Publications

February 2025 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Shake Shack's Playbook for the Digital Era

By: Christopher Stanton, Allison Ciechanover and George Gonzalez

This case examines Shake Shack’s journey from a single New York City hot dog cart to a global fast-casual restaurant chain renowned for both premium quality and a culture of “enlightened hospitality.” As the company expands worldwide, it pilots digital ordering... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Satisfaction; Technology Adoption; Brands and Branding; Organizational Culture; Customization and Personalization; Expansion; Digital Transformation; Food and Beverage Industry

December 1997 (Revised May 2008)
Supplement

Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-TAK (B)

By: John J. Gabarro

This is the supplement to “Wolfgang Keller at Königsbräu-TAK (A).” This case is a modernized revision of the popular case “Wolfgang Keller at Königsbräu-Hellas (B).” View Details

Keywords: Food and Beverage Industry; Greece

January 1987 (Revised June 1989)
Case

Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi-Cola (A)

Focuses on the competitive interaction between Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola specifically and the effect their dominance has on the other industry participants. Coke and Pepsi's competitive strategies are examined in an in-depth analysis; each firm's behavior is used to... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

January 2003 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Newport Creamery (A)

By: Paul Marshall and Todd Thedinga

Describes the operating challenges of Newport Creamery, a Rhode Island-based chain of ice cream restaurants. Profiles the company's transition from longtime family ownership to a real estate developer, the developer's expansion strategy, and the company's subsequent... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Crisis Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Food and Beverage Industry; Rhode Island

April 1992
Supplement

Prelude Corp.: Afterthoughts

By: Norman A. Berg

Commentary by an executive familiar with the industry on what went wrong at Prelude and what the difficulties are in creating economies of scale in the lobster fishing industry. View Details

Keywords: Management; Problems and Challenges; Cost Management; Food and Beverage Industry

17 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Where Did My Shopping Mall Go?

going to make the food space more vulnerable in the next five years. There is going to be enormous change, both because of the way people eat and because new models are starting to come into the equation... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

December 2010
Supplement

Restaurant Valuation: O'Charley's and AFC (CW)

This is a spreadsheet of the Exhibits for case 111-081, restaurant Valuation: O'Charley's and AFC. View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Valuation; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

01 Jun 2020
What Do You Think?

Will Challenged Amazon Tweak Its Retail Model Post-Pandemic?

ablokhin SUMMING UP Is the Amazon Organization Losing Its Ability to Learn? There was little sympathy for Amazon’s loss of online retail market share at the outset of the current global pandemic among... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

04 Feb 2014
First Look

First Look: February 4

Harvard Business School Case 514-067 India's Amul: Keeping up with the Times Amul is an Indian dairy cooperative founded in 1947, eight months before India's independence from British rule, and owned by over three million farmers in the state View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthlorne

August 2021
Case

Orchadio's First Two Split Experiments

By: Iavor I. Bojinov, Marco Iansiti and David Lane

Orchadio, a direct-to-consumer grocery business, needs to conduct its first two A/B tests—one to evaluate the effectiveness and functioning of its newly redesigned website, and one to market-test four versions of a new banner for the website. To do so, it will rely on... View Details

Keywords: Information Management; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Resource Allocation; Marketing; Measurement and Metrics; Customization and Personalization; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

16 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas and Research, May 16

mathematics. Yet they often struggle to fit the profiles sought by employers. A growing number of companies, including SAP, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Microsoft, have reformed their HR processes in order to access neurodiverse... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

August 1978 (Revised October 1979)
Case

Grey Advertising/Canada Dry Account

After taking over Canada Dry's mixers account in 1966, Grey Advertising assembled a successful ad campaign that increased ginger ale sales significantly. But Canada Dry's market share for ginger ale and its other mixer products had remained the same or declined during... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Advertising Campaigns; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

14 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

The New Measures for Improving Nonprofit Performance

For-profit businesses have a common goal: create value for owners or shareholders by creating value for customers. It's a focus that must seem enviably straightforward from the perspective of nonprofit organizations and social enterprises... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

November 2024
Case

Innovation at Master Kong Beverages

By: David E. Bell and Shu Lin

Hong-Chen Wei (HBS MBA 2014), Chairman of KSF Beverage Holding Co., Ltd. (KSFB), was steering the company toward the premium segment with the launch of “InheriTea,” a premium, sugar-free tea product. Traditionally, KSFB’s flagship brand, Master Kong, catered to the... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Trends; Behavior; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Product Launch; Product Development; Segmentation; Organizational Culture; Product Positioning; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Asia; China

27 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Sidetracked: Why Can’t We Stick to the Plan?

"The best-laid schemes of mice and men go often awry." - Robert Burns, 1785 An entrepreneur starts a company with plans to go public, but ultimately accepts a low-ball acquisition offer from a competitor. A newlywed husband... View Details

08 Dec 2015
First Look

December 8, 2015

2015 Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing The Impact of Globalization on Argentina and Chile: Business Enterprises and Entrepreneurship By: Jones, G. Abstract—This book compares the effects of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 1988
Case

Harris Seafoods Leveraged Buyout

By: William A. Sahlman

Describes set of issues confronting Alison Lassiter, who is trying to help Charlie Harris arrange a leveraged buyout of the shrimp company he runs, a division of a publicly traded company, Katy Industries. Lassiter has prepared a memorandum discussing and analyzing the... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Equity; Cost vs Benefits; Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Preparation; Financial Management; Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Planning; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

Find at Harvard

November 1991
Case

Monsanto's March into Biotechnology (B)

By: Dorothy A. Leonard

Monsanto has yet to receive FDA approval for BST, a growth hormone for cows. Anti-BST groups have successfully lobbied Wisconsin and Minnesota, major milk producing states, to ban milk from BST-injected cows; the FDA has charged Monsanto with improperly promoting BST... View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; Safety; Food; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Law Enforcement; Conflict and Resolution; Research and Development; Technology; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Minnesota; Wisconsin