Publications

01 Dec 2022
News

My First Job

a private upstream-energy company in Houston. Within months, I discovered that principals were using raised funds for personal benefit. I resigned, even though the energy industry was in an economic downturn and jobs were hard to find. A... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

Web

General Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

the Year in 2020. Hubert Joly : Named Retailer of the Year by Forbes in 2016. Geoffrey G. Jones : Selected as a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy in 2020 for distinction in the social sciences. Rosabeth M. Kanter : Think Outside... View Details

15 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 15, 2019

transform traditional industries such as banking, real estate, and healthcare. More recently, it has gained attention as a way to finance new ventures, through what is known as an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). Less noticed, though, is ICOs... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

03 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 3

business of "daily deals"- in which retailers offer a heavily discounted product or service available for purchase for brief (often 24-hour) windows. The case explores the complicated sharing of risks and rewards between... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

March 2023
Case

Mirakl: Growing The Marketplace Economy

By: Antonio Moreno, Santiago Gallino and Emilie Billaud

Mirakl provided the technology and seller network required for companies like Macy's, Best Buy, Walmart, Siemens, or Carrefour to simply design, launch, and administer a marketplace that included products from third-party sellers. What began as a basic business idea in... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Transformation; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Sales; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Europe; France; Paris; United States

September 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Technical Note

Algorithmic Bias in Marketing

By: Ayelet Israeli and Eva Ascarza

This note focuses on algorithmic bias in marketing. First, it presents a variety of marketing examples in which algorithmic bias may occur. The examples are organized around the 4 P’s of marketing – promotion, price, place and product—characterizing the marketing... View Details

April 2010 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Mercadona

This case presents the predicament of a company trying to do right by its customers and its employees as the economic crisis of 2008 hits home. Fifteen years earlier, this Spanish supermarket chain had adopted its own version of total quality management, called the... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Compensation and Benefits; Employee Relationship Management; Service Operations; Business Processes; Retail Industry; Spain

13 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

Don't Turn Your Marketing Function Over to AI Just Yet

Imagine a future in which a smart marketing machine can predict the needs and habits of individual consumers and the dynamics of competitors across industries and markets. This device would collect data to answer strategic questions,... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

02 Aug 2016
First Look

August 2, 2016

The Unintended Consequences of the Zero Lower Bound Policy By: Di Maggio, Marco, and Marcin Kacperczyk Abstract—We study the impact of the zero lower bound interest rate policy on the industrial organization of the U.S. money fund... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 14

LauHarvard Business School Case 212-026 ATR KimEng is a Philippino asset management business. It is making an important decision on its own strategy going forward: should it stay independent or be taken over by a large bank in the region. Through this case, we discuss... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2017 (Revised May 2019)
Supplement

Kjell and Company: Motivating Salespeople with Incentive Compensation (B)

By: Doug J. Chung

Kjell & Company was a Swedish retail electronics chain founded in 1988 by brothers Marcus, Mikael and Fredrik Dahnelius. The company operated 84 stores, all company-owned, located mainly in the metropolitan areas of Sweden’s most popular cities: Stockholm, Gothemburg... View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Change Management; Behavior; Electronics Industry; Sweden

24 Nov 2015
Research & Ideas

Developing Your Next CEO for the Family Business

aggressive change agents. The Non-Family Outsider Non-Family Outsider Alan Mulally (See Fig. 1) had the deep skills and experience needed to change and then grow Ford Motor Company in the worst period ever for the auto industry (with the... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Retail

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; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Ohio

June 2005 (Revised April 2008)
Case

Whole Foods Market, Inc.

By: John R. Wells and Travis Haglock

Can a short-sleeved, sandal-wearing, college dropout create a company manifesting love, joy, and happiness? Chainsaw John Mackey did. This CEO took a five-month sabbatical to hike the Appalachian Trail. More credentials: Sales-per-square foot of $690 and rising. Hiring... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Motivation and Incentives; Food; Management Practices and Processes; Groups and Teams; Success; Leadership Style; Management Teams; Business Growth and Maturation; Emerging Markets; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

July 2023 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service

By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel, Lena Duchene and Daniela Beyersdorfer

The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of millions of single-use take-out food... View Details

January 2013 (Revised June 2018)
Case

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google 2018

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Four businesses had, by 2012, grown to dominate the infrastructure that all firms rely on to reach online customers. Will the balance of power among the four persist, will one take command at the expense of the other three, or are all four more vulnerable than they... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Competitive Advantage; Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development; Service Industry; Service Industry; United States

February 2010 (Revised June 2022)
Case

Dollarama Inc.

By: Andre F. Perold

Dollarama is the leading operator of dollar stores in Canada. The firm performed extraordinarily well after a leveraged buyout in 2004 and recently executed a highly successful IPO. The company sources its goods primarily from Asia. It has strong brand recognition and... View Details

Keywords: Price; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Supply Chain; Competitive Advantage; Valuation; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Canada