Retail

December 2024

Facing the Retail Apocalypse: Majid Al Futtaim’s Digital Transformation (A)

By Michael Jacobides, Dalbert Ma, Aryan Mittal, Konstantinos Trantopoulos

In just a few decades Majid Al Futtaim (“the Group”) had established an empire boasting major shopping malls, successful retail chains and popular entertainment centres across the Middle East, Asia, and North Africa (MENA) region. By 2020, however, its competitive landscape was changing fast, wi...

December 2024

Building Majid Al Futtaim’s Phygital Future: Orchestrating a Retail Ecosystem (B)

By Michael Jacobides, Dalbert Ma, Konstantinos Trantopoulos

Majid Al Futtaim (“the Group”) is an empire of shopping malls, retail chains and entertainment centres operating across the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The Majid Al Futtaim ecosystem comprises operating companies Majid Al Futtaim Retail (operating bricks-and-mortar stores, such as Carrefour, a...

December 2024

Facing the Retail Apocalypse: Majid Al Futtaim’s Digital Transformation – Compact Case

By Michael Jacobides, Dalbert Ma, Aryan Mittal, Konstantinos Trantopoulos

By 2020, Majid Al Futtaim ("the Group") had established itself as a dominant force in the Middle East, Asia, and North Africa (MENA) region, operating major shopping centres, retail chains, and entertainment centres. However, the competitive landscape was rapidly evolving, with traditional powerhous...

December 2024

Building Majid Al Futtaim’s Phygital Future: Orchestrating a Retail Ecosystem – Compact Case

By Michael Jacobides, Dalbert Ma, Aryan Mittal

Majid Al Futtaim ("the Group") was an empire of shopping malls, retail chains and entertainment centres operating across the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The Group's ecosystem comprised operating companies including Majid Al Futtaim Retail, Entertainment, and Properties. During 2016-2020, Majid Al ...

July 2018

Dollar Shave Club: Disrupting the Shaving Industry (Japanese language)

By Nader Tavassoli, Karin Kollenz-Quétard, Jamie Anderson

The case describes how Dollar Shave Club proved to be a disruptive force in the shaving industry, one dominated by Gillette for over a Century. It did so without a single patent to its name, and with a direct-to-consumer subscription and a content-based customer engagement model that was new to the ...

July 2020

Haier in 2014: An entrepreneurial juggernaut facing a world of platforms and ecosystems

By Michael Jacobides, Lisa Duke

Until the 2010s, China had been known for inexpensive products and efficient, low-cost production and for copycat or OEM products rather than for leading-edge innovation. Yet, in a few short years, Chinese firms turned to quality and innovation, drastically increasing their market share. A shining e...

February 2025

Dollar Shave Club: Disrupting the Shaving Industry (Spanish language)

By Nader Tavassoli, Karin Kollenz-Quétard, Jamie Anderson

The case describes how Dollar Shave Club proved to be a disruptive force in the shaving industry, one dominated by Gillette for over a Century. It did so without a single patent to its name, and with a direct-to-consumer subscription and a content-based customer engagement model that was new to the ...

May 2016

Big Beautiful Hair

By John Mullins

Alex and Mimi Ikonn were heading out to dinner in Toronto to celebrate their first real day in business. While their preparations had taken several months of their time, tomorrow was the day when their website would go live. Was all their hard work worth it? They were about to find out....

August 2018

Andrew Thornton: Putting Heart into Business

By Randall Peterson

At the age of 42, in the midst of a successful and lucrative career as the owner of an international retail consultancy, Andrew Thornton realised he had nothing more to give to his business. He quit the agency in 2006 and used his buy-out money as a down-payment for two Budgens supermarkets in north...

December 2020

Amazon.com: Staying a step ahead (2021)

By Julian Birkinshaw, Lisa Duke

This case traces the rise and rise of Amazon.com, the second company after Apple to hit a trillion dollar market cap. The growth of Amazon is described, from its origins back in 1995 through to 2016. The case intentionally provides a lot of detail on specific new products and services created over t...