You're Not the Boss of Me

OCTOBER 31, 2010

They stifle creativity and innovation. As they often say in retail stores about handling merchandise, “ If you break it you own it”. If we are to encourage the innovators of our time we must also accept that rules should be subject to rigorous question and challenge. What do you think?

Maturity 50

Maturity Blog Merchandising McCarthy 50

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 6, 2014

If round after round of profit warnings was not enough – group operating profits fell 20% between 2011 and 2013 and are likely to fall another 30% in 2014 — the company recently announced it had overstated its first-half profit by about $400 million. UK retail, like the rest of the developed world, is witnessing a few big long-term trends.

Retail 10

Retail Merchandising Discount Price 10

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 15, 2017

Pioneers of new business models, such as Alibaba and Amazon, are launching innovations in rapid succession, such as voice ordering and real-time pricing, while simultaneously building scale and driving down costs. In the process, the company became better acquainted with its customers – what they liked to buy and how they liked to shop.

Retail 9

Retail Chief Executive Officer Supply Chain Operations 9

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 10, 2012

The company was masterful at the buy side of M&A. Its corporate development group looked at upwards of 150 targets a year, and used a remarkably efficient screening process that rejected any potential acquisition that didn't make good sense strategically. Indeed, the median acquisition at this company was for less than $15 million.

Due Diligence 15

Due Diligence EBITDA Health Care Gordon 15

Harvard Business Review

MAY 23, 2012

In fact, the company has about 500 metrics that it tracks every day, the majority of them relating to the customer experience. Many companies pride themselves on moving from quarterly to monthly customer feedback sessions. The company gets daily or hourly feedback from buyers and responds with continual improvements.

Merchandising 13

Merchandising Metrics Restructuring Library 13

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 3, 2011

Companies that demonstrate strategic coherence — think Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola — earn a market premium in terms of higher earnings and greater shareholder value. The big question for many leaders as they look toward 2011 is: "How can my company be one of them?". There's no doubt about it; numbers don't lie.

Strategy 15

Strategy Fixed Assets Competitive Advantage Long-term 15

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 17, 2018

Amazon, born 24 years ago, had captured about 45% of online retail commerce in the United States by 2017, but still stood for just about 5% of total US retail gross merchandise volume in that year. Even if a technology race develops, some companies will adopt rapidly, but others less so—and the benefits of AI will vary accordingly.

GDP 9

GDP McKinsey Long-term Technology 9

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 6, 2011

Saving sales by pointing to merchandise locations is just one of the ways that store employees facilitate the sales process and perform a very important role. Given today's technology available for data acquisition as well as new developments in analytics, it is possible to do much better than this.

Retail 14

Retail Merchandising Succession Taylorism 14

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 9, 2015

In product tests conducted around events like limited-run merchandise (a limited-run chain designed by the rapper A$AP Rocky, for example) , 72% of our fans chose to engage with other like-minded fans when incented with a reward on our platform (in this case, our mobile Virgin Mega app).

Marketing 8

Marketing Brand Merchandising Advertising 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 28, 2014

A recent article in The Economist , citing the work of Ryan Raffaelli at Harvard Business School, points to what it calls a “paradox” in the aftermath of disruptive innovation. Today, the company does roughly $50 million in total sales, with the home market accounting for over 80% of them. That’s a healthy company. cut of sales.

Disruptive Innovation 8

Disruptive Innovation Supply Chain Technology Parcell 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 11, 2015

Mauro Porcini is PepsiCo’s Chief Design Officer—the first to hold the position—where he oversees design-led innovation across all the company’s brands under CEO Indra Nooyi. That’s where our work is really about innovation. I strongly believe that design and innovation are exactly the same thing.

Organization 8

Organization Brand Six Sigma Innovation 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 25, 2012

Since the bulk of internationally-traded merchandise travels by sea, shipping should be the first port of call. An example of an indirect composition effect that economists tend to worry about is dirtier industries migrating to (generally) less developed countries with laxer regulations.

