Publications

November 1995
Background Note

Reengineering a Business Process

By: Richard L. Nolan and Thomas H. Davenport

Describes the six steps included in most reengineering initiatives: selecting the processes for reengineering; identifying change enablers; developing a business vision of process objectives; understanding and measuring existing processes; designing and prototyping the... View Details

Keywords: Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Change Management; Measurement and Metrics

December 2012
Article

The Microwork Solution: A New Approach to Outsourcing Can Support Economic Development—and Add to Your Bottom Line

By: Francesca Gino and Bradely R. Staats

What's the best way to lift people out of poverty? The social entrepreneurs in the new "impact sourcing" industry believe the answer is providing work, not aid. Their organizations hire people at the bottom of the pyramid to perform digital tasks such as transcribing... View Details

Keywords: Outsourcing; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Nonprofit Organizations; Partners and Partnerships; Development Economics; Social Entrepreneurship; Welfare; Cooperation; San Francisco

Read Now

April 1993 (Revised June 1993)
Background Note

Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change

Provides a conceptual framework for understanding business process redesign and change management. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Information Technology; Business Processes

1995
Book

Business Policy: Managing Strategic Processes

By: Joseph L. Bower, Christopher A. Bartlett, Hugo Uyterhoeven and Richard E. Walton

Keywords: Policy; Management; Strategy

Research Summary

The Process of Managing Business Transformation

By: Richard L. Nolan

Richard L. Nolan is examining the process of business transformation, which he characterizes as the creative destruction of industrial economy management principles and the evolution of a set of workable management principles for the information economy. According to... View Details

1994
Article

Lead-Time Models of Business Processes

By: Roberto Verganti

1995
Book

Business Policy: Managing Strategic Processes

By: Joseph L. Bower, Hugo E.R. Uyterhoeven and Richard E. Walton

Keywords: Policy; Management; Strategy

01 Sep 2004
News

Outsourcing for Radical Change

outsourcing business may be of this nature. Many examples in your book come from outside the United States. Are other nations more advanced in using outsourcing for... View Details

Keywords: Laura Singleton; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

10 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

Learning Curve: Making the Most of Outsourcing

think," says Robert S. Huckman, the Albert J. Weatherhead III Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. "In particular, when this type of work is View Details

Keywords: by Paul Guttry; Health

16 May 2008
News

Harvard Business School CIO's hiring process

November 1995
Background Note

Business Process Reengineering: Its Past, Present, and Possible Future

Explores the origins of reengineering; its evolution during the 1980s and 1990s; the current state of reengineering, which is prevalent in business today; and several possible futures of reengineering, specifically in relation to process management, knowledge work, and... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Business Processes

August 1993
Case

USAA: Business Process Review for the Great Lakes Region

By: James L. Heskett and Roger H. Hallowell

USAA proposes to develop a new set of processes for its property and casualty division. The case focuses on processes used in automobile claims. View Details

Keywords: Business Processes; Insurance Industry; United States

14 Dec 2022
News

Santa Claus Debates Whether to Outsource Toy Production

19 Feb 2019
News

Global Migration and Offshore Outsourcing

November 1990 (Revised March 1994)
Case

Digital Equipment Corp.: The Kodak Outsourcing Agreement (A)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Herminia M. Ibarra

Describes grassroots effort which culminated in Digital's winning a competitive bid for the outsourcing of Kodak's internal telecommunications business. Describes the "Telstar" project, from the initial identification of the business opportunity to the process of... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Partners and Partnerships; Leading Change; Agreements and Arrangements; Business or Company Management; Bids and Bidding; Decision Making; Management Teams; Telecommunications Industry

25 Oct 2012
News

Has America Outsourced Too Much?

04 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

Should You Outsource Your Marketing?

outsource most of their marketing activities. The benefits to business include cost savings and improved quality. Additionally, many firms lack "left-brain" analytical skills in-house, even though... View Details

Keywords: by Poping Lin

29 Dec 2010
News

The Mistaken Attack on Outsourcing

September 1995 (Revised March 2023)
Background Note

Process Fundamentals

By: Ann E. Gray and James Leonard

This note provides an introduction for a course or module covering the basic elements of production or service operations and how processes are managed. Begins by discussing the activities that take place in a "process." Analysis tools such as the process flow diagram... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Operations; Management; Business Processes; Analysis