Publications

Despite the current turmoil, memories will fade, and economics will trump concerns about national vulnerabilities. View Details

2015
Working Paper

Can Marshall's Clusters Survive Globalization?

By: Giulio Buciuni and Gary P. Pisano

It is widely presumed that in today's globalized economy, the value of geographic clustering of manufacturing industries is no longer valuable. Manufacturing is represented as a highly mobile "commodity" that can be sourced from anywhere in the world where factor costs... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Globalization; Marshall Industrial Clusters; Global Supply Chains; Manufacturing Industry

September 2009
Article

Virtue out of Necessity? Compliance, Commitment and the Improvement of Labor Conditions in Global Supply Chains

By: Akshay Mangla, Richard Locke and Matthew Amengual

Private, voluntary compliance programs, promoted by global corporations and nongovernmental organizations alike, have produced only modest and uneven improvements in working conditions and labor rights in most global supply chains. Through a detailed study of a major... View Details

Keywords: Working Conditions; Ethics; Supply Chain; Governance Compliance; Globalization

Find at Harvard

April 2005 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Exel PLC--Supply Chain Management at Haus Mart

By: Zeynep Ton and Steven C. Wheelwright

Exel plc is a global third-party logistics provider, serving clients such as Home Depot, Dell, Unilever, and Marks & Spencer. Describes the range of activities Exel performs for its clients and the capabilities the company has developed. Exel traditionally focused on... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Supply Chain Management; Logistics

May 2024
Supplement

Harvard University and Urban Mining Industries: Decarbonizing the Supply Chain - Student Version

By: Shirley Lu and Robert S. Kaplan

2023
Working Paper

Global Supply Chains: The Looming 'Great Reallocation'

By: Laura Alfaro and Davin Chor

Global supply chains have come under unprecedented stress as a result of U.S.-China trade tensions, the COVID-19 pandemic, and geopolitical shocks. We document shifts in the pattern of U.S. participation in global value chains over the last four decades, in terms of... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain; International Relations; Trade; Globalized Markets and Industries

April 2022 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Stalin’s Capitalists: American Business and Soviet Industrialization

By: Jeremy Friedman, Jingyu Liu and Christine Riggle

In the late 1920s and early 1930s when Joseph Stalin, leader of the world’s first Communist state, sought to industrialize his largely peasant country on an unprecedented scale, he turned for help to those who had the most experience constructing on such a scale:... View Details

Keywords: Communism; Industrialization; Socialism; History; Industry Growth; Economic Systems; Soviet Union

May 1997
Teaching Note

Module Overview: Coordinating and Managing Supply Chains: Matching Supply and Demand TN

By: Ananth Raman

Prepares students to configure operating and distribution systems to provide product (or service) supply to match customer demand. Begins by introducing students to the supply-demand mismatch problem, documenting its significance in many companies, and suggesting ways... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Working Capital; Distribution; Cost of Capital; Management Practices and Processes; Supply Chain Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Supply and Industry

June 2023
Case

Tractor Supply Co

By: David L. Ager and Michael A. Roberto

In February 2023, Hal Lawton, CEO of Tractor Supply Co, the largest farm and ranch retailer in the United States reflected on the company’s 70% growth between 2019 and 2022. Economists had begun to predict an economic downturn and experts were predicting softening... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Demand and Consumers; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Retail Industry

2012
Working Paper

Learning by Supplying

By: Juan Alcacer and Joanne Oxley

Learning processes lie at the heart of our understanding of how firms build capabilities to generate and sustain competitive advantage: learning by doing, learning by exporting, learning from competitors, users, and alliance partners. In this paper we focus attention... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Supply Chain; Competitive Advantage; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Competency and Skills; Relationships; Telecommunications Industry

April 1989
Case

Norton Auto Supply

By: Janice H. Hammond

Describes a multiechelon distribution system for the distribution of automobile spare parts. An analyst has been hired by the Norton Auto Supply Co. to improve the company's inventory planning and control techniques. Includes demand, cost, weight, and supplier lead... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Operations; Distribution Channels; Management Practices and Processes; Management; Strategy; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry

October 2016
Case

Yili Group: Building a Global Dairy Company

By: William C. Kirby and Nancy Hua Dai

From its humble beginnings as a local Chinese dairy company, the Inner Mongolia Yili Group has become one of the largest dairy companies in the world. To achieve this, Yili has aggressively expanded its footprint overseas including building the world’s largest... View Details

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Willy C. Shih

Professor Shih has taught the Technology and Operations Management (TOM) course and FIELD Global Immersion in the first-year MBA required curriculum. He also has taught Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise (BSSE) in the second-year MBA curriculum, as well as... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Operations Management; Operations Strategy; Globalization Of Supply Chain; Competitiveness; Globalization; Trade; Operations; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; China; Europe; Japan

27 Feb 2024
Cold Call Podcast

How Could Harvard Decarbonize Its Supply Chain?

Keywords: Re: Robert S. Kaplan & Shirley Lu; Green Technology

June 2001
Teaching Note

Coordinating + Managing Supply Chains: Course Overview Note TN

By: Ananth Raman

Describes the MBA elective course on supply chain management at HBS. Coordinating and Managing Supply Chains focuses on the managerial aspects of supply chains. Acquaints students with practical issues in a variety of supply chains and then identifies barriers to, and... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Framework; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Management Practices and Processes; Managerial Roles; Marketing; Supply Chain Management; Performance Improvement; Planning; Behavior; Integration