Publications

September 2002 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Athleta

By: William A. Sahlman and Taslim Pirmohamed

The management team at Athleta is attempting to raise equity capital for the company in March 2002. Athleta is a catalog and online retailer of women's athletic clothing. The company has made substantial progress, with anticipated 2002 sales over $20 million, but has... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Financing and Loans; Business Model; Business Strategy; Equity; Capital; Retail Industry

October 2000 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Li & Fung (A): Internet Issues

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Fred Young

This case looks at the issues facing a Hong Kong-based trading company, which links hundreds of factories in India and Asia with major customers like Gap and the Limited in Europe and in the United States. The company has recently launched a dot-com operation to allow... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Multinational Firms and Management; Distribution Channels; Logistics; Networks; Markets; Supply Chain; Retail Industry; Hong Kong; India; Europe; United States

News

How to beat Amazon and other leadership lessons

November–December 2018
Article

Online Network Revenue Management Using Thompson Sampling

By: Kris J. Ferreira, David Simchi-Levi and He Wang

We consider a network revenue management problem where an online retailer aims to maximize revenue from multiple products with limited inventory constraints. As common in practice, the retailer does not know the consumer's purchase probability at each price and must... View Details

Keywords: Online Marketing; Revenue Management; Revenue; Management; Marketing; Internet and the Web; Price; Mathematical Methods

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October 1997 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Asda (A)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

In the mid-1980s, Asda was one of the most successful retail companies in the United Kingdom. By 1991, the chain of 200 grocery stores had a lack of direction, a demoralized workforce, declining profits, rising debt, collapsing stock price, and was facing bankruptcy.... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Crisis Management; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United Kingdom

05 Oct 2021
Blog Post

First-Gen Voices: Eric Westphal on Tapping into the Global Alumni Network & Making a Difference across Borders

continued to engage with HBS students and drive career opportunities across the globe – including the connection between Eric Westphal (MBA 2021) and Diego Dzodan (MBA 1999). Westphal grew up helping out in his family’s small retail... View Details

July 2013 (Revised October 2014)
Case

Value Retail: Opportunities for European Expansion

By: Arthur I Segel

Scott Malkin, CEO of Value Retail, a developer and operator of European outlet villages serving luxury brands, is planning on developing a 18,503 m2 open-air outlet village to be built 98 kilometers south of Milan on land he was about to acquire for 7.26 million lira.... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Investment; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Retail Industry; Milan

October 2009
Case

Don Soderquist: Negotiating the Wal-Mart-P&G Relationship (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Ellen Knebel

This case describes the negotiations and strategic choices of Don Soderquist, who as Chief Operating Officer of Wal-Mart, helped to forge a major partnership with P&G in the 1980s and 1990s. The case chronicles the challenging barriers to success along with several of... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Style; Partners and Partnerships; Leadership; Value Creation; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Retail Industry

23 Dec 2010
News

The power of a simple "thank you"

03 Dec 2019
News

Why CalSTRS Chooses to Engage with the Gun Industry

October 1993 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Catalina Marketing Corp.

By: David E. Bell, Walter J. Salmon and Dinny Starr

Catalina Marketing is a very successful marketing service firm. Their current customers include major supermarket retailers and consumer products manufacturers nation-wide. Catalina provides a unique way for these clients to distribute coupons for their products via... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Information Management; Expansion; Product; Salesforce Management; Information Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Value and Value Chain; Advertising Industry

29 Jul 2015
News

Why a Federal Rule on CEO Pay Disclosure May Get You In Trouble With Customers

Teaching

Overview

I am interested in teaching topics related to supply chains and retail operations. At Harvard Business School, I have served as a Junior and Senior Teaching Fellow for the first year required Technology and Operations Management course. I have also served as an... View Details

12 Oct 2018
News

The ‘Amazon Effect’ Can Drive Prices Up, Too

31 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 31

make purchases. Retailers, however, felt that major credit and debit card issuers had too much market power which was leading to higher costs for retailers to accept such payment forms. Consumers were increasingly adopting smart phones... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Background Note

Book Publishing in 2010

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Nancy Bartlett

Legacy book publishers wrangled with ebook retailers over royalty rates, release strategy, and distribution rights as customer demand for cheaper ebooks eroded publishers' profitable print formats. E-readers like Kindle, as well as Apple's iPad that invigorated the... View Details

Keywords: Price; Information Publishing; Books; Disruptive Innovation; Demand and Consumers; Distribution; Strategy; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Publishing Industry

15 Jan 2018
News

You bought a book store? Are you crazy?

20 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 20

http://ssrn.com/abstract=2545972 Match Your Own Price? Self-Matching as a Retailer's Multichannel Pricing Strategy By: Kireyev, Pavel, Vineet Kumar, and Elie Ofek Abstract—Multichannel retailing has created several new strategic choices... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Ample Hills Creamery

By: Tom Eisenmann, Lindsay N. Hyde and Tom Quinn

Ample Hills Creamery started in 2010 as a temporary ice cream pushcart in Brooklyn, New York City. On the strength of inventive flavors and clever marketing, husband-and-wife founders Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna built a premium, artisanal dessert empire of 16 retail... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Business Growth and Maturation; Partners and Partnerships; Logistics; Profit; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Food and Beverage Industry