Publications

12 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 12, 2018

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54559 Harvard Business School Case 118-016 Data Science at Target Paritosh Desai joined Target.com in 2013 as VP of Business Intelligence, Analytics & Testing to explore how the retailer... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

15 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

A New Model for Business: The Museum

curation—showing competitors' prices—than would a company whose products and services are easier to evaluate. Call it enlightened self-interest. I don't think we can expect manufacturers and retailers to change in ways that will harm... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

01 Aug 2006
First Look

First Look: August 1, 2006

vital area. Download working paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/06-060.pdf Cases & Course MaterialsBig Bazaar Harvard Business School Case 606-099 Describes a high-growth Indian retailer, Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd., and two... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2019
Working Paper

Large-Scale Demand Estimation with Search Data

By: Tomomichi Amano, Andrew Rhodes and Stephan Seiler

In many online markets, traditional methods of demand estimation are difficult to implement because assortments are very large and individual products are sold infrequently. At the same time, data on consumer search (i.e., browsing) behavior are often available and are... View Details

Keywords: High-dimensional Data; Demand Estimation; Consideration Sets; Consumer Search

SSRN

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February 2018
Case

Wiikano Orchards

By: Benson P. Shapiro and Katherine B. Hartman

Wiikano Orchards, a family-owned business, faces declining demand in a commodity industry. The president is considering rebranding Wiikano's apple juice, increasing its prices and promotions. If this proposal succeeds, wholesalers and retailers would be more likely to... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Price; Marketing Communications; Product Marketing; Food and Beverage Industry

December 2012 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Greencore

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

Patrick Coveney, CEO of Greencore, one of the top producers of private label prepared foods sold through UK grocery retailers, was assessing Greencore's growth options. Growth potential was limited in the UK, a mature market in which retailers were unlikely to grant... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United Kingdom; United States

November 2022 (Revised October 2024)
Case

'A Marshall Plan for Africa': James Mwangi and Equity Group Holdings

By: Caroline M. Elkins, Debora L. Spar, Zeke Gillman and Julia M. Comeau

Financial Inclusion. Dignity. Trust. These were the core principles driving James Mwangi’s transformation of Equity Building Society, insolvent in 1991, into what is, today, Equity Group Holdings, East and Central Africa’s largest retail banking institution. Raised in... View Details

Keywords: Income Inequality; Micro Finance; Microcredit; Microfinance; Banks and Banking; Equality and Inequality; Mission and Purpose; Business Model; Social Entrepreneurship; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Africa; Kenya

November 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Moonfare and the Democratization of Private Equity

By: Victoria Ivashina and Srimayi Mylavarapu

Founded in 2016, Moonfare headquartered in Europe, was a pioneer in the “democratization” of private equity investments. Historically, private equity was accessible only to institutional investors like pension funds, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, and large family... View Details

October 2000 (Revised March 2001)
Case

BizRate.com

By: Youngme E. Moon

BizRate is a market research firm that collects point-of-purchase customer feedback data from retailing merchants. It then makes its findings available to consumers in the form of "BizRate star ratings," which are displayed on its website. To date, its primary revenue... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Marketing Channels; Internet and the Web; Customer Relationship Management; Trust; Business Model; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Business Divisions; Debates; Retail Industry

November 2016 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Selling on Amazon at Tower Paddle Boards

By: Thales S. Teixeira and David Lopez-Lengowski

By June 2012, Stephan Aarstol felt that he had successfully passed the first critical stage of his ecommerce business. As the founder and CEO of a standup paddleboard (SUP) business, he had built a strong relationship with Asian manufacturers, built a small warehouse... View Details

Keywords: Tower Paddle Boards; Amazon; E-commerce; Online Shopping; Distribution; Internet and the Web; Business Growth and Maturation; Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels; Decision Choices and Conditions; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

05 Jul 2023
HBS Case

What Kind of Leader Are You? How Three Action Orientations Can Help You Meet the Moment

the same sorts of results.” Given his prior success in reading the market, Johnson relied on a contextual orientation to develop various plans to reinvent the JCPenney way, including new concepts in retailing and new compensation plans... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

August 2007 (Revised September 2007)
Case

Gome: Bidding for China Paradise

Gome, China's largest electronics retailer, has the opportunity to acquire China Paradise, the number three player in the Chinese electronic retailer industry. This happened in the general context of a great market development and potential consolidation of the... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Trade; Market Entry and Exit; Performance; Opportunities; Competition; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; China

December 1995 (Revised February 1999)
Case

Toys "R" Us Japan

By: Debora L. Spar

Documents the American retailer's process of entry into the Japanese toy market. Discusses the history of Toys "R" Us in the United States as well as the history of the Japanese toy market, distribution, wholesaling, and retailing systems. Eager to enter the world's... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Retail Industry; Japan; United States

2015
Working Paper

The U.S. Experiment with Fair Trade Laws: State Police Powers, Federal Antitrust, and the Politics of 'Fairness,' 1890-1938

By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

Prior to the Great Depression and President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs, considerable pressure for antitrust revision came from trade associations of independent proprietors. A perhaps unlikely leader, Edna Gleason, organized California's retail pharmacists... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Fairness; Laws and Statutes; Supply and Industry; Business and Government Relations

Read Now

November 2000 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Intuit QuickBooks

By: Rajiv Lal and Punima P Kochikar

Internet QuickBooks, a successful product with a strong brand and an 85% share of retail sales, was faced with the challenge of meeting market growth expectations in a mature, slowing market segment. Generating recurring revenues by providing value-added online... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Decisions; Growth and Development; Brands and Branding; Market Participation; Problems and Challenges; Internet and the Web; Value; Web Services Industry

23 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 23, 2007

wealth of case studies, in diverse settings, based on actual implementations. Store Manager Incentive Design and Retail Performance: An Exploratory Investigation Authors:Nicole DeHoratius and Ananth Raman Periodical:Manufacturing and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 1996 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Tweeter etc.

By: John T. Gourville and George Wu

In the early 1990s, Tweeter etc., a small regional retailer of higher-end audio and video equipment, faced increasing competitive pricing pressures from several large regional and national consumer electronics chains. In response, in 1993, they introduced "Automatic... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Customer Focus and Relationships; Price; Market Entry and Exit; Supply Chain Management; Competition; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

March 2022
Case

GrowSari (A): Design for the Last Mile Customer

By: Brian Trelstad, Cam Carag and Michi Ferreol

Reymund (ER) Rollan and Shivapratim (Shiv) Choudhury, founders of the digital technology platform GrowSari, were at a crossroads. The feedback from their initial product roll-out were not what they had expected, and they needed to decide how to proceed. The pair,... View Details

Keywords: Fast Moving Consumer Goods; Product Launch; Information Technology; Analytics and Data Science; Digital Platforms; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Philippines