Publications

May 1993 (Revised July 1995)
Case

Air Miles

By: John A. Quelch

The chairman and CEO of a U.K.-based frequent buyer travel award program is planning on launching in North America. Management must determine the marketing strategy to be used, specifically how the U.K. program should be altered, whether the U.S. and Canadian markets... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Service Delivery; Market Entry and Exit; Adaptation; Product Launch; Service Industry; Canada; United Kingdom; United States

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February 2009 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Upgrading the Economy: Industrial Policy and Taiwan's Semiconductor Industry

By: Willy C. Shih and Jyun-Cheng Wang

The government-led creation and incubation of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan is a striking success for advocates of strong industrial policy. It has led to the island nation's domination of the global "foundry" business in which firms like Taiwan Semiconductor... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Industry Structures; State Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Competition; Semiconductor Industry; Taiwan

25 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

The Secret Life of Supply Chains

suppliers, and seems to have implications for policies that promote innovation and good jobs,” says the study’s coauthor, Harvard Business School Senior Fellow Karen Mills. For example, the research challenges the focus on reviving the View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Manufacturing; Manufacturing

April 2005 (Revised June 2005)
Compilation

Boeing 787: The Dreamliner

By: Richard L. Nolan and Suresh Kotha

Boeing dominated the commercial airline manufacturing business since bringing out the first commercial airline jet airliner. But in 2005, it delivered fewer new planes than its fast-moving competitor, Airbus. Boeing responded by transforming its manufacturing business... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Risk Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

February 2017 (Revised November 2021)
Case

Digitalization at Siemens

By: David J. Collis and Tonia Junker

The case discusses the digitalization strategy of Siemens AG, a German-based company operating in manufacturing and electronics. The increasing impact of digital technologies on all of its business units had prompted CEO Joe Kaeser and his team to put digitalization at... View Details

Keywords: Company Management; Digital Technologies; Corporate Strategy; Competition; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry

2025
Working Paper

Markups and Cost Pass-through Along the Supply Chain

By: Santiago Alvarez-Blaser, Alberto Cavallo, Alexander MacKay and Paolo Mengano

We study markups and pricing strategies along the supply chain. Our unique dataset combines detailed price and cost information from a large global manufacturer with matched retail prices collected online for the period July 2018 through June 2023. We show that total... View Details

Keywords: Markups; Pricing; Price; Supply Chain; Inflation and Deflation; Cost

SSRN

March 2006 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Harley-Davidson: Preparing for the Next Century

By: Richard L. Nolan and Suresh Kotha

Harley-Davidson Co. exemplifies a remarkable management-led business transformation of a long standing manufacturing company. The company successfully met global competition and continues to innovate to maintain its market position. View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Transformation; Change Management; Innovation and Invention; Competitive Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry

October 1996 (Revised December 1996)
Case

United Electric Controls

By: H. Kent Bowen, Jody H. Gittell and Sylvie Ryckebusch

United Electric Controls (UE) was a small, traditional family-owned manufacturing company when Dave Reis, the youngest member of the Reis family, took over the business. This case describes Reis's efforts to change UE's traditional work practices in order to make the... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Family Business; Production; Business Strategy; Human Resources; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Decisions; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

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Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Willy C. Shih

Professor Shih has taught the Technology and Operations Management (TOM) course and FIELD Global Immersion in the first-year MBA required curriculum. He also has taught Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise (BSSE) in the second-year MBA curriculum, as well as... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Operations Management; Operations Strategy; Globalization Of Supply Chain; Competitiveness; Globalization; Trade; Operations; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; China; Europe; Japan

May 2010 (Revised May 2013)
Case

C.K. Claridge, Inc.

By: James K. Sebenius

Sued for patent infringement, chemical manufacturer C.K. Claridge tries to design a settlement strategy taking into account a decision analysis of litigating v. negotiating. The plaintiffs are the patent holder and its sole licensee, who is also a CKC competitor. (This... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; Negotiation Style; Negotiation Tactics; Chemical Industry

July 2014
Case

Paramount Equipment, Inc.

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Wei Wang

Paramount Equipment, Inc., based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is a large manufacturer of cranes and compact construction equipment, aerial work platforms, and food service equipment. Founded in 1987, Paramount now had manufacturing operations in 24 countries. However, it... View Details

December 2010 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Logoplaste: Global Growing Challenges

By: Juan Alcacer and Anthony John Morrison Leitao

In 2010, Logoplaste, a top 10 manufacturer of rigid plastic containers, was debating a more dramatic expansion strategy as a means to guarantee the company's continued success. The company, which began with a few plants in Portugal in the 1990s, now had 60 plants... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Global Range; Global Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Expansion

November 2006 (Revised August 2008)
Case

Lincoln Electric

By: Jordan I. Siegel

The case describes Lincoln Electric's business strategy and incentive system, and it discusses the global strategy choices that the company faces going forward. Lincoln Electric is deciding whether a strong push into India should be the next step in the company's... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Expansion; India

22 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Bringing ‘Lean’ Principles to Service Industries

Thanks to the pioneering success of Toyota, the concept of a "lean" operating system has been implemented in countless manufacturing companies and even adapted for industries as diverse as insurance and healthcare. With its... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Computer

October 2003 (Revised December 2020)
Case

Globalizing Consumer Durables: Singer Sewing Machine before 1914

By: Geoffrey Jones and David Kiron

Examines the global strategy of Singer, one of the world's first multinationals, before 1914. Singer, a U.S. pioneer of the modern sewing machine, established its first foreign factory in Scotland in 1867. Investments followed in manufacturing and marketing in other... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Multinational Firms and Management; Global Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Globalization