Publications

22 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: Jan. 22

Using Public-Private Partnerships to Improve Firm Survival, Employment Growth, and Innovative Performance Authors:Chai, Sen, and Willy C. Shih Abstract Scientific research and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2019
Case

Kazakhstan Railways: From the Middle of Nowhere to a Center of Trade?

By: Willy Shih and Esel Çekin

This case describes the evolution of Kazakhstan's rail connectivity strategy post-collapse of the Soviet Union and its now central role in China's Belt and Road Initiative. This meant shifting from a north-south orientation towards an east-west one, as well as the... View Details

Keywords: Geopolitics; China’s Infrastructure Exports: The ‘Belt And Road’ Initiative; Logistics; Trade; Economic Growth; Geopolitical Units; Geography; Rail Transportation; Rail Industry; Transportation Industry; Central Asia; Kazakhstan; China

05 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: January 5

outcome measurement, reimbursement, and strategic alliances. Purchase this case: http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/710424-PDF-ENG Low-k Dielectrics at IBM Willy Shih and Giovanni CarraroHarvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

21 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: December 21

PublicationsHas the Shift to Stronger Intellectual Property Rights Promoted Technology Transfer, FDI, and Industrial Development? Authors:Lee Branstetter, C. Fritz Foley, and Kamal Saggi Publication:The WIPO Journal: Analysis and Debate... View Details

03 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 3, 2018

assessments of corporate environmental responsibility. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54635 Summer 2018 MIT Sloan Management Review Why High-Tech Commoditization Is Accelerating By: Shih, Willy View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

November 2023 (Revised July 2024)
Background Note

Corporate Climate Targets

By: Willy C. Shih, Michael W. Toffel and Kelsey Carter

Companies that are addressing climate change by mitigating their greenhouse gas emissions often set reduction targets. This note describes several types of widely used carbon reduction targets, including carbon neutral, science based, net zero, real zero, and carbon... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Sustainability; Environmental Strategy; Climate Risk; Target-setting; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Accountability; Policy; Measurement and Metrics; Strategic Planning; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

July 2011 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Digital Microscopy Is Making Me Crazy!

By: Willy Shih

For Carl Zeiss Microimaging, modular hardware and software enabled customers to tailor Zeiss's broad range of microscopy systems hardware and software to meet a wide range of needs from basic scientific research in the biological and medical sciences to clinical... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Corporate Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Science-Based Business; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Business Conglomerates; Digital Platforms; Opportunities; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Computer Industry

20 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 20

more likely to involve collaboration across locations, particularly with inventors from the firm's primary R&D site. Our results suggest that R&D dynamics in clusters are heavily influenced by multi-location firms with innovative... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2010 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Delta Electronics Hybrid Power Train

By: Willy C. Shih and Jyun-Cheng Wang

Delta Electronics, the world's largest manufacturer of switching power supplies, hoped to enter the market for gasoline-electric hybrid power trains for automobiles by being a major component and subsystem supplier. While most public awareness of hybrid vehicles fell... View Details

Keywords: Investment Return; Intellectual Property; Emerging Markets; Industry Clusters; Partners and Partnerships; Electronics Industry; China

October 2008 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Intel NBI: Intel Corporation's New Business Initiatives (A)

By: Willy C. Shih and Thomas Thurston

For Intel Corporation, the processes and priorities that have made it so successful are difficult to overcome as the company tries to diversify away from its core. The case examines the history and evolution of the New Business Initiatives (NBI) group, as the leader... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Transition; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business History; Management Practices and Processes; Resource Allocation; Organizational Structure; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty

November 2023 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Norse Atlantic Airways

By: Willy Shih

Bjørn Tore Larsen, Norse Atlantic Airways' founder and CEO, hadn't planned to get into the airline business. But when the COVID-19 pandemic depressed the global demand for air travel and the lease rates for jetliners, he realized if ever he was going to get into the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Market Entry and Exit; Leasing; Business Strategy; Segmentation; Interest Rates; Air Transportation Industry; Europe; North America; Norway; United Kingdom; United States

August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Supplement

Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (B)

By: Willy Shih

This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Henry Ford's Model T was a car for the masses. After considerable experimentation, Ford Motor... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Exploration; Dominant Design; Business Growth and Maturation; Business History; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan

22 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 22

case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/911028-PDF-ENG Purchase this supplement (B): http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/911029-PDF-ENG Purchase this supplement (C):http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/911030-PDF-ENG Assembling Smartphones: Takt Time =/= Cycle... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 24

Canada—grow its own retirement business, find a joint venture partner, or sell the business. Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/311023-PDF-ENG Delta Electronics Hybrid Power Train Willy View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2009
Case

The TSMC Way: Meeting Customer Needs at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

By: Willy C. Shih, Chen-Fu Chien, Chintay Shih and Jack Chang

When L.C. Tu receives an emergency order, he is confronted with a range of production scheduling choices, each of which has unique costs and trade-offs. The case was designed to help students understand job-shop style production and the impact of disruptions and... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Customer Relationship Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cost; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Production; Semiconductor Industry; Taiwan

May 2010
Supplement

Tim Westergren of Pandora Radio

By: Willy C. Shih and Halle Alicia Tecco

Pandora Radio is at a crossroads. Founder Tim Westergren has just been told by a well known VC to get rid of his unprofitable customers in order to get his costs down, but Westergren is not sure that such actions are consistent with his company's business model.... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Model; Customers; Venture Capital; Internet and the Web; Cost Management; Outcome or Result; Customization and Personalization; Growth and Development Strategy; Music Industry

06 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 6

http://hbr.org/2012/03/why-us-competitiveness-matters-to-all-of-us/ar/1 Does America Really Need Manufacturing? Authors:Gary P. Pisano and Willy C. Shih Publication:Harvard... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2007 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Intel 2006: Rising to the Graphics Challenge

By: Willy C. Shih and Elie Ofek

Examines the evolution of the PC hardware industry over the span of two and a half decades. The open architecture design of the IBM Personal Computer followed by the rapid appearance of clones drove a high level of standardization and modularity in the industry, and... View Details

Keywords: History; Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Choices and Conditions; Information Infrastructure; Competitive Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Technology Industry