Details
- September 2018 (Revised November 2018)
- Case
From Beirut With Love (A)
By: Christina R. Wing, Esel Y. Cekin and Samer Al-Rachedy
This case describes how Robert Fadel, CEO and chairman of ABC, one of Lebanon’s leading retail and real estate groups, professionalized the family business. Robert was the second son of the company’s founder, Maurice Fadel, who had run it single-handedly. Concerned... View Details
Keywords: Family Conflicts; Sibling Rivalry; Second-generation; Foundation; Trust; Work-life Balance; Succession Planning; Corporate Culture; Shareholders; Board Of Directors; Retail; Department Store; Shopping Mall; Real Estate; Growth; Non-executive Chairman; Sustainability; Family Business; Conflict Management; Management Succession; Governance; Leadership; Transformation; Leading Change; Organizational Structure; Management; Growth and Development; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Lebanon; Middle East
- September 2018
- Supplement
From Beirut With Love (B): The Last Judgment
By: Christina R. Wing, Esel Y. Cekin and Samer Al-Rachedy
Keywords: Family Business; Family Conflicts; Sibling Rivalry; Second-generation; Foundation; Trust; Governance; Work-life Balance; Leadership; Leading Change; Transformation; Succession Planning; Management; Organizational Structure; Corporate Culture; Shareholder; Board Of Directors; Retail; Real Estate; Shopping Mall; Department Store; Growth; Lebanon; Middle East; Non-executive Chairman; Sustainability
- May 2018
- Article
Effects of an Information Sharing System on Employee Creativity, Engagement, and Performance
By: Shelley Xin Li and Tatiana Sandino
Many service organizations rely on information sharing systems to boost employee creativity to meet customer needs. We conducted a field experiment in a retail chain, based on a registered report accepted by Journal of Accounting Research, to test whether an... View Details
- Article
The Store Is Dead—Long Live the Store
By: David R. Bell, Santiago Gallino and Antonio Moreno
In this article, we pursue two interconnected themes: the expansion of online-first retailers into offline stores that serve the purpose of “supercharging” customer value, and the transformation of the stores of offline-first retailers from... View Details