Publications

December 1999 (Revised February 2001)
Case

CVS: The Web Strategy

By: John A. Deighton and Anjali C. Shah

How should America's second-largest pharmacy chain respond to the challenge from online drugstores? What threat does the web pose to bricks and mortar distribution of prescription drugs and the other items that make up 50% of a drugstore's sales? This case describes... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels; Service Operations; Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Web Services Industry

18 Oct 2021
News

The Shortages Hitting Countries around the World

February 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

1436: The First Pure Chinese Luxury Fashion Brand?

By: Anat Keinan, Sandrine Crener and Hannah H. Chang

The case traces the birth of 1436, a new luxury brand specializing in cashmere garments. It describes how this venture emerged organically out of a combination of manufacturing and retail expertise with the ambition of creating the first pure Chinese luxury brand. The... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Luxury; Global Strategy; Fashion Industry; China

20 Feb 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Where Should We Build a Mall? The Formation of Market Structure and Its Effect on Sales

Keywords: by Doug J. Chung, Kyoungwon Seo, and Reo Song; Retail; Retail; Retail

September 2017 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Great Lakes Banking Group: Data Management

By: Shane Greenstein and Christine Snively

In May 2016, Michael Rechtin, an expert in international data center law, advised global financial services firm Great Lakes Banking Group (GLBG) on its plans to upgrade its data centers. The bank’s data processing and storage systems were in need of an update, and... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Infrastructure; Operations; Information Management

March 2024
Supplement

Madrigal: Conducting a Customer-Base Audit

By: Eva Ascarza, Peter Fader, Bruce G.S. Hardie and Michael Ross

This case presents a scenario where Madrigal, a U.S. retailer with a rich 20-year history and a solid loyalty program, faces a turning point with the arrival of a new CEO. This leadership change reveals a critical gap in understanding the customer base, prompting an... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; United States

November 2013
Teaching Note

Barnes & Noble: Managing the E-Book Revolution

By: Alan MacCormack, Brian Kimball Dunn and Chris F. Kemerer

In 2012, Barnes & Noble found itself in a difficult position. While the company had weathered the advent of online retailing relatively well, the arrival of electronic books (e-books) threatened the company's viability. Primary competitor Borders had already fallen by... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Adaptation; Books; Retail Industry

March 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Neck & Neck: Leveraging the Club Neck Information

Commercial Director Prado wonders how to leverage the loyalty card information to prepare the fall 2008 budget. The case discusses the value of subjective and objective information for profit-planning purposes. Spanish children's apparel retailer Neck & Neck uses... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Profit; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Retail Industry

March 2024
Supplement

Madrigal: Conducting a Customer-Base Audit

By: Eva Ascarza, Bruce Hardie, Peter S. Fader and Michael Ross

This case presents a scenario where Madrigal, a U.S. retailer with a rich 20-year history and a solid loyalty program, faces a turning point with the arrival of a new CEO. This leadership change reveals a critical gap in understanding the customer base, prompting an... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; United States

March 2024
Case

Madrigal: Conducting a Customer-Base Audit

By: Eva Ascarza, Bruce Hardie, Michael Ross and Peter S. Fader

This case presents a scenario where Madrigal, a U.S. retailer with a rich 20-year history and a solid loyalty program, faces a turning point with the arrival of a new CEO. This leadership change reveals a critical gap in understanding the customer base, prompting an... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; United States

Research Summary

Seeing Thought

By: Gerald Zaltman

This program of research combines the results from ZMET studies to create marketing stimuli such as advertising, retail store designs, product concepts, product design, and so forth, which are then presented to a sample of consumers whose reactions are observed using... View Details

Research Summary

Pricing and Promotions

Price promotions offered by product manufacturers to channel intermediaries are the subject of much current debate, as well as attempts by packaged goods manufacturers to curb, if not eliminate, their use. Samuel S. Chun's research, which includes the development of... View Details

2020
Working Paper

Tariff Passthrough at the Border and at the Store: Evidence from U.S. Trade Policy

By: Alberto Cavallo, Gita Gopinath, Brent Neiman and Jenny Tang

We use micro data collected at the border and the store to characterize the price impact of recent US trade policy on importers, exporters, and consumers. At the border, import tariff passthrough is much higher than exchange rate passthrough. Chinese exporters did not... View Details

Keywords: Trade Policy; Tariffs; Exchange Rate Passthrough; Economics; Trade; Policy; Inflation and Deflation; United States; China

Read Now

June 2017
Teaching Note

Google to Alphabet: Two Job Opportunities

By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard

This is the teaching note for "Google to Alphabet: Two Job Opportunities" HBS No.116-046 The case describes two job postings for positions at Google. The first job posting is for a Software Engineer in the Google Maps unit and the second job posting is for an Account... View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Span Of Control; Span Of Accountability; Span Of Support; Management Control Systems; Entrepreneurial Gap; Motivation; Job Design; Strategy; Information Technology; Organizational Design; Jobs and Positions; Technology Industry

10 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 10, 2018

Teixeira Abstract—Online retail accounts for a rapidly growing proportion of revenues in many industries. While selling online broadens firms’ access to consumers, operating margins are often lower in online stores than in physical... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

KOKO Networks: Bridging Energy Transition and Affordability with Carbon Financing

By: George Serafeim, Siko Sikochi and Namrata Arora

The problem was massive: two million hectares of African forests were lost annually to charcoal production for cooking, an area equivalent to 13 times Greater London, resulting in one billion tons of carbon emissions yearly. At the same time, an estimated 700,000... View Details

April 2021
Supplement

Buy Online, Pickup in Store: CEO Supplement

By: Antonio Moreno, Santiago Gallino and Amy Klopfenstein

In April 2019, Sylvarella CEO Sylvia Coparella must assess the impact of the company’s Buy Online, Pickup in Store (BOPS) program on her company’s overall sales. To do so, she must review analyses of both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar sales data and compare the... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Service Delivery; Logistics; Infrastructure; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Analysis; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States; Canada