Publications

19 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 19

PublicationsSetting Health Priorities: Strategy versus Tactics Authors:Chu, Michael, David E. Bloom, and Elizabeth Cafiero Publication:Impact: The Magazine of PSI Abstract Health decision makers throughout the world are faced with a multiplicity of challenges. As... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Jun 2021
Cold Call Podcast

IKEA Navigates the Future While Staying True to its Culture

Keywords: Re: Juan Alcacer & Cynthia A. Montgomery; Retail

07 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: Sept. 7

PublicationsI Moved Your Cheese: For Those Who Refuse to Live as Mice in Someone Else's Maze Author:Malhotra Deepak Publication:Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2011 Abstract If you were a mouse trapped in a maze and someone kept moving the cheese, what would you do? Over... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2020
Working Paper

Overcoming the Cold Start Problem of CRM Using a Probabilistic Machine Learning Approach

By: Eva Ascarza

The success of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programs ultimately depends on the firm's ability to understand consumers' preferences and precisely capture how these preferences may differ across customers. Only by understanding customer heterogeneity, firms can... View Details

Keywords: Customer Management; Targeting; Deep Exponential Families; Probabilistic Machine Learning; Cold Start Problem; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Consumer Behavior; Analytics and Data Science; Mathematical Methods; Retail Industry

SSRN

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

06 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

The Right Way to Manage Customer Churn for Maximum Profit

the example of an online retailer who suddenly sees a monthly shopper stop buying for two months. “Customers just stop using the service but don’t have to tell the company.” In order to manage churn, companies typically use machine... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Retail; Retail

01 Sep 2023
News

Case Study: The Home Team

Illustration by Jon Krause Illustration by Jon Krause Brendan Kennealey (MBA 2006) wasn’t even searching for a business idea. A couple of years ago, the Wilmington, Delaware, native met up with an old friend who’d bought a new house. Over dinner this friend enumerated... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Real Estate

29 Aug 2022
Op-Ed

Income Inequality Is Rising. Are We Even Measuring It Correctly?

in different shapes and sizes, many retailers offer trousers that accommodate two different dimensions: waist and length sizes. After all, two people who may wear a size medium may actually require trousers that differ in how long and... View Details

Keywords: by Jon M. Jachimowicz, Kristin Blesch, and Oliver P. Hauser

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

January 2021 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Amazon Shopper Panel: Paying Customers for Their Data

By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli

This case introduces a new Amazon program that has consumers upload their receipts from transactions outside of Amazon, in exchange for money. Through the discussion, the case aims to explore issues in customers’ privacy in the digital age, the value of customers’ own... View Details

10 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Being Your Own Boss Can Pay Off, but Not Always with Big Pay

including changes to wage options, the competitive landscape, and financial matters. The researchers ultimately concluded that smaller-scale operations within high-capital industries, such as small Main Street retail stores and... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

John T. Gourville

John Gourville is the Albert J. Weatherhead, Jr. Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He joined the HBS Marketing Unit in 1995 after receiving his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in marketing and behavioral research. His most... View Details

Keywords: retailing; retailing; retailing; retailing; retailing; retailing; retailing; retailing

13 Sep 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Entrepreneurship in the Natural Food and Beauty Categories Before 2000: Global Visions and Local Expressions

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Beauty & Cosmetics; Food & Beverage

October 1992 (Revised September 1993)
Case

L.L. Bean, Inc.: Item Forecasting and Inventory Management

By: Arthur Schleifer Jr.

L.L. Bean must make stocking decisions on thousands of items sold through its catalogs. In many cases, orders must be placed with vendors twelve or more weeks before a catalog lands on a customer's doorstep, and commitments cannot be changed thereafter. As a result,... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Risk Management; Cost Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Demand and Consumers; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Retail Industry; United States

07 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

4+2 = Sustained Business Success

William Joyce, and Bruce Roberson Winners, losers, climbers, and tumblers—with startling consistency, their fortunes marched in lockstep with how well they performed on the 4+2 practices. Consider how Tennessee-based retailer Dollar... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria, William Joyce & Bruce Roberson

26 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

How Paid Promos Take the Shine Off YouTube Stars (and Tips for Better Influencer Marketing)

without ads) across 33 video features, sizing up facial expressions, the sounds of their voices, rapidness of speech, and eloquence. Cosmetics retailer Sephora sponsored the "haul" video created by YouTube influencer Morgan Turner. Almost... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Technology; Media & Broadcasting

August 2013 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Coffee Wars in India: Café Coffee Day Takes On the Global Brands

By: David B. Yoffie and Tanya Bijlani

Café Coffee Day (CCD) is contemplating how to respond to the entry of Starbucks into the Indian coffee chain market. The case study describes the emergence of CCD as the leading coffee chain in India, with over 1,400 cafes in India. In early 2013, Starbucks, the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Competitors; Competition; Market Entry and Exit; Retail Industry; India