Brian F. Harris is a former university professor at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8. ...

(USC) and the originator of the study of

category management Category management is a retailing and purchasing concept in which the range of products purchased by a business organization or sold by a retailer is broken down into discrete groups of similar or related products; these groups are known as pro ...

Career

Originally from Australia, Brian Harris earned a BA in Economics from the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = ...

and an MBA from

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Ep ...

. Afterwards he received a PhD in Marketing from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

. Harris eventually became the Director of the Food Industry Management Program and a marketing professor in the Graduate School of Business Administration at the

, where he co-founded the

Quaker Oats The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food conglomerate based in Chicago. It has been owned by PepsiCo since 2001. History Precursor miller companies In the 1850s, Ferdinand Schumacher and Robert Stuart founded oat mills. S ...

Buying Skills Seminar. While Harris was a professor he developed a software program called Apollo Space Management System that could calculate the optimal level of space for products on a store shelf per category of product. The first in store testing and use of the program resulted in that store becoming the dominant shop in the region. The product was developed in conjunction with an organization called ABA Groups, which Harris founded. In the late 1980s Harris originated the concept of

. The concept has evolved over time; however, the most commonly used category management model today was developed into an eight step procedure by Harris in 1997 and is called the Brian Harris Model. The basis of category management, according to Harris models, is to: force consumer focus during retail decisions; create strategy for differentiation and competition; provide a model for collaboration; promote information sharing for the sake of better decision-making; provide strategic logic when developing tactical decisions; clarify decisions when it comes to asset allocation; and clarify employee responsibilities. In 1990 Harris founded a category management consultation services firm in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

called the Partnering Group. Over time, category management began to be delegated to specific suppliers instead of being used in-house, which was outside the spirit of Harris's original idea and a practice that Harris criticized. The Partnering Group became known for establishing best practice policies for collaborations between retailers and suppliers. These best practice guides have been adopted by the ECR Consortia in the US, Europe, and Brazil. Harris still serves as founder and chairman of the Partnering Group. Since its founding the Partnering Group has worked with retail clients in over 25 countries. Harris serves as an advisory board member for Local Express.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Brian F. Living people Australian businesspeople Australian business theorists Year of birth missing (living people)