Publications

January 1998 (Revised September 2000)
Case

Neiman Marcus (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

The management of Neiman Marcus, a highly successful luxury goods retailer, is considering ways to grow the business and continue to return in excess of 15% on capital. Among the options on the table is a jewelry store concept called The Galleries. View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Investment; Investment Return; Operations; Luxury; Retail Industry

02 Aug 2016
First Look

August 2, 2016

instead for consumer attention. We model and characterize how households allocate their scarce attention in arguably the largest market for attention: the Internet. Our characterization of household attention allocation operates along... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: Jan. 12

Multichannel retailers dominate today's retail landscape. While there are many benefits of operating multiple channels, these retailers also face... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

11 Jul 2006
First Look

First Look: July 11, 2006

of $27.3 billion, Richfield, Minnesota-based Best Buy Co., Inc., was the leading retailer of consumer electronics, home-office products, and related services in North America. Its operations included the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Reinventing Retail: ShopRunner's Network Bet

By: Benjamin Edelman and Karen Webster

ShopRunner considers adjustments to improve its online shopping service which offers no-charge two-day shipping as well as easy returns and other conveniences. Competitors' diverse pricing models and ancillary benefits raise questions about how to structure and price... View Details

Keywords: Shopping Club; Coop; Pricing; Shipping; Marketing Channels; Global Strategy; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States; China

Research Summary

Overview

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Rayport focuses his teaching and research on launching and scaling technology ventures, with emphasis on digital media, e-commerce, and multi-channel retail. View Details

17 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: January 17

products survive in equilibrium, even with competition. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-055.pdf Got Local Food? Authors:Baris Ata, Deishin Lee, and Mustafa H. Tongarlak Abstract We study the operational tradeoffs of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Mar 2018
First Look

March 13, 2018

relative to those with higher scores. We then create a “hygiene alert”—a message that appears only for restaurants identified by the City as having “poor” operating conditions with “high-risk” hygiene violations (using the same low score... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: February 6, 2018

substantially fewer violations. With improved compliance, channel prices increase by 2% without loss in volume. The reduction in violations is particularly stark among authorized retailers with lower sales volume, those that previously... View Details

17 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 17

integrating operations to avoid corruption. The difference, the authors believe, lies in the choice between “push” and “pull” investment. MNCs seek growth by pushing current products onto emerging middle-class consumers. They retain some... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2021 (Revised February 2025)
Teaching Note

Zara: An Integrated Store and Online Model (A) and (B)

By: Antonio Moreno and Anibha Singh

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 620-073 and 620-074. View Details

Keywords: Stores; Integration; Operations; Business Model; Strategy; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Europe

November 2012 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Learning Resources: A Hands-On Toy Company Deals with New Challenges and Opportunities

By: Boris Groysberg and Anahita Hashemi

Learning Resources is a family-owned educational toy company that, by late 2011, was facing a myriad of challenges, including increased competition, entry into new markets, new distribution methods, rising costs of production in China, and changing customer behavior.... View Details

Keywords: Leading Teams; Strategy Formulation; Strategy And Execution; Innovation; Corporate Culture; Industry Analysis; Organizational Alignment; Entrepreneurs; Sales Channels; Leadership; Strategy; Change Management; Innovation Leadership; Family Business; Entrepreneurship; Product Design; Sales; Retail Industry; United States

21 Nov 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, November 21, 2017

chain that generalizes Antràs and Chor (2013). To assess the evidence, we construct firm-level measures of the upstreamness of integrated and non-integrated inputs by combining information on the production activities of firms operating... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2015 (Revised July 2019)
Case

CVS Health: Promoting Drug Adherence

By: Leslie John, John Quelch and Robert Huckman

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

The case describes a program that CVS Health recently implemented to improve medication adherence, an important problem from a societal, public policy, and firm... View Details

09 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 9

observational data and quantitative operational data analyzed with adapted network methods, we examine whether and how team scaffolds facilitate teaming in a dynamic work environment. Although team scaffolds were implemented with little... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2000 (Revised March 2006)
Case

ZOOTS--The Cleaner Cleaner

By: Myra M. Hart and Sharon Peyus

A successful entrepreneur (retailing) starts a new venture in dry cleaning. The case focuses on transferable models, skills, and knowledge from one venture to the next. Areas of emphasis are: managing growth, challenges of operations, financing, and competitive moves. View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Competitive Strategy; Operations; Knowledge Dissemination; Business Startups; Corporate Finance; Retail Industry; Retail Industry