Publications

April 2004 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Wal-Mart in Europe

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull and Louisa Neissa

Presents challenges facing Wal-Mart during its move into Germany. Explores the dynamics of the German retail market. View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Distribution Channels; Expansion; Trade; Foreign Direct Investment; Retail Industry; Europe; Germany

March 2005 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Buckingham Park

By: Arthur I Segel and Joshua A. Katzin

In September, 2004, Stephen Lebowitz, President of CBL, a $6 billion publicly traded shopping mall real estate investment trust (REIT) with over 70 million square feet, is considering acquiring 170 acres for a new retail development at a racetrack site in Southern New... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Debt Securities; Investment; Real Estate Industry; New Hampshire

December 2013
Case

Clique Pens: The Writing Implements Division of U.S. Home

By: Frank V. Cespedes and James Kindley

The Clique Pens Writing Implements division of U.S. Home is a manufacturer of a full line of pens, pencils, markers, and art supplies. Despite solid sales, division president Elise Ferguson has seen gross margins drop from 42% in 2010 to just over 36% in 2012 as a... View Details

Keywords: Production; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Compensation and Benefits; Sales; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry

May 2021
Article

The Firm Next Door: Using Satellite Images to Study Local Information Advantage

By: Jung Koo Kang, Lorien Stice-Lawrence and Forester Wong

We use novel satellite data that track the number of cars in the parking lots of 92,668 stores for 71 publicly listed U.S. retailers to study the local information advantage of institutional investors. We establish car counts as a timely measure of store-level... View Details

Keywords: Satellite Images; Store-level Performance; Institutional Investors; Local Advantage; Overweighting; Processing Costs; Alternative Data; Big Data; Emerging Technologies; Information; Quality; Institutional Investing; Decision Making; Behavioral Finance; Analytics and Data Science

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September 2008
Case

Harrington Collection: Sizing Up the Active-Wear Market

By: Richard S. Tedlow and Heather Beckham

In the wake of slumping sales and sagging profit margins, a leading manufacturer and retailer of high-end women's apparel, Harrington Collection, must evaluate an opportunity to expand into the high-growth active-wear market. Sara Huey, Vice President of Strategic... View Details

Keywords: Breakeven Analysis; Product Introduction; Expansion; Consumer Behavior; Supply and Industry; Product Launch; Apparel and Accessories Industry

Research Summary

Pricing and Promotions

Price promotions offered by product manufacturers to channel intermediaries are the subject of much current debate, as well as attempts by packaged goods manufacturers to curb, if not eliminate, their use. Samuel S. Chun's research, which includes the development of... View Details

27 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Customer Loyalty Programs That Work

The customer rewards cards that clutter wallets and clog key chains of many a shopper may soon be no more, as retailers move from physical to digital (read: mobile apps) forms of loyalty program member identification. It's a smart... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Retail

December 2007 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Vegpro Group: Growing in Harmony

By: David E. Bell, Brian Milder and Mary Shelman

Vegpro, a horticulture company, is Kenya's largest exporter of fresh vegetables and flowers to top supermarkets in the U.K. and Europe. In 2007, Vegpro's business is threatened by growing consumer concern about the environmental impact of food production and transport,... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Developing Countries and Economies; Ethics; Food; Growth and Development Strategy; Operations; Environmental Sustainability; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Kenya; Europe; United Kingdom

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Article

California Fair Trade: Antitrust and the Politics of 'Fairness' in U.S. Competition Policy

By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

In the decades before World War II, U.S. antitrust law was anything but settled. Considerable pressure for antitrust revision came from the states. A perhaps unlikely leader, Edna Gleason, organized California's retail pharmacists and coordinated trade networks to... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Fairness; Laws and Statutes; Policy; United States

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April 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Case

The Container Store

By: Tatiana Sandino, Zeynep Ton and Aldo Sesia

The Container Store (TCS) is a Texas-based retailer of organization and storage solutions. The company prides itself in taking care of its employees first, and its cofounder and CEO Kip Tindell practices Conscious Capitalism. Since its beginnings in 1978, TCS grew to a... View Details

Keywords: Culture; Conscious Capitalism; Merchandising; Customer Focus and Relationships; Growth and Development Strategy; Operations; Service Delivery; Going Public; Performance Evaluation; Performance Productivity; Retail Industry; United States

In the decades before World War II, U.S. antitrust law was anything but settled. Considerable pressure for antitrust revision came from the states. A perhaps unlikely leader, Edna Gleason, organized California's retail pharmacists and coordinated trade networks to... View Details

26 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

Why the US-China Tariff Standoff Hurts American Companies More

down in May. He teamed with prominent economists to study price data from June 2018—the month before the trade war began—to early 2019. Their work combines import and export prices at the US border, collected by the Bureau of Labor... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Retail; Retail; Retail

07 Dec 2015
HBS Seminar

Antonio Moreno-Garcia, Assistant Professor of Managerial Economics & Decision Sciences, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

20 Aug 2018
Research & Ideas

Bargain Hunters Beware: A Store's 'Original Price' Might Not Be After All

on Amazon has a struck-out price, but if you look at the policy behind that price, it’s incredibly vague,” he says. Consumers have even brought class-action suits against retailers including JCPenney, Sears, Macy’s, and Kohl’s for their... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Retail

January 2013 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards (A)

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2011, Sarah Naudé and Matt Stanley sat down with the chairman of Telecom New Zealand, Wayne Boyd. Telecom, a publicly listed company and the largest telecom provider in New Zealand, was being divided into two publicly traded companies, Chorus, a telecom... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Women's Empowerment; Governance; Leadership; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Structure; Decision Making; Human Resources; Diversity; Telecommunications Industry; New Zealand