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HBS Application Tips from MBA Admissions - MBA

Sciences Partners & Families Peek SVMP Social Enterprise Student Life Student Loans Student Profile Sustainability Video Blog Industries Industries Architecture Construction Consulting Consumer Packaged... View Details

09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Unilever—A Case Study

animal feeds. In Europe, its food business spanned all stages of the industry, from fishing fleets to retail shops. Among its range of ancillary services were shipping, paper, packaging, plastics, and advertising and market research.... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Retail; Retail; Retail; Retail; Retail

June 2012 (Revised March 2014)
Case

I Paid a Bribe (Dot) Com

By: Karthik Ramanna and Rachna Tahilyani

Anti-corruption web platform "ipaidabribe.com" leverages the transparency and anonymity of the Internet to encourage private citizens in India who have been the victims of corruption to self-report details of bribes paid, including the bribe amount, the name of the... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Internet and the Web; Ethics; Service Industry; India

02 Sep 2015
What Do You Think?

What's Wrong With Amazon’s Low-Retention HR Strategy?

low-retention HR strategy, its customers probably regard it as a highly successful application of that idea. Advocates of a high-retention strategy may wonder why Amazon hasn’t learned something from online retailer Zappos, a... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail; Retail; Retail; Retail; Retail

11 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

Is Amazon a Retailer, a Tech Firm, or a Media Company? How AI Can Help Investors Decide

Traditional investing classifications consider Walmart a consumer staples retailer, but the company owns more than 6,000 retail and distribution properties around the world—the portfolio dwarfs those of many commercial real estate firms.... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Retail; Retail; Retail; Retail

30 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 30, 2008

http://papers.nber.org/papers/w14302 The Effect of Labor on Profitability: The Role of Quality Author:Zeynep Ton Abstract Determining staffing levels is an important decision in retail operations. While the costs of increasing labor are... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Other Article

The Market That Wasn't: The Non-emergence of the Online Grocery Category

By: Chad Navis, Greg Fisher, Ryan Raffaelli and Mary Ann Glynn

We examine the non-emergence of a potential new market category. In the late 1990s the entrepreneurial firms that attempted to sell groceries online attracted significant resources, made meaningful technological advancements and generated immense publicity, yet online... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Food; Emerging Markets; Service Industry; Service Industry

Read Now

Eva Ascarza is the Jakurski Family Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Marketing Unit. She is the co-founder of the Customer Intelligence Lab at the D^3 institute at Harvard Business School. She teaches the Marketing core in the MBA required... View Details

Keywords: e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry; e-commerce industry

December 2021
Case

Green Monday

By: José B. Alvarez, Billy Chan and Dawn H. Lau

This case describes the entrepreneurial journey of David Yeung, from campaigning for plant-based diets to building Green Monday, a purpose-driven business and an ecosystem based in Hong Kong comprising a retail platform, an alternative meat brand (“OmniPork”), a... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Social Enterprise; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Business Model; Mission and Purpose; Growth and Development Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Hong Kong; China; Asia

05 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: iPads, Kindles, and the Close of a Chapter in Book Publishing

cooperation with Amazon? Are there other strategic partners to consider? As the largest publisher in the world, should Random House take a stand on e-book pricing and royalty rates? Finally, if the entire structure of the book publishing View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Information; Publishing; Entertainment & Recreation

August 2020 (Revised March 2021)
Supplement

Migros Turkey: Scaling Online Operations (B)

By: Antonio Moreno and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in February 2020 as Ozgur Tort and Mustafa Bartin, CEO and chief large-format and online retail officer of Migros Ticaret A.S. (Migros), Turkey’s oldest and one of its largest supermarket chains, are looking over the results of the fulfillment pilot the... View Details

Keywords: Grocery; Business Model; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Value Creation; Globalization; Competition; Expansion; Logistics; Profit; Resource Allocation; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; Turkey

April 2016 (Revised June 2017)
Teaching Note

Dollar General Bids for Family Dollar

By: Jonas Heese, Paula A. Price and Suraj Srinivasan

In spring 2015, Dollar General CEO Rick Dreiling was looking ahead to retiring at year's end but worried about ensuring continued growth for the company he had built since 2008 into a market leader in the U.S. discount retail world. Dollar General operated over 11,500... View Details

Keywords: Dollar General; Family Dollar; Dollar Tree; Antitrust; Board Of Directors; Activist Investors; Federal Trade Commission; Acquisition; Valuation; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry

February 2017 (Revised May 2022)
Case

The De Beers Group: Exploring the Diamond Reselling Opportunity

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Daniel P. Gross and Lauren G. Pickle

In September 2014, Tom Montgomery (SVP of strategic initiatives at the De Beers Group) and his team launched a pilot program in the United States to explore the $1 billion diamond market for pre-owned (recycled) diamonds. According to Montgomery, the motivation for the... View Details

Professor Narayanan is the Thomas D. Casserly, Jr. Professor of Business Administration, and Senior Associate Dean of Executive Education and HBS Online. His research focuses on management accounting with an interest in performance evaluation and incentives. He uses... View Details

Keywords: accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry; accounting industry

June 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Inditex: 2012

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In the 11 years since its public offering, Inditex and its flagship brand, Zara, had expanded into 86 countries, achieved $21.6 billion in revenue, and become the largest specialty apparel retailer in the world. In marked contrast to the general malaise of the Bolsa de... View Details

Keywords: Fashion; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Fashion Industry; Spain