Publications

03 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Transforming Manufacturing Waste into Profit

It's been said that "one man's trash is another man's treasure." HBS Assistant Professor Deishin Lee, however, has taken that old adage a step further in her recent working paper Turning Waste into By-Product by showing how it's possible for companies to turn... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Manufacturing

August 2019 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Family Matters: Governance at the Zamil Group

By: Christina R. Wing, Suraj Srinivasan and Esel Çekin

This case focuses on a large Saudi Arabian industrial conglomerate and family business Zamil Group’s corporate and family governance journey. The 12 sons of the founder led and grew the group successfully after taking over from their father in 1961. The secret to their... View Details

Keywords: Middle East; Family Ownership; Family-owned Business; Saudi Arabia; Family Business; Governance; Organizational Structure; Values and Beliefs; Steel Industry; Steel Industry; Middle East; Saudi Arabia; Bahrain

30 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

How Technology Adoption Affects Global Economies

adoption, testing the model on 15 technologies in 166 countries from 1820 to 2003. They covered major technologies related to transportation (from steamships to airplanes), telecommunication (from the telegraph to the cell phone), IT (the PC and the Internet), health... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

11 Oct 2006
What Do You Think?

How Do We Respond to the “Dependency Ratio” Dilemma?

And consumers are becoming less willing to pay for it in the price of GM's products. When dependency ratios become too burdensome, as in the case of Bethlehem Steel in 2001, where each worker was supporting 7.5 retirees, management is... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

04 Apr 2018
Research & Ideas

Smart Cities are Complicated and Costly: Here's How to Build Them

Chombosan Much promotion of smart cities assumes that municipalities will take a proactive, top-down, technology-first approach to urban progress. Thus far, these initiatives look for some forward-thinking city official (or immensely deep-pocketed private investor) to... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Construction; Green Technology

11 May 2009
Research & Ideas

The IT Leader’s Hero Quest

as if to steel himself, before continuing. It was very unlike Bernie, that pause, and it communicated the gravity of the circumstances more than the words that followed it. A bolt of panic stirred the eggs Benedict digesting in Barton's... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

27 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

The Dynamics of Standing Still: Firestone Tire & Rubber and the Radial Revolution

company's flagship Firestone 500 Steel Belt was the most recognized brand in the industry.17 While the decision to leverage existing manufacturing processes allowed rapid market penetration, it also contributed to quality problems with... View Details

Keywords: by Donald N. Sull; Manufacturing; Transportation

07 Feb 2019
Book

How Big Companies Can Outrun Disruption

provide many examples of companies who have had really smart strategic responses to big shifts in their industry. For example, when carbon fiber came along it endangered Pinarello, a high-end manufacturer of steel bike frames. Pinarello... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

The company launched surveys to help identify issues and prepare targeted measures. The CEO created a solidarity fund to which many leaders, as well as investors, have contributed. Similarly, the owners and managers of PrecisionCo, an Italian company focused on... View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Background Note

Leadership and Teaming

By: Ethan Bernstein

Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail... View Details

Research Summary

Mastering Strategy Execution

By: Robert Simons

Professor Robert Simons’ research encompasses three areas of management accountability that are the foundation for successful strategy execution: organization design, performance measurement and control, and risk management. In addition, Simons is interested in the... View Details

April 2002 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Pension Plan of Bethlehem Steel, 2001, The

By: Peter Tufano

Bethlehem Steel's 2001 bankruptcy filing inspires an employee's daughter to evaluate her father's pension plan, weeks after September 11's tragedies exacerbated a weakening U.S. economy and just months before her father planned to retire. Battered equity markets and... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Financial Instruments; Retirement; Steel Industry; United States

November 1985 (Revised July 1989)
Supplement

Signode Industries, Inc. (C)

Continues the discussion of the price-flex policy described in the (A) case and the (B) case. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Price; Policy; Steel Industry