Publications

25 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

An Organization Your Customers Understand

and intensive retail marketing programs. Hospitals, pharmacies, and research scientists are managed as constituents; efforts are made to ensure only that they feel fairly treated in their transactions with the firm. The pharmaceutical... View Details

Keywords: by Robert Simons

October 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Marsh Supermarkets, Inc. (B): The Entry of Meijer Supercenters

The Marsh chain of supermarkets is challenged by the entry of Meijer Supercenters into the Indianapolis market. Marsh management must decide how to select, price, promote, and merchandise its products in order to retain the loyalty of its customers and maintain... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Retail Industry; Indianapolis

13 Mar 2025
Blog Post

Advancing Health Care Innovation and Impact with Anita Gupta (GMP 29, 2020)

experience. I needed a broader perspective, new strategic tools, and a stronger network to drive systemic change. What I gained at HBS went beyond business strategy or policy frameworks—it was a fundamental shift in how I saw leadership.... View Details

06 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 6

highlight the paradox that managed globalization has been a force for liberalization. Strategies to Fight Ad-sponsored Rivals Authors: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Feng Zhu Publication: Management Science (forthcoming) Abstract We analyze... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Microsoft Xbox: Changing the Game?

By: Andrei Hagiu

In September 1999, the Microsoft Xbox team was wondering which strategic choices would give it the best chance against the upcoming Sony PlayStation 2. Initially called "Project Midway" within Microsoft, the console project was intended to counter the perceived threat... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Recruitment; Leadership; Management Teams; Multi-Sided Platforms; Two-Sided Platforms; Production; Strategy; Competition; Expansion; Video Game Industry; Texas

06 Dec 2021
News

Case Study: Let’s Dance

the model from one that prioritizes the studios to a teacher-first approach. In 2021 Bopsidy launched a social platform that allows the hobbyist and professional dancer alike to create a personal profile showcasing their work. Imagine an IMDb for dance—an View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

March 2019
Supplement

KITEA (D): Further Changes

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in February 2016, when the official date of IKEA’s store opening (March 16, 2016) is announced after a five-month delay. It reviews the changes that Amine and Othman Benkirane had made to KITEA’s workforce in the extra five months afforded by the delay... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Strategy; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Retail Industry; Africa; North Africa; Morocco

September 1994
Case

Otis Elevator Company: China Joint Venture (D)

By: Michael Y. Yoshino

Describes a set of challenges facing Otis Elevator's joint venture in China as it seeks to expand to other regions of the country. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Globalization; Construction Industry; Manufacturing Industry; China

01 Jun 2017
News

Streamlining the Supermarket

full-time employees, slashing labor costs by 90 percent. Those two innovations are expected to add up to a net profit margin of three times that of the overall industry. “And that is really powerful,” Pedró says. “You can actually give those benefits back to your... View Details

Keywords: Francis Storrs

01 Jun 2004
News

Media, VC Discussed at WSA Conference

something they’ve seen on the Web. And the company’s site is helping to push its brand, she said. Venture capital, success strategies for minorities in business, and fashion retailing were among the other... View Details

Keywords: women in business; women's student association; Arts, Entertainment

01 Mar 2014
News

Case Study: Gazelle's New Predators

Brightstar and Encore, which act as trade-in white labels for large retail chains and mobile carriers. Sure, these competitors lack Gazelle's brand in the eyes of consumers and Gazelle's website has a great NPS score, but I worry that... View Details

Keywords: ecommerce; Kathy Korman Frey; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade; Retail Trade

August 1986 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Wal-Mart Stores' Discount Operations

Facilitates a discussion of the sources of Wal-Mart Stores' competitive advantage in discount retailing, and the future sustainability of that advantage. Also profiles the company's major diversification move in the early 1980s. View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Competitive Advantage; Retail Industry; United States

February 2008 (Revised September 2010)
Case

LeapFrog Enterprises

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth Collins

Explores the success factors leading to the company's rise to the number three ranking in the aggressively competitive toy industry. LeapFrog has made the strategic decision to expand beyond the toy industry and enter the educational technology and services industry.... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Expansion; Consumer Products Industry; Education Industry

October 2013 (Revised July 2025)
Teaching Note

Amazon in 2025

By: Sunil Gupta

Amazon launched its website in July 1995 to sell books online and by 2020 it has grown to become a digital giant with over $280 billion in annual sales. A large part of its growth came from expanding into a variety of businesses that some see as unrelated. Has it... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry

01 Dec 2018
News

Evergreen Business

this seasonal side business, where 99 percent of his customers leave with a tree—a sales rate few retailers can imagine. “Plus it’s Christmas, so everyone’s in a great mood.” View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

May 2003
Supplement

ZARA: Fast Fashion Video

Presents roundtable discussions and vignettes introducing the company and providing an inside view of the four stages of ZARA's business system, including design, sourcing and manufacturing, distribution, and retailing. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Processes; Retail Industry

December 2006 (Revised August 2008)
Case

Keggfarms (India): Which Came First, the Kuroiler(TM) or the KEGG(TM)?

Vinod Kapur has founded a unique enterprise, Keggfarms, based on a special poultry chicken he bred to address the nutritional and income needs of some of the poorest people on earth: India's rural villagers. As of November 2006, Keggfarms was supplying chicks to about... View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; For-Profit Firms; Social Entrepreneurship; Competition; Expansion; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; India

November 2006 (Revised December 2006)
Case

Pitney Bowes Inc.

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Ho Howard Yu

Pitney Bowes, the world's dominant maker of equipment used in generating and handling mail, is facing flattening growth in its core businesses and needs to create new growth products and businesses. Describes how a group of employees use state-of-the-art techniques for... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Distribution Channels; Growth and Development Strategy; Manufacturing Industry

November 1997 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Hikma Pharmaceuticals (A)

By: John A. Quelch

The president of a Jordanian pharmaceutical company is contemplating how to further penetrate the U.S. market, either through its own manufacturing and sales efforts, or as a supplier to a third party. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Globalized Markets and Industries; Emerging Markets; Expansion; Pharmaceutical Industry; Jordan; United States