Publications

Web

Strategy for Health Care Delivery - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

overseeing care delivery, and financial executives who direct cost management Senior executives or strategists from large organizations that provide health care to employees or customers, collaborate with health care institutions, or offer on-site health services or... View Details

March 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Case

QuikTrip

QuikTrip, a large convenience store chain with over 500 stores, was known for its outstanding labor practices and fast, reliable, and friendly customer service. In November 2010, the CEO Chet Cadieux, had to decide how many new locations to open when QuikTrip entered a... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Employees; Growth and Development Strategy; Logistics; Service Delivery; Performance Effectiveness; Expansion; Retail Industry; United States

13 Nov 2013
Research & Ideas

Should Men’s Products Fear a Woman’s Touch?

really goes away. Since the dawn of advertising, retailers have made a point of marketing separate lines of branded products for men and women in many categories, even in cases where their functions are essentially the same. It's a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage; Auto

01 Jan 2012
News

Hiroshi Mikitani, MBA 1993

retail stores sell their products online. Rather than rely on outside investors, Mikitani funded Rakuten with his own money, taking a significant personal risk, and recruited his wife, Haruko (an IBJ colleague), to run the back office. In... View Details

Web

Industry Information - Alumni

and news on emerging designers, disruptive technologies and global brands in the fashion and luxury goods industries. United States Census Bureau: Retail Trade Provides the industry monthly sales and inventory data, annual survey data... View Details

07 Dec 2022
Blog Post

2022 Climate Symposium: Tackling Climate Together

Finalist ventures included: Active Surfaces: Flexible, lightweight solar (photovoltaic) cell innovation for any surface. StepWise: Retail electric panel add-on that significantly reduces the fixed costs required to installing... View Details

March 2023 (Revised May 2025)
Case

On

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karolin Frankenberger and Sascha Mader

Founded in 2010, in just one decade, the Swiss company On had established itself as a main player in global sports footwear and apparel. Based on an unconventional strategy which one of the founders labeled as “obsessively distinct,” On grew its sales with a compound... View Details

Person Page

Read excerpts from DENIAL

By: Richard S. Tedlow

The Edifice Complex: Denial at Sears

Book Excerpt: Denial at Sears (BusinessWeek.com, February 26, 2010)

From Denial: Why Business... View Details

October 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

Lovepop

By: Robert F. White, Ramana Nanda and Olivia Hull

As they prepare to graduate from Harvard Business School, the co-founders of greeting card company startup Lovepop need capital to cover the company’s operating costs and must choose between two seed financing offers. One offer is from an angel group and the other from... View Details

Keywords: Accelerator; Incubator; Seed Financing; Convertible Debt; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Borrowing and Debt; Growth and Development Strategy; Valuation; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Boston; Massachusetts; United States

April 2019 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Sears: The Demise of an American Icon

By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2019, ESL Investments’ $5.2 billion offer to purchase Sears Holdings out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was accepted, despite opposition from the company's unsecured creditors and other parties. ESL, which was led by Eddie Lampert, had acquired a stake in Sears following... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Reorganization; Bonds; Restructuring; Business Divisions; Transformation; Fairness; Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Corporate Governance; Motivation and Incentives; Retail Industry; United States

16 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Getting the Message: How the Internet is Changing Advertising

industry's biggest challenges: targeting customers who are likely to be interested in what is being sold and measuring the effectiveness of an ad campaign. Improved technology promises to solve the age-old problem once stated by retailer... View Details

Keywords: by Susan Young

May 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Brand Storytelling at Shinola

By: Jill Avery, Giana M. Eckhardt and Michael B. Beverland

Detroit, Michigan, aka “The Motor City,” is most known as the birthplace of most of the American classic automotive brands. It is a city filled with the rich history of the industrial age, the pride of American manufacturing, and of the soulful sounds of Motown music.... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Luxury; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Detroit; United States; North America

05 Feb 2019
News

The First Five Years: Karan Shah (MBA 2016)

Professor John Davis is still fresh in my mind and I often use it to reflect on certain decisions.” How do you use what you learned at HBS in your work at MAYU? “My wife is the heart and brains behind MAYU, as she oversees the design, sourcing, manufacturing, public... View Details

November 2004 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Ice-Fili (Abridged)

By: John R. Wells, Pai-Ling Yin and Michael G. Rukstad

Designed as an overview of all aspects of the strategy process: industry analysis, positioning, dynamics and sustainability, and scope issues of corporate strategy, including vertical integration, horizontal diversification, and location issues. Ice-Fili is the largest... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Geographic Location; Competition; Vertical Integration; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Russia