Publications

2012
Book

Producing Prosperity: Why America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance

By: Gary P. Pisano and Willy Shih

For years—even decades—in response to intensifying global competition, American companies decided to outsource their manufacturing operations in order to reduce costs. But we are now seeing the alarming long-term effect of those choices: in many cases, once... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Production; Competitive Advantage; Transformation; Innovation and Invention; Manufacturing Industry; United States

12 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Solving COVID'S Mental Health Crisis

Prevention programs disrupted "The pandemic threatens to dismantle all the gains made in the US in the recent six-year fight against opioids and heroin,” says Jim Langford (HBS MBA 1984), Executive Director of the Georgia Prevention... View Details

Keywords: by Howard Stevenson and Shirley Spence; Health

February 2011
Case

ABICI

By: Mukti Khaire, Elena Corsi and Elisa Farri

The co-founder of an Italian, design based bicycle manufacturer evaluates if reducing costs by outsourcing would impact its brand. The company was founded in 2005 in Italy by three friends and in its first five years, it had enjoyed steady growth and built a strong... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Entrepreneurship; Profit; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Brands and Branding; Product Design; Product Development; Production; Bicycle Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Italy

02 Nov 2016
Op-Ed

Government and Financial Tech Can Fix Cash Woes for Small Businesses

to their cash reserves. Couple this with the fact that small businesses create approximately 60 percent of the net new jobs in our country, and file about 14 times more patents per employee than their larger... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills

Web

Women's Leadership in Technology and Finance - Blog: RGE Report

achieve cutting edge innovation or build a great business in isolation. Get comfortable with your peers, both in and out of a workplace setting . Learn how to generate ideas View Details

08 Dec 2008
Research & Ideas

Thinking Twice About Supply-Chain Layoffs

potential profit drivers rather than the first troops to cut in a downturn. Ton's working paper, "The Effect of Labor on Profitability: The Role of Quality", examines how mundane activities such as stocking shelves, setting up displays,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

09 Aug 2017
Blog Post

"A Balance Between Autonomy and Resources to Help Me Learn."

supply chain. Reflecting on the search experience, Jon noted “The big, important thing was figuring out what I was most interested in. There are a lot of things you can prioritize, like lining up your first job after graduation, or... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing

1997
Chapter

Environmental Determinants of Work Motivation, Creativity, and Innovation: The Case of R&D Downsizing

By: T. M. Amabile and R. Conti

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Research and Development; Working Conditions; Motivation and Incentives; Creativity; Innovation and Invention

January 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Cat is out of the Bag, The: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A)

By: Leslie A. Perlow and David Ager

Vicki Amon-Higa, vice president of KANA, a publicly traded, midsize development company, was working with Bryan Kettle, KANA's CFO, to plan a layoff in which KANA would reduce the size of its workforce by nearly 40%. Despite the best of intentions, news of the layoff... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Employees; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Problems and Challenges; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Conflict Management

09 Aug 2021
Research & Ideas

OneTen: Creating a New Pathway for Black Talent

opportunities and resources, hurting their college enrollment and cutting them off from careers that could raise their standard of living. After all, American public schools... View Details

Keywords: by Rawi E. Abdelal, Katherine Connolly Baden, and Boris Groysberg

29 Nov 2004
Research & Ideas

Caves, Clusters, and Weak Ties: The Six Degrees World of Inventors

about these ideas. We gathered thirty years of U.S. patent data and wrote up some code that identifies the inventors and links them to each other for three million patents and... View Details

Keywords: by Sara Grant; Publishing

14 Feb 2016
News

Why being too nice to new staff can store up problems

07 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

The Case for Combating Climate Change with Nuclear Power and Fracking

will do a much cheaper, faster job of attacking our energy and environment problems than having politicians and regulators try to solve them by selecting technologies or... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities

December 2010 (Revised June 2014)
Supplement

eBay Partner Network — slide supplement

By: Benjamin Edelman

eBay considers adjustments to the structure and rules of its affiliate marketing program, eBay Partner Network (ePN). In particular, eBay reevaluates affiliate compensation structure, the role of bonuses for especially productive affiliates, and the overall rationale... View Details

Keywords: History; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Internet and the Web; Markets; Marketing Channels; Negotiation Participants; Marketing; Compensation and Benefits; Service Industry

09 Sep 2024
HBS Case

McDonald’s and the Post #MeToo Rules of Sex in the Workplace

job and getting banned from serving as an executive or director at any other company for five years. This consensual workplace relationship—forbidden under the iconic fast-food chain’s fraternization policy... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Food & Beverage

08 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

The Height Tax, and Other New Ways to Think about Taxation

can earn in an hour of work. Therefore, if height is taxed, you are taxing ability directly, so you can cut the economic pie more equally without it shrinking." Both topping six feet, Weinzierl and... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

August 2012
Case

Danshui Plant No. 2

By: William Bruns, Julie H. Hertenstein and Kelvin Liu

Danshui Plant No. 2 in southern China has a one-year contract with Apple Inc. to assemble 2.4 million iPhones. In the first three months of the contract, the plant is unable to assemble as many phones as expected and is operating at a loss. The plant manager must... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Production; Budgets and Budgeting; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry; China

September 2008 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Tong Lung Metal Industry Co., Ltd.

By: Willy C. Shih, Chintay Shih, Chen-Fu Chien, Ho Howard Yu and Yu-Shian Chiang

Develop its own branded line, or continue as an original design manufacturer (ODM)? Tung Lung Metal Industries Co. Ltd. is a Taiwanese maker of door lock hardware that is faced with the question of whether to continue to focus on its ODM business or start placing more... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Brands and Branding; Corporate Strategy; Industrial Products Industry; Taiwan