Publications

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

16 May 2016
HBS Case

Food Safety Economics: The Cost of a Sick Customer

prided itself on avoiding artificial ingredients, opting instead to use a relatively short supply chain of local growers for many of its ingredients. That strategy just might have been part of its problem,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

January 2018 (Revised June 2018)
Case

Medtronic: Navigating a Shifting Healthcare Landscape

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Michael E. Porter, Thomas W. Feeley and Alee Hernandez

Medtronic is adapting its strategy to changes in healthcare competition and payments. It has decided to develop new relationships with payers, hospitals, and physicians to become more accountable for patient outcomes and total costs. The case describes new forms of... View Details

Keywords: Value Based Health Care; Bundled Payments; Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Value Creation; Supply Chain Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States; Netherlands

December 2008
Case

Taylor Fresh Foods

By: David E. Bell, Natalie Kindred and Mary Louise Shelman

In 13 years, Bruce Taylor had built Taylor Fresh Foods into a $1 billion company and the top supplier of salads to the U.S. food service industry and to supermarket deli departments. In 2008, he was convinced that the time was right to make a big push in the fresh food... View Details

Keywords: Food; Brands and Branding; Demand and Consumers; Supply Chain Management; Competition; Expansion; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

December 2005 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Los Grobo

Los Grobo, a grain farming company based in Argentina, must decide whether to expand internationally to neighboring Paraguay and Uruguay. Los Grobo has built an IT-facilitated network with hundreds of participants who work together to produce corn and soybeans. Los... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Information Technology; Supply Chain Management; Global Range; Globalization; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Paraguay; Argentina; Uruguay

01 Mar 2018
News

Case Study: On the Record

Despite the renewed interest in vinyl, there were not many manufacturers—less than 20 in the United States—and few had updated their processes or supply chain since the heyday of the late 1970s. In the... View Details

Keywords: April White

Article

Reengineering Channel Reordering Processes to Improve Total Supply-Chain Performance

By: Janice H. Hammond and T. H. Clark

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Performance

Find at Harvard

January 2014
Case

Boeing 787 Manufacturing Footprint

By: Willy Shih

This case looks at the outsourcing strategy for major subsystems of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, and the risks and production consequences of letting go of core technology. It is intended to be used as a (B) case for 612-036 Boeing 737 Manufacturing Footprint: The Wichita... View Details

Keywords: Outsourcing; Outsourced Production; Boeing 787; Manufacturing Footprint; Systems Integration; Production; Supply Chain Management; Aerospace Industry; United States

September 1991 (Revised December 1993)
Case

Tombow Pencil Co. Ltd.

Tombow Pencil Co. Ltd., one of Japan's two premier pencil manufacturers, has been using a subcontractor network in order to respond to changing market conditions. The system currently faces a new challenge as Tombow moves to address a volatile business market for... View Details

Keywords: Production; Supply Chain Management; Manufacturing Industry; Japan

November 2021
Case

Kermit PPI

By: Kyle Myers, Matt Grennan and Sarah Mehta

Launched in 2011, Kermit PPI helped hospitals save money on expensive orthopedic implants and devices by enabling them to renegotiate their contracts with device manufacturers and better monitor compliance. In 2021, as they look to grow, they are entertaining two... View Details

Keywords: Health; Health Care and Treatment; Strategy; Expansion; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Contracts; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States; Maryland

Research Summary

Overview

By: Kris Johnson Ferreira

Professor Ferreira's research primarily focuses on how retailers can use algorithms to make better revenue management decisions, including pricing, product display, and assortment planning. In the retail industry, anticipating consumer demand is arguably one of the... View Details

Keywords: E-commerce; Analytics; Revenue Management; Pricing; Assortment Planning; Field Experiments; Operations; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Retail Industry

18 May 2020
Working Paper Summaries

No Line Left Behind: Assortative Matching Inside the Firm

Keywords: by Achyuta Adhvaryu, Vittorio Bassi, Anant Nyshadham, and Jorge Tamayo; Fashion

June 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Teaching Note

Scientific Glass Incorporated: Inventory Management (Brief Case)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt

Teaching Note for 4208 View Details

Keywords: Inventory Control; Inventory Management; Materials Management; Order Processing; Warehousing; Logistics; Supply Chain Management