Publications

April 2018
Teaching Note

Formlabs: Selling a New 3D Printer

By: Frank Cespedes

Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-001. Formlabs is a venture that manufactures and sells 3D printers used in a variety of industries and applications. As the young company prepares to ship its latest model, the head of Customer Development is tasked with developing a... View Details

February 2019 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Banorte and the Capital Call Facility: Infrastructure Finance in Mexico

By: John D. Macomber, Carla Larangeira and Fernanda Miguel

As a result of Mexico´s pension industry deregulation, pension funds were able to invest in energy and infrastructure projects through a variety of financial instruments, particularly through Capital Development Certificates (CKDs), an asset class that served as a... View Details

Keywords: Financial Products; Fund Management; Capital Call Facility; Pension Funds; Infrastructure; Energy; Finance; Decision Making; Investment Funds; Financial Instruments; North America; Mexico

September–October 2020
Article

Global Supply Chains in a Post-Pandemic World: Companies Need to Make Their Networks More Resilient. Here's How.

By: Willy C. Shih

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities in the production strategies and supply chains of firms everywhere. Coupled with a rise in economic nationalism, manufacturers everywhere are going to be under pressure to rethink their sourcing and logistics... View Details

Keywords: Resilience; Pandemic; Operations Management; Health Pandemics; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Manufacturing Industry; United States; Asia; Europe

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December 1997
Case

Wriston Manufacturing Corporation

By: Janice H. Hammond

Wriston Manufacturing is a broad-line maker of components for the automotive industry. It has developed a network of nine plants as its product line has grown. Newer, higher-volume products tend to be made in newer, focused, high-volume plants, while older product... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Cost Management; Business or Company Management; Production; Performance Efficiency; Auto Industry

March 2016
Case

N12 Technologies: Building an Organization and Building a Business

By: David A. Garvin and Aldo Sesia

N12 Technologies was a startup founded in 2010 that employed nanotechnology to manufacture a patented material to improve the performance of carbon fiber composites, which were used in a wide variety of products, ranging from bicycles to automobiles to aircraft parts.... View Details

Keywords: Startup; Organizational Structure; Nanotechnology; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Management Systems; Commercialization; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; United States

February 2009
Background Note

An Introduction to Consumer Credit

By: Peter Tufano

This note reviews a variety of shorter-term consumer credit products in the U.S. with an emphasis on the types of products that low- and moderate-income consumers use. Included here are the following: credit cards, bank overdraft products, payday lending, personal... View Details

Keywords: Credit; Financing and Loans; Personal Finance; United States

January 1996
Background Note

Creativity and Innovation in Organizations

By: Teresa M. Amabile

Creativity, the production of new and useful ideas by individuals or teams, can appear in many forms and many functions within firms of all kinds--from entrepreneurial start-ups to well-established enterprises. This note describes the varieties of creativity in... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Design; Situation or Environment; Creativity

October 1992 (Revised September 1996)
Case

McDonald's Corporation

By: David M. Upton and Joshua D. Margolis

McDonald's has over many years built an operating strategy based on consistency and quality through a limited product range. Competitive forces have drawn the company into a much wider variety of foods and services in order to maintain growth. Now, new competitors... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Problems and Challenges; Environmental Sustainability; Quality; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Operations; Integration; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

01 May 2024
What Do You Think?

Have You Had Enough?

out: Twenty-four years and 287 columns on a variety of management-related topics, my record as of this month. This month marks my last column in this long-running series for Working Knowledge. I’ve always ended my columns with the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

09 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

It’s Time to Reset Decision-Making in Your Organization

how one CEO we’ve talked with builds in multiple perspectives to his decision-making. At his industrial products company, he has established bi-weekly meetings with his senior team focused on two questions: What do we know now that we... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

04 Nov 2015
What Do You Think?

Why Does Gender Diversity Improve Financial Performance?

Does Gender Diversity in Management Enhance Performance? Why? A variety of explanations for the positive correlation between gender diversity and better business performance found in a recent McKinsey study were advanced in responses to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

October 1993 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Michigan Manufacturing Corp.: The Pontiac Plant--1988

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Michigan Manufacturing is a broad-line maker of components for the automotive industry. It has developed a network of nine plants as its product line has grown. Newer, higher-volume products tend to be made in newer, focused, high-volume plants, while older product... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Profit; Brands and Branding; Mission and Purpose; Networks; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry

October 2002 (Revised June 2005)
Case

McDonald's Corporation (Abridged)

McDonald's has over many years built an operating strategy based on consistency and quality through a limited product range. Competitive forces have drawn the company into a much wider variety of foods and services to maintain growth. Now, new competitors threaten to... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Competition; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities in the production strategies and supply chains of firms everywhere. Coupled with a rise in economic nationalism, manufacturers everywhere are going to be under pressure to rethink their sourcing and logistics... View Details

November 2008 (Revised July 2009)
Background Note

A Managerial Perspective on Clinical Trials

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

This note describes the history and regulation of clinical trials, managerial challenges related to pharmaceutical product testing, and current debates regarding prescription drug safety. Since clinical testing takes between five and seven years, and consumes up to 70... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Testing and Trials; Product Development; Safety; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry