Publications

September 1992 (Revised November 1997)
Case

DHL Worldwide Express

By: John A. Quelch

The worldwide sales and marketing manager must determine the degree to which pricing strategy and tactics should be standardized or left to the discretion of the DHL subsidiary in each country. View Details

Keywords: Governance; Business Subsidiaries; Price; Marketing Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Sales; Shipping Industry

December 2018 (Revised May 2021)
Background Note

Making UK Energy Smarter

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

This case describes the history of the United Kingdom's domestic energy industry and the country's efforts to create a more competitive, greener, and distributed power sector. On July 24, 2017, the United Kingdom government and the industry regulator, the Office of Gas... View Details

October 2001 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Anagene, Inc.

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Christina L. Darwall

An entrepreneurial, publicly traded biotech company has begun production and sales of its core product--cartridges that permit DNA samples to be analyzed on a microchip. In the early quarters, sales are difficult to forecast and the company has experienced fluctuating... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Financial Reporting; Production; Performance Capacity; Risk and Uncertainty; Genetics; Governing and Advisory Boards; Biotechnology Industry; California

2023
Working Paper

No Mask, No Service: Customer Reaction to Walmart’s 2020 National Mask Mandate

By: Innessa Colaiacovo

Multi-location firms face a complex series of economic tradeoffs when deciding whether to implement standard processes or allow processes to vary across establishments. One element of this tradeoff is customer response. This paper explores customer reaction to a... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Geographic Location; Policy; Health Pandemics; Retail Industry; United States

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July 1990 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Nordstrom: Dissension in the Ranks? (A)

By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston

In 1989, the performance measurement systems and compensation policies of Nordstrom Department Stores unexpectedly came under attack by employees, unions, and government regulators. The case describes the "sales-per-hour" monitoring and compensation system that many... View Details

Keywords: Performance Consistency; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Labor Unions; Salesforce Management; Retention; Growth and Development; Industrial Products Industry; Utilities Industry

13 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

Small Businesses Are Worse Off Than We Thought

School of Business, to craft the survey and analyze responses. “Firms today are very lean and cash-strapped.” The survey captured a snapshot of the pandemic’s impact on small businesses, including business owners’ perceptions about their prospects for survival and how... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Financial Services

28 Jan 2008
Research & Ideas

Billions of Entrepreneurs in China and India

of stories about social entrepreneurs, political entrepreneurs, and others whom we study in business schools—investors, capitalists, and so on. Q: What's different about entrepreneurship in both countries? A: The extent and type of View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

06 Nov 2008
Op-Ed

Selling Out The American Dream

to spend at the same level. Christmas retail sales will be an early indicator. But, not to worry, the Federal government promises to come to the rescue, with both parties supporting a fiscal stimulus in the... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

October 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Toyota Recalls (A): Hitting the Skids

By: John A. Quelch, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Ryan Johnson

In the fall of 2009, Toyota Motor Corporation, once revered for its commitment to quality and reliability, faced a highly publicized series of recalls in the United States representing approximately a year's worth of sales in one of its most important markets. While... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Crisis Management; Brands and Branding; Quality; Public Opinion; Auto Industry; Japan; United States

October 1996 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Chiquita Brands International (A)

By: Debora L. Spar and Terence Mulligan

When a new banana import policy is implemented in 1993 by the European Union, Chiquita Brands International, the world's largest banana distributor, watches its sales and net income plummet. The policy, Council Regulation (EEC 404/93), uses a new tariff and quota... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Trade; Government and Politics; Policy; Market Design; Fairness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Latin America; European Union

15 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

The Unspoken Messages of COVID-19 Restrictions

Soaring COVID-19 cases are forcing government officials to confront a critical question: Should they lock down the economy further? Whether to curb activities like indoor dining might seem like a simple choice, but the decision to ease... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Food & Beverage

January 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

DJI- Striving for Innovation Amid Contestation

By: William C. Kirby and Daniel Fu

DJI was founded in a college dorm room in Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong. By 2020, DJI, a company manufacturing drones, occupied a 77% share of consumer drone sales in the United States with a wide array of clients including law enforcement and government agencies. Its... View Details

Keywords: Drones; Hong Kong; China; Chinese Manufacturing; Chinese Dream; China's Political Economy

March 2010
Article

Information Content of Insider Trades before and after the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

By: Francois Brochet

This paper examines the information content of Form 4 filings under the more timely disclosure regime introduced by Section 403 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). Abnormal returns and trading volumes around filings of insider stock purchases are significantly... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government Legislation; Lawsuits and Litigation; Market Transactions; Volume; Sales

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07 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

How to Help Small Businesses Survive COVID's Next Phase

services, Mills says, citing the experience of milliner Linda Pagan, owner of The Hat Shop in New York. “She decided to create these crazy videos and put them on Instagram, and they’ve taken off,” Mills says. “She still takes customer orders over the phone, but now she... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Food & Beverage; Service

January 2014 (Revised June 2014)
Supplement

23andMe: Genetic Testing for Consumers (B)

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

Following the FDA's letter in November 2013, which ordered 23andMe to cease sales of its DNA test kits, observers wondered how co-founder and CEO, Anne Wojcicki, would guide the company in the presence of uncertainty. View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Genetics; Crisis Management; Health Care and Treatment; Product Development; Business and Government Relations; Biotechnology Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

April 1993 (Revised September 1996)
Case

ABB Deutschland (B)

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

Focuses in detail on implementing a corporate restructuring program in ABB's German subsidiary. Special attention is given to Germany's unique form of industrial governance. Two major problem areas--power plants and power transformers--are described in detail, as is a... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Restructuring; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Governance; Leadership Style; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Sales; Opportunities; Energy Industry; Germany

April 2019 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Sears: The Demise of an American Icon

By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2019, ESL Investments’ $5.2 billion offer to purchase Sears Holdings out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was accepted, despite opposition from the company's unsecured creditors and other parties. ESL, which was led by Eddie Lampert, had acquired a stake in Sears following... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Reorganization; Bonds; Restructuring; Business Divisions; Transformation; Fairness; Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Corporate Governance; Motivation and Incentives; Retail Industry; United States

04 Mar 2016
Research & Ideas

Is E-commerce at Risk in Apple's Security Dispute with the FBI?

sales each year? Sunil Gupta, the Edward W. Carter Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, recently wrote a case on Apple Pay and the company’s ambitions of convincing consumers to trade in their real wallets in... View Details

Keywords: Re: Sunil Gupta; Technology

August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Amazon.com, 2021

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Retail; E-commerce; Amazon; Internet; Amazon.com; AmazonFresh; Jeff Bezos; Cloud Computing; Marketplaces; Streaming; E-reader Market; Digital Media; Mobile App; Online Retail; Shipping; Database; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Smartphone; Delivery; Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Profit; Revenue; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Business History; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Books; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Public Ownership; Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Price; Applications and Software; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Working Capital; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; Advertising Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Music Industry; Publishing Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle