Publications

Find at Harvard

March 2011 (Revised April 2021)
Case

The Whiz Kids

By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen

In October 1945, Henry Ford II received a telegram in his office at the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan written by Charles "Tex" Thornton, a U.S. Air Force colonel. The telegram presented an opportunity for Ford to deploy a system of statistical control which... View Details

Keywords: Ford Motor Company; Statistical Control; Management Systems; Accounting; Operations; Strategy; Mathematical Methods; Auto Industry; United States

March 1992 (Revised November 1993)
Background Note

Trading the Right to Pollute: Developing the Market for Pollution Allowances

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Examines the issues underlying the formation of the market for tradeable pollution allowances, following the requirement of Title IV of the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act. Examines the implications that these trade the allowances hold for the U.S. electric... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Pollutants; Trade; Utilities Industry

Find at Harvard

June 2020 (Revised October 2020)
Case

What Went Wrong with Boeing's 737 Max?

By: William W. George and Amram Migdal

This case describes the development of the Boeing 737 Max airplane model and the events leading up to two tragic plane crashes, in which a total of 346 people died: the crash of Lion Air flight 610 on October 29, 2018, in Indonesia, and the crash of Ethiopian Airlines... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Communication Intention and Meaning; Communication Strategy; Forms of Communication; Announcements; Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Globalization; Global Strategy; Governance; Corporate Accountability; Governance Controls; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Leadership; Leadership Style; Management; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Management Practices and Processes; Management Skills; Management Style; Management Systems; Risk Management; Time Management; Markets; Demand and Consumers; Digital Platforms; Supply and Industry; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Industry Structures; Operations; Product Development; Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Outcome or Result; Failure; Success; Planning; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Relationships; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Strategy; Transportation; Air Transportation; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; Africa; Ethiopia; Asia; Indonesia; North and Central America; United States; Seattle; Chicago

October 2017 (Revised October 2022)
Case

JetBlue: Relevant Sustainability Leadership

By: George Serafeim and David Freiberg

In 2017, JetBlue, the airline founded on the mission to “bring humanity back to air travel,” was considering becoming one of the first companies to report its sustainability performance according to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards. SASB... View Details

February 2022 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Lilium: Preparing for Takeoff

By: Navid Mojir, Vincent Dessain, Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej and Emer Moloney

Lilium is a German company focused on developing electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs) that can be used to offer air taxi services. The company went public in September 2021 through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal, raising more than... View Details

Willy Shih is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Management Practice in Business Administration. He is part of the Technology and Operations Management Unit, and he teaches in the MBA and Executive Education Programs. His expertise is in manufacturing, product... View Details

Keywords: industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods; industrial goods

January 2006 (Revised July 2016)
Case

Gordon Bethune at Continental Airlines

By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony Mayo and Mark Benson

A $385 million loss for the final months of fiscal year 1994 signaled Continental might go bankrupt. Could new CEO Gordon Bethune turn Continental around? Continental was in dire straits because the deregulation of the commercial airline industry in 1978 ushered in a... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Profit; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Improvement; Labor and Management Relations; Air Transportation Industry

13 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Can We Get To Where We Need To Go?

first time a wide range of top industry CEOs, government leaders, and customers of transportation services, was designed to help provide that purpose by assessing the state of the industry, identifying... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Transportation; Transportation; Transportation

Research Summary

Overview

In my research historical inquiry plays an important part in understanding the continuities from the pre-1949 past and the complex convergence of business institutions in the process of China’s current economic, political, and social modernization. Historians are able... View Details

Keywords: Business History; China; Business Government Relations; Entrepreneurs; Family Business; Industrial Development; Infrastructure; Transportation; Entrepreneurship; History; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Asia

01 Apr 2021
Blog Post

An Aerospace Engineer Provides a Lift for Underrepresented Innovators and Entrepreneurs

her professor couldn’t come up with a design that worked with such low wind speeds. Shodiya was intrigued by the world of research despite those setbacks. But she decided to switch gears and gain experience in the air View Details

May 1992 (Revised January 2000)
Supplement

ABB: Accountability Times Two (A)

By: Robert L. Simons

Describes the complexity of setting and reconciling performance targets in a global, matrix company. The president of the Finnish industry and rail transport company has received targets from two bosses--his regional superior and his business area superior. Each has... View Details

Keywords: Performance Expectations; Complexity; Multinational Firms and Management; Finland

January 2021
Supplement

What Went Wrong with Boeing’s 737 Max? (B)

By: William W. George and Amram Migdal

Following the March 10, 2019, crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, en route to Nairobi, Kenya and the October 29, 2018, downing of Lion Air flight 610 as it took off from Jakarta, Indonesia, Boeing’s 737 Max jet, the model flown in both instances, was grounded by... View Details

April 2016
Case

Detroit: On the Right Track?

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Manjari Raman

As this case opens in 2012, a cross-sector alliance to bring new rail transport to the Motor City seems about to collapse, and civic leaders have one last chance to save it. The case covers the rise of Detroit, the city’s devastating fall, and the ongoing potential... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Rail Transportation; Infrastructure; Transportation Industry; Michigan

Research Summary

Knowledge Spillovers and Growth

Professor King and colleagues investigate the role of knowledge spillovers and externalities in the dramatic disagglomeration and growth of the advertising agency industry following World War II. High demand, low wages, and externalities associated with clusters of... View Details

November 2023
Case

Tata Group in 2021: Pursuing Profits through Purpose

By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Vidhya Muthuram

October 8, 2021: Tata Sons won a bid to acquire India’s national carrier Air India, marking the airline's return to its original owners after 68 long years. The winning bid of $2.4 billion gave Tata Sons full ownership of the airline and its coveted network of 6,200... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Emerging Markets; Mergers and Acquisitions; Ownership; Air Transportation; Air Transportation Industry; India

September 2016 (Revised July 2018)
Case

United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying?

By: Ryan W. Buell, Willy Shih and Mike Toffel

This case looks at United Airlines when it is facing a decision on whether to shift its aircraft routing to more "out-and-back" routing in order to try to improve its on-time performance. As one of the world's largest airlines, United had a very large fleet and... View Details

20 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Airplane Design Brings Out the Class Warfare in Us All

football stadium, a cruise ship—where people are segmented by rank of some sort. Norton co-authored the study, Physical and Situational Inequality on Airplanes Predicts Air Rage, with Katherine A. DeCelles, an associate professor of... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Air Transportation; Air Transportation; Air Transportation

Article

Healthy Buildings in 2070

By: John D. Macomber and Joseph G. Allen

Fifty years seems a very long time in the future for most industries. Not so in buildings and real estate; built structures routinely last decades if not hundreds of years, as long as they are economically competitive. Any discussion of the 50-year future has to... View Details

Keywords: Health ＆ Wellness; Real Estate; Architectural Innovation; Public Health; Health; Buildings and Facilities; Well-being

Read Now

Article

The Electrified Future Is Shared: Mobility Services and Electrification's Pace, Shape

By: Jurgen Weiss

The article examines the potential impacts of new mobility services such as ride sharing and ride hailing on the speed and depth of electrification of personal transportation. The article explores how a shift of transportation towards shared mobility services might... View Details

Keywords: Mobility; Electric Vehicle; Autonomous Vehicles; Electricity Demand; Energy; Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry