Retail →
- 15 Jul 2015
- Research & Ideas
Amazon Prime Day: The Logic Behind a Retailer’s Made-up Holiday
The company is celebrating its 20th birthday with a sale—a shopping event for its 40 million Prime customers. Sunil Gupta explains what's driving the creation of a Black Friday out of nowhere. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Jul 2015
- Research & Ideas
Money and Quotas Motivate the Sales Force Best
Bonus programs are effective for motivating sales people, but also costly for companies to maintain. Doug Chung and Das Narayandas study several compensation schemes to see which work best. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 03 Jun 2015
- What Do You Think?
Is the Time Right for Self-Management?
SUMMING UP When and where will holacracy, also known as self-management, work best? James Heskett's readers are conflicted as they respond to Zappos.com's radical adoption of the less-is-more management structure. What do YOU think? Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 30 Mar 2015
- Research & Ideas
Managing the Family Business: Preparing to Sell
Most families are loath to sell the legacy business, but there are good reasons to do so, says John A. Davis. The key is making the right family preparations and proper wealth planning. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 23 Mar 2015
- Research & Ideas
It’s Called ‘Price Coherence,’ and It’s Surprisingly Bad for Consumers
In many markets, a product is offered at the same price regardless of whether it is sold directly by a retailer or through an intermediary. Research by Ben Edelman and Julian Wright uncovers the hidden costs for consumers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Mar 2015
- Research & Ideas
Where Did My Shopping Mall Go?
The growing popularity of online shopping is remaking the world of offline shopping—stores are getting smaller, malls are getting scarcer. Rajiv Lal and José Alvarez look ahead five years at our radically transforming shopping experience. Plus: Book excerpt. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Mar 2015
- Research & Ideas
The Surprising Winners and Losers in the Retail Revolution
The growth of ecommerce is creating new leaders in retail while putting many famous brands at risk. Professors Rajiv Lal and José Alvarez pick the winners and losers in part two of our series on their new book, Retail Revolution. PLUS: An excerpt on the future of grocery stores. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 04 Mar 2015
- What Do You Think?
Can a Laissez-Faire Approach Fix Labor Market Inequality?
Summing Up When is it in an employer's self-interest to voluntarily raise all wages? Walmart's recent action to do so caused Jim Heskett's readers to contemplate the role of government in legislating solutions to wage disparity. What do YOU think? Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Mar 2015
- Research & Ideas
Retail Reaches a Tipping Point—Which Stores Will Survive?
Part 1: The new book Retail Revolution: Will Your Brick and Mortar Store Survive? argues that ecommerce is about to deal severe blows to many familiar store-based brands—even including Walmart. Here's how retailers can fight back, according to Rajiv Lal, José Alvarez, and Dan Greenberg. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Mar 2015
- Research & Ideas
‘Retail Revolution’ Excerpt: The Scale of the Ecommerce Threat
With ecommerce becoming a much bigger part of the economy, a tipping point is fast approaching for many retailers. An excerpt from, Retail Revolution: Will Your Brick-and-Mortar Store Survive? on why even big names like Walmart are coming under pressure from the likes of Amazon. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 21 Jan 2015
- Lessons from the Classroom
Managing the Family Business: Market Basket’s Lessons About Buyouts
As the Market Basket CEO showdown demonstrated, family businesses can be messy affairs—and buyouts the best solution to conflict. So why don't we see more of them? Family business expert John A. Davis explains when buyouts make sense. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Dec 2014
- Research & Ideas
How Our Brain Determines if the Product is Worth the Price
Are consumers more likely to buy if they see the price before the product, or vice versa? Uma Karmarkar and colleagues scan the brains of shoppers to find out. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Dec 2014
- Research & Ideas
Deconstructing the Price Tag
A new study by Bhavya Mohan, Ryan Buell, and Leslie John has an important conclusion for retailers: Explaining what it costs to produce a product can potentially increase its sales. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Dec 2014
- Research & Ideas
Minimum Wage Debate Is Really About Social Values
Debate over raising the minimum wage tends to focus on costs and benefits, but economist Matthew Weinzierl argues that what really is at stake are much deeper societal values. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Oct 2014
- Research & Ideas
Apple Pay’s Technology Adoption Problem
Apple wants to convert your iPhone into a digital wallet with Apple Pay. Professors Benjamin Edelman and Willy Shih assess its chances for success and wonder if consumers have a compelling reason to make the switch. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Oct 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Lifting the Veil: The Benefits of Cost Transparency
Most managers think about cost transparency in terms of a supplier-firm relationship: when there is a two-way sharing of cost information between a firm and its suppliers, with the goal of collaborating to reduce costs. What does cost transparency do, however, in customer-firm relationships, when firms voluntarily disclose their variable costs explicitly and directly to consumers? This is the question the authors examine in this paper. Results of several experiments indicate that one-way cost transparency enhances consumers' attraction to the brand, in turn increasing their willingness to buy. Overall, marketers can potentially improve both brand attraction and sales by revealing costs. Key concepts include: Relative to other marketing tactics, cost transparency might be an innovative and inexpensive way to build brand attraction and sales. Disclosing sensitive cost information appeals to consumers regardless of their prior relationship with a brand. Benefits of cost transparency weaken—but do not reverse—when a firm discloses higher prices relative to cost Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 29 Sep 2014
- Research & Ideas
Why Do Outlet Stores Exist?
Created in the 1930s, outlet stores allowed retailers to dispose of unpopular items at fire-sale prices. Today, outlets seem outmoded and unnecessary—stores have bargain racks, after all. Donald K. Ngwe explains why outlets still exist. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 16 Sep 2014
- Research & Ideas
Has Apple Reinvented the Watch?
Will the Apple Watch reinvent wearables the way the iPhone did smartphones? Ryan Raffaelli shares his insights. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Aug 2014
- Lessons from the Classroom
Learning From Japan’s Remarkable Disaster Recovery
Harvard Business School students make an annual trek to businesses in the Japanese area wrecked by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Their objectives: learn all they can about human resilience and share their own management knowledge. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
Why a Federal Rule on CEO Pay Disclosure May Get You In Trouble With Customers
The SEC is expected to adopt a rule requiring every public firm to disclose the ratio of the CEO's salary to the median salary of the firm's employees. And it turns out that customers prefer shopping from retailers with low pay ratios, according to new research by Bhavya Mohan, Michael Norton, and Rohit Deshpandé. Open for comment; 0 Comments.