Publications

15 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

GM: What Went Wrong and What’s Next

government. This is a great deal for Magna, but terrible for Chevrolet. GM's best small cars are engineered (and some are manufactured) by Opel in Europe. But it's not just about design and engineering. The supply chains and factory... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Auto

December 2014 (Revised July 2016)
Case

HEINEKEN—Brewing a Better World

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, José Alvarez, Tonia Junker and Daniela Beyersdorfer

The Dutch company HEINEKEN, one of the leading global brewers known for its brands like Heineken, Amstel, and Desperados and for its award-winning marketing campaigns, seeks to closely integrate its long-term sustainability "Brewing a Better World" approach into its... View Details

Keywords: Beer/brewing Industry; Sustainability; Local Sourcing; Corporate Strategy; Global Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Supply Chain Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Food and Beverage Industry

December 2023
Article

What Can Stockouts Tell Us About Inflation? Evidence from Online Micro Data

By: Alberto Cavallo and Oleksiy Kryvtsov

We use a detailed micro dataset on product availability and stockouts to construct a direct high-frequency measure of consumer product shortages during the 2020-2022 pandemic. We document a widespread multi-fold rise in stockouts in nearly all sectors early in the... View Details

Keywords: Prices; Stockouts; Inventories; Supply Disruptions; COVID-19 Pandemic; Supply Chain; Product; Demand and Consumers

Read Now

October 2015 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Ozark Feed and Ag Corporation: The ERP Decision

By: Jan Hammond, Paul Kalmbach and Eric Bernstein

This case describes a medium-sized business that manufactures animal feed for commercial and companion animals. The company has been growing rapidly and is considering whether or not to implement an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Ozark currently uses an IT... View Details

Keywords: ERP Systems; Information Technology; Supply Chain Management; Growth Management; Performance Improvement; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Decision Choices and Conditions; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Information Technology Industry; Missouri; Oklahoma; Texas; Arkansas

03 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

Cut Payroll Costs with Transparency, Fairness, and Compassion

0.5 percent of the US workforce was furloughed during this downturn. Many firms announced furloughs at the start of the pandemic, including Uber, Marriott, Lyft, Disney, JC Penney, Tesla, Sotheby’s, and Macy’s. And companies have taken a broad approach to using them.... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

23 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Building a Better Buyer-Seller Relationship

Buyers and sellers in mature industrial markets can turn single transactions into long-term beneficial relationships by a deeper understanding of the complex connection between the two, says Harvard Business School professor Narakesari Narayandas. A "must-do"... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

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

18 Feb 2019
Book

What’s Really Disrupting Business? It’s Not Technology

going to do it more conveniently,’” says Thales S. Teixeira, author of the new book Unlocking the Customer Value Chain: How Decoupling Drives Consumer Disruption, which debuts tomorrow. “Incumbents tend to respond to decoupling by gluing back the part of the value... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Beauty & Cosmetics; Insurance; Service; Retail

September 2013 (Revised February 2016)
Case

GlaxoSmithKline: Sourcing Complex Professional Services

By: Heidi K. Gardner and Silvia Hodges Silverstein

Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) uses an innovative new approach to procuring outside legal counsel: it replaces relationship-based selection and law firms' traditional time-based billing with data-driven decision making and an online reverse auction. In... View Details

Keywords: Legal Industry; Procurement; Professional Service Firms; Pricing; Competition; Change Management; Supply Chain Management; Legal Liability; Business Processes; Legal Services Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

Web

Our Mission & Team | Institute for Business in Global Society

chains with Shift and HBS’s Impact Weighted Accounts Project. Drew started his career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. Amram Migdal Head of Knowledge Amram Migdal is the Head... View Details

August 2015
Case

Building an e-Commerce Brand at Wayfair

By: Thales Teixeira and Elizabeth Anne Watkins

Wayfair, Inc. comprised five home goods, furniture, and décor e-commerce brands. Wayfair.com, the main brand, which was responsible for the majority of sales, targeted the mass-middle home-goods market. AllModern, DwellStudio, Joss & Main, and Birch Lane were niche... View Details

01 Jun 2001
News

Alejandro Ramirez: A Very Good Time for Mexico

Nations’ Human Development Report in 1996, Ramirez may not have imagined himself attending to the details of running the largest movie theater chain in Latin America. Yet, he relished the challenge. “Learning about the business world... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; World Bank; United Nations; Administration of Economic Programs; Government

September 2018 (Revised August 2019)
Case

The Progressive Corporation, 2018

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In early 2019, The Progressive Corporation (Progressive), the USA’s third-largest auto insurance writer, reported earned premiums were up 20% in 2018 compared to the previous year, and net income was up 64%. Direct sales of personal auto policies rose 21%, while agent... View Details

Profile

Sergio Velasquez-Terjesen

Sergio and his team chose not to continue the business. "But the experience was fantastic," he says. "I learned a ton about what it takes to launch an apparel line. And I discovered how much I didn’t know about manufacturing and supply View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing/Energy; Consulting

21 May 2021
Blog Post

Alumni Spotlight: Cissy Chen (MBA 2019)

similar companies in their industry and recommended areas of expense adjustments that would be of help. I also quantified the environmental impact on the company’s supply chain with a proposal that they make certain adjustments that would... View Details

Arthur Schleifer

Keywords: automotive; computer; consumer products; financial services; grocery; insurance industry; manufacturing; marketing industry; restaurant; retailing; software; tire; tobacco; wine

February 1997 (Revised May 1998)
Case

Tire City, Inc.

By: W. Carl Kester

A small, rapidly growing retail distributor of automotive tires must present a set of forecasted financial statements to a bank in order to obtain a five-year loan. Expected growth rates given in the case and historical financial ratios derived from recent financial... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Forecasting and Prediction; Financing and Loans; Price; Supply Chain; Distribution Industry; Retail Industry