efficiency - Publications - Faculty & Research

Ralph S. Larsen

Larsen reorganized J&J and managed its costs in order to improve its efficiency and reduce operating expenses. Between 1994-1999, the annual operating costs were reduced by $2 billion, which enabled J&J to compete aggressively in... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare

31 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

Improving Fairness in Flight Delays

congestion at airports and in the air. In Equitable and Efficient Coordination in Traffic Flow Management, a paper recently accepted for publication in Transportation Science and coauthored with Cynthia Barnhart of MIT and Dimitris... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Entertainment & Recreation; Air Transportation

01 Sep 2012
News

Markets’ Moral Limits

affects social attitudes about altruism. And since markets may not be the best allocators of goods “on grounds of either efficiency or fairness,” Sandel called for broad debate on “where markets belong, and where they don’t.” View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

19 May 2023
News

Quiet Acceleration

Tesla introduced manufacturing efficiencies that helped deliver 15 consecutive profitable quarters and generated $22 billion in available capital. Last year, the company’s operating margin was 16.8 percent, substantially higher than its... View Details

Keywords: financial management; auto manufacturing; supply chairn management; leadership; Tesla; Transportation Equipment Manufacturing; Manufacturing

01 Mar 2011
News

Noted & Quoted

solutions to social problems, identifying efficiencies in an economic environment, and finding creative solutions to them is the next growth story for emerging markets.” — HBS professor Tarun Khanna on private-sector engagement in social... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

Nicholas M. Schenck

When Marcus Loew died in 1927, Schenck assumed control over all of his holdings, including Loew’s theatre company and its production arm, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Despite the onslaught of the Depression, though, Schenck’s attention to View Details

Keywords: Entertainment & Broadcast Media

Lucio A. Noto

Noto first concentrated on consolidating and improving efficiency in Mobil's oil, gas and chemical businesses, including trimming bureaucracy at the corporate level. Noto also revamped Mobil's retail gasoline business, being one of the... View Details

Keywords: Utilities & Energy

March 2006
Background Note

Customer-Introduced Variability in Service Operations

By: Frances X. Frei

Presents a typology of customer-introduced variability and offers guidance on how to manage each type. Central to the ideas developed is how to mitigate the effects of the apparent trade-off between reducing variability and diminishing the service experience or... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Six Sigma; Consumer Behavior; Service Operations; Performance Efficiency

Citation

Educators

Purchase

07 Dec 2015
News

Making Higher Ed Accessible to Africans

who started his first company, Tribeca Designs, an efficient storage CD tower, while a student at Harvard Business School, spent his early post-HBS years working for private equity firms before joining Radio One—an American broadcasting... View Details

Leonard A. Lauder

Well before he officially assumed the CEO title, Lauder was the “man behind the scenes,” shunning publicity and acknowledgment to perpetuate his mother’s image. While his mother, Estee Lauder, tended to external relations, Leonard built an View Details

Keywords: Personal Care & Home Products

Bruce D. Henderson

Henderson founded one of the most influential strategy consulting organizations in the world. During its heyday, the Boston Consulting Group popularized such notions as the “experience curve” – the more a company manufactures a given product, the more View Details

Keywords: Services

22 Nov 2022
Blog Post

Alumni Leaders on Decarbonization Strategies for Combatting Climate Change

commercial-building energy intensity. This is why improving HVAC efficiency is one of the largest opportunities for reducing commercial-building carbon emissions. Sorbent Ventilation Technology improves HVAC View Details

James E. Casey

Starting with two bicycles and $100 in capital in 1907, Casey went on to build one of the most respected and recognized companies of the 20th century – United Parcel Service. UPS’s trademark brown delivery vehicles have become synonymous with reliable, secure, and... View Details

Keywords: Transportation

01 Feb 2001
News

The Third Force: Indispensable to Society, Nonprofits Should Redirect Oversight Efforts

unpopular social issues, enabling spirituality, redistributing wealth to the needy, supporting cultural activities, and effectively and efficiently providing long-term solutions for social needs. Government and business, she said, cannot... View Details

Keywords: Health, Social Assistance

John F. Welch, Jr.

number one or number two in their respective industries. Welch helped GE become one of the most efficient conglomerates of its time, being an industry leader in everything from aircraft engines to television (NBC). View Details

Keywords: Fabricated Goods

02 Aug 2022
News

PayPal Names Blake Jorgensen as CFO

Electronic Arts.” As for his new role, PayPal’s CEO Dan Schulman noted during a recent earnings call that the company is “looking for additional ways to improve efficiency and productivity, which could include scaling back on real estate... View Details

31 May 2016
HBS Case

Who Owns Space?

rapidly-evolving space sector, he argues, society will have the opportunity to determine the proper roles for government and the private sector nearly from scratch. “The idea of leveraging the private sector and its efficiencies to help... View Details

Keywords: Re: Matthew C. Weinzierl; Aerospace

Web

Industrial Production & Materials - Business & Environment

pollutants that cause climate change. Transitioning to fossil-fuel free energy sources for these processes, improving efficiency and reducing waste, and bringing low-carbon alternatives to market could dramatically reduce greenhouse gas... View Details

Alfred P. Sloan, Jr.

Though he started his career at a roller bearing manufacturer, Sloan eventually sold the company to GM after realizing that the rapid growth of the automobile industry was essentially controlling his business. Sloan’s attention to View Details

Keywords: Automotive & Aerospace

Theodore N. Vail

Securing over $100 million in financing, Vail first set up a more unified operating structure for AT&T, the Bell companies and the so-called “Bell-Connected” independent firms, and then went on to form an affiliation with competitor Western Union. With this more... View Details

Keywords: Communications

Publications