Publications

September 1985
Case

H.J. Heinz Co.: Plastic Bottle Ketchup (B)

By: John A. Quelch

The Heinz Ketchup product manager discovers she does not have sufficient finished inventory and production capacity to meet trade demand for a new plastic bottle ketchup. Alternatives include cancelling promotion events and putting the trade on allocation. View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Crisis Management; Innovation and Invention; Product Marketing; Food and Beverage Industry

February 2008
Case

Campbell Soup Company: Selling Channel Innovation to Customers

Campbell Soup, like most food manufacturers, faced grocery chain and wholesale demand for its goods driven by Campbell's own promotional pricing structure rather than retail consumer demand. Former policies to encourage overstock created huge swings in production and... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

October 1994
Case

Campbell Soup Company: A Leader in Continuous Replenishment Innovations

Campbell Soup, like most food manufacturers, faced grocery chain and wholesale demand for its goods driven by Campbell's own promotional pricing structure rather than retail consumer demand. Former policies to encourage overstock created huge swings in production and... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Supply Chain Management; Logistics

August 2017 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Fuyao Glass America: Sourcing Decision

By: Willy Shih

In today's global economy, what are the factors that go into production location choice? This case is set in the world's second largest automotive glass producer as it expands from China into the United States. To meet a very aggressive cost target, management is faced... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chains; Globalization Of Supply Chain; Manufacturing Footprint; Manufacturing; Manufacturing Strategy; Global Strategy; Supply Chain; Globalization; Supply Chain Management; Production; Logistics; Strategy; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; China

June 2005 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Amazon.com's European Distribution Strategy

By: Janice Hammond and Claire Chiron

Describes how Amazon's distribution system evolved from the company's inception. In 2003, Amazon Europe must decide how to reconfigure its distribution network in light of expected growth, products proliferation, and geographical expansion in Europe. Examines how... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Supply and Industry; Distribution; Supply Chain; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Web Services Industry

03 Nov 2016
News

Here's How Big Government Could Help Small Businesses

June 1994 (Revised October 1999)
Background Note

Beer Game, The: Board Version

By: Janice H. Hammond

The beer game is an exercise that demonstrates supply channel dynamics. Simulates the flow of material and information in a simplified channel of beer production and distribution, focusing on the linkages among a beer manufacturer, its distributors, a wholesaler, and a... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Information; Distribution Channels; Production; Supply Chain Management; Problems and Challenges

19 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 19

September 2017 Management Science Channel Integration, Sales Dispersion, and Inventory Management By: Gallino, Santiago, Antonio Moreno, and Ioannis Stamatopoulos Abstract—We... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 1996 (Revised March 2008)
Exercise

Canonical Decision Problems

Involves seven canonical decision problems--basic problems in management that arise with surprising frequency. Although these exercises are simplified versions of these problems, they have been written to preserve the "essence" of the decision situations. The problems... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Management Skills; Negotiation; Problems and Challenges

July 2005 (Revised January 2009)
Case

Paper and More (A)

Provides a context and exercise for introducing retail inventory management, including cost optimization, service-level criteria, and forecasting in single and multiproduct settings. The owner of a single-location paper and paper products store considers the... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Measurement and Metrics; Logistics; Sales; Expansion; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry

October 1981 (Revised June 1985)
Case

Walton Instruments Manufacturing--1980

Provides an opportunity for students to examine the impact of different manufacturing control methods on the manufacturing infrastructure. Information flow, inventory control, quality control and process flows interact and different trade-offs are examined. Introduces... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Production; Management Practices and Processes; Infrastructure

Find at Harvard

19 Jul 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Signaling to Partially Informed Investors in the Newsvendor Model

Keywords: by Vishal Gaur, Richard Lai, Ananth Raman & William Schmidt

February 1995 (Revised April 1997)
Case

EG&G Rotron Division

Rotron has recently entered the commercial motor market, after many years of servicing government military contracts. Faced with fierce commercial competition, Rotron has attacked its costs and reduced its delivery times and its plants. A new crisis, however, is... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Production; Expansion; Manufacturing Industry

02 Feb 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Mobile Money: The Effect of Service Quality and Competition on Demand

Keywords: by Karthik Balasubramanian & David F. Drake; Banking

19 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 19, 2008

blurring by retailers have generally increased both inventory levels and gross profit dollars across retail segments. Download paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-078.pdf New Framework for Measuring and View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 1989
Case

Norton Auto Supply

By: Janice H. Hammond

Describes a multiechelon distribution system for the distribution of automobile spare parts. An analyst has been hired by the Norton Auto Supply Co. to improve the company's inventory planning and control techniques. Includes demand, cost, weight, and supplier lead... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Operations; Distribution Channels; Management Practices and Processes; Management; Strategy; Industrial Products Industry; Auto Industry

08 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

Everything Must Go: A Strategy for Store Liquidation

innovation simply by ensuring that new firms have room to enter the market. Second, efficient liquidation also reduces a retailer's cost of capital by increasing the bank's confidence that a retailer's inventory can be used as collateral.... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

Research Summary

Optimal Decision Making Under Uncertainty

Inventory control problems in supply chains. In this stream of theoretical research, Professor Goh has investigated how inventory should be optimally managed in supply chains. Specifically, he has studied how supply chains can make decisions to operate... View Details

November 2011 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Rent the Runway

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Laura Winig

Two months after a successful launch in November 2009, the cofounders of Rent the Runway (RTR), a website that rented designer dresses, are debating whether to grow their startup at a measured pace and focus on improving operational effectiveness, or raise a new round... View Details

Keywords: Lean Startup; Electronic Commerce; Fashion; Expansion; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Fashion Industry