Publications

15 May 2020
News

Let’s democratize and decommodify work

November 2017 (Revised November 2021)
Case

Irene Rosenfeld at Mondelēz International: Crafting a Corporate Strategy

By: Raffaella Sadun, David J. Collis, Amram Migdal and Kerry Herman

The case focuses on Irene Rosenfeld’s tenure as CEO of the global snack food company Mondelēz International. Beginning in 2006, she had led the company through many acquisitions, including France’s LU Biscuit and British confectionery company Cadbury, before, in 2012,... View Details

January 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Joint Juice

Focuses on Joint Juice, a start-up in the new-age beverage category. The company has a patented formula for producing a glucosamine beverage, the only one on the market. (Glucosamine is a nutritional supplement believed to help rejuvenate joints and treat arthritis.)... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Business or Company Management; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Corporate Strategy; Industry Structures; Entrepreneurship; Food and Beverage Industry

28 Jan 2016
News

Taking Literature to the Streets

October 1997 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Asda (A)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

In the mid-1980s, Asda was one of the most successful retail companies in the United Kingdom. By 1991, the chain of 200 grocery stores had a lack of direction, a demoralized workforce, declining profits, rising debt, collapsing stock price, and was facing bankruptcy.... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Crisis Management; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United Kingdom

January 2006 (Revised December 2006)
Case

Wal-Mart's Business Environment

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee

In 2004, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. proposed to build a new supercenter in Inglewood, a low-income community near Los Angeles. The proposal was a part of Wal-Mart's strategy to bring its supercenter format to California. Introduced in the late 1980s, supercenters added a... View Details

Keywords: Goals and Objectives; Expansion; Market Entry and Exit; Corporate Strategy; Labor Unions; Conflict and Resolution; Retail Industry; Los Angeles

Research Summary

The Consumer-Direct Channel: "We've Come Full Spiral"

Professor Lemon is currently engaged in a field research project investigating the extent to which new "channels" such as the Internet and home grocery delivery represent a dramatic shift in consumer buying behavior. She is working with a consortium of global... View Details

February 1996
Case

Spartan Stores Incorporated: Reengineering for Efficient Consumer Response

Describes an effort to rationalize operations at a leading grocery wholesaler, enabled by information systems. Spartan Stores, Inc., is cooperatively owned by its 238 retailers and, through training, consulting, systems support, and cost of goods efficiencies, strives... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Restructuring; Information Technology

Find at Harvard

September 1974 (Revised April 1975)
Case

Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. (B)

A consumer attitude survey involving more than 1,000 cranberry users has been conducted. Multivariate statistical procedures including factor analysis, cluster analysis and multiple discriminant analysis have been employed to suggest four attitude segments in the... View Details

Keywords: Surveys; Product Positioning; Mathematical Methods; Consumer Behavior; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

26 Feb 2015
News

Ethics and the environment: Eco-waverers

March 2016
Case

M-Pesa: Financial Inclusion in Kenya

By: Rajiv Lal, Lisa Cox and Sarah McAra

M-Pesa, a mobile money transfer service launched in 2007 in Kenya by telecommunications company Safaricom, allowed people to send money via mobile messaging to contacts, such as friends and family, or even to pay for goods and services, such as groceries or a taxi... View Details

Keywords: Mobile Money Transfer; Market Transactions; Emerging Markets; Developing Countries and Economies; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry; Kenya

2024
Working Paper

The Operational Impact of Customer Location in On-Demand Services

By: Natalie Epstein, Santiago Gallino and Antonio Moreno

The rapid growth of on-demand delivery services, particularly in the food and grocery sectors, has driven the expansion of hyperlocal fulfillment centers (FCs). This paper uses data from an on-demand grocery delivery platform in Latin America to assess how customer... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Logistics; Geographic Location; Service Delivery; Quality; Retail Industry; Latin America

SSRN

October 1994
Case

Campbell Soup Company: A Leader in Continuous Replenishment Innovations

Campbell Soup, like most food manufacturers, faced grocery chain and wholesale demand for its goods driven by Campbell's own promotional pricing structure rather than retail consumer demand. Former policies to encourage overstock created huge swings in production and... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Supply Chain Management; Logistics

November 1993 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Marsh Supermarkets, Inc. (A): The Marsh Super Study

In response to recent trends in grocery retailing, Marsh Supermarkets has completed an intensive 65-week study of the activity at 5 superstores in the midwest United States. The study tracked the sales, profits, space, and promotion dynamics of the entire store: dry... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Analysis; Consumer Behavior; Retail Industry

19 Mar 2008
News

Harvard Business School Offers New Executive Education Program in China

September 2014 (Revised June 2016)
Case

Whole Foods: The Path to 1,000 Stores

By: David F. Drake, Ryan W. Buell, Melissa Barton, Taylor Jones, Katrina Keverian and Jeffrey Stock

The case examines the operations strategy of Whole Foods, one of the largest natural grocery chains in the United States. In late 2013, Whole Foods was expanding rapidly, with a publicly-stated goal of growing from 351 to 1,000 domestic stores by 2022. It was also... View Details

Keywords: Human Capital; Food; Expansion; Market Entry and Exit; Operations; Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

2022
Working Paper

The Effect of Employee Lateness and Absenteeism on Store Performance

By: Caleb Kwon and Ananth Raman

We empirically analyze the effects of employee lateness and absenteeism on store performance by examining 25.5 million employee shift timecards covering more than 100,000 employees across more than 500 U.S. retail grocery store locations over a four year time period.... View Details

Keywords: Absenteeism; Lateness; Scheduling; Performance Productivity; Employees; Retail Industry

SSRN

Read Now

12 Oct 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Mental Accounting and Small Windfalls: Evidence from an Online Grocer

Keywords: by Katherine L. Milkman, John Beshears, Todd Rogers & Max H. Bazerman

2020
Working Paper

Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Consumption: The Impact of Access and Value

By: Retsef Levi, Elisabeth Paulson and Georgia Perakis

The goal of this paper is to leverage household-level data to improve food-related policies aimed at increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables (FVs) among low-income households. Currently, several interventions target areas where residents have limited... View Details

Keywords: Food Deserts; Food Access; Food Policy; Causal Inference; Food; Nutrition; Poverty; Government Administration