Publications

January 2011
Case

AIC Netbooks: Optimizing Product Assembly

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Sunru Yong

AIC Systems, located in Taichung, Taiwan, is a manufacturer of printed circuit boards, primarily for motherboards and video cards for personal computers. The firm is considered an original design manufacturer (ODM) and takes an active role in innovating and designing... View Details

Keywords: Performance Management; Quantitative Analysis; Manufacturing; Production Planning; Production Management; Diversification; Production; Performance Efficiency; Product Design; Performance Improvement; Mobile Technology; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry; Taiwan

September 2003 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Emergence, Valhalla, and Orchid: Divergent Models for Venture Capital Funds

By: William A. Sahlman and Matthew Willis

Compares and contrasts three different venture capital funds from the perspective of a potential investor. The first fund has a technology-enabled services preference, the second a Mid-Atlantic region preference, and the third a seed round preference. Students are... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Entrepreneurship; Service Operations; Information Technology; Venture Capital

26 Jul 2021
News

When Do We Actually Need to Meet in Person?

03 Sep 2020
News

Marketing in the Age of Resistance

01 Dec 2010
News

A Smooth Stretch

HANNA: A yoga business and foundation. Photo courtesy Zobha A dedicated runner until motherhood stood everything on its head, Jamie Hanna (MBA ’98) told Chicago’s examiner.com (September 20, 2010) that by the time she had her second child, “Running didn’t feel good to... View Details

Keywords: Yoga; Apparel Manufacturing; Manufacturing

September 2021 (Revised October 2022)
Supplement

Hester Pharmaceuticals (B): Securing Supply

By: Dante Roscini and John Masko

Supplements the (A) case. In late 2020, demand for Hester Pharmaceutical’s (Hester’s) breakthrough oncology drug Akrozumab was outstripping the company’s most optimistic projections. In order to increase manufacturing capacity and meet the demand, Hester was... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Cost vs Benefits; Trade; Supply Chain; Global Strategy; Buildings and Facilities; Operations; Health Care and Treatment; Demand and Consumers; Global Range; Globalized Markets and Industries; Pharmaceutical Industry; Italy; China; United States; Germany

August 2009
Teaching Note

Cyworld: Creating and Capturing Value in a Social Network (TN)

By: Sunil Gupta and Sangman Han

Teaching Note for [509012]. View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Social and Collaborative Networks; Mergers and Acquisitions; Revenue; Leadership Style; Decision Choices and Conditions; Digital Marketing; Customers; Service Operations; Competency and Skills; Web Services Industry; South Korea

01 Dec 2010
News

Ilene Lang

Lang Related Links “It Pays to Hire Women in Countries That Won’t”: New research by HBS associate professor Jordan Siegel finds that multinational companies can spin gender bias into gold by recruiting and hiring well-educated female managers in countries that... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; interview; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Information Technology Ecosystem Health and Performance

Keywords: by Marco Iansiti & Gregory L. Richards; Technology

1996
Book

Strategic Operations: Competing through Capabilities

By: R. H. Hayes, G. P. Pisano and D. M. Upton

Keywords: Operations; Competitive Strategy

May 9, 2023
Response

Regulatory Submission Characteristics and Recalls of Medical Devices Receiving 510(k) Clearance

By: Alexander O. Everhart, Yi Zhu and Ariel D. Stern

Keywords: Product Design; Safety; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

2006
Book

Service Productivity Management: Improving Service Performance Using Data Envelopment Analysis

By: H. David Sherman and Joe Zhu

Here is an in-depth guide to the most powerful available benchmarking technique for improving service organization performance—Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The book outlines DEA as a benchmarking technique, identifies high cost service units, isolates specific... View Details

Keywords: Data Envelopment Analysis; Economics; Operations; Mathematical Methods

March 2014 (Revised January 2017)
Case

From Beijing Jeep to ASC Fine Wines: The Story of an American Family Business in China

By: William C. Kirby and Erica M. Zendell

In 1985, Don St. Pierre Sr. became President of Beijing Jeep, the troubled joint venture between American Motor Corporation and the Chinese government to build Jeep Cherokees in China. Just over a decade later in 1996, leveraging contacts from his time in the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship In Emerging Markets; China; Joint Ventures; Wine Industry; International Entrepreneurship; International Business; Exports; Chinese Manufacturing; Business And Government Relations; Ownership Stake; Strategy; Operations; Auto Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; China

January–February 2012
Article

Do You Need a New Product-Development Strategy?

By: Alan MacCormack, W. Crandall, P. Toft and P. Henderson

Many firms rely on a single new-product development process for all projects. But designing new products for different business contexts requires that a firm deploy different new-product development processes. Products designed for stable and mature end-user markets... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Product Development

Article

Competing through Manufacturing and the New Manufacturing Paradigm: Is Manufacturing Strategy Passe?

By: K. B. Clark

Keywords: Competition; Strategy; Production

December 2010
Article

Can Higher Prices Stimulate Product Use? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Zambia

By: Nava Ashraf, James Berry and Jesse M. Shapiro

The controversy over how much to charge for health products in the developing world rests, in part, on whether higher prices can increase use, either by targeting distribution to high-use households (a screening effect), or by stimulating use psychologically through a... View Details

Keywords: Price; Product; Information; Zambia

Read Now

11 Apr 2005
Conference Presentation

Resolving Information Asymmetries in Supply Chains: The Role of Certified Voluntary Programs

By: Michael W. Toffel

Keywords: Information; Supply Chain; Programs

August 2001 (Revised March 2003)
Background Note

Comments on the Second Toyota Paradox: With appendix on modularity for managing complex-systems design

Two groups of people start out with the same task, equipped with the same resources and the same initial conditions. One, however, consistently beats the other. What are the differences between what the two groups are doing, and what can we adopt from the better... View Details

Keywords: Management; Product Design; Auto Industry; Japan

January 1984
Background Note

Just-in-Time Production Controlled by Kanban

Describes the method of control of repetitive manufacturing as used at Toyota by Just-in-Time and Kanban. The objective is to facilitate an understanding of how the method works and its rationale. View Details

Keywords: Production; Business Processes