Publications

Arden, Avon and Revlon as well as imported goods. She also invested in several new distribution centers throughout New York and built a high-tech communications system to handle the increasingly large volume of orders. By the late 1980s,... View Details

Keywords: Retail

12 May 2020
Blog Post

The Importance of Coordination: Apoorva Pasricha Reflects on Crisis Leadership

access, devices, or digital literacy, San Jose launched a $24 million fund, to be distributed over the next ten years, to provide grants to community groups serving low-income residents. "I was responsible for proposing the framework... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Technology; Nonprofit / Government

28 Apr 2020
Blog Post

The Importance of Coordination: Apoorva Pasricha Reflects on Crisis Leadership

access, devices, or digital literacy, San Jose launched a $24 million fund, to be distributed over the next ten years, to provide grants to community groups serving low-income residents. "I was responsible for proposing the framework... View Details

01 Jun 2012
News

A Better World, One Idea at a Time

commission-based, door-to-door sales organization while reinvesting profits to expand and provide employee benefits in Haiti. In addition to the judges’ picks, the “Audience Choice” award went to Essmart, a retail distribution company in... View Details

Keywords: contests; awards; cosmetics; Crop Production; Agriculture; Chemical Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Nonstore Retailers; Retail Trade

October 2011
Case

CSN Stores

By: William A. Sahlman and Neil Tolaney

In March 2011, CSN Stores is a collection of nearly 200 Internet retail websites, including Cookware.com, Strollers.com, and Luggage.com. Co-founders Niraj Shah and Steve Conine were considering making a major investment to build brand equity at the corporate level. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Distribution Channels; Investment; Brands and Branding; Equity; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry

06 Jul 2015
News

Lights! Camera... Market!

snack his company produces from the potatoes grown on the very farm featured in the movie. While not a single package of Terra Chips graced the screen, the company’s behind-the-scenes financial, marketing, and distribution support of the... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Food Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries; Information

October 2014
Supplement

Quiet Logistics (B)

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This two-part case focuses on how to identify and manage strategic uncertainties in an innovative, entrepreneurial start-up company. In the (A) case, students learn about Quiet Logistics, an e-commerce fulfillment company working with high-end apparel retailers such as... View Details

February 2014 (Revised March 2022)
Case

School Specialty, Inc.

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Kristin Mugford

Set in 2013, School Specialty was a financially troubled supplier of educational products to primary and secondary schools in the United States. The company planned to file Chapter 11 in order to address its excessive debt load, but needed to arrange... View Details

Keywords: School Specialty; Bankruptcy; Section 363; Financing; Chapter 11; Capital Structure; Financing and Loans; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; United States

June 2005 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Distrobot Systems, Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman

Distrobot is a start-up that has developed a new system for warehouse automation. The company is trying to raise money to finance the launch of the product. The founder must decide how much capital to raise, from whom, and on what terms. View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Product Launch; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry

May 1999 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Marshall Industries

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Confounding predictions that the Internet would "disintermediate" commerce, making "middle man" companies all but obsolete, Marshall Industries, a leading electronics distributor, used the Internet and digital technologies to reinvent itself. Marshall continued to sell... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain; Emerging Markets; Customer Focus and Relationships; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry

May 1998
Teaching Note

C-Car TN

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

Teaching Note for (9-598-064). View Details

Keywords: Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; United States

April 1998
Teaching Note

WESCO Distribution, Inc. TN

By: Das Narayandas

Teaching Note for (9-598-021). View Details

Keywords: Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry

01 Jun 2023
News

Righting the Ship

When Ross Stuckey (PLDA 21, 2016) joined the headquarters of the NAVSEA Warfare Centers as their capital improvement program (CIP) manager in 2016, he was charged with leading divisional managers at each of the NAVSEA WC’s 10 subsidiaries. He also was responsible for... View Details

Keywords: Maureen Harmon

07 Dec 2022
News

Dubai-Based Proptech Builds Up

Dubai to Saudi Arabia and beyond. "There are almost 25,000 short-term rentals here in Dubai and 550 companies are operating them," he said. "These are often small companies that do a great job, but in a piecemeal manner. They don't necessarily have access to technology... View Details

01 Oct 2002
News

Thinking Outside the Centerfold

most noted for have nothing to do with advertising and everything to do with advertising. We're this hybrid company that creates and distributes creative content designed to make brands famous.” View Details

11 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

E-Commerce Unplugged

technology will not be fully realized, however, if companies simply make their existing online services available through wireless devices. Successful players in the m-commerce market space will take a much broader view of the technology, the market and consumers.... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria & Marty Leestma

01 Jun 2014
News

Net Gains

incredible," he says. He points to China as a prime example of the league's international potential realized. Thanks to a decades-long campaign, the country is now the NBA's largest international market, with more than 100 employees, wide TV View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell

June 1998 (Revised April 1999)
Case

Wiegandt GmbH Cologne

By: Dwight B. Crane and Mathew M Millett

The credit department of Wiegandt, a furniture manufacturer, is evaluating the financial condition of two stores that retail the company's furniture. View Details

Keywords: Financial Condition; Credit; Financial Management; Distribution Channels; Profit; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Financial Strategy; Manufacturing Industry

September 2, 2021
Article

The Digital Economy Runs on Open Source. Here's How to Protect It.

By: Hila Lifshitz-Assaf and Frank Nagle

Free and open source software (FOSS) is essential to much of the tech we use every day—from cars to phones to planes to the cloud. While traditionally, it was developed by an army of volunteer developers and given away for free, companies are increasingly taking a more... View Details

Keywords: Free And Open-source Software; FOSS; Open Source Distribution; Applications and Software; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Organizations; Policy; Cybersecurity