Publications

28 Feb 2018
HBS Seminar

Kartik Hosanagar, Wharton, University of Pennsylvania

October 2013 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Walmart around the World

By: Juan Alcácer, Abhishek Agrawal and Harshit Vaish

After reaching the limits of its successful expansion in the United States in the early 1990s, Walmart sought growth opportunities in markets abroad. This case describes Walmart's attempts to replicate its successful U.S. business model in Mexico, Canada, Brazil,... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Success; Globalized Markets and Industries; Expansion; Market Entry and Exit; Failure; Retail Industry; Germany; China; Argentina; South Korea; Canada; Japan; Brazil; Africa; United Kingdom; United States; Mexico

03 Jun 2013
Research & Ideas

The Power of Rituals in Life, Death, and Business

follow-up experiment showed that participants in the ritual experience actually thought the chocolate bar was worth more money than those in the nonritual group—thus showing the retail marketing potential for food-related rituals. The... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

10 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

Minimum Wage Debate Is Really About Social Values

Suddenly, the minimum wage debate is on high boil. Perhaps spurred by growing concern over wealth inequality, minimum wage proposals are heating heat up in cities from Chicago to Albany, and in states from South Carolina to Florida. Harvard Business School Associate... View Details

Keywords: by April White; Retail; Retail

January 2017 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Kjell and Company: Motivating Salespeople with Incentive Compensation (A)

By: Doug J. Chung

Kjell & Company was a Swedish retail electronics chain. The company’s products consisted of home electronics and accessories. The company was noted for its excellent customer service and a fair “one-for-all” HR policy. Historically, the salespeople had been compensated... View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Change; Decision Making; Electronics Industry; Sweden

July – August 2009
Article

The Descent of Finance

What if the current recession turns out to be like the Great Depression of 1929-1933? Four years from now, the United States might find itself with a still-shrinking economy, half as many banks as in 2009, a third as many hedge funds, and retail banking resembling a... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; International Finance; Globalized Economies and Regions; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry

19 Sep 2023
Blog Post

2023 Summer Internships in Business & Environment

communicating their impressive impact metrics, exploring additional income sources (such as carbon credits), and engaging potential donors to support their ambitious growth plans over the next five years. Dengo is a socially responsible chocolate manufacturer and View Details

25 Jun 2020
Blog Post

Harvard Business School Class of 2021 Student Profiles

align with their strategic missions.” HOME REGION Coos Bay, Oregon UNDERGRAD EDUCATION University of Oregon PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE Amazon, Retail Leadership Development Program HBS ACTIVITIES Outdoors Club Vice President; Member of VCPE,... View Details

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Birth of the American Salesman

salespeople. About 41 percent of today's sales workers sell in retail stores. The demographics of America's sales workers have changed. Nearly half of the total sales workers recorded in the 2000 census were women. The same industries... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

23 May 2018
Research & Ideas

How to Know If Your Neighborhood Is Being Gentrified

familiar arguments both for and against. Private developers and other supporters argue that new restaurants and retail shops, high-rise housing, and other spruce-ups revitalize communities by attracting outside investment and luring new... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

26 Jun 2013
News

How a Trivial Pursuit Became a Significant Case

resources beyond his current control to pull the project together. He successfully raced to get TV Guide's TV Game distributed to both high-end and discount retailers (priced accordingly) in time for Christmas 1984—and just ahead of... View Details

Keywords: Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Miscellaneous Store Retailers

2025
Working Paper

The Hidden Costs of Flexible Labor Models: How Working Multiple Jobs Affects Employees

By: Paige Tsai and Ryan W. Buell

As operations increasingly rely upon flexible labor models—such as gig, part-time, and remote work—it has become commonplace for individuals to work multiple jobs. Across three studies, relying on a combination of transaction-level data from 90,548 customers of a... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Operations; Employee Behavior; Job Design; Sustainable Operations; Job Design and Levels; Personal Finance; Well-being; Happiness; Satisfaction; Wages

SSRN

Read Now

February 2013 (Revised February 2014)
Case

Phu My Hung

By: John Macomber and Dawn H. Lau

Privately held city development promoters decide whether to partner on next phase or go it alone in a 20-year, 4000-acre project. Set outside of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, this decades-long project led by two Taiwanese families reshaped and built the economic... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Infrastructure; Real Estate Industry; Viet Nam

27 Nov 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Secrets for Creating a Long-Lasting Brand

A well articulated and adored brand is more valuable to a business than any single product. But they are also vulnerable—a crippled brand, like a a piece of fine crystal with an alarming crack, is one jostle away from breaking apart. Harvard Business School research... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

01 Sep 2023
News

Case Study: The Home Team

make sure they weren’t getting a dud. “Now it’s a red flag to try to sell a car without proactively offering a CARFAX report. That’s how we’d like to see this go,” says Kennealey. The Question: Nester has received zero pushback on its $87 View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Real Estate

January 2024
Background Note

Evaluating Innovations in the Organization of Primary Care: What Type of Innovation Is It and How Well Does It Align with the Six Factors?

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and James Wallace

How can we evaluate if innovative health care ventures can do good—benefit society—and do well—become financially viable? This question is the topic of the first module in the Innovating in Health Care course book.

This note and "Health Stop (A): What Type... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Health Care and Treatment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Mission and Purpose; Alignment; Health Industry

May 2019
Supplement

Kjell and Company: Motivating Salespeople with Incentive Compensation (C)

By: Doug J. Chung

Kjell & Company was a Swedish retail electronics chain. The company’s products consisted of home electronics and accessories. The company was noted for its excellent customer service and a fair “one-for-all” HR policy. Historically, the salespeople had been compensated... View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Change Management; Behavior; Electronics Industry; Sweden

2019
Working Paper

The Wisdom of Crowds in Operations: Forecasting Using Prediction Markets

By: Achal Bassamboo, Ruomeng Cui and Antonio Moreno

Prediction is an important activity in various business processes, but it becomes difficult when historical information is not available, such as forecasting demand of a new product. One approach that can be applied in such situations is to crowdsource opinions from... View Details

Keywords: Wisdom Of Crowds; Demand Forecasting; Price Forecasting; Forecasting and Prediction; Social and Collaborative Networks; Size; Performance