Publications

25 Jan 2022
Cold Call Podcast

How Footwear Startup Allbirds is Decarbonizing Fashion

Keywords: Re: Michael W. Toffel

2012
Working Paper

The Effect of Supply Chain Complementarities on Local Food

By: Baris Ata, Deishin Lee and Mustafa H. Tongarlak

We study the operational tradeoffs of a retailer and farmers in a fresh produce supply chain to determine the equilibrium supply chain structure. These operational tradeoffs arise as a result of the geographic constraints posed by the availability of arable land and... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Food; Supply Chain; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

September 2013 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Wal-Mart Lobbying in India?

By: Karthik Ramanna and Vidhya Muthuram

In 2012, as part of a routine disclosure under U.S. law, Wal-Mart revealed it had spent $25 million since 2008 on lobbying to "enhance market access for investment in India." This disclosure, which came weeks after the Indian government made a controversial decision to... View Details

Keywords: Lobbying; India; Multinational Corporations; Business and Government Relations; Crime and Corruption; Retail Industry; India

03 Jan 2019
Blog Post

Leveraging Transferable Skills

This is a repost from the HBS Recruiting blog. Shelby, Jasmyn and Katie (MBA 2019) describe their summer internship experiences. All three students utilized transferable skills from their previous work experience to transition into new industries; technology, View Details

22 Jul 2015
News

Name Your Price. Really.

To Sell or Not to Sell on Amazon

Millions of makers and retailers are selling their goods on Amazon. Now we are witnessing a growing group of companies that deliberately choose to NOT sell their goods on or through Amazon. Should an e-bike manufacturer sell on Amazon or not?

View Details

04 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: January 4

accelerate the decline of independents by increasing the attractiveness of smaller in-town store formats for retail chains. The causal impact of planning regulation is estimated using variation in local political control across the U.K.,... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

2021
Case

NiPay's Pricing Conundrum

By: Marco Bertini and Oded Koenigsberg

NiPay is a software provider competing in the Nigerian business-to-business payments market. Founded by Idaku Ibrahim nearly 20 years ago, NiPay sells two products to retailers and other merchants, which enable individual shoppers to transact either online or via a... View Details

Keywords: Payment Systems; B2B; Pricing; Software; Marketing Strategy; Nigeria

19 Jun 2019
News

People thought Hubert Joly was ‘crazy or suicidal’ for taking the job as Best Buy CEO. Then he ushered in its turnaround

30 Dec 2019
News

Buying luxury items makes you feel less confident and authentic, study says

February 1999 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Egghead to Egghead.com (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

Over the course of 12 months in 1997 and 1998, Egghead senior management decided to shut down its 180 brick-and-mortar retail stores and move to an electronic store. The case describes the evolution of that process, and the role of its CEO George Orban, and poses... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Internet and the Web; Transformation; Decisions; Corporate Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Market Transactions; Buildings and Facilities; Retail Industry

15 Feb 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Can Financial Innovation Solve Household Reluctance to Take Risk?

Keywords: by Laurent Calvet, Claire Celerier, Paolo Sodini, and Boris Vallée; Financial Services; Computer

June 2015 (Revised October 2015)
Case

High Liner Foods, 2015

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2015, Canadian-based High Liner Foods Ltd was one of North America's largest frozen fish processors with extensive shares of both the food service and retail channels in Canada, the USA and Mexico. With over C$1 billion in revenues, the company had grown four fold... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Strategic Decision Making; Family Business; Commodities; Strategic Planning; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; North America; Canada

Profile

Marla Malcolm Beck

mortar retailers, Beck cut against the grain and decided to embrace both clicks and bricks. Bluemercury has a vast online clientele, but the brand’s larger revenue stream comes from its 60 retail outlets in 16 states around the country.... View Details

November 2001 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Grupo Elektra

By: David J. Arnold, Gustavo Herrero and Luiz Felipe Monteiro

Grupo Elektra is Latin America's largest consumer finance company based on credit sales in its hard goods retail outlets. It has started to internationalize in Latin America but now must to decide whether to enter the U.S. Hispanic market and which of its two core... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Emerging Markets; Global Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Latin America; United States; Mexico

17 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Beyond Pajamas: Sizing Up the Pandemic Shopper

When working professionals were shifting to home offices a year ago as COVID-19 was spreading, comedians and pundits predicted that people would no longer need bras and pants that aren’t stretchy. Instead customers would make room for pajamas and athleisure wear. Only... View Details

Keywords: by Ayelet Israeli, Eva Ascarza, and Laura Castrillo; Retail

July 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Swedish Lottery Bonds

Profiling nonsystematic risk for a bond investor, the case describes lottery bond issues by the Swedish National Debt Office (SNDO). Swedish lottery bonds are a specific type of financial fixed income instrument for Swedish retail investors. The distinctive feature of... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Business and Government Relations; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Sweden