Wal-Mart - Publications - Faculty & Research

22 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Control Your Inventory in a World of Lean Retailing

implemented what we propose. Yet lean retailers like Home Depot and Wal-Mart already incorporate some SKU-level analysis in their own inventory decision making. Calculating SKU-level variation can be done on a simple spreadsheet, so... View Details

Keywords: by Frederick H. Abernathy, John T. Dunlop, Janice H. Hammond & David Weil; Consumer Products

11 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

E-Commerce Unplugged

behavior. Good examples of such companies are leaders in the consumer packaged-goods industry such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods—or retail organizations such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy. Consider the following... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria & Marty Leestma

30 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

Tuning Jobs to Fit Your Company

with economies of scale in merchandising, marketing, and distribution. To ensure standardization, Wal-Mart sets the span of control for store managers at the "narrow" end of the scale. Although they nominally control their... View Details

Keywords: by Robert Simons

27 May 2008
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Thinking About Global

stock of differences as well. Key concepts include: Some indicators of globalization aren't increasing as many experts have claimed. Toyota and Wal-Mart are examples of companies that understand how to deal with distance in a strategic... View Details

01 Mar 2009
News

Alumni Books

Odds by Peter D. Johnston (MBA ’90) (Negotiation Press) How do you negotiate with Wal-Mart or with an intimidating boss about an ethical issue? How do you negotiate a capital infusion for a struggling start-up or better health care for... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

12 Jan 2004
What Do You Think?

How Should We Think About the Exportation of Jobs?

exported—those involving personal services such as face-to-face retailing and repair work. The Wal-Martization of work in the U.S. is emphasized while the fastest-growing types of service jobs in medicine, high-tech maintenance and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

05 May 2003
Research & Ideas

How Bank of America Turned Branches into Service-Development Laboratories

of 2000. A customer entering the new center was immediately greeted at the door by a host—an idea borrowed from Wal-Mart and other retail stores. At freestanding kiosks, associates stood ready to help the customer open accounts, set up... View Details

Keywords: by Stefan Thomke; Banking; Financial Services

12 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 12, 2006

assumptions and attentive to ways reason and emotion shape their own behavior and those of others around them. Purchase this note: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=404104 The Rise of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Mar 2007
First Look

First Look: March 13, 2007

of the microfinance industry and the challenges of investing in this new field of the emerging markets. Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=307078 Organic Growth at Wal-Mart Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

03 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

Marketing Your Way Through a Recession

where growth prospects are strong, companies are in a battle for market share and, in some cases, survival. Knowing your cost structure can ensure that any cuts or consolidation initiatives will save the most money with minimum customer impact. Companies such as View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

02 Jan 2007
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2006

Enter the concept of the "channel steward." The Real Wal-Mart Effect Critics are lining up to take shots at Wal-Mart's treatment of workers and a host of other alleged knocks against society. But the critics miss one big point,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

05 Dec 2013
What Do You Think?

Is Walmart Defying Economic Gravity?

turnover among the largest business firms, characterized in the United States by the fact that only one company, General Electric, has survived in the Dow Jones Industrials index since its beginning. We are reminded of the matter as View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

04 May 2009
Research & Ideas

What’s Next for the Big Financial Brands

Wal-Mart and even Google in the United States to do the same. After all, the financial services industry is crying out for a brand that promises to "do no evil." Join the discussion on Harvard Business Publishing. View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Banking; Financial Services

18 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

Tips to Reinvent the Department Store

balance of power between stores and vendors who provide them with merchandise. "I think obviously the power should be shifting to the retailer," Petsch answered. He believes that with the pricing leverage already being exercised by View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Retail

01 Sep 2003
News

Patrick Moreton

it’s a balancing act? Yes, and it continues to this day. In the media industry, I think we’re seeing something like the Wal-Mart effect on small rural communities. Consumers love Wal-Mart’s low prices and its one-stop shopping. At the... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Telecommunications; Information

02 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

Excerpt: ‘A Social Strategy’

the number of likes or followers, the number of responses, or the number of times corporate messages are forwarded to others. For example, by mid-2013 Target had slightly less than 22 million fans on Facebook, Wal-Mart had 30 million,... View Details

08 Dec 2008
Research & Ideas

Thinking Twice About Supply-Chain Layoffs

manager changes his or her hours, it can upset a delicate balance of work schedules, family commitments, and child care, which in turn can derail increasingly fragile family budgets. In a survey of Wal-Mart employees, for instance,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

29 May 2006
What Do You Think?

How Important Is the “Service Sector Effect” on Productivity?

like the Vanguard Group, Southwest Airlines, and Wal-Mart (in the U.S.) have had a profound impact on the way we live and work. They share several things in common: (1) a penchant for driving down costs in their respective industries, (2)... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Service

03 Oct 2005
What Do You Think?

What’s the Future of Globally Organized Labor?

multinational companies, including Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Deutsche Post AG, Walt Disney Co., News Corp., and Ikea. These efforts would include work stoppages in countries where employees in these companies are unionized (in the case of... View Details