Cars - Publications - Faculty & Research

14 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

How to Profit from Scarcity

ramping up production of a car is more challenging than printing an extra run of a book. But after its initial error, VW made some smart decisions to mitigate the damage. First, the company rewarded their best dealers by making the scarce... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Consumer Products; Advertising

10 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

American Auto’s Troubled Road

this year, of the millions of cars being churned out in factories all around the world, one of them, unknown and unremarked, will roll off an assembly line and take its place in history. Basking under the hot lights of a showroom, or... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Manufacturing; Transportation; Auto

07 Jan 2013
Lessons from the Classroom

Culture Changers: Managing High-Impact Entrepreneurs

while revolutionary technologies, did not change culture on their own; rather, along with other social and economic changes, these products enabled changes. What, the car not a culture-changer? "I would never say View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics; Food & Beverage; Entertainment & Recreation; Information; Publishing

18 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

Selling Luxury to Everyone

them. "The market is smaller than we had anticipated," Johnson said. So far, the brand is struggling to gain market share, and Mercedes-Benz has some high costs to recoup. Johnson estimated it cost about $1 billion to develop a View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Consumer Products

29 Dec 2019
Research & Ideas

Read Our Most Popular Research Stories of 2019

Business, Too Couples with deliberate rituals feel more satisfied with their relationships. Can businesses also benefit? The Ferrari Way Secretive sports car maker Ferrari opens up about how it has bucked industry trends to achieve... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

10 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Reinventing the Industrial Giant

GMBuyPower.com, which enables customers to order cars online. The second is the development of its OnStar technology, which, according to the company's 1999 annual report, will enable the first "Web car." 72 The third change is... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria, Davis Dyer & Frederick Dalzell; Manufacturing

10 Sep 2024
Research & Ideas

What Happens When Business Owners Turn to ChatBots for Advice

entrepreneurs,” Koning says. “It’s especially hard if you run a car wash outside Nairobi. And now, here’s a technology that allows us to put a phenomenal business adviser in the pockets of billions of people.” You Might Also Like: Can AI... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

29 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

Pride Goeth Before a Profit

At General Motors' Car Assembly Plant in Wilmington, DE, there is a film that managers like to show when times get tough. Dating to 1991, the film opens with a GM executive saying that the plant will be closed in three years. There is no... View Details

Keywords: by Theodore Kinni

17 Dec 2001
Research & Ideas

Enterprising Women

business leaders, moderated by HBS professor Myra Hart, at the Harvard Business School Entrepreneurship Conference. Robin Chase said that being a woman did not hinder her ability to start Zipcar, a service allowing customers to rent cars... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

13 Jul 2009
Research & Ideas

Diagnosing the Public Health Care Alternative

public health insurance market might work, imagine an automobile dealership run by the feds that sells cars made by Toyota and others, along with cars made by the government itself, manufactured with money... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Health

11 May 2015
Research & Ideas

A Road Map to Fix America’s Transportation Infrastructure

Any highway commuter who has wasted hours stuck in traffic can see the cracks in the United States' transportation system, as can any airline passenger who has been stranded overnight in an airport. Yet while many agree that the need for infrastructure change is... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Transportation

23 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

Creative Entrepreneurship in a Downturn

he was, and wondered why I had asked. Well, I told him of some rules of thumb I have been working on to isolate entrepreneurial opportunities in a recession, and this question was meant as a test for one of the rules. I knew of several new View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

03 Feb 2003
Research & Ideas

Web Services

will drive its adoption of Web services: the movement from proprietary to more commonly used technologies; a shift from mechanical systems to those driven by computer connections; and the development of cars that are always "on the... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Service

29 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

Whence IT Value?

software. And many hardware vendors trumpet their ability to execute these algorithms or store their output quicker, faster and cheaper. New algorithms are seductive in exactly the same way features on a new car are seductive. But let's... View Details

Keywords: by Andrew McAfee

21 Nov 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, November 21, 2017

that a sizable decline in mortgage payments (up to 50%) induces a significant increase in car purchases (up to 35%). This effect is attenuated by voluntary deleveraging. Borrowers with lower incomes and housing wealth have significantly... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 13

http://www.directorsandboards.com/html/curissue.html Working Papers Principals and Their Car Dealers: What Do Targets Tell About Their Relation? By: Bouwens, Jan, Eddy Cardinaels, and Jingwen Zhang Abstract—In this study we describe... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Dec 2013
First Look

First Look: December 24

the restructuring process. Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/product/oaktree-and-the-restructuring-of-cit-group-a/an/214035-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 713-467 CarMax: Disrupting the Used Car Market In 2012, CarMax was the... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

02 Nov 2016
What Do You Think?

Are Employees Becoming Job 'Renters' Instead of 'Owners'?

is: job ownership: nature or nurture? What do you think? Original Column There’s an age-old question: “Does anyone ever take a rental car to the car wash?” For years, Bill Marriott instinctively has picked... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

23 Jul 2024
In Practice

The New Rules of Trade with China: Navigating Tariffs, Turmoil, and Opportunities

Meanwhile, the United States has become increasingly less open as both of its political parties espouse protectionist policies. A few examples: New passenger cars for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), Boston’s ancient... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Manufacturing; Retail; Fashion; Industrial Products; Consumer Products; Steel; Transportation; Telecommunications

03 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

Marketing Your Way Through a Recession

consumers trade down to models that stress good value, such as cars with fewer options. Tough times favor multi-purpose goods over specialized products, and weaker items in product lines should be pruned. In grocery-products categories,... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

Publications