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- All HBS Web
(661)
- News (125)
- Research (443)
- Events (6)
- Multimedia (4)
- Faculty Publications (137)
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- August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
- Case
Amazon.com, 2021
By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin
In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details
Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Retail; E-commerce; Amazon; Internet; Amazon.com; AmazonFresh; Jeff Bezos; Cloud Computing; Marketplaces; Streaming; E-reader Market; Digital Media; Mobile App; Online Retail; Shipping; Database; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Smartphone; Delivery; Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Profit; Revenue; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Business History; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Books; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Public Ownership; Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Price; Applications and Software; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Working Capital; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; Advertising Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Music Industry; Publishing Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle
Wells, John R., Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth, and Galen Danskin. "Amazon.com, 2021." Harvard Business School Case 716-402, August 2015. (Revised June 2021.)
- December 2013 (Revised January 2015)
- Case
Barbara Krakow Gallery
By: Jose Alvarez and Nyssa Liebermann
The Barbara Krakow Gallery is a successful contemporary art gallery located in Boston. It utilizes a very rare "no haggle pricing" strategy and extended sales cycle when selling pieces to collectors. Though it remains profitable and very respected, the size and scope... View Details
Keywords: Barbara Krakow Gallery; Art Gallery; Art Market; Art World; Artist; Auction House; Primary Art Market; Secondary Art Market; Exhibition; Contemporary Art; Art Collector; Art Dealer; Art Fair; No Haggle Pricing; Extended Sales Cycle; Christie's; Sotheby's; Online Art Seller; Barbara Krakow; Andrew Witkin; Catalogue Raisonne; Arts; Small Business; Business Model; Transition; Customer Relationship Management; Fine Arts Industry; Boston
Alvarez, Jose, and Nyssa Liebermann. "Barbara Krakow Gallery." Harvard Business School Case 514-033, December 2013. (Revised January 2015.)
- March 2016 (Revised May 2018)
- Case
Reinventing Best Buy
By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth
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. These results were in marked contrast... 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; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Mobile and 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
Wells, John R., and Gabriel Ellsworth. "Reinventing Best Buy." Harvard Business School Case 716-455, March 2016. (Revised May 2018.)
- 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
- May 2018
- Case
Inditex: 2018
By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth
In 2018, Inditex, based in Spain, was the largest specialist fashion retailer in the world, generating sales of $31.5 billion in 2017 from a portfolio of eight retail brands selling through a total of 7,475 stores located in 96 countries and from websites in 49... View Details
Keywords: Fashion; Succession; IPO; Competition; Initial Public Offering; Multinational Firms and Management; Management Succession; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry
Wells, John R., and Gabriel Ellsworth. "Inditex: 2018." Harvard Business School Case 718-515, May 2018.
- February 2000 (Revised April 2001)
- Case
CNET 2000
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Pauline M Fischer
CNET's managers explain the strategic analysis that led to their decision to increase their annual marketing budget from $1 million to $100 million. CNET is an online information intermediary that helps consumers make purchase decisions about PC hardware and software,... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Budgets and Budgeting; Financial Strategy; Decisions; Growth and Development; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Divisions; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Consumer Behavior; Online Technology; Information Technology Industry
Eisenmann, Thomas R., and Pauline M Fischer. "CNET 2000." Harvard Business School Case 800-284, February 2000. (Revised April 2001.)
- September–October 2022
- Article
Should Your Company Sell on Amazon?: Reach Comes at a Price
By: Ayelet Israeli, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Matt Higgins and Sabir Semerkant
Selling on Amazon allows brands to reach millions of consumers—but that exposure comes with costs. They include smaller margins, more competition, the risk of commoditization, and less knowledge about customers.
In this article, the authors present a scorecard to... View Details
Keywords: Retail; Retailing; Online Business; Ecommerce; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Omnichannel Retail; Omnichannel Retailing; Amazon; Amazon.com; Sales; Digital Marketing; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Fashion Industry; Advertising Industry; Battery Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States
Israeli, Ayelet, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Matt Higgins, and Sabir Semerkant. "Should Your Company Sell on Amazon? Reach Comes at a Price." Harvard Business Review 100, no. 5 (September–October 2022): 38–46.
