Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • September 2020
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Lojas Americanas: Project DNA and the 'People Machine'

By: Boris Groysberg, Eric Lin and Sarah L. Abbott
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:25
ShareBar

Abstract

Lojas Americanas (“Americanas”) was one of the largest retailers in Brazil. Via its stores, digital platform and Innovation Engine, the company served more than 38 million people. In recent years, Americanas had enjoyed rapid growth; growing from 98 stores in 2001 to 1,700 stores in 2019. As each store had its own manager, and there was a growing need for district and regional managers, meeting these human resource needs had become an increasingly large challenge. Compounding this, one of the company’s core talent management principles was that store managers should be hired from inside the company. This challenge was the genesis for what became known as Project DNA. Via Project DNA Americanas executives aimed to: determine empirically the extent to which store managers impacted store performance; identify those characteristics that differentiated a good manager from an average one; and create a leadership training program to develop and reinforce those characteristics. To date, approximately 1,500 managers had participated in the training, and while it was still early days, initial results had been impressive. The question for Americanas’ management was: what could be done to improve and update the project? And, could the learnings of Project DNA be applied elsewhere?

Keywords

Retail; Data Analytics; Growth And Development; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Training; Performance; Employees; Management; Human Resources; Leadership Development; Retail Industry; Brazil

Citation

Groysberg, Boris, Eric Lin, and Sarah L. Abbott. "Lojas Americanas: Project DNA and the 'People Machine'." Harvard Business School Case 421-038, September 2020.
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

Boris Groysberg

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • March–April 2023
    • Harvard Business Review

    The New-Collar Workforce

    By: Colleen Ammerman, Boris Groysberg and Ginni Rometty
    • March 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Walmart’s Live Better U

    By: Boris Groysberg, Annelena Lobb and Kerry Herman
    • March 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Shelly Sun at BrightStar Care: The Evolution of a Leader

    By: Boris Groysberg, Colleen Ammerman and Sarah L. Abbott
More from the Authors
  • The New-Collar Workforce By: Colleen Ammerman, Boris Groysberg and Ginni Rometty
  • Walmart’s Live Better U By: Boris Groysberg, Annelena Lobb and Kerry Herman
  • Shelly Sun at BrightStar Care: The Evolution of a Leader By: Boris Groysberg, Colleen Ammerman and Sarah L. Abbott
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College