Publications

September 2019 (Revised May 2020)
Supplement

Keroche (F): Future Growth Plans

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding

This case describes Keroche co-founder Tabitha Karanja’s 2012 decision to invest in additional production capacity. In November 2012, with a loan from Barclay’s bank, Keroche began constructing a new state-of-the-art beer brewery using German technology. The new plant,... View Details

February 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Steinhoff International and the Stock Exchange

By: Siko Sikochi and Austin Lim

Nicky Newton-King, the Chief Executive Officer of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), was put in a difficult position. A scandal had broken out at Steinhoff, a JSE-listed company, under her watch and there were calls to suspend listing of the company securities from... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Financial Reporting; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Markets; Corporate Governance; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Africa; South Africa

April 1995 (Revised September 1997)
Case

Frito-Lay, Inc.: A Strategic Transition, 1987-1992 (Abridged)

By: Lynda M. Applegate

A new CEO must take action to return the company to profitability, to clarify the vision, and then to build the infrastructure (human, capital, and information) needed to support the long-term change in strategy and organization. The case provides a rich description of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Leading Change; Information Technology; Adaptation; Technology Adoption; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry

December 1999 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Introducing New Coke

On April 23, 1985, the Coca-Cola Co. announced a decision that would rock the world. The old Coke formula would be taken off the market and replaced with a smoother, sweeter taste. The reaction of the American people was immediate and violent, causing three months of... View Details

Keywords: Failure; Product Development; Brands and Branding; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry

July 1986 (Revised August 1986)
Case

Frito-Lay, Inc.: Funding for Information Systems

Frito-Lay, Inc., a large snack foods company, has adopted a new method for allocating information systems resources. The method and its rationale are described in detail, along with user reactions. The new scheme is simple, but is it an improvement? Will it be... View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Information Technology; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry

Find at Harvard

August 1990
Case

Giovanni Buton: International Marketing Strategy

Describes the situation confronting Giovanni Buton, an Italian distiller and beverage distributor, in 1989. The market for distilled spirits was declining and the spirits industry was consolidating via mergers and acquisitions on a worldwide basis. "Global brands" such... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Italy; European Union

February 2023 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

In July 2019, Graphic Packaging CEO Michael Doss was proposing a $600 million investment in a new machine to produce coated recycled board (CRB), a type of paper packaging used for consumer products (cups, cereal boxes, beverage boxes, etc.) that utilized recycled... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Growth Management; Demand and Consumers; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Value Creation; Supply and Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; North America

Career Coach

Ron Peracchio

Ron (MBA, Boston College '89) has over 22 years of experience counseling MBA students on a full range of career topics. He has worked at HBS for over 17 years in MBA Program Administration, the Business & Environment Initiative, Student & Academic Services and... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Manufacturing

01 Mar 2006
News

Drive-In Nation

a dealer’s back lot, it will nonetheless embody a defining moment in a global race for supremacy. Manufactured by Toyota, this is the car that will propel the Japanese company ahead of General Motors as the world’s largest automaker, a... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers; Retail Trade

29 Jun 2015
HBS Case

Consumer-centered Health Care Depends on Accessible Medical Records

Quelch and Rodriguez wrote a case in May about Philips, which started in 1891 as a light bulb manufacturer in the Netherlands and, more recently, has become a major manufacturer of medical devices and... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Health; Technology

27 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 27

distribution strategy for Glass, a wearable computer that projected information on a display viewable with an upward glance. Options, which were not mutually exclusive, included 1) continuing to sell Glass directly through online channels, 2) creating an open platform... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Harvard Business School Faculty Comment on Crisis in Japan

lean inventories and just in time deliveries, there is not a lot of slack in the system to act as a buffer. This disaster promises to be quite a test. Consider, for example, Shin-Etsu Handotai, one of the world's leading producers of the silicon wafers and ingots that... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

01 Jul 2021
Office Hours

Readers Ask: Which Companies Are Transforming Work?

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated workforce shifts that had been gaining momentum before the public health crisis, thrusting employers and workers into a new era within months. Joseph Fuller, a professor at Harvard Business School and co-leader of the School’s Managing... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Manufacturing; Manufacturing

March 1983 (Revised January 1999)
Teaching Note

Corning Glass Works International (A), (B1), (B2), (C1), and (C2), Teaching Note

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Teaching Note for (9-381-160--164). View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing Industry

November 1982 (Revised May 1984)
Case

Jim Sawyer (A)

Jim Sawyer, 40, a manager at United Industries Plastics Division has exhibited signs of alcoholism. Personnel must now consider how the company should address this kind of problem. Provides an opportunity to examine the role corporations should play in helping... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Health; Employees; Manufacturing Industry