- February 2008 (Revised September 2008)
- Case
Apple Inc., 2008
By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind
In January 2007, three decades after its incorporation, Apple Computer shed the second word in its name and became Apple Inc. With that move, the company signaled a fundamental shift away from its historic status as a vendor of the Macintosh personal computer (PC)... View Details
Keywords: Business Model; Leadership; Industry Growth; Corporate Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry; Technology Industry
Yoffie, David B., and Michael Slind. "Apple Inc., 2008." Harvard Business School Case 708-480, February 2008. (Revised September 2008.)
- November–December 2022
- Article
Can AI Really Help You Sell?: It Can, Depending on When and How You Implement It
By: Jim Dickie, Boris Groysberg, Benson P. Shapiro and Barry Trailer
Many salespeople today are struggling; only 57% of them make their annual quotas, surveys show. One problem is that buying processes have evolved faster than selling processes, and buyers today can access a wide range of online resources that let them evaluate products... View Details
Dickie, Jim, Boris Groysberg, Benson P. Shapiro, and Barry Trailer. "Can AI Really Help You Sell? It Can, Depending on When and How You Implement It." Harvard Business Review 100, no. 6 (November–December 2022): 120–129.
- November 2022 (Revised June 2023)
- Case
UGG Steps into the Metaverse
By: Shunyuan Zhang, Sharon Joseph, Sunil Gupta and Julia Kelley
In the fall of 2022, boot maker UGG and its parent company, Deckers, were working to position the brand in the nascent but fast growing metaverse. The metaverse, the online realm that individual users could navigate as digital avatars, was becoming more commercialized,... View Details
Keywords: Metaverse; Digital Marketing; Innovation and Invention; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Internet and the Web; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Fashion Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States
Zhang, Shunyuan, Sharon Joseph, Sunil Gupta, and Julia Kelley. "UGG Steps into the Metaverse." Harvard Business School Case 523-013, November 2022. (Revised June 2023.)
- Forthcoming
- Article
The Effect of a System for Sharing Best Practices Within Pre-existing Peer Networks
By: Shelley Xin Li and Tatiana Sandino
Peer networks, such as enterprise social networks (ESNs), can facilitate knowledge transfer across employees. However, such systems can also lead to information overload or difficulty in finding useful information. We examine data from a natural field experiment where... View Details
- December 2021 (Revised May 2022)
- Case
Troverie (A)
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Lindsay N. Hyde and Olivia Graham
Six months after the August 2018 launch of Troverie, a U.S.-based online retailer of luxury watches, the average cost of acquiring a customer is much higher than originally projected, and the startup is incurring a substantial loss on each sales transaction. Could... View Details
Keywords: Startup; Luxury Goods; Customer Acquisition; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Luxury; Failure; Internet and the Web; Revenue; Fashion Industry; United States
Eisenmann, Thomas R., Lindsay N. Hyde, and Olivia Graham. "Troverie (A)." Harvard Business School Case 822-068, December 2021. (Revised May 2022.)
- March 2017 (Revised March 2019)
- Case
Ant Financial (A)
By: Feng Zhu, Ying Zhang, Krishna G. Palepu, Anthony K. Woo and Nancy Hua Dai
Headquartered in Hangzhou (China), Ant Financial has grown into a fintech “Unicorn.” The fintech empire that the company established spanned verticals such as mobile and online payment (Alipay), money market fund (Yu’e Bao), wealth management (Ant Fortune),... View Details
Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Global Strategy; Finance; Opportunities; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry
Zhu, Feng, Ying Zhang, Krishna G. Palepu, Anthony K. Woo, and Nancy Hua Dai. "Ant Financial (A)." Harvard Business School Case 617-060, March 2017. (Revised March 2019.)
- May 2018
- Case
Sagacity Tea: What Direction for Growth?
By: John A. Quelch and Amy Handlin
Kate Moran, CEO and cofounder of Sagacity Tea, a small, Vermont-based ready-to-drink tea brand, is considering a consumer-product group (CPG) broker's proposal for the product's launch in several cities along the East Coast of the United States. The commitments in the... View Details
Keywords: Product Launch; Marketing; Distribution; Growth Management; Marketing Channels; Decision Choices and Conditions
Quelch, John A., and Amy Handlin. "Sagacity Tea: What Direction for Growth?" Harvard Business School Brief Case 918-527, May 2018.
