Ford - Publications - Faculty & Research

08 Nov 2024
HBS Case

What Wartime Service Taught These Historic Leaders

the numbers are accurate Widely criticized for his by-the-numbers approach to the Vietnam War as US Secretary of Defense, Bob McNamara’s pioneering use of statistics during World War II and leadership skills at Ford Motor left a mixed... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Entertainment & Recreation

07 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

The Competition of Countries

economy. Hopefully, I can finish by the late fall of next year. After that, I have in mind another project on U.S. economic management since the New Deal—through the exchange-rate collapse of Nixon, the demise of U.S. competitiveness under View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

01 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

How to Choose the Best Deal

other. Consider the experience of a friend who was recently shopping for a new car. He'd always had good luck with Fords and was inclined to stick with them, especially after driving the latest model. After some back and forth, the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Wheeler

04 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

Don’t Lose Money With Customers

rewarded by GE. In contrast, a supplier of circuit boards to Ford Motor Company was never able to overcome a preoccupation with the contract terms. The supplier's failure to manage effectively this aspect of an otherwise promising... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

05 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

In Praise of Marketing

through the marketing ranks is much higher in the United States than Europe. The marketers at Wal-Mart, Google, and Lenovo are in the best tradition of Henry Ford and his Model T. They seek to democratize access to their products by... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Advertising

01 Oct 2020
What Do You Think?

Are CEOs the Wrong Leaders for Stakeholder Capitalism?

Europe, financed by the Ford Foundation, concludes that since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic, the adoption of the Statement “has failed to deliver fundamental shifts in corporate purpose in a moment of grave crisis when... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

05 Oct 2016
What Do You Think?

Can the US Economy Regain the Growth and Prosperity of the Past?

productivity requires a large middle class that can afford to consume what is being produced. Solve the economic inequality problem, and we will solve the slow growth problem as well as a lot of other societal problems.” Gamaliel Pascual contrasted the positive impact... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

05 Aug 2015
What Do You Think?

What Happened to the ‘Innovation, Disruption, Technology’ Dividend?

new technologies time to learn and productivity will increase. What's really going on here? It's exciting to hear about innovation (although author Martin Ford speculates on "a jobless future" resulting from the introduction of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Computer; Technology

08 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

The Death of the Global Manager

efficiency. If you're Ford or Toyota, for example, you have to compete in the world market to capture the minimum efficient scale." The second requirement, often in conflict with the first, is a sensitivity and responsiveness to... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

09 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Incentives and Operational Excellence

important reason, but by no means the only one, he added. Others include communication problems, a lack of hierarchy for resolving issues—think of Ford and Firestone, and the finger-pointing on both sides—and the potential for data... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

29 Mar 2010
Research & Ideas

Ruthlessly Realistic: How CEOs Must Overcome Denial

Henry Ford think he could keep selling black-only Model Ts? "Denial has always been a problem," writes Harvard Business School historian Richard S. Tedlow in a new book, Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face-and What... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Auto; Retail; Technology

19 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

Funding Innovation: Is Your Firm Doing it Wrong?

aftermath of World War II, government funding for scientific research increased and large corporations followed suit, with firms such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Ford establishing dedicated centralized science labs that put few... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

20 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 20, 2007

example of cutting-edge practice in private equity. The first of a two-part series on the Hertz LBO, adopts the perspective of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, the leader of a private equity consortium bidding to buy Hertz from Ford in an... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

18 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

New at the Helm: A Talk with HBS Dean Light

teaching the second-year MBA courses on investment management and capital markets. Later in the decade, he took a two-year leave of absence to serve as director of investment and financial policies for the Ford Foundation, returning in... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Education

04 Oct 2007
What Do You Think?

Has Managerial Capitalism Peaked?

about hedge fund managers and private equity managers raking in billions while decimating companies and destabilizing markets more than we worry about whether the CEO of Ford took home a few paltry millions while actually running a... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

12 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 12

Anand Piramal and his team sought to "democratize healthcare" in India through the development of a new service delivery model. If Henry Ford could build and deliver cars to everyone in the United States, Piramal thought, then... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Management Education’s Unanswered Questions

universities and colleges were seeking to take advantage of federal funding, there was almost no quality control. That created an opening for the Ford Foundation in the 1950s and 1960s to lay down a significant critique about the quality... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

10 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Reinventing the Industrial Giant

parts order comes through, so they have the part ready to ship as soon as the order is placed. 86 Here too, GM was attempting to replicate the new business models pioneered by companies like Dell and Cisco. However, GM was not alone in the creation of a B2B exchange.... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria, Davis Dyer & Frederick Dalzell; Manufacturing

24 Nov 2008
Research & Ideas

Harvard Business School Discusses Future of the MBA

complain that MBAs don't understand the practice of leadership or have sufficient awareness of their impact on others. Reflecting on these findings, Garvin concluded, "Business as usual isn't good enough." The Ford Foundation... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson & HBS Bulletin; Education

05 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 5

sales increases, solid profitability, and positive cash flow. From October 2010 to October 2011, GM, Ford, and Chrysler sales increased 1.8%, 6.2%, and 27%, respectively. GM and Ford reported strong profits and better-than-expected sales... View Details