Publications

22 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

Pulling Campbell’s Out of the Soup

Douglas Conant is an introvert. But when he took over as president and CEO of struggling Campbell Soup Co., he realized he had to break out of his comfort zone, get in front of his staff, and make some bold... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

10 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Being Your Own Boss Can Pay Off, but Not Always with Big Pay

The research offers a cautionary tale for would-be entrepreneurs, identifying industries where the self-employed have both struggled and thrived. High-capital startups have declined Kerr says there’s clearly... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

2018
Working Paper

Survival of the Fittest: The Impact of the Minimum Wage on Firm Exit

By: Dara Lee Luca and Michael Luca

We study the impact of the minimum wage on firm exit in the restaurant industry, exploiting recent changes in the minimum wage at the city level. We find that the impact of the minimum wage depends on whether a restaurant was already close to the margin of exit.... View Details

Keywords: Wages; Business Exit or Shutdown; Food and Beverage Industry

SSRN

Read Now

01 Jun 2023
News

Curb Appeal

ash, food waste, and “rubbish”; materials like metal and paper were reused, and the grease from food waste was... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photography by Vance Jacobs; Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities; Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities

September 1988 (Revised September 1993)
Case

Mrs. Fields Cookies

By: James I. Cash Jr.

Mrs. Fields Cookies is a small company selling freshly baked goods through privately owned specialty stores (each store sells only Mrs. Fields products). The company has about 8,000 employees worldwide and less than 150 information systems people for a unique leverage... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Information Management; Organizational Structure; Customer Relationship Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Networks; Internet and the Web; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

12 Feb 2021
News

How Dunkin’ Donuts Took Over the World

300 shops. Earnings had grown from $100,000 pretax profits to $800,000 pre-tax profits. And in order to satisfy my dad, decided to have a public offering in 1968, which was quite successful. We were the third company to go public in the... View Details

Keywords: brands; leadership; management; strategy; operations; career; Food and Beverage Stores; Food and Beverage Stores

17 Dec 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

‘Ted Levitt Changed My Life’

later: "What business are you really in?" "An industry begins with the customer and his or her needs, not with a patent, a raw material, or a selling skill," wrote Levitt, citing the... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education; Retail

24 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

The Yelp Factor: Are Consumer Reviews Good for Business?

In recent years, consumer review sites including Yelp, Citysearch, and TripAdvisor have become the first stop for recommendations on everything from dinner to dentists. Along the way, they've earned a loyal following from fans, but also... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage

September 2023
Case

Trilling Foods: Managing People with Data

By: Alexandra C. Feldberg and Jeffrey T. Polzer

Trilling Foods, a regional bricks-and-mortar grocery chain, has recently provided its frontline managers with new tools for using data. Allison Andersen, Trilling’s VP of Data Science, has spearheaded these efforts. Yet, as she works with Kent Wade, the general manager... View Details

Keywords: Digital Transformation; Management Practices and Processes; Training; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

19 Sep 2023
Blog Post

2023 Summer Internships in Business & Environment

joining HBS. Audrey Atencio (MBA 2024, Section G), Summer Internship: Summer Associate, Piva Capital Piva is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm ($500mm AUM) investing in visionary entrepreneurs who are solving the world's critical problems in the View Details

Web

Curriculum - Business & Environment

their business. Still others helped a Moroccan company that converts used cooking oil into a cleaner form of biodiesel to start collecting oil from the catering, restaurant, and food manufacturing sectors.... View Details

June 2018 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Global Brand Management of Anheuser Busch InBev's Budweiser

By: Jill Avery

Brian Perkins, chief architect of the $6 billion Budweiser brand, was excited about 2018, in which the company would launch Budweiser into several new markets in Africa and Latin America. He was feeling the pressure to finalize a global brand strategy that would define... View Details

19 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

The History of Beauty

counterparts in other industries such as food and cleaning materials who talked about the dangers of chemical ingredients and the need for... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics

28 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 28, 2009

Industry Location and International Regulatory Variation Author:Arthur A. Daemmrich Publication:Chap. 16 in Ways of Regulating: Therapeutic Agents between Plants, Shops, and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

13 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

Why Your Company Wants to be a 'Cognitive Referent' (Hint: SpaceX)

pretty exciting to say why the mutual fund industry is terrible, why financial gurus don’t really know anything, and stuff like that, but it also requires a ton of time and... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Food & Beverage; Food & Beverage; Food & Beverage

September 1983 (Revised December 1985)
Case

Dunkin' Donuts (C): Growth Strategy

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi

Dunkin' Donuts franchises and operates retail donut shops for take-home and in-shop consumption. Looks at three growth alternatives: 1) More shops (owned or franchised); 2) A broader product line; and 3) More advertising. Raises important issues related to franchise... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Brands and Branding; Logistics; Franchise Ownership; Relationships; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

February 2022
Case

Toraya

By: Lauren Cohen and Akiko Kanno

Mitsuharu Kurokawa was the 18th generation leader of a family firm that produced and sold premium Japanese sweets, Toraya Confectionery Co., Ltd. He had succeeded the business from his father, Mitsuhiro Kurokawa who had led the firm for thirty years. Mitsuharu was... View Details

Keywords: Branding; Luxury Brand; Succession; Family Business; Management Succession; Brands and Branding; Luxury; Marketing; Expansion; Globalization; Innovation and Invention; Customer Satisfaction; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Japan