José Alvarez was President and Chief Executive Officer of, Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover from April 2006 through July 2008. José joined Stop and Shop, a subsidiary of Royal Ahold NV, in 2001. Prior to his tenure as President and CEO, José was Executive Vice President of Supply Chain and Logistics for the company. He also served as the Senior Vice President Logistics and Vice President of Strategic Initiatives. Mr. Alvarez has almost 20 years experience in the supermarket industry and has held management positions in a variety of functional areas. Before joining Stop & Shop in 2001, Mr. Alvarez worked with Shaw's Supermarkets, where his positions included Vice President of Grocery Merchandising. He also worked at American Stores Company and its subsidiary Jewel Food Stores, where his posts included Director of Market Research, Category Manager - Produce, store management positions and assignments in developing strategic initiatives. Mr. Alvarez currently serves on the board of directors for United Rentals, the TJX Companies, Church and Dwight, and Digital Lumens. Mr. Alvarez holds an AB degree from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. José is married with three children.
Publications
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Teaching Note
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2013
Mutti Spa
Jose B. Alvarez, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Aldo Sesia and Mary Shelman
Keywords: Agribusiness;
brands and branding;
food;
Brands and Branding;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Italy;
Citation: Alvarez, Jose B., Carin-Isabel Knoop, Aldo Sesia, and Mary Shelman. " Mutti Spa." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 513-069, May 2013.
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Case
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2013
(Revised from original 2013 version)
Creating a Luxury Experience at Value Retail
Jose B. Alvarez and Matthew Preble
Value Retail PLC owned and managed a number of premium shopping destinations (Villages) across Europe. Soon the company would be moving into an entirely new market: China. The company's Villages had proven popular with both shoppers (many of whom were international tourists who had come to Europe specifically to visit one of Value Retail's Villages) and brands, a number of which were luxury brands that had historically avoided selling product at outlet locations. The company's Founder and Chairman, Scott Malkin, looked to the future challenges his company might face in China, as well as to the challenges his company faced around human resource management and organizational control as the company grew in size and formalized parts of its processes, and how his company would be impacted by the ongoing changes in the retail industry, including the rise of online shopping.
Keywords: retailing;
tourism;
luxury;
brand building;
brand positioning;
brands and branding;
real estate;
Brands and Branding;
Human Resources;
Retail Industry;
Tourism Industry;
Real Estate Industry;
Europe;
China;
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Case
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2013
(Revised from original 2013 version)
Mutti Spa
Jose B. Alvarez, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Mary Shelman
Francesco Mutti, owner, CEO, and great-grandson of the founder of Mutti Spa, ran the 113-year old Parma, Italy-based tomato-processing company. Mutti sales grew from €11 million in 1995 to €185 million in 2011, without producing for store brands in a market in which these offerings were steadily gaining share. The company's leaders wanted to make sure Mutti maintained its position in Italy and further, to move into a leadership position in several countries around the world. What was next for the family firm and brand leader from northern Italy's Emilia-Romagna region? How would the singularly focused, consensus-driven firm fare in an increasingly competitive, globalizing retail landscape?
Keywords: Agribusiness;
strategy;
Plant-Based Agribusiness;
Family Business;
Competitive Strategy;
Global Strategy;
Retail Industry;
Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry;
Italy;
Citation: Alvarez, Jose B., Carin-Isabel Knoop, and Mary Shelman. " Mutti Spa." Harvard Business School Case 513-034, April 2013. (Revised from original January 2013 version.)
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Case
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2013
(Revised from original 2012 version)
H-E-B: Creating a Movement to Reduce Obesity in Texas
Jose B. Alvarez, Jason Riis and Walter J. Salmon
In January 2012, H-E-B Grocery Co., a private retail chain with stores located in Texas and Mexico, was introducing its Healthy at H-E-B program to its customers. The program, which started with the company's employees a few years earlier, was an effort to educate and inform customers on how to lead a healthier lifestyle. What CEO Craig Boyan had in mind was creating a state-wide healthy living movement in Texas, where obesity was high relative to other states in the U.S. But how far to go with its employees and customers was a question that President and COO Craig Boyan and his team struggled with. On one hand Boyan believed that H-E-B, long recognized for its community involvement, had a role to play in Texans' health and well-being. On the other hand, he recognized that H-E-B was first and foremost a retailer that had to compete against the likes of Walmart. He needed to make sure that H-E-B was serving its customers what they wanted while also trying to influence their buying behavior toward healthier foods. Some would say that H-E-B had no role in changing the lifestyle and food choices of its employees or customers. But Boyan and his team thought differently.
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Profit;
Leading Change;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Retail Industry;
Texas;
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Case
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2012
Home Depot and Interconnected Retail
Jose B. Alvarez, Zeynep Ton and Ryan Johnson
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Case
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2012
(Revised from original 2011 version)
Doug Rauch: Solving the American Food Paradox
Jose B. Alvarez and Ryan Johnson
Keywords: Food;
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Case
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2012
Terry Lundgren at Macy's
Jose Alvarez, Robert Steven Kaplan and Natalie Kindred
Keywords: Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Citation: Alvarez, Jose, Robert Steven Kaplan, and Natalie Kindred. " Terry Lundgren at Macy's." Harvard Business School Case 412-033, February 2012.
