Publications

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May 1998
Teaching Note

RCI Master Distributor: Evolution of Supplier Relationships TN

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Teaching Note for (9-595-001). View Details

Keywords: Distribution Industry

October 1993 (Revised June 1995)
Teaching Note

Wholesale Club Industry TN

By: David E. Bell

Teaching Note for (9-594-035). View Details

Keywords: Distribution Industry

September 2017 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Tempur Sealy International (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Lauren G. Pickle

This case explores the long-term relationship between Tempur Sealy (TPX, a mattress manufacturer) and Mattress Firm (MFRM, a bedding retailer and TPX's largest customer). For almost 20 years, the firms enjoyed a mutually beneficial and commercially prosperous... View Details

06 Nov 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Extending Producer Responsibility: An Evaluation Framework for Product Take-Back Policies

Keywords: by Michael W. Toffel, Antoinette Stein & Katharine L. Lee; Chemical

06 Jul 2015
Research & Ideas

Money and Quotas Motivate the Sales Force Best

It's well understood that cash bonuses often motivate a sales force to step up its game, but they don't work in every scenario and in some cases can backfire, a new study from Harvard Business School has found. The key variable? Whether the sales rep had to do... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Retail

July 1981 (Revised October 1992)
Case

Chipman-Union, Inc.: Odor-Eaters Socks

By: John A. Quelch

The company is considering whether or not to introduce a branded line of men's athletic socks. Considers a preliminary marketing program, including supermarket and drug store distribution. View Details

Keywords: Distribution Channels; Product Marketing; Brands and Branding; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Health Industry

April 2021
Supplement

Buy Online, Pickup in Store: CEO Supplement

By: Antonio Moreno, Santiago Gallino and Amy Klopfenstein

In April 2019, Sylvarella CEO Sylvia Coparella must assess the impact of the company’s Buy Online, Pickup in Store (BOPS) program on her company’s overall sales. To do so, she must review analyses of both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar sales data and compare the... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Service Delivery; Logistics; Infrastructure; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Analysis; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States; Canada

April 2021
Case

Buy Online, Pickup in Store: Evaluating an Omnichannel Intervention in Retail

By: Antonio Moreno, Santiago Gallino and Amy Klopfenstein

In October 2018, fashion, wellness, and beauty retailer Sylvarella implemented a Buy Online, Pickup in Store (BOPS) program in an attempt to counteract a sales decline. While BOPS had the potential to meet customer expectations for a seamless order and fulfillment... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Service Delivery; Logistics; Infrastructure; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Analysis; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States; Canada

10 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

Learning Curve: Making the Most of Outsourcing

Companies that outsource merely to shuffle off commodity work to save costs might be missing important opportunities to work with vendors and significantly improve the final product. "When it comes to the outsourcing of many complex professional services, the world is... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Guttry; Health

January 2016
Teaching Note

Accor: Strengthening the Brand with Digital Marketing

By: Jill Avery, Chekitan S. Dev and Peter O'Connor

Teaching Note for Accor: Strengthening the Brand with Digital Marketing case View Details

Keywords: Digital; Hospitality; Marketing; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Distribution; Travel Industry; France; Europe

03 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

The Tricky Business of Managing Web Advertising Affiliates

When the FBI charged Shawn Hogan and two others with defrauding eBay of about $21 million in affiliate marketing sales, Benjamin G. Edelman was watching closely behind the scenes. Edelman's name rarely came up at the time of the 2010 arrests, but the Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Advertising; Publishing

2024
Working Paper

Open Devices and Slices: Evidence from Wi-Fi Equipment

By: Do Yoon Kim, Roberto Fontana and Shane Greenstein

Prior studies suggest that openness shapes the introduction of new products. This study collects novel data on all routers and subcomponents introduced between 2000 and 2018. We characterize each firm's position in a supply chain as upstream component providers... View Details

Keywords: Open Source Distribution; Product Development; Supply Chain

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April 2015 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Instacart and the New Wave of Grocery Startups

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Instacart is testing an Uber-style solution to the challenge of building a home-delivered grocery business. It is backed by $220 million of venture funding. Will this model succeed where businessses like Webvan failed? What are the questions that this exploratory... View Details

Keywords: Food Retailing; Outsourced Grocery Delivery; Online Ordering; Dynamic Pricing; Data Analytics; Marketing Strategy; Food; Distribution Channels; Business Startups; Food and Beverage Industry; California

1989
Manual

Going to Market: Case Studies in Industrial Distribution, Instructor's Manual

By: E. Raymond Corey, Frank V. Cespedes and V. K. Rangan

Keywords: Distribution

Find at Harvard

06 Jun 2013
Op-Ed

How to Do Away with the Dangers of Outsourcing

The recent collapse of the eight-story Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh was a red alert for every company that has embraced the "virtual organization" model and the outsourcing that goes with it. The lure of the model is obvious. Virtual corporations... View Details

Keywords: by Ranjay Gulati; Manufacturing; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion

2015
Working Paper

Match Your Own Price? Self-Matching as a Retailer's Multichannel Pricing Strategy

By: Pavel Kireyev, Vineet Kumar and Elie Ofek

Multichannel retailing has created several new strategic choices for firms. With respect to pricing, an important decision is whether to offer a "self-matching policy." Self-matching allows a multichannel retailer to offer the lowest of its online and in-store prices... View Details

Keywords: Price Self-matching; Multichannel Retailing; Pricing Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Price; Distribution Channels; Supply and Industry; Retail Industry

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February 2017
Teaching Note

Oversight Systems

By: Frank Cespedes

This Teaching Note accompanies the case, set in May 2016, which discusses sales strategy and channel partnerships at Oversight Systems, an early stage software firm that developed analytics for organizations to monitor their data for errors, fraud, and operational... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Sales Strategy; Entrepreneurial Sales; Entrepreneurial Sales And Marketing; Software Sales; Marketing; Marketing Management; Pricing; Salesforce Management; Distribution Channels; Marketing Strategy; Technology Industry; North America