Publications

October 2019
Case

Feeling Machines: Emotion AI at Affectiva

By: Shane Greenstein and John Masko

In 2016, Affectiva—a Boston-based emotion AI software company with a long track record of building emotion-sensing software for market research—had attempted to expand into new verticals by releasing a mobile software development kit (SDK) that downloaders could adapt... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Market Research; Business Model; Finance; Revenue; Decision Making; Risk and Uncertainty; Market Entry and Exit; Applications and Software; AI and Machine Learning; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

April 2014
Case

Ford Motor Company: Blueprint for Mobility

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Marco Iansiti and Noah Fisher

Mark Fields, Ford Motor Company's COO, had to ensure the company's current business model of building cars and trucks remained strong, while concurrently navigating the company into the rapidly expanding industry of personal mobility. Personal mobility required new... View Details

Keywords: Automobiles; Automobile Manufacturing; Ford Motor Company; Mark Fields; Blueprint For Mobility; Dearborn; Michigan; Car Sharing; Parking; On-demand Ride Sharing; Strategy; Business Model; Auto Industry; Michigan; United States

05 Jul 2022
What Do You Think?

Have We Seen the Peak of Just-in-Time Inventory Management?

then exploded in our collective faces." US auto manufacturers, following Toyota’s lead, were at times maintaining just half a day of inventory of some parts supplied domestically—until the pandemic. What we had come to take for granted... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Manufacturing; Shipping; Transportation

September 1992 (Revised September 1995)
Case

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, U.S.A., Inc.

On May 1, 1992, Doug Friesen, manager of assembly for Toyota's Georgetown, Kentucky, plant, faces a problem with the seats installed in the plant's sole product--Camrys. A growing number of cars are sitting off-line with defective seats or are missing them entirely.... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Production; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Kentucky

July 2019
Case

Autonomous Vehicles: Smooth or Bumpy Ride Ahead?

By: Elie Ofek and Akhil Waghmare

In early 2019, transportation was set to undergo a major transformation with the advent of autonomous vehicles (AVs), also referred to as driverless cars, which were nearing completion from an R&D and testing phase. Yet many questions remained open regarding exactly... View Details

Keywords: Transportation; Technological Innovation; Disruptive Innovation; Transformation; Technology Adoption; Business Model; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Transportation Industry; Transportation Industry

25 Jun 2012
Research & Ideas

Collaborating Across Cultures

a "snake." The story illustrates a common challenge to Hollywood filmmakers as they attempt to break into China's more than $2 billion-a-year film market—and to businesspeople in all industries as foreign markets become increasingly... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

20 Sep 2019
Research & Ideas

Solving the Riddle of How Companies Grow Over Time

“VW has been leading the automotive industry for a long time, without a lot of variance in its growth rate,” he notes. Lessons for leaders Companies would do well to understand those industry variations when... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Manufacturing

February 2010 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Re-THINK-ing THINK: The Electric Car Company

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron

On January 5, 2010, 48-year-old Richard Canny was on his way to meet the governor of Indiana. He was reading his newly issued press release announcing that THINK planned to start automobile production in Elkhart County, Indiana to launch its THINK City battery-operated... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Global Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Product Development; Production; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability; Auto Industry; Auto Industry; Norway; Indiana

Web

The 20th Century Zeitgeist - Leadership

steam engine, electricity, and openhearth furnace allows businesses to expand nationwide Influence: Medium 10 1910 s 19 First widespread use of auto assembly line Self-starter increases popularity of automobile Influence: Medium-High 20... View Details

April 2022
Case

NIO: A Chinese EV Company's Global Strategy

By: William C. Kirby, Shu Lin and Noah B. Truwit

Founded in November 2014 and based in Shanghai, NIO designed, jointly manufactured, and sold premium “smart” EVs. Its mission was to “shape a joyful lifestyle by offering high-performance smart electric vehicles and being the best user enterprise. At NIO Day 2021,... View Details

Keywords: Electric Vehicles; Expansion; Technological Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Green Technology; Auto Industry; China; Europe; Norway

July 2013
Case

Jackson Automotive Systems

By: William E. Fruhan and Wei Wang

Jackson Automotive Systems produces automotive parts for advanced heating and air conditioning systems, engine cooling systems, fuel injection and transfer systems, and various other engine parts and it supplies them to the automotive industry primarily in Michigan.... View Details

Keywords: Production; Financial Crisis; Corporate Finance; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan

01 Jun 2024
News

Alumni Achievement Awards 2024

Photographed by Susan Young; Edited by Julia Hanna MORE ON THE RECIPIENTS Read more about the 2024 recipients, and learn about past recipients. ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS SITE MORE ON THE RECIPIENTS Read more about the 2024 recipients, and learn about past recipients.... View Details

24 Nov 2015
Research & Ideas

Developing Your Next CEO for the Family Business

aggressive change agents. The Non-Family Outsider Non-Family Outsider Alan Mulally (See Fig. 1) had the deep skills and experience needed to change and then grow Ford Motor Company in the worst period ever for the auto View Details

Keywords: Re: Andi Wang; Auto; Auto

July 2014 (Revised December 2016)
Case

EcoMotors International

By: John D. Macomber and Hermes Alvarez

Eco-Motors, funded in part by Khosla Ventures, has to decide how to go to market with a new technology for internal combustion engines for automotive and industrial use. The OPOC engine has opposed pistons and is a two-stroke engine, as compared to a more traditional... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Business Model; Customer Value and Value Chain; Engineering; Manufacturing Industry; Green Technology Industry; Auto Industry

27 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

The Hidden Cost of a Product Recall

health care, these new findings could apply broadly to any company that invests heavily in R&D, even those in industries that lack a formal recall process. “Whether your firm is making phones or drones or self-driving cars, recalls... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Auto; Auto; Auto; Auto

24 May 2018
Research & Ideas

Distance Still Matters in Business, Despite the Internet

locations differ in their ability to support the frontier, but also due to standard agglomeration. Different industries use different aspects of the internet, and industries tend to agglomerate in some... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Transportation; Telecommunications; Shipping; Publishing; Technology

02 Aug 2022
Research & Ideas

6 Strategies for Building Socially Responsible—and Profitable—Companies

A dozen years ago, Harvard Business School Professor George Serafeim wondered why some companies operated with an eye toward the greater good, while most did not. Back then, he always got the same response: Corporate leaders thought social and environmental practices... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

October 2022 (Revised July 2025)
Case

Driving Decarbonization at BMW

By: Shirley Lu, George Serafeim and Michael W. Toffel

The case describes BMW’s electrification and decarbonization strategy, and how the company measured carbon emissions throughout the life cycle of its vehicles and used tools like carbon abatement cost curves to evaluate decarbonization opportunities. In mid-2022,... View Details