Publications

01 Mar 2024
News

Game On

categories. Take, for starters, the food and beverage model: Like any bowling alley, Top Golf, or the Kansas City–based Chicken N Pickle (with NFL investors Patrick Mahomes... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; photographed by Edward Linsmier; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries

26 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

Lipstick Tips: How Influencers Are Making Over Beauty Marketing

Maybe that’s because influencers don’t post only about makeup; they often provide glimpses into their personal lives through photos of the clothes they wear, the food they eat, the places they travel, and... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Consumer Products; Beauty & Cosmetics

August 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Luckin Coffee (A): Caffeine-fueled Growth?

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

This case describes the founding of Chinese coffee chain Luckin Coffee in 2017 and its path to surpassing Starbucks as the largest coffee chain in China (by number of stores) in 2019. Unlike Starbucks stores, which were designed to be welcoming “third places” for... View Details

Web

Connect with Clubs - Recruiting

Omole aomole@mba2025.hbs.edu Tim Kluska tkluska@mba2025.hbs.edu Club Email fnce@studentclubs.hbs.edu FinTech Club Co-Presidents Vishal Bhat vbhat@mba2025.hbs.edu Claire Feeley cfeeley@mba2025.hbs.edu Irtaza Ali iali@mba2025.hbs.edu Club Email... View Details

26 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Why Japanese Businesses Are So Good at Surviving Crises

delivers food to victims CEO Takeshi Niinami of Lawson, a chain of convenience stores, watched out his Tokyo office window as skyscrapers swayed. Just minutes before the tsunami reached the Tohoku shore, he sent an order to employees:... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

16 Jul 2007
Research & Ideas

Understanding the ‘Want’ vs. ’Should’ Decision

maximize the sale of healthy items or should groceries, brick-and-mortar grocery stores might display healthy foods near the entrance of the store so they will be encountered early on in the shopping experience View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Retail; Entertainment & Recreation

2023
Working Paper

The Benefits of Revealing Race: Evidence from Minority-owned Local Businesses

By: Abhay Aneja, Michael Luca and Oren Reshef

Is there latent demand to support Black-owned businesses? To explore, we analyze a new feature that made it easier to identify Black-owned restaurants on a large online platform. We find that labeling restaurants as “Black-owned” increased customer engagement and... View Details

Keywords: Black-owned Businesses; Race; Prejudice and Bias; Ownership; Knowledge Dissemination; Digital Platforms; Consumer Behavior; Food and Beverage Industry

SSRN

Read Now

21 Jul 2020
Cold Call Podcast

Starbucks Commits to Raising Awareness of Racial Bias

Keywords: Re: Francesca Gino & Katherine B. Coffman; Food & Beverage; Food & Beverage

February 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Ample Hills Creamery

By: Tom Eisenmann, Lindsay N. Hyde and Tom Quinn

Ample Hills Creamery started in 2010 as a temporary ice cream pushcart in Brooklyn, New York City. On the strength of inventive flavors and clever marketing, husband-and-wife founders Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna built a premium, artisanal dessert empire of 16 retail... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Business Growth and Maturation; Partners and Partnerships; Logistics; Profit; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Food and Beverage Industry

June 1999 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Snapple

By: John A. Deighton

Tells the story of Snapple's rise and fall, and poses the question "Can it recover?" Many soft-drink brands flourished in the 1980s serving New York's Yuppies, but only Snapple made the big time. It went from local to national success and was poised to go international... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Industry Growth; Failure; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry

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

03 Jul 2019
Cold Call Podcast

The Controversial History of United Fruit

Keywords: Re: Geoffrey G. Jones; Food & Beverage

Rebel Talent

Rebels have a bad reputation. We think of them as troublemakers, outcasts, contrarians: those colleagues, friends, and family members who complicate seemingly straightforward decisions, create chaos, and disagree when everyone else is in agreement. But in truth,... View Details

August 1974 (Revised November 1983)
Case

National Cranberry Cooperative

Requires an analysis of both the process flows and the production control system used in a cranberry receiving plant. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Production; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

June 2013 (Revised January 2016)
Case

Château Margaux: Launching the Third Wine

By: Elie Ofek and Eric E. Vogt

Château Margaux, one of only five prestigious estates in the Bordeaux Medoc wine region to have been classified as a "first-growth", is facing a host of strategic decisions in early 2013. Up until this point the estate had been selling two red wines, a first wine whose... View Details

Keywords: New Product Launch; Marketing Plan; Brand Management; Go To Market Strategy; Channels Of Distribution; Wine Industry; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; France

November 2018 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Zespri Grows

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

Controlling about a third of global kiwifruit exports by volume and nearly half by value in 2018, Zespri was a grower-owned “corporatized cooperative” with the exclusive right to export New Zealand-grown kiwifruit (except to Australia). Zespri did not grow fruit but... View Details