Publications

May 2016
Case

The Inexorable Rise of Walmart? 1988—2016

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In October 2015, Walmart surprised investors by announcing that it expected flat sales growth for 2015 and growth of only 3% to 4% over the coming three years. Profits would also fall due to significant investments in people and technology. The company’s stock price... View Details

Keywords: Asda; Costco; David Glass; Convenience Stores; Discount Retailing; Dollar Stores; Doug McMillon; E-commerce; Online Retail; General Merchandise; Grocery; Lee Scott; Mike Duke; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Neighborhood Market; Sam Walton; Sam's Club; Store Formats; Supercenter; Supermarket; Warehouse Clubs; Merchandising; Walmart; Wal-Mart; Globalized Firms and Management; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Units; Business Divisions; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Banks and Banking; Price; Profit; Revenue; Food; Global Range; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Business History; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Human Capital; Labor Unions; Wages; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Management Succession; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Distribution; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Diversification; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Internet; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Web; Web Sites; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Arkansas; Bentonville

15 Mar 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

More Than 900 Examples of How Climate Change Affects Business

This word cloud is composed of blog posts by more than 900 students describing how individual organizations are likely to be affected by climate change. Image by Patrick Clapp Last fall, first-year MBA students at Harvard Business School received a new assignment in... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Green Technology

Portrait Project

Jennifer Wu

Mom lay on the bathroom floor, her face ashen as she threw up once more. Dad and I hovered over her, fretful and anxious, as we debated calling an ambulance. Thankfully, it turned out to be a bout of food poisoning that quickly passed. ... View Details

Web

Technology & Operations Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Michael W. Toffel : Finalist for the 2021 MSOM Responsible Research Award from the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society (MSOM) for his article with Maria Ibanez, “How Scheduling Can Bias Quality Assessment: Evidence from View Details

Web

Connell House | About

Connell Limited Partnership, he built one of the largest privately owned companies in the United States. Connell Family In the 1980s, Connell was working for the Ogden Corporation, a New York-based conglomerate with operations ranging from View Details

12 Nov 2021
News

Alumni Business Leaders on Confronting the Climate Change Challenge

company that does business in more than 200 countries and uses more than 25 crops sourced from over 7 million acres in 60 different countries, PepsiCo has an opportunity and a responsibility to use our size and scale to help build a food... View Details

22 Nov 2004
Research & Ideas

Side Effects: The Case of Propecia

Food and Drug Administration's advertising restrictions, what kind of advertising should Merck pursue, Wosinska asked the audience: product claim, reminder, or help-seeking? Most attendees thought the product claim approach was the way to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Health; Pharmaceutical

February 1998 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Nantucket Nectars

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, William A. Sahlman and Jon Biotti

The founders of Nantucket Nectars are trying to decide whether to sell their company. The case describes how the founders started the company and grew the Nantucket Nectars brand name. View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Entrepreneurship; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

Web

Charts & Statistics - Leadership

Influence: Medium-Low 80 1980 s 19 Software industry booms PC use expands in scale and scope CAD/CAM revolutionizes manufacturing Space shuttle Influence: Medium-High 90 1990 s Boom in connectivity Cloning, stem cell research DVDs Influence: Medium 1900 s 19... View Details

01 Jul 2015
Research & Ideas

A Bank That Takes Parmesan as Collateral: The Cheese Stands a Loan

Since 1953, the regional bank Credito Emiliano has accepted curious collateral for small-business loans: giant wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Known locally as Credem, the bank is the subject of a new Harvard Business School case study, "Credem: Banking on... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Food & Beverage; Food & Beverage

20 Apr 2020
Blog Post

Introducing LivelyHood, A Volunteer Nonprofit Founded in Response to COVID-19

center was ending its daily food service for the elderly. She wondered how these vulnerable people would get food. And another classmate, Merrill, posted to Facebook to see if anybody in his hometown could help pick up groceries for his... View Details

01 Aug 1998
News

High Honors

to marketing director at General Mills from 1977 to 1986, when Philip Morris scooped her up for its General Foods division (which later merged with Kraft Foods). There she served in marketing posts and ultimately as a general manager. In... View Details

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 declarations from the get-go. "As introverts, we assume... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

June 2011
Case

Reed Supermarkets: A New Wave of Competitors

By: John A. Quelch and Carole Carlson

Reed Supermarkets is a high-end supermarket chain with operations in several Midwestern states. Meredith Collins, vice president of marketing, visits stores located in Columbus, Ohio, an important region with the largest market and the greatest impact on revenue... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Ohio

28 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

How to Avoid a Price Increase

seems to support this logic. First, consumers themselves report a greater sensitivity (or awareness) of price than of quantity. Second, in tracking the sale of snack foods we found that consumers reacted greatly to periodic changes in... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

06 Dec 2017
What Do You Think?

Is It Time To Break Up Amazon, Apple, Facebook, or Google?

it has acquired Whole Foods, the market value of US big name retailers selling foods immediately drops 10 to 20 percent. The exchange of information and news, fake or fact, among large segments of the world’s population is controlled by... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology; Web Services

Web

Bringing a Taste of Japan to the World - Global Activities 2020

from investors in Japan, and in November 2019, with Nakamura and some friends, he presided over a mostly successful “Yasu & Masa’s Ramen” pop-up event in Cambridge. “Everyone ate well, and no one got food poisoning,” he laughs, “but it... View Details

01 Jan 2011
News

Karen Gordon Mills, MBA 1977

Administrator, US Small Business Administration Download Mills profile (pdf) Return to Alumni Achievement Awards main page TIMELINE 1953 Born, Boston, Massachusetts 1977 Joins General Foods 1981 Joins McKinsey & Company 1983 Joins E.S.... View Details

March 2019
Case

DayTwo: Going to Market with Gut Microbiome

By: Ayelet Israeli and David Lane

DayTwo is a young Israeli startup that applies research on the gut microbiome and machine learning algorithms to deliver personalized nutritional recommendations to its users in order to minimize blood sugar spikes after meals. After a first year of trial rollout in... View Details