Publications

15 Apr 2002
Research & Ideas

In the Virtual Dressing Room Returns Are A Real Problem

Many distinctive aspects of the textile and apparel industries present challenges to implementing electronic commerce. First, and perhaps most important, is the difficulty of accurately characterizing the product online. Many of the... View Details

Keywords: by Jan Hammond & Kristin Kohler; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

September 1991 (Revised December 1991)
Case

USA Today Decision, The: Making Headlines Across the Nation (A)

This two-part case series describes how the option of launching USA Today was defined and evaluated by the Gannett Corp. This case supports a broad discussion of whether the concept of a national, general interest daily fits with the changing external environment and... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Decision Making; Product Launch; Product Development; Journalism and News Industry; Publishing Industry; United States

April 1993 (Revised May 1993)
Case

Safeway Manufacturing Division: The Manufacturing Control System (MCS) (A)

Describes a decision that SMD management made to implement an MRP II system in its 38 plants. Raises the issues that needed to be addressed to enable the implementation, and is positioned so the students can develop a detailed implementation plan. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Production; Planning; Manufacturing Industry

May 1990
Case

Frito-Lay, Inc.: From Manufacturing to Operations Strategy

By: David A. Garvin

Keywords: Production; Strategy; Quality; Performance Productivity; Strategic Planning

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April 2002
Background Note

Local Institutions and Global Strategy

By: Tarun Khanna

Explores how location affects a firm's strategy and identifies the different ways location affects industry structure, choice of a firm's position, and the sustainability of that position. The intellectual foundations lie in an appreciation of institutional economics.... View Details

Keywords: Global Range; Global Strategy; Product Positioning; Market Transactions; Industry Structures; Negotiation Deal; Organizational Design; Outcome or Result; Strategic Planning

April 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Change at Whirlpool Corporation (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin, Dorothy A. Leonard and Gary Hamel

In 1998, the CEO of Whirlpool Corp. decides to change the company's strategy significantly to escape an increasingly unattractive "stalemate" in the appliance industry. The change he proposes involves a fundamental shift in the company's focus--from manufacturing to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Competitive Advantage; Strategic Planning; Production; Brands and Branding; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry; United States

September 1999 (Revised October 2006)
Case

MarketSoft

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Diana S. Gardner

Greg Erman and Nancy Benovich-Gilby have assembled a team and selected a market for the launch of a high-potential venture based on using an Internet-based service to manage the flow of sales leads between principals and their distribution channel partners. Their... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Planning; Sales; Management; Internet; Web Services Industry

12 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship and Multinationals Drive Globalization

Entrepreneurship and Multinationals: Global Business and the Making of the Modern World, and his views on subjects ranging from whether globalism has been a force for good to what Nazi Germany tells us about the difficulty in planning for... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

June 2012 (Revised November 2012)
Case

The Rise of Circuit City Stores, Inc.

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In fiscal 2000, Circuit City was at the top of its game. The world's leading consumer electronics retailer had delivered record sales and profits for the first year of the new millennium. It was a fitting moment for Richard Sharpe, the CEO of the last 14 years, to step... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Strategic Planning; Competition; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; North America

September 2012 (Revised November 2012)
Case

The Fall of Circuit City Stores, Inc.

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

On January 16, 2009, after a dismal holiday season, Circuit City was forced into liquidation. Unable to meet creditors' demands, and with no acquirer in sight, Circuit City began the process of liquidating its remaining 567 U.S. stores. Circuit City had been the leader... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Leadership; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; North America

April 2020 (Revised May 2020)
Case

NTT DOCOMO's Race to 5G

By: Juan Alcácer, Horst Melcher and Akiko Kanno

The case, based on extensive interviews with NTT DOCOMO’s technology leaders, focuses on the opportunities and challenges that NTT DOCOMO faces with the launch of infrastructure and services for 5G wireless telecommunication technology. With higher data rates and... View Details

Keywords: 5G; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Product Launch; Strategic Planning; Decision Making; Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Technology Industry

22 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Control Your Inventory in a World of Lean Retailing

Manufacturers generally classify products in terms of broad product lines, developing a single marketing strategy and production plan for each... View Details

Keywords: by Frederick H. Abernathy, John T. Dunlop, Janice H. Hammond & David Weil; Consumer Products

May 1979 (Revised April 1987)
Case

Great Lakes Diversified Corp.: The Detroit Plant

By: W. Earl Sasser and David C. Rikert

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Planning; Production; Strategy; Michigan

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30 Nov 2018
What Do You Think?

What’s the Best Administrative Approach to Climate Change?

Summing Up: Should a 'Montreal Protocol' for Administering Global Warming Be Pursued? Climate change and how to manage it is a daunting subject. Nevertheless, several readers of this month’s column were willing to venture a model or two for administering a system... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Energy

29 Aug 2024
Research & Ideas

Shoot for the Stars: What to Know About the Space Economy

much at the center of that over the next five to 10 years. I think the clearest way to see that is through the SpaceX Starlink constellation, which is already a constellation of several thousand satellites. Many thousands more are planned... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Aerospace

22 Mar 2017
Research & Ideas

What's the Ideal Frequency for a Sales Quota?

spend more than $800 billion annually on those efforts. Sales compensation plans are at the center of all this activity, the primary tool managers use to motivate and incentivize salespeople. Sales reps feed on two forms of compensation:... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

December 1988
Case

Great Lakes Diversified Corp.: The Detroit Plant--1980

By: Roy D. Shapiro

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Planning; Production; Strategy; Michigan

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September 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

AB InBev: Brewing Up Forecasts during COVID-19

By: Mark Egan, C. Fritz Foley, Esel Cekin and Emilie Billaud

In July 2021, the CEO of AB InBev's European operations and his team strategized to position the company for success post-pandemic. As the world's largest beer company, boasting over 500 brands, revenue of $46 billion, and a workforce of 160,000 in 2020, AB InBev... View Details