Globalization 12

Globalization Transportation Cooper Travel 12

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Uber has used petitions to demonstrate consumer—and voter—support in at least 10 cities, mostly in North America and Europe, where it has met resistance from local taxi companies. In Toronto, to cite just one example, Uber amassed more than 90,000 signatures in support of ride-sharing. In the U.S., Consumer clubs.

Licensing 8

Licensing Proposal Retail Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 4, 2015

Innovation is widely regarded as important to long-term business performance. However, CEOs often don’t have the career background and education that would equip them to personally lead the process of new product development. However, classifications were mostly clear.

CEO 8

CEO Innovation Pharmaceuticals Merchandising 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 23, 2015

Here at Machine Shop , the wholly owned innovation company of the alternative rock band Linkin Park, we identified the need to think differently years ago. For more than a decade, Linkin Park and Machine Shop enjoyed success and continued to innovate. of course). of course).

Business Model 8

Business Model Merchandising Restructuring Fashion 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 26, 2017

Ask people how to develop a good corporate culture, and most of them will immediately suggest offering generous employee benefits, like they do at Starbucks, or letting people dress casually, as Southwest Airlines does. It doesn’t matter if your company culture is friendly or competitive, nurturing or analytical.

Brand 8

Brand Company Operations Merchandising 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 15, 2010

What drives some companies to succeed while others languish? Successful companies develop a system of a few truly unique capabilities that help them create differentiated value for their chosen customers. Kmart, by contrast, has failed to develop a unique or differentiated way to play, and all that goes with it.

Succession 15

Succession Retail Merchandising Supply Chain 15

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 20, 2015

PBS, NPR, and others source funding from government, foundations, corporate sponsors, and audiences to develop independent, high-quality programming, free from overtly commercial treatment. The current environment requires serious investment not only in high quality content but also in innovative digital approaches to distribution.

Media 8

Media Workshop Audience Business Model 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 8, 2011

How can they build the kind of advantage that will allow their company to thrive for decades? How thoroughly must they transform the company to make this happen? How will they develop the next generation of leaders, and groom them for challenges that can't yet be imagined?

Merchandising 14

Merchandising Budgeting Pharmaceuticals CEO 14

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 18, 2017

Since the pace of marketing is now determined by everyone with access to the internet or a mobile device who can gleefully tweet, post, or blog their feelings and experience, customers can instantaneously become an extension of your company’s story—for good or bad.

Sports 8

Sports Brand Content Industry 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

The challenge for the functional model today is that companies don't need to build generic functional strengths. They need to build more specific, bespoke capabilities that are part of the inherent identity of the company, and hard for anyone else to duplicate. No other company does these things the same way these two companies do.

Supply Chain 8

Supply Chain Real Estate Short-term Merchandising 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

We were supposed to be coming up with ideas for improving the company’s customer experiences, but the head of operations could not think of a single new customer service idea to explore. And the development leader failed to identify any new ideas for store layout or building features. I was stunned.

Brand 8

Brand Reis Objective Merchandising 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 19, 2018

Throughout the global economy, big companies are getting bigger. They’re more productive , more profitable , more innovative , and they pay better. The people lucky enough to work at these companies are doing relatively well. ” Its appetizer seems to have been smaller companies. Andrew Brookes/Getty Images.

Software 8

Software Company Competitive Advantage Henderson 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 3, 2018

These gold coasts are home to nine of the top 10, and 18 of the top 20, internet companies, as measured by market capitalization. The leading companies in online search, social media, and e-commerce are all based in one or the other of these two regions. Winner-take-all economics favored the companies in the U.S. Insight Center.

Company 8

Company Venture Capitalist GDP Retail 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 28, 2012

Our experience with a company in the hand tools category is typical of what we've found across categories as diverse as consumer packaged goods, personal care, office products and consumer electronics. Profits for the hand tool company would take a significant hit if the team could not turn the situation around.

Tools 9

Tools Company Merchandising Retail 9

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 27, 2012

Like Bag Borrow or Steal (another rental player), RTR enables time-sharing of merchandise. Its latest funding round last year established a company valuation of $700 million. Access over Purchase: Rent The Runway makes couture fashion available to shoppers who lack deep pockets to buy couture.

Retail 15

Retail Fashion Merchandising Apparel 15