Publications

July 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Advanced Micro Devices: Competing in the Shadow of a Giant (A)

By: Willy C. Shih and Andrew A. King

As the only significant competitor to Intel Corporation in PC microprocessors, Advanced Micro Devices faced daunting investment choices. Not only did it have to fund microprocessor design teams, it also had to fund silicon process R&D, and it faced huge capital... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Operations; Partners and Partnerships; Competitive Strategy; Technology Industry

May 2008
Teaching Note

Radical Collaboration: IBM Microelectronics Joint Development Alliances (TN)

By: Willy C. Shih and Andrew A. King

Teaching Note for [608121]. View Details

Keywords: Semiconductor Industry

January 2008
Article

Innovation Killers: How Financial Tools Destroy Your Capacity to Do New Things

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Stephen P. Kaufman and Willy C. Shih

Most companies aren't half as innovative as their senior executives want them to be (or as their marketing claims suggest they are). What's stifling innovation? There are plenty of usual suspects, but the authors finger three financial tools as key accomplices.... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Prejudice and Bias; Value Creation

July 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Background Note

Horizontal Specialization and Modularity in the Semiconductor Industry

By: Willy C. Shih, Chintay Shih and Chen-Fu Chien

Well-codified interfaces have enabled horizontal specialization in the global semiconductor industry. This Technical Note describes the modern integrated circuit value chain, and the motivation for the reuse of blocks of intellectual property in modern IC designs. It... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Intellectual Property; Industry Structures; Horizontal Integration; Semiconductor Industry

Educators

September 2016 (Revised August 2018)
Supplement

United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying?: Case Supplement #1

By: Ryan W. Buell, Willy C. Shih and Michael W. Toffel

This spreadsheet supplement accompanies 617-010 United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying? and is intended to provide students with an opportunity to apply analysis concepts with real operational data. View Details

Keywords: Service; Service Excellence; Service Management; Operating Systems; Operational Complexity; Operational Disruptions; Operational Efficiency; Operational Focus; Air Transportation; Operations; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Air Transportation Industry; United States

17 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 17

and the Automotive Microcontroller Supply Chain (A) Willy Shih and Margaret PiersonHarvard Business School Case 612-071 The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan in March 2011 caused extensive damage to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2025 (Revised February 2025)
Teaching Note

Vanguard Retail Operations

By: Antonio Moreno, Willy C. Shih and Margaret Underwood

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 620-104. View Details

November 2016
Supplement

United Airlines Operations

By: Ryan W. Buell, Willy C. Shih and Michael W. Toffel

This video is a collection of clips that highlight aspects of United Airlines' operations View Details

Keywords: Service; Service Delivery; Service Management; Service Operations; Service Quality; Operating Systems; Operational Complexity; Operational Disruptions; Operational Effectiveness; Operational Efficiency; Air Transportation; Operations; Air Transportation Industry

August 2008
Case

System on a Chip 2008: Ardentec Corporation

By: Willy C. Shih, Chen-Fu Chien, Chintay Shih and Ting-Chen Chen

Ardentec Corporation is a specialist in "wafer probing," a highly specialized niche sandwiched between the "front-end" and the "back-end" of semiconductor manufacturing. Because the semiconductor industry uses modular processes and has standard containers for the... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Manufacturing Industry; Semiconductor Industry

02 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 2, 2010

interests at the IASB, the standard setting body for IFRS. Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/111028-PDF-ENG Alnylam Pharmaceuticals: Building Value from the IP Estate Willy Shih and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 9

this time. Read the article: http://hbr.org/2012/10/great-leaders-dont-need-experience/ar/1 Working PapersTeam Scaffolds: How Minimal In-Group Structures Support Fast-Paced Teaming Authors:Melissa Valentine and Amy C. Edmondson Abstract... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2020
Technical Note

Comparing Two Groups: Sampling and t-Testing

By: Iavor I Bojinov, Chiara Farronato, Yael Grushka-Cockayne, Willy C. Shih and Michael W. Toffel

This note describes sampling and t-tests, two fundamental statistical concepts. View Details

Keywords: Statistics; Econometric Analyses; Experimental Methods; Data Analysis; Data Analytics; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Surveys; Mathematical Methods

Educators