Retailers - Publications - Faculty & Research

July 2020
Article

Who Should Select New Employees, Headquarters or the Unit Manager? Consequences of Centralizing Hiring at a Retail Chain

By: Carolyn Deller and Tatiana Sandino

We examine how changing the allocation of hiring decision rights in a multiunit organization affects employee-firm match quality, contingent on a unit’s circumstances. Our research site, a U.S. retail chain, switched from a decentralized hiring model (hiring by... View Details

Keywords: Control; Selection; Decentralization; Company Values; Retail Chains; Employees; Selection and Staffing; Local Range; Business Headquarters; Decision Making

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04 Mar 2015
News

Retail Reaches a Tipping Point—Which Stores Will Survive?

Fast Answer

Sustainability in CPG and Retail

2018: Companies must collaborate across the value chain to improve sustainability. Fashion’s new must-have: Sustainable sourcing at scale. McKinsey, October 2019. Highlights the sustainable sourcing targets View Details

01 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Retail Execs Underplay Current Performance to Investors--but Why?

Retail executives aren’t always giving stockholders the straight scoop about the financial standing of their companies in comments around earnings announcements—and some may be providing misleading information, potentially for their own... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services

04 Aug 2022
News

Is Ecommerce the Antidote to Ongoing Retailer Challenges?

10 Jan 2020
Blog Post

Know Your Audience - Recruiting HBS Students for Retail

Director and Career Coach Renee Pappastratis – Recruiting Relations Manager Together, Laurie and Renee manage relationships with retailers interested in recruiting HBS students to join their teams. Their combined expertise in the student... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

Winter 2014
Article

Retail Inventory: Managing the Canary in the Coal Mine!

By: Vishal Gaur, Saravanan Kesavan and Ananth Raman

Retail inventory is a statistic that is closely watched by retailers as well as their investors, lenders, and suppliers. Retailers not only benefit from inventory, but also bear the cost of excess inventory. Investors, lenders, and suppliers interpret this statistic... View Details

Keywords: Financial Condition; Retail Industry

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Health systems are struggling to address the many shortcomings of health care delivery: rapidly growing costs, inconsistent quality, and inadequate and unequal access to primary and other types of care. However, if retailers and health... View Details

15 Jan 2019
Blog Post

Interning in the Retail Sector

Jasmyn Beausejour, MBA 2019, describes his summer at Wayfair. As a native from Montreal and having worked in management consulting, Jasmyn was excited by the opportunity to analyze Wayfair’s expansion and segmentation into the Canadian market. His role pivoted from... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

May 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Teaching Note

CEMEX: Rewarding Egyptian Retailers (TN)

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez

Teaching note to 106065. View Details

Keywords: Sales; Egypt

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March 2006 (Revised January 2011)
Case

CEMEX: Rewarding the Egyptian Retailers

CEMEX has pursued an aggressive decommoditization strategy focused on its relationship with small Egyptian retailers. In particular, the strategic role and effectiveness of the Rewards Program, a tournament that rewarded the sales performance of the retailers, was... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Performance Improvement; Sales; Motivation and Incentives; Construction Industry; Egypt

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March 1979 (Revised June 1983)
Case

Microwave Ovens: The Retail Brands

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April 2020
Background Note

U.S. Food Retail During the Pandemic: March 2020

By: José B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

This note, written in late March 2020 and mainly U.S. focused, looks at the unfolding impact of the coronavirus pandemic on food retailers and their suppliers. It allows student to consider the challenges facing food retail executives as they navigate urgent supply... View Details

Keywords: Coronavirus Pandemic; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Food; Supply Chain; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Trade; Crisis Management; Health Pandemics; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Retail Industry; United States

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09 Jun 2021
News

How the Retail Workforce Has Changed for Good

05 May 2020
News

China Tariffs and Coronavirus a Double Hit to American Retailers

22 Feb 2016

Retail Sector at HBS Webinar

This webinar will provide an overview of the resources available to students coming from (or who are interested in pursuing a career in) the Retail sector. It will include a brief presentation followed by a current student panel... View Details

November 2019 (Revised December 2020)
Case

Grupo Éxito: Facing Colombia's Competitive Grocery Retail Industry

By: José B. Alvarez, Carla Larangeira, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Miguel Diaz Moreno

Grupo Éxito, a leading South American retailer, faced declining market shares in Colombia in 2019 with the arrival of low-cost competitors and emerging digital trends. Originally founded in Medellín, Éxito had over the course of its seventy-year history evolved from a... View Details

Keywords: Grocery; Market Share; Information Technology; Trends; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry; Colombia; Latin America

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