General Merchandise Stores - Publications - Faculty & Research

27 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Customer Loyalty Programs That Work

ExtraCare, and pay-for-membership cards for stores including Costco. In a very basic form loyalty schemes have been around for as long as people have been exchanging goods—consider the farmer who threw in an extra ear of corn for his best... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Retail

2019
Article

Creativity from Paradoxical Experience: A Theory of How Individuals Achieve Creativity while Adopting Paradoxical Frames

By: Goran Calic, Sébastien Hélie, Nick Bontis and Elaine Mosakowski

Purpose: Extant paradox theory suggests that adopting paradoxical frames, which are mental templates adopted by individuals in order to embrace contradictions, will result in superior firm performance. Superior performance is achieved through learning and creativity,... View Details

Keywords: Cognition and Thinking; Creativity; Learning

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04 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: January 4

ultimate "target agreement" with sufficient support to be sustainable. For example, generating the backing necessary from several organizational units for a proposed project to be approved may call for a small-scale... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Research Summary

Managing Processes

David A. Garvin is examining the nature and use of managerial and organizational processes—the means by which work is accomplished—including strategic processes that chart corporate direction, resource allocation processes that distribute funds,... View Details

26 Apr 2024
HBS Case

Deion Sanders' Prime Lessons for Leading a Team to Victory

literally is no book. He keeps you on the edge of your seat.” For the annual Black & Gold Day Spring Football Game in April 2023, despite snow, a sellout crowd filled the stands for a game broadcast live by ESPN, a first for CU. View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Sports

01 Mar 2022
What Do You Think?

Is It Time for More Reverse Mentoring?

widening the generational gap in using cryptocurrency, buying and storing art and wine with nonfungible tokens, trading new kinds of securities on new internet investment sites offering new features, and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2025
Working Paper

The Impact of Input Inaccuracy on Leveraging AI Tools: Evidence from Algorithmic Labor Scheduling

By: Caleb Kwon, Antonio Moreno and Ananth Raman

Problem Definition: Considerable academic and practitioner attention is placed on the value of ex-post interactions (i.e., overrides) in the human-AI interface. In contrast, relatively little attention has been paid to ex-ante human-AI interactions (e.g., the... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Employees; Performance Effectiveness

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20 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

Moving from Supply Chains to Supply Networks

Professors Ananth Raman and Roy Shapiro are two members of the HBS faculty team that developed the new Executive Education program, Managing the Supply Chain: The General Manager's Perspective. In this conversation with the Executive... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

14 Feb 2011
Research & Ideas

Clay Christensen’s Milkshake Marketing

Updated to clarify a failure rate figure included in an earlier version. When planning new products, companies often start by segmenting their markets and positioning their merchandise accordingly. This segmentation involves either... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail; Service; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage

07 Jun 2023
HBS Case

3 Ways to Gain a Competitive Advantage Now: Lessons from Amazon, Chipotle, and Facebook

perk that allowed Amazon to capture market share and eventually blow past Sony, which after years of struggling, closed its e-reader store in 2014. “Without creating a competitive advantage, it is difficult for companies to produce and... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

16 Jul 2024
Op-Ed

Corporate Boards Are Failing in Their No. 1 Duty

appointments go wrong Let’s begin by taking a look at three examples of poor leadership at public companies and addressing what went wrong. Then, I will recommend five ways boards can ensure they appoint the right leader as CEO: General... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

21 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

What Went Wrong at J.C. Penney?

down from almost $18 billion to $17 billion. That comes out to sales of about $150 per square foot, which is probably in the lower third of department store sales, if not the lowest. In contrast, competitors like Macy's and Kohl's have... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Retail

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

Sam Walton: Great From the Start

father-in-law's loan in full. In his fifth year at the Ben Franklin on Front Street in Newport, Arkansas, Sam Walton—the sucker Butler Brothers had been looking for—sold $250,000 worth of merchandise and made a profit of between $30,000... View Details

Keywords: by Richard S. Tedlow; Retail

28 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

Forget Cash. Here Are Better Ways to Motivate Employees

Whillans and her team conducted of more than 92,000 job ads found that the more benefits an employer described, the higher the application rates. Plus, when employers described benefits in detail, such as generous family leave policies,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

30 Jun 2022
HBS Case

Peloton Changed the Exercise Game. Can the Company Push Through the Pain?

incredible user base,” he says, with 3 million subscribers—four times the number in 2019, despite the problems of 2021. The monthly customer churn rate of lost customers is less than 1 percent, and the videos the company produces are more popular than ever: They now... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Media & Broadcasting; Health; Bicycle

14 Jan 2014
First Look

First Look: January 14

about and acknowledging his own contributions to organizational underperformance or other work problems is critical to getting employees to improve and generating positive business results. He notes his approach reduced his employees'... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Oct 2010
HBS Case

Tesco’s Stumble into the US Market

Tesco PLC is the third-largest retailer in the world, just behind Wal-Mart and Carrefour. But that didn't make the UK-based chain immune from many costly mistakes as it entered the US market in 2006. For example, it opened some of its Fresh & Easy View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

25 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

How SHEIN and Temu Conquered Fast Fashion—and Forged a New Business Model

digital marketing to place stylish fast-fashion merchandise in front of target customers on social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, as well as on its own website and mobile apps. Additionally, it has used email... View Details

Keywords: by John Deighton; Fashion; Retail; Consumer Products

25 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Rapport: The Hidden Advantage That Women Managers Bring to Teams

shifts, when needed. Roughly three times the sales gains, compared to stores where men predominantly supervised female workers. In addition, stores with female-heavy management also had better rapport, more... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Food & Beverage

20 Jun 2023
Research & Ideas

Looking to Leave a Mark? Memorable Leaders Don't Just Spout Statistics, They Tell Stories

information or story, the study finds. “This is one of the first studies in economics that actually tries to study the role of memory and similarity in a controlled way.” Stories have a longer lifespan in memory not because of any different methods, compared to... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

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