Publications

Educators

April 6, 2022
Article

In Uncertain Times, Big Companies Need to Take Care of Their Suppliers

Many large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have long been ruthless with their suppliers, demanding extremely low prices and loading them up with risks. Given that the current turmoil buffeting global supply chains is unlikely to end anytime soon, OEMs should... View Details

Keywords: Supplier Relationship; Supply Chain Management; Supply Chain; Relationships; Risk and Uncertainty; Auto Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

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August 2021
Supplement

Coats: Supply Chain Challenges: Spreadsheet Supplement

Coats, the largest thread maker in the world, transformed its business to digital colour measurement so that it could respond better to customer demand in the garment industry for rapid product cycles and more fragmented colour choices. Its embrace of digital colour... View Details

Keywords: Inventory Management; Supply Chain; Inventory; Supply Chain Management; Operations; Growth and Development Strategy; Forecasting and Prediction; Demand and Consumers; Consolidation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Asia

Summer 2020
Article

Is It Time to Rethink Globalized Supply Chains?: The COVID-19 Pandemic Should Be a Wake-up Call for Managers and Prompt Them to Consider Actions That Will Improve Their Resilience to Future Shocks

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the complex interdependencies of globalized supply chains. While these global multistage production networks had spread during a relatively benign environment of falling trade barriers and increasing interdependencies among countries,... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chains; Pandemic; Resilience; Supply Chain Management; Supply Chain; Global Range; Health Pandemics; Disruption; System Shocks; Crisis Management; Manufacturing Industry; United States; Asia; Europe; China

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October 2018 (Revised August 2019)
Module Note

Supply Chain Management

This note on supply chain management provides background for the seven class supply chain module in the Technology & Operations Management required curriculum course taught at the Harvard Business School. This module includes four broad topics: sourcing and supply... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Information; Supply ＆ Demand; Supply Chain Industries; Supply Chain Management; Supply Chain; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; United States; Asia; Europe; Japan; China

May 2018
Supplement

Video Supplement to Toyota Motor Manufacturing, U.S.A. case (693-019): An updated video of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, Georgetown, KY site showing seat installation

This is an updated video of the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK) assembly facility in Georgetown, KY. It is meant to be paired with the 693-019 Toyota Motor Manufacturing U.S.A. case, but with higher quality video. The vidoe shows a line tour of Assembly Two... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Manufacturing Strategy; Lean Management; Toyota Production System; Just-in-time; Lean Production; Automotive Industry; Automobile Manufacturing; Automotive; Automotive Supply Chain; Production; Operations; Logistics; Auto Industry; United States

September 2012
Supplement

Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation: Working with Project Teams as a 'Single Point of Contact'

June 2010 (Revised October 2010)
Course Overview Note

Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise

This Module Note for Instructors outlines the structure and content of the Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise MBA second year elective course at the Harvard Business School. The course focuses on giving students a solid grounding in the construction of... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Business Growth and Maturation

March 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Carrot or Stick? Getting Paid for Innovation at Tessera Technologies

Tessera Technologies has been very successful developing technologies for the semiconductor and mobile device industry, and then licensing them broadly to manufacturers. In addition to licensing patents, it also supplies know-how to help manufacturers move into... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Innovation Strategy; Patents; Courts and Trials; Rights; Mobile Technology; Semiconductor Industry; California

Educators

March 2010
Teaching Note

Disruptive IPOs? WR Hambrecht & Co. (TN)

Teaching Note for 610065. View Details

Keywords: Auctions; Financing and Loans; Theory; Disruptive Innovation; Initial Public Offering; Investment Banking; Financial Services Industry; Service Industry

January 2010
Teaching Note

Transforming ASUSTeK: Breaking from the Past (TN)

Teaching Note for [610041]. View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Transformation; Contracts; Production; Product Design; Customers; Competition; Management Practices and Processes; Value; Performance Effectiveness; Brands and Branding; Disruptive Innovation; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry

April 2009 (Revised December 2010)
Supplement

Intel NBI: Intel Corporation's New Business Initiatives (B)

Keywords: Business Strategy; Semiconductor Industry

May 2008
Case

Sensors Unlimited: Bringing InGaAs Technology to the Market

Sensors Unlimited was a small start-up in short-wavelength infrared imaging. Its learning base came out of Bell Labs, RCA's Sarnoff Lab, and the Rockwell Science Center, and as it built its capabilities and ventured into new application areas, it discovered a “killer... View Details

Keywords: Applied Optics; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Science-Based Business; Commercialization; Aerospace Industry; Technology Industry

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Teaching Interest

Immersive Field Course: Decarbonization and Sustainable Production

A course looking at pioneering efforts in sustainable production methods and technologies supporting the energy transition. View Details

Keywords: Decarbonization; Sustainability Management; Green Technology; Energy Generation; Energy Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Europe; Denmark; Netherlands

Web

Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise - Intensive - Course Catalog

HBS Course Catalog Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise - Intensive Course Number 1507 Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice Willy Shih Spring; Q3; 1.5 credits 14 sessions Paper This... View Details

December 2024
Supplement

Norse Atlantic Airways

Charles Duncan discusses the jobs that customers hire Norse Atlantic Airways to do, and the challenges associated with its low-cost long-haul business model. View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation; Business Model; Air Transportation Industry; Europe; United States

November 15, 2022
Article

What Really Makes Toyota’s Production System Resilient

Toyota has fared better than many of its competitors in riding out the supply chain disruptions of recent years. But focusing on how Toyota had stockpiled semiconductors and the problems of other manufacturers, some observers jumped to the conclusion that the era of... View Details

Keywords: Supplier Relationships; Manufacturing; Supply Chain; Production; Auto Industry; United States; Japan

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August 1, 2022
Article

The Supply Chain, Explained

Why have supply chains been such a mess? For starters, there are a lot more layers than you think. This article describes some common features of supply chains that help the reader to understand how things could have gone so far off track during the pandemic. View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Supply Chain; Manufacturing Industry; United States

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August 2021 (Revised November 2023)
Supplement

Coats: Supply Chain Challenges

Coats, the largest thread maker in the world, transformed its business to digital colour measurement so that it could respond better to customer demand in the garment industry for rapid product cycles and more fragmented colour choices. Its embrace of digital colour... View Details

Keywords: Inventory Management; Supply Chain; Inventory; Supply Chain Management; Operations; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Asia

August 2021 (Revised November 2023)
Teaching Note

Coats: Supply Chain Challenges

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 621-115.
Faced with continuing cost pressure, should Coats, the world's largest thread maker, relocate some of its make-to-stock manufacturing to an ultra-low-cost region while leaving make-to-order demand close to customers? View Details

Keywords: Inventory Management; Supply Chain; Inventory; Supply Chain Management; Operations; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Asia