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Case
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2012
(Revised from original 2010 version)
Zespri
Jose B. Alvarez and Mary Louise Shelman
Grower-owned Zespri is the sole exporter of New Zealand-grown kiwifruit outside of Australia and New Zealand. Facing growing international competition, Zespri invested in consumer branding and innovation, which has led to new types of kiwifruit that taste better and are protected with patents. Consumer response has been positive and Zespri has begun to grow kiwifruit outside of New Zealand in order to have the product on retail shelves year round. Is this the right strategy for the future?
Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness;
Globalized Firms and Management;
Innovation and Invention;
Patents;
Brands and Branding;
Cooperative Ownership;
Competition;
Corporate Strategy;
Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry;
New Zealand;
Citation: Alvarez, Jose B., and Mary Louise Shelman. " Zespri." Harvard Business School Case 511-001, January 2012. (Revised from original December 2010 version.)
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Case
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2011
(Revised from original 2010 version)
FreshTec: Revolutionizing Fresh Produce
Jose B. Alvarez and Ryan Johnson
Entrepreneurial produce packaging firm, which has developed a disruptive technology that keeps fresh produce and flowers fresh for significantly longer, faces strategic growth decisions. CEO Bob Wright must decide how best to bring his company's unique packaging product to market. The technology holds promise after a long development phase but the packaging is more expensive and Wright and his team must convince the industry stakeholders of the packaging's value.
Keywords: Decision Making;
Disruptive Innovation;
Leadership;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Product Launch;
Supply Chain;
Value Creation;
Service Industry;
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Teaching Note
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2011
Zespri (TN)
Jose B. Alvarez and Mary Shelman
Teaching Note for 511001.
Keywords: Competition;
Brands and Branding;
Innovation and Invention;
Corporate Strategy;
Patents;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Australia;
New Zealand;
Citation: Alvarez, Jose B., and Mary Shelman. " Zespri (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 511-103, June 2011.
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Case
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2011
(Revised from original 2011 version)
Paydiant
Jose B. Alvarez, Elizabeth C. Williamson and James Weber
Kevin Laracey, founder of Paydiant, needed to figure out how to launch a payment processing company with a new technology based on smart phones. Consumers had increasingly turned to electronic payment methods such as credit cards and debit cards to make purchases. Retailers, however, felt that major credit and debit card issuers had too much market power which was leading to higher costs for retailers to accept such payment forms. Consumers were increasingly adopting smart phones and using those phones to manage their lives. Market watchers believed that consumers would soon demand to use their smart phones to make purchases. Retailers liked this because it increased competition in the payments industry. Paydiant had developed a software-based product that required no new hardware for retailers and enabled consumers to use their smart phones to make purchases. The company needed to decide how to bring this new product to market. The case also describes the existing payment processing market structure, identifies some of its major players, and introduces some other new entrants into the payment industry.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship;
Credit Cards;
Product Marketing;
Product Launch;
Market Entry and Exit;
Industry Structures;
Business and Stakeholder Relations;
Cooperation;
Technology Adoption;
Retail Industry;
Citation: Alvarez, Jose B., Elizabeth C. Williamson, and James Weber. " Paydiant." Harvard Business School Case 511-065, May 2011. (Revised from original January 2011 version.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2011
FreshTec: Revolutionizing Fresh Produce (TN)
Jose B. Alvarez and Ryan Johnson
Teaching Note for 511059.
Keywords: Service Industry;
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Background Note
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2011
Customer Loyalty Schemes in the Retail Sector
Jose B. Alvarez and Aldo Sesia
Customer loyalty schemes (or programs) are explicit efforts by retailers to gain long-term patronage from customers. Loyalty schemes are developed for a variety of reasons: to reward loyal customers, to generate more robust information about customer behavior, to influence consumer behavior, and as a defensive measure to combat a competing scheme. The purpose of this note is to describe the objectives of these schemes, including their origin and evolution; to highlight key aspects of their implementation; and to suggest approaches to maximize their impact. While this note focuses on the U.S. and U.K. retail sectors, most of its content is applicable to other economies.
Keywords: Customer Relationship Management;
Business History;
Goals and Objectives;
Marketing Strategy;
Consumer Behavior;
Planning;
Motivation and Incentives;
Business Strategy;
Retail Industry;
United Kingdom;
United States;
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2011
(Revised from original 1993 version)
Note on Store Location
David E. Bell and Jose B. Alvarez
Reviews some basic issues to be considered in selecting a new location for a retail store.
Keywords: Business Divisions;
Geographic Location;
Expansion;
Retail Industry;
Citation: Bell, David E., and Jose B. Alvarez. " Note on Store Location." Harvard Business School Background Note 593-112, January 2011. (Revised from original April 1993 version.)
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Case
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2010
(Revised from original 2009 version)
Red Tomato: Keeping It Local
Jose B. Alvarez, Mary Louise Shelman and Laura Winig
This case describes the operating model and history of Red Tomato, a non-profit organization dedicated to branding and logistical support for locally grown produce farmers in the northeast U.S. The case highlights the challenges involved in making locally grown produce available to large consumer markets.
Keywords: Agribusiness;
Trends;
Food;
Local Range;
Consumer Behavior;
Logistics;
Supply Chain;
Nonprofit Organizations;
Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry;
Northeastern United States;
Citation: Alvarez, Jose B., Mary Louise Shelman, and Laura Winig. " Red Tomato: Keeping It Local." Harvard Business School Case 510-023, May 2010. (Revised from original November 2009 version.)
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