Publications

July 2008 (Revised March 2010)
Case

McDonald's Plan to Win (A)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karla Ingrid Gravis and Annette Kristine Rodriguez

As of 2007, McDonald's had made significant progress on its “Plan to Win,” and the company was rewarded by reaching an all-time high share price. However, McDonald's competitors had expanded beyond the typical fast food giants, such as Wendy's and Burger King, as... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Complexity; Supply and Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

01 Jan 2012
News

Hiroshi Mikitani, MBA 1993

Chairman and CEO, Rakuten, Inc. Download Mikitani profile (pdf) Return to Alumni Achievement Awards main page TIMELINE 1965 Born, Kobe, Japan 1972 Family moves to United States for two years 1988 Earns commerce degree, Hitotsubashi University 1988 Joins View Details

25 Feb 2020
News

Task Force

had experience with retail in emerging markets: Monroy, who is Colombian, worked for Procter & Gamble in Mexico for seven years, while Campbell held a number of positions at Walmart, with stints in India and China (which was “like going... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; gig economy; Retail Trade

June 2004 (Revised September 2007)
Case

Zara: IT for Fast Fashion

In 2003, Zara's CIO must decide whether to upgrade the retailer's IT infrastructure and capabilities. At the time of the case, the company relies on an out-of-date operating system for its store terminals and has no full-time network in place across stores. Despite... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Value and Value Chain; Information Management; Infrastructure; Supply Chain Management; Information Technology; Retail Industry

September 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Wal-Mart Stores in 2003

By: Pankaj Ghemawat, Stephen P. Bradley and Ken Mark

Examines Wal-Mart's development over three decades and provides financial and descriptive detail of its domestic operations. In 2003, Wal-Mart's Supercenter business has surpassed its domestic business as the largest generator of revenues. Its international operation... View Details

Keywords: Wages; Fairness; Corporate Strategy; Operations; Labor Unions; Problems and Challenges; Gender; Globalized Firms and Management; Competitive Advantage; Retail Industry; United States

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

and from its employment of nationals at senior levels. The upshot, seen in the case of the EU, was that Unilever had a "voice" in issues that concerned it, even if it was exercised discreetly through industry and other... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

01 Sep 2023
News

Global Outposts Expand HBS’s Intellectual Footprint

at the company. He then turned his attention to the e-commerce platform the firm launched in 2018 to sell products directly to retail consumers. Now, as the case “Digital Transformation at Tata Steel” explains, Narendran had to decide... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

January 2022
Case

Walmart USA—Searching for Growth

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Maria P. Roche

In 2022, Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart, and his team looked back at a difficult but ultimately successful past year. The global pandemic had posed enormous challenges, but the company had weathered the storm successfully, raising same-store sales growth,... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Growth and Development Strategy; Sales; Business Strategy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Retail Industry

March 2011
Case

United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Carole Carlson

The case, set within the European organization of a giant multinational breakfast foods company, describes a launch decision for a new cereal product. As the case evolves, the decision has major strategic and organizational implications for Lora Brill, European VP. The... View Details

Keywords: Subsidiaries; Market Entry; Multinational Corporations; Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Managerial Roles; Multinational Firms and Management; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Marketing Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Product Launch; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Europe

April 2004 (Revised September 2004)
Case

IKEA Invades America

By: Youngme E. Moon

In 2002, the IKEA Group is the world's top furniture retailer, with 154 stores worldwide. In the United States, IKEA operates 14 stores, all of which have been enormously popular despite their self-service requirements. The company's goal is to have 50 stores in... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Goals and Objectives; Competitive Advantage; Globalized Firms and Management; Retail Industry; United States

16 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Getting the Message: How the Internet is Changing Advertising

according to Forrester Research, a consulting firm specializing in e-commerce. Industry observers are shy to predict just what the future of advertising will look like, but they agree that the pace and enormity of changes that have come... View Details

Keywords: by Susan Young

Web

Research - Health Care

Illness: A Prescription for Change: Reimagining U.S. Healthcare By: Lidia Moura and Susanna Gallani March–April 2024 Article Retailers and Health Systems Can Improve Care Together By: Robert S. Huckman , Vivian S. Lee and Bradley R Staats... View Details

24 Dec 2013
First Look

First Look: December 24

country-level factors that, by intensifying scrutiny on firms and diffusing global norms to their headquarters countries, limit firms' use of selective disclosure. We test our hypotheses using a novel panel dataset of 4,750 public companies across many View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

08 Dec 2015
First Look

December 8, 2015

increased service quality competition lead to customer defection, and which customers are most likely to defect? Our empirical analysis of 82,235 customers exploits the varying competitive dynamics in 644 geographically isolated markets in which a nationwide View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jan 2014
News

To Spot Financial Trouble Early, Use Three Circles: A conversation with Blythe McGarvie of Harvard Business School

October 1992 (Revised September 1993)
Case

L.L. Bean, Inc.: Item Forecasting and Inventory Management

By: Arthur Schleifer Jr.

L.L. Bean must make stocking decisions on thousands of items sold through its catalogs. In many cases, orders must be placed with vendors twelve or more weeks before a catalog lands on a customer's doorstep, and commitments cannot be changed thereafter. As a result,... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Risk Management; Cost Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Demand and Consumers; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Retail Industry; United States