Publications

26 Aug 2014
News

Harvard Business School Honors Outstanding Graduates with Alumni Achievement Awards

December 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

WayCool: Addressing Food Loss

By: Rajiv Lal and Kairavi Dey

Headquartered in Chennai, India, WayCool started by focusing on solving the growing challenge of food losses and low farmer incomes. Dasari and Jayaraman, surprised at the amount of fruits and vegetables lost in the agricultural supply chain, set up the company with... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Food; Supply Chain; Loss; Expansion; Distribution Channels; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Asia; India; Bangalore; Chennai

11 Feb 2014
First Look

First Look: February 11

http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/14-062_29ad7901-c306-44fa-88df-31e97a17cbbf.pdf BYOB: How Bringing Your Own Shopping Bags Leads to Treating Yourself, and the Environment By: Karmarkar, Uma R., and Bryan Bollinger Abstract—As concerns about climate change... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

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

02 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

‘Retail Revolution’ Excerpt: The Scale of the Ecommerce Threat

fulfillment of basic needs, such as Consumer Product Goods and apparel basics, is growing. With customers increasingly ordering these and other products online, potential shoppers have fewer reasons to leave their homes, and the clothing View Details

Keywords: Re: Rajiv Lal; Retail

24 Dec 2013
First Look

First Look: December 24

a variety of metrics, Trader Joe's ranked as one of the most successful grocers in the United States in 2013. Experts estimated that the company had the highest sales per square foot of any major grocery chain, even significantly high... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

29 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles and Research Papers of 2014

How Grocery Bags Manipulate Your Mind People who bring personal shopping bags to the grocery store to help the environment are more likely to buy organic items—but also to... View Details

23 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 23

served tens of millions of transactions with total dollar value in the billions. Users have been drawn to Bitcoin for its decentralization, intentionally relying on no single server or set of servers to store transactions and also... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Retailing Revolution: Category Killers on the Brink

"Category killers," those highly focused retailers that specialize in a category of goods including Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, and Staples, were once the bane of mass-market retailers' existence. Their wide assortment, aggressive pricing, large stores, extensive... View Details

Keywords: by Rajiv Lal & Jose B. Alvarez; Retail

20 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 20

Movement to Reduce Obesity in Texas Jose B. Alvarez, Jason Riis, and Walter J. SalmonHarvard Business School Case 512-034 In January 2012, H-E-B Grocery Co., a private retail chain with stores located in... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Nov 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Multi-Sided Platforms

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu & Julian Wright

27 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Customer Loyalty Programs That Work

ExtraCare, and pay-for-membership cards for stores including Costco. In a very basic form loyalty schemes have been around for as long as people have been exchanging goods—consider the farmer who threw in an extra ear of corn for his best... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Retail

September 2020 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Algramo

By: Michael Chu, Monica Silva and Mariana Cal

Founded in 2013 by José Manuel Moller in Chile, Algramo first became known for addressing the “poverty tax” (the surcharge paid by lower income families for staples sold in smaller sizes) through specially-designed dispensers in low-income neighborhood grocery stores... View Details

Keywords: Packaging-as-a-wallet; Plastic Waste; Business At The Base Of The Pyramid; Reusable Packaging; Alliances With FMCGs To Meet ESG Goals; Social Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Strategy; Value Creation; Goals and Objectives; Business Model; Consumer Products Industry; Latin America; South America; Chile