Publications

June 2025
Case

Redefining the Edge: Jahez’s Strategic Pivot in Saudi Arabia’s Food Delivery Battle

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Ahmed Dahawy

Jahez made its mark in Saudi Arabia’s food delivery market by serving customers willing to pay more for reliable, high-quality service—a segment largely overlooked by other platforms. As the company grew, it expanded into the mass market and developed a network of... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Conglomerates; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation Strategy; Digital Platforms; Logistics; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry; Saudi Arabia

2013
Case

The COFCO Group

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming and Ziqian Zhao

COFCO was China's sole legitimate window for agricultural foreign trade before 1987. The reform of China's foreign trade system beginning in 1987 cost COFCO its monopoly position. Subsequently, the SOE giant capitalized on its foreign trade expertise to strategically... View Details

Keywords: China; Food; China

2013
Teaching Note

The COFCO Group (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming and Ziqian Zhao

COFCO was China's sole legitimate window for agricultural foreign trade before 1987. The reform of China's foreign trade system beginning in 1987 cost COFCO its monopoly position. Subsequently, the SOE giant capitalized on its foreign trade expertise to strategically... View Details

Keywords: China; Food; China

March 2008
Case

Patel Food and Chemicals Private Limited (A)

By: Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

Alok Patel, the founder and chairman of a Gujarat-based, privately held edible oils processor, must decide whether to hire a CFO candidate. Previously, his company's book-keeping has been done by an uncle, who has mentioned that he may retire soon. Patel could hire his... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Family Business; Managerial Roles; Emerging Markets; Diversity; Finance; Food and Beverage Industry; Gujarat

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26 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

How Cellophane Changed the Way We Shop for Food

School and author of the paper Cellophane, the New Visuality, and the Creation of Self-Service Food Retailing. “Cellophane played a big part in how the color View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Food & Beverage; Food & Beverage; Food & Beverage

2018
Working Paper

How Scheduling Can Bias Quality Assessment: Evidence from Food Safety Inspections

By: Maria Ibanez and Michael W. Toffel

Many production processes are subject to inspection to ensure they meet quality, safety, and environmental standards imposed by companies and regulators. Inspection accuracy is critical to inspections being a useful input to assessing risks, allocating quality... View Details

Keywords: Assessment; Bias; Inspection; Scheduling; Econometric Analysis; Empirical Research; Regulation; Health; Food; Safety; Quality; Performance Consistency; Performance Evaluation; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

SSRN

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June 2020
Article

How Scheduling Can Bias Quality Assessment: Evidence from Food Safety Inspections

By: Maria Ibanez and Michael W. Toffel

Accuracy and consistency are critical for inspections to be an effective, fair, and useful tool for assessing risks, quality, and suppliers—and for making decisions based on those assessments. We examine how inspector schedules could introduce bias that erodes... View Details

Keywords: Assessment; Bias; Inspection; Scheduling; Econometric Analysis; Empirical Research; Regulation; Health; Food; Safety; Quality; Performance Consistency; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

November 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Disrupting the Meat Industry: Tissue Culture Beef

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Matthew G. Preble

Dr. Mark Post and his team at Maastricht University were perfecting their tissue culture beef product—made entirely from muscle grown in his lab—to give it the same taste, texture and appearance of a traditional beef hamburger. A previous iteration of this product had... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Beef Production; Environmental Impacts Of Food Production; Agribusiness; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Invention; Environmental Sustainability; Food; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Netherlands; United States; United Kingdom

February 2022 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Aleph Farms: A New Culture of Meat

By: Elie Ofek and Jeff Huizinga

Aleph Farms, an Israeli food-tech start-up, was hoping to play a major role in disrupting the conventional meat sector. Compared to intensive agricultural practices, Aleph’s cultured (or lab-grown) meat solution held the promise of considerably reducing greenhouse gas... View Details

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

November 2018
Case

Cepuros Foods Malaysia: Finding the Secret Sauce for Growth (Brief Case)

By: John A. Quelch and Katherine B. Hartman

Shelby Diaz, country manager for Cepuros Foods International—Malaysia (CFI-M), must decide a growth strategy for the expansion of CFI-M's line of salsas, particularly regarding whom to target and how to allocate marketing investments. CFI-M could expand aggressively by... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Communications; Product Positioning

June 2022 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Sage V Foods and Element Farms: Preparing for the Future of Controlled Environment Agriculture

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Rachel Lee and Canning Malkin

2016
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Doug Rauch and the Daily Table

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Peter Zimmerman and Penelope Rossano

Former Trader Joe's President Doug Rauch developed an innovative idea to address the challenge of food insecurity, food waste, and nutrition. His concept was a new retail grocery model, offering nutritious affordable food to a food insecure population in the inner city... View Details

Keywords: Food Insecurity; Grocery; Social Entrepreneurship; Food; Health; Nonprofit Organizations; Boston

February 1992 (Revised January 1996)
Supplement

Birds Eye and the U.K. Frozen Food Industry (B)

By: David J. Collis

Describes the change in strategy Birds Eye adopted in the 1980s in the face of declining profitability and eroding market share. Updates the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Stock Shares; Adoption; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Food and Beverage Industry; United Kingdom

January 2007 (Revised January 2007)
Background Note

Note on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

By: Robert F. Higgins, Richard G. Hamermesh and Virginia Fuller

Describes the U.S. FDA with particular emphasis on its role in the development of new drugs, biologic products, and medical devices today. Provides context for the drug approval process by describing the FDA's history and organizational structure. View Details

Keywords: Health; Governance Compliance; Policy; Product Development; Government and Politics; Pharmaceutical Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States

January 2018
Article

The Central and Unacknowledged Role of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the Design and Execution of Medical Device Pivotal Trials

By: Aaron V. Kaplan and Ariel D. Stern

The introduction of new medical devices has transformed cardiovascular care in recent decades. Devices, such as heart valves, pacemakers, stents, ventricular assist devices, and implantable defibrillators, have prolonged and improved the quality of life for millions of... View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Business and Government Relations; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Information Publishing; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

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November 2002 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Global Conservation Trust, The: A Foundation for Food Security

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Biodiversity is being lost due to the delegation of the ability to store and maintain various types of plants to governments and foundations with no or little financial base. How does one develop the resources to maintain plant diversity for the future benefit of... View Details

Keywords: Food; Safety; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Nonprofit Organizations; Welfare; Finance; Environmental Sustainability; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

July 2018 (Revised November 2018)
Case

The Robin Hood Army

By: Susanna Gallani

In 2014, Neel Ghose and a handful of friends spent one evening distributing excess food they had collected from local restaurants to the less fortunate people living under the Hauz Khas flyover in South Delhi. Four years later, this initiative had developed into The... View Details

Keywords: Volunteer-based Organization; Food Redistribution; Nonprofit Organizations; Food; Human Needs; Expansion; Global Range; Growth and Development

September 2013
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz and Patricia Bissett Higgins

After a successful career as Chairman and CEO of Paris-based luxury food company Fauchon, Laurent Adamowicz sought to reduce obesity and improve health outcomes. Adamowicz created a mobile application to provide consumers with more accessible and interpretable... View Details