Publications

February 2014 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Go Mobile: Aligning District Managers and Store Teams

By: Tatiana Sandino

Indian cell phone retailer Go Mobile had implemented high-powered incentives to motivate its store employees to behave as owners and provide exceptional service. As the company scaled up, it faced multiple challenges in building a layer of district managers that were... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth Management; Organizational Design; Salesforce Management; Motivation and Incentives; Management Practices and Processes; Telecommunications Industry; India

Educators

08 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

Everything Must Go: A Strategy for Store Liquidation

It's an unhappy yet unavoidable fact: Sometimes, retail chains go out of business. Moreover, even healthy chains periodically must close down some existing stores. When stores have to be liquidated—when "everything must go"—a... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

November 2017
Case

Loss Prevention at Mac's Convenience Stores (A)

By: Francesca Gino, Katherine DeCelles and Olivia Hull

Faced with a persistent robbery problem at his convenience store company, Sean Sportun, security and loss prevention manager at Mac’s of Central Canada, looked to standardize safety measures and devise a new way of preventing employee injury. But as a 32-year old with... View Details

Keywords: Public Relations; Community Relations; Change Management; Working Conditions; Leading Change; Training; Knowledge Dissemination; Crime and Corruption; Law Enforcement; Legal Liability; Business and Community Relations; Retail Industry; Canada

Educators

06 Apr 2016
News

Walmart – trouble in store

02 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Retail Reaches a Tipping Point—Which Stores Will Survive?

Alvarez, and research associate Dan Greenberg (Harvard MBA 2012). Their new book Retail Revolution: Will Your Brick-and-Mortar Store Survive?, predicts, among many other things, the continuing decline of major brick and mortar brands... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

04 Mar 2015
News

Retail Reaches a Tipping Point—Which Stores Will Survive?

February 1996
Case

Spartan Stores Incorporated: Reengineering for Efficient Consumer Response

Describes an effort to rationalize operations at a leading grocery wholesaler, enabled by information systems. Spartan Stores, Inc., is cooperatively owned by its 238 retailers and, through training, consulting, systems support, and cost of goods efficiencies, strives... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Restructuring; Information Technology

10 Jul 2014
News

Birchbox Store Opens in NY

Keywords: bricks and mortar; retail; customer engagement; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Miscellaneous Store Retailers

2022
Working Paper

The Effect of Employee Lateness and Absenteeism on Store Performance

By: Caleb Kwon and Ananth Raman

We empirically analyze the effects of employee lateness and absenteeism on store performance by examining 25.5 million employee shift timecards covering more than 100,000 employees across more than 500 U.S. retail grocery store locations over a four year time period.... View Details

Keywords: Absenteeism; Lateness; Scheduling; Performance Productivity; Employees; Retail Industry

SSRN

Read Now

18 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

Tips to Reinvent the Department Store

Here's a snapshot of department stores today: Regional brands have all but disappeared; larger players like Federated and May are merging their multi-brand companies, and consolidation continues. Meanwhile, all sorts of retailers from... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Retail

June 1994 (Revised April 1998)
Teaching Note

National Convenience Stores Incorporated (TN)

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Steven R. Fenster

Teaching Note for (9-294-068). View Details

Keywords: Retail Industry

February 2015
Teaching Note

Eataly: Reimagining the Grocery Store

By: Sunil Gupta and Michela Addis

Within a few years of its operations, the Italian-based supermarket Eataly created a lot of buzz and excitement among consumers and media. Eataly's initial success was even more impressive in an industry known for its intense competition and low margins. How did Eataly... View Details

Keywords: Customer Engagement; Innovation; Retailing; Supermarkets; Agribusiness; Entrepreneurship; Food; Customers; Innovation and Invention; Marketing; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; North and Central America; Asia

November 1988 (Revised November 1988)
Case

Lucky Stores (C): Extended Version

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Keywords: Retail Industry

12 Mar 2015
News

Maine retailer L.L. Bean plans to triple its stores

2001
Teaching Note

Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Teaching Note

By: R. Lal, Jennifer B. Lawrence and Josie Parr

Keywords: Retail Industry; California

December 2008 (Revised October 2009)
Case

Wal-Mart Stores in 2003 (Abridged Version)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Examines Wal-Mart's development over three decades and provides financial and descriptive detail of its domestic operations. In 2003, Wal-Mart's Supercenter business has surpassed its domestic business as the largest generator of revenues. Its international operation... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Business Growth and Maturation; Competitive Advantage; Labor Unions; Operations; Global Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Gender; Retail Industry; United States

Educators

March 1979
Background Note

Note on Types of Retail Stores

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi

Keywords: Retail Industry