Outsourcing - Publications - Faculty & Research

06 Oct 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

18 Tips Managers Can Use to Lead Through COVID's Rising Waters

the hiring and onboarding process, as opposed to outsourcing most of these processes to HR. Once the staffer is hired, the hiring manager should communicate the news to the rest of the organization so their new colleagues can welcome them... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

May–June 2018
Article

Layoffs That Don't Break Your Company: Better Approaches to Workforce Transition

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta

Today layoffs have become companies’ default response to the challenges created by advances in technology and global competition. Yet research shows that job cuts rarely help senior leaders achieve their goals. Too often, they’re done for short-term gain, but the cost... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Employees; Transition; Strategic Planning

Citation

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

February 2015 (Revised August 2016)
Case

Nokia's Bridge Program: Redesigning Layoffs (A)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Susan J. Winterberg

"Not another Bochum." Nokia Board Chairman Jorma Ollila was clear in the goals he set for the 2011 restructuring that Nokia's new CEO, Stephen Elop, had decided was necessary to address the dramatically changed competitive environment the company faced in smartphones... View Details

Keywords: Layoffs; Plant Closure; Outplacement; Shared Value; Business or Company Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Restructuring; Employee Relationship Management; Telecommunications Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

25 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Why IT Does Matter

stifling differentiation, provide a stable platform to build on and offer new ways of differentiating, either by cost, structure, product, or service. Just as literacy stimulated innovation, so do open systems and grids. Outsourcing the... View Details

Keywords: by F. Warren McFarlan & Richard L. Nolan

09 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

When Benchmarks Don’t Work

for very long. After all, an outsourcer of these services enjoys economies of scale that virtually no internal support unit can hope to match. An outsourcer can shift operations to the lowest-cost regions of... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan; Service

08 Mar 2004
Research & Ideas

Creating Value in Your Business Ecosystem

larger than the companies themselves: the success of their respective business ecosystems. These loose networks—of suppliers, distributors, outsourcing firms, makers of related products or services, technology providers, and a host of... View Details

Keywords: by Marco Iansiti & Roy Levien

16 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

Has COVID-19 Broken the Global Value Chain?

paradigm behind global value chains, generally a production network, suggests that firms should outsource to the countries with the lowest overall costs. (Firms could potentially source particular intermediate inputs from only one... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

27 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

How Remote Work Changes What We Think About Onboarding

close contact with the employee throughout the hiring and onboarding process, as opposed to outsourcing most of these processes to HR. Once the staffer is hired, the hiring manager should communicate the news to the rest of the... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg

01 Feb 2021
What Do You Think?

Has the New Economy Finally Arrived?

is at least a lull in globalization. China’s economic development has increased its costs of production and reduced international price competition. Outsourcing may have seen the end of its rapid growth. And workers may belatedly be... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

15 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

The New Global Business Manager

outsourcing were symptoms of companies undergoing the biggest and most fundamental change in the corporate model, the organizational form, and the role of management in seventy-five years. Globalization is one force driving it, but so too... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

18 Feb 2019
Book

What’s Really Disrupting Business? It’s Not Technology

of Hello Alfred innovated upon the TaskRabbit model by outsourcing the management of TaskRabbit workers to personally assigned butlers, or “Al- freds.” For users, the presence of a butler on the scene allowed for a more trustworthy and... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Beauty & Cosmetics; Insurance; Service; Retail

05 Sep 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Making the Right Technical Hire

developers and 27 percent wanted sales leads, 13 percent were looking for growth marketers and 7 percent wanted front-end developers/UX/designers. Sure, it’s fine to look for a generalist [or augmenting your team with an outsourced dev... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin; Technology

01 Jul 2015
Research & Ideas

A Bank That Takes Parmesan as Collateral: The Cheese Stands a Loan

fresh milk to single-product producers, most of which are limited liability cooperatives of farmers, and most of whom outsource the maturation process to warehouse operators. Before it hits store shelves, cheese is matured for 18, 24, 30,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking; Food & Beverage

22 May 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

A Luxury Industry Veteran Teaches the Importance of Aesthetics to Budding Business Leaders

Pauline Brown offers some words of wisdom: You first need to be able to discern what’s beautiful. “Aesthetics cannot be outsourced to the creative department; it has to start with the leader,” says Brown, a senior lecturer at Harvard... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Beauty & Cosmetics; Apparel & Accessories; Auto; Tourism

January 2017
Case

Danaher Corporation, 2007–2017

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

On July 2, 2016, Danaher Corporation completed the spinoff of Fortive Corporation. The previous day, Danaher’s stock price had reached an all-time high. In 2015, Danaher had decided to split off its test and measurement, fuel and fleet management, and automation... View Details

Keywords: Danaher; Fortive; Larry Culp; Beckman Coulter; Pall; Life Sciences; Diagnostics; Environmental Operations; Water Management; Dental; Testing; Measurement; Fuel; Fleet Management; Automation; Toolmaking; Tools; Disease Management; Continuous Improvement; Toyota Production System; Divestiture; Spinoffs; Spin-off; Networks; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Business Subsidiaries; Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Joint Ventures; Restructuring; Engineering; Chemicals; Construction; Machinery and Machining; Profit; Revenue; Globalized Firms and Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Medical Specialties; Business History; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Practices and Processes; Management Succession; Management Systems; Resource Allocation; Market Entry and Exit; Measurement and Metrics; Logistics; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Science; Genetics; Natural Environment; Wastes and Waste Processing; Science-Based Business; Opportunities; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Technology; Software; Technology Networks; Technology Platform; Value; Valuation; Aerospace Industry; Auto Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Chemical Industry; Computer Industry; Construction Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Health Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Retail Industry; Rubber Industry; Semiconductor Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Utilities Industry; United States; District of Columbia

Citation

Educators

Purchase

09 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Leadership Lessons of the Great Recession: Options for Economic Downturns

With global markets in turmoil over the last several weeks, leaders throughout the world are starting to think about how they should respond if confronted with an economic downturn. Yet what do we know about how leaders decide what to do when demand suddenly falls? And... View Details

Keywords: by Sandra Sucher & Susan Winterberg; Aerospace; Electronics

17 Dec 2007
Research & Ideas

The Rise of Medical Tourism

the U.S. medical profession are still large. In India, the same depth of pool of engineering and mathematical talent for software, offshoring, and outsourcing is there for medicine, too. In the 1950s and '60s, the Indian government... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Health; Medical Devices & Supplies

15 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Businesses Beware: The World Is Not Flat

words. Outsourcing often triggers negative vibes, as former Bush economic adviser Greg Mankiw discovered. So does globalization, which, according to U.S. pollster Frank Luntz, "frightens older workers." (Luntz recommends talking... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

25 Mar 2015
HBS Case

Tate’s Digital Makeover Transforms the Traditional Museum

its voice. Outsourcing social media content creation is often a bad idea." A Re-tweet's Worth Despite the obvious success that Tate has had in engaging new audiences, determining the actual return on investment of its new online... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Education

January 2021 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Best Buy's Corie Barry: Confronting the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: William W. George and Amram Migdal

This case examines the leadership of Corie Barry, the new CEO of Best Buy, with a focus on actions the company took in 2020 to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. The case includes a history of Best Buy’s strategy and leadership, including the transitions between the... View Details