- June 2011 (Revised March 2013)
- Case
Wal-Mart Update, 2011
By: David B. Yoffie and Renee Kim
In 2011, Wal-Mart was the world's largest company with $420 billion in sales and operations in 14 countries. Yet it found itself searching for the right growth strategy moving forward. U.S. same-store sales had declined for eight consecutive quarters and Wal-Mart was... View Details
Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Global Range; Business Strategy; Retail Industry
Yoffie, David B., and Renee Kim. "Wal-Mart Update, 2011." Harvard Business School Case 711-546, June 2011. (Revised March 2013.)
- May 2008 (Revised August 2010)
- Case
ScriptLogic®: Point, Click, Done!™
ScriptLogic is a software company that has built a product portfolio that fits under a 'Point, Click, Done!' umbrella; its products are easy to download, easy to install, and easy to use. The company's online marketing program and inside sales force have been very... View Details
Keywords: Investment Return; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Marketing; Product Development; Salesforce Management; Software; Information Technology Industry
Steenburgh, Thomas J., and Alexander Crisses. "ScriptLogic®: Point, Click, Done!™." Harvard Business School Case 508-114, May 2008. (Revised August 2010.)
- April 2019
- Case
Walmart Update, 2019
By: David B. Yoffie and Daniel Fisher
In 2019 Walmart was still the world's largest company, with over $500 billion in annual revenue and operations around the world. Although it had mostly vanquished its rival discount retailers in the U.S., it was struggling to find the right growth strategy. Facing a... View Details
Keywords: E-Commerce Strategy; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Global Range; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; E-commerce; Retail Industry
Yoffie, David B., and Daniel Fisher. "Walmart Update, 2019." Harvard Business School Case 719-504, April 2019.
- February 2011 (Revised December 2014)
- Case
RentJuice
By: Thomas Eisenmann and Liz Kind
RentJuice, founded in mid-2008, provided a subscription software service—sold via phone and live online webinars—that allowed real estate professionals like brokers and agents to manage and market rental listings, communicate with clients, and complete transaction... View Details
Keywords: Renting or Rental; Product Launch; Applications and Software; Property; Business Startups; Salesforce Management; Product Marketing; Real Estate Industry; Information Technology Industry
Eisenmann, Thomas, and Liz Kind. "RentJuice." Harvard Business School Case 811-069, February 2011. (Revised December 2014.)
- October 2021 (Revised November 2021)
- Case
Bodega Aurrera: eCommerce at the Base of the Pyramid
By: Michael Chu, Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui, Carla Larangeira and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago
Bodega Aurrera, serving the base of the pyramid and Walmart’s main Mexican format, is considering launching a full eCommerce channel as Covid-19 has erupted in the country. In 2019, Bodega Aurrera accounted for 45% of revenues and 2,748 of Walmex’s 3,416 stores. Having... View Details
Keywords: Ecommerce; Bottom Of The Pyramid; Digitalization; Omnichannel; Walmart; Business Model; Internet and the Web; Marketing Channels; Technology Adoption; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Latin America; Mexico
Chu, Michael, Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui, Carla Larangeira, and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago. "Bodega Aurrera: eCommerce at the Base of the Pyramid." Harvard Business School Case 322-059, October 2021. (Revised November 2021.)
- June 2013 (Revised March 2014)
- Case
Hennes & Mauritz, 2012
By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin
In 2012, Hennes & Maurtiz (H&M) was the second-largest specialty apparel retailer in the world. Sales for fiscal 2012 were $18.1 billion and operating profits were $3.3 billion. H&M operated 2,776 stores, 93% of them outside its home base of Sweden. Over the past... View Details
Keywords: Fashion; Strategic Decision Making; Strategy; Supply Chain; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Fashion Industry; Europe; Sweden
Wells, John R., and Galen Danskin. "Hennes & Mauritz, 2012." Harvard Business School Case 713-512, June 2013. (Revised March 2014.)