Publications

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July 2024 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Knowledge Transfer: Toyota, NUMMI, and GM

By: Willy Shih

New United Motors Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) was a joint venture between Toyota and General Motors. It was an opportunity for GM to learn about the Toyota Production System, which was quite different from the mass production processes American automakers used at the... View Details

Keywords: Culture Change; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Joint Ventures; Transformation; Selection and Staffing; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Sharing; Labor Unions; Management Systems; Performance Improvement; Production; Labor and Management Relations; Auto Industry; Japan; United States

2023
Working Paper

Organizational Responses to Product Cycles

By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Vittorio Bassi, Anant Nyshadham, Jorge Tamayo and Nicolas Torres

Product cycles entail the mass production of new—and often increasingly complex—products on a regular basis. How do firms manage these changes? We use granular daily data from a leading automobile manufacturer to study the organizational impacts of introducing new... View Details

Keywords: Training; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Knowledge Management; Production; Product; Organizational Structure; Auto Industry; Argentina

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November 2009
Article

What Would Peter Say?

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Heeding the wisdom of Peter Drucker might have helped us avoid - and will help us solve - numerous challenges, from restoring trust in business to tackling climate change. He issued early warnings about excessive executive pay, the auto industry's failure to adapt and... View Details

Keywords: Judgments; Employee Relationship Management; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations

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Research Summary

Overview

I am a field researcher studying the relational nature of work. Organizations are inherently social institutions and provide myriad opportunities for relationship formation. My work begins with the simple insight that all relationships are not equal: interpersonal... View Details

Keywords: Prosocial Motivation; Feedback; Personal Development; Needs; Organizational Design; Performance Productivity; Social and Collaborative Networks; Networks; Groups and Teams; Family and Family Relationships; Food and Beverage Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Consulting Industry; Consumer Products Industry

December 2018
Case

CIR Group: Passing Wealth through the Generations

By: Lauren Cohen, Christopher J. Malloy and Elena Corsi

Rodolfo, Marco, and Edoardo De Benedetti had received from their father his controlling shares in COFIDE, a publicly listed holding company that held 45.8% of CIR Group, another publicly listed holding. The latter held majority shares in GEDI, Italy’s largest print... View Details

Keywords: Succession Planning; Transferring Shares; Wealth Management; Holding Structures; Family Ownership; Ownership Stake; Management Succession; Governing and Advisory Boards; Policy; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Health Industry; Italy

September 2024
Case

Topaz: Navigating Governance, Legacy, and Change

By: Christina R. Wing and Carla Larangeira

Since its founding in 2011, the Garza Sada brothers and their father positioned Topaz among leading family offices in Monterrey, Mexico, with several assets under management. Topaz aspired to have a transformative impact across multiple Mexican industries. An industry... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Family Business; Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Managerial Roles; Management Succession; Family Ownership; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; Education Industry; Energy Industry; Latin America; Mexico

22 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Forgiving Student Loan Debt Leads to Better Jobs, Stronger Consumers

able to manage their finances. Borrowers whose loans were forgiven reduced their total debts by about $5,000, or 26 percent, which was partly due to people increasing repayment amounts on credit cards, as well as auto and mortgage loans,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

30 Apr 2024
Book

When Managers Set Unrealistic Expectations, Employees Cut Ethical Corners

do with management. In the article, I used the case examples of Sears Auto Centers and Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation to challenge the view that individual character is fixed and unchanging, and to show how organisational factors—such as... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

15 May 2024
Research & Ideas

A Major Roadblock for Autonomous Cars: Motorists Believe They Drive Better

Think you’re a better driver than most people? You’re not alone. And you may be one reason self-driving cars haven’t taken off. About 77 percent of participants surveyed in a new study rated themselves superior to automated vehicles, while 60 percent thought other... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Auto; Auto

01 Nov 2017
What Do You Think?

What Are the Real Lessons of the Wells Fargo Case?

everything, you’re likely to find something additional.” Other events were proving Buffett to be right. It was disclosed this past July that an insurance company with which Wells Fargo had a contractual relationship had, over a period of nearly 12 years, been requiring... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Banking

13 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 13

PublicationsMisvaluing Innovation Authors:Lauren Cohen, Karl Diether, and Christopher Malloy Publication:Review of Financial Studies (forthcoming) Abstract We demonstrate that a firm's ability to innovate is predictable, persistent, and relatively simple to compute,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

GM: What Went Wrong and What’s Next

auto market in the 1950s. The industry leader, unbothered by competition and looming threats, began to coast on its former glory, however, and bypass such areas as consumer preferences and industry innovation. By February 2009, GM's... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Auto

18 Jul 2023
Research & Ideas

Will Global Demand for Oil Peak This Decade?

Is the globe’s thirst for oil finally topping out? A major international energy watcher says yes, predicting last month that demand for global oil for transport will peak around 2026, plateau for all uses by 2028, and possibly hit a zenith by the end of the decade.... View Details

Keywords: by Alvin Powell, Harvard Gazette; Energy; Industrial Products; Auto; Green Technology

October 2010 (Revised June 2014)
Case

Volkswagen do Brasil: Driving Strategy with the Balanced Scorecard

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

A new management team at VW do Brazil develops and deploys a strategy map and Balanced Scorecard to accomplish a turnaround and cultural change after eight consecutive years of financial losses and market share declines. The team uses the strategy map to align... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Developing Countries and Economies; Management Teams; Leadership; Balanced Scorecard; Strategic Planning; Balance and Stability; Motivation and Incentives; Communication Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Auto Industry; Brazil; Germany

27 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

Religion in the Workplace: What Managers Need to Know

should be careful to respect a range of religious expressions. Take the case of auto parts retailer AutoZone, which agreed to pay $75,000 for telling an employee he couldn’t wear a turban to work after converting to Sikhism. “Companies... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage; Apparel & Accessories

31 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Japan Disaster Shakes Up Supply-Chain Strategies

product at the lowest price" About 22 percent of the world's 300 mm silicon wafer supply came from the Shin-Etsu Handotai's Shirakawa plant in Fukushima prefecture, and 60 percent of critical auto parts were in the same area, says... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Auto; Auto; Auto; Auto

April 2021 (Revised August 2024)
Case

The Turnaround at Ford Motor Company

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Olivia Jung

This case describes the corporate turnaround of the Ford Motor Company under the charismatic leadership of Alan Mulally. Ford was in deep trouble in the early 2000s as its prices and debt ratings plummeted and employee morale suffered. In 2006, the company anticipated... View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Transformation; Restructuring; Organizational Culture; Leading Change; Performance Improvement; Auto Industry; North America