Wal-Mart - Publications - Faculty & Research

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

08 May 2006
Research & Ideas

The Cost of Cutting in Line

show, for example, that companies must not try to buy local approval if they plan to open a new facility that the local community does not welcome. If Wal-Mart plans to open a new store and the town does not like it, the worst thing the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

01 Aug 2001
News

Cleveland Global Alumni Conference a Sold-Out Success

lunchtime address peppered with anecdotes and one-liners, Cleveland native Tom Coughlin returned to his hometown to share some of his insights as president and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores Division. When he joined the company in 1978, Coughlin... View Details

Keywords: Hanna, Julia; Frank Batten (MBA '52); Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Mar 2009
News

Your Taxi Is Waiting

Ronald Cohen (MBA ’69). The pair first learned of the VLJ opportunity as second-year students and partnered on a six-month field study with the supervision of former HBS faculty member John Wells to study the efficiencies that Wal-Mart... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Air Transportation; Transportation

01 Mar 2008
News

One-on-One with Jim Breyer

years later, he’s still at Accel and can lay claim to one of the most storied careers in the venture industry: 25 companies that have completed IPOs or successful mergers; directorships with Wal-Mart Stores, Marvel Entertainment, and... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Finance; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

01 Sep 2006
News

One-on-One with Carter Roberts

sustainable use of resources. Wal-Mart, for example, just committed to buy seafood only from MSC-certified fisheries. This decision has rocked the industry because Wal-Mart is the second-largest buyer of fish in the United States. We’re... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson

07 Aug 2006
Research & Ideas

Whatever Happened to Caveat Emptor?

haggling in the market is not for the fainthearted. Few of us would want to return to the world of traditional unregulated consumer markets. But we pay for the convenience of Wal-Mart or Carrefour with a loss of social fabric. Q: Although... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

24 Jul 2007
First Look

First Look: July 24, 2007

being only one of three retailers to outperform Wal-Mart in both revenue and profit growth in that time. Life in a Dollar General store paints a vivid picture of the roots and historical focus of the company. Opportunistic buying has... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

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 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

In Praise of Marketing

Second, the ambitions of American inventors and entrepreneurs demanded the broadest possible distribution. The Wal-Mart mission, for example, is to lower the cost of living for everyone everywhere. Third, American society was open to... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Advertising

01 Feb 1999
News

All in the Family

Davis, has only been formally studied by business schools in the last twenty years. That may not seem so remarkable until you realize that "family businesses" include not just the mom-and-pop store on the corner but also the likes of multibillion-dollar corporations... View Details

Keywords: Marguerite Rigoglioso

17 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Why E-commerce Didn’t Die With the Fall of Webvan

market because we don't have any national supermarket chains. Except for Wal-Mart. That's a very interesting story in itself. Wal-Mart is, I think, the number five grocery retailer in the United States. The great advantage it has is that... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products; Retail

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

19 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

How Mercadona Fixes Retail’s ’Last 10 Yards’ Problem

Home Depot service at Wal-Mart prices? "For years, I have been preaching that retailers need to invest more in their store processes and in store labor to improve operations," says Ton. "Many retailers tend to overlook... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Food & Beverage

27 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Family CEOs Spend Less Time at Work

family-owned businesses employ a family member as the CEO. Sam Walton founded and the Walton family still owns Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., for example, and the founder's son Rob Walton is chairman of the board, but the company's president and... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

10 Dec 2007
HBS Case

One Laptop per Child

“A number of technology breakthroughs were part and parcel of the development of this product, which could ... benefit users of all PCs." —John Quelch According to the case, "In July 2007, PC maker Everex announced it would start selling its PCs at View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Computer

26 Feb 2001
Research & Ideas

Evolving for Success [Part One]

to use the technology; but it's an elaborate and complex relationship, because these companies themselves also work much more closely together. It is more than Wal-Mart working with Procter & Gamble as a supplier. It's joint planning;... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

19 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 19, 2007

acquisition of AOL Time Warner's music group, and whether to commit the entire amount needed, $1.4 billion. The music industry has suffered greatly in recent years, largely as a result of music piracy. Purchase this case:... View Details