Publications

Research Summary

The Toyota Production System: Rules for Activity, Connection, and Pathway Design and Improvement

Researchers have established that Toyota enjoys advantages in cost, quality, lead time, and flexibility when compared to its competitors in automobile assembly. Differences in generating value have been attributed to differences between the Toyota Production System... View Details

November 2019 (Revised June 2020)
Case

Shiseido Acquires Drunk Elephant

By: Jill Avery

On October 7, 2019, the Shiseido Group announced that it would acquire clean skincare brand Drunk Elephant for $845 million, a valuation of 8.5 times sales. Did Shiseido pay too much or too little for this brand asset? How much was the Drunk Elephant brand worth and... View Details

Keywords: Personal Care; Startup; Brand Equity; Brand Valuation; Brand Value; Brand Storytelling; Brand Management; Brands and Branding; Valuation; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Japan

11 Oct 2011
Working Paper Summaries

US Healthcare Reform and the Pharmaceutical Industry

Keywords: by Arthur Daemmrich; Pharmaceutical; Health

11 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Branding Sells Cereal, Handbags, and Vacations. Can It Sell a Country?

visit the nation and share their experiences with their followers, pushing authentic messages to key consumer groups, such as affluent parents. Establishing street CRED Switzerland, Germany, and Japan dominate brand rankings.... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Tourism

04 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

Introverts: The Best Leaders for Proactive Employees

and say, "I have a friend from Japan who has a faster way. It might take a minute or two to teach it, but do we want to try it?" (The Japanese method is featured on YouTube.) The goal was to see how introverted and extraverted... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

16 Mar 2009
Research & Ideas

When the Internet Runs Out of IP Addresses

infrastructure is largely private. ISPs make their own decisions about what systems to install, and what services to provide. Certainly governments can offer incentives, but when Japan experimented with IPv6 deployment incentives at the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Telecommunications

22 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

Restoring a Global Economy, 1950–1980

industries. Europe and Japan had to spend the immediate postwar decade undergoing extensive reconstruction, heavily dependent on official aid from the United States, yet over time Europe and Japan closed the... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

27 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Asian and American Leadership Styles: How Are They Unique?

model for the head of a company is the corporate CEO. In China and Chinese-related businesses it is the head of the family. In France it remains the military general. In Japan it is the consensus builder. In Germany today it is the... View Details

Keywords: by D. Quinn Mills

May 2020
Case

M-Lab: Enabling Innovation at Mitsubishi Corporation

By: Krishna Palepu and Allison M. Ciechanover

M-Lab’s founding goals were to infuse an innovation mindset into Mitsubishi Corporation; to catalyze new business opportunities; and to enable a dialogue between Japanese business and Silicon Valley. M-Lab housed representatives from each of Mitsubishi Corporation’s... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Disruption; Transformation; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Multinational Firms and Management; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Japan; United States

August 2011 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Language and Globalization: 'Englishnization' at Rakuten (A)

By: Tsedal Neeley

Hiroshi Mikitani, the CEO of Rakuten, (Japan's largest online retailer), is at the helm of an organization that is rapidly expanding into global markets. In a critical stride toward becoming the world's No. 1 Internet services company, Mikitani announces... View Details

Keywords: Teaching; Human Capital; Change Management; Transformation; Social Enterprise; Communication Strategy; Internet and the Web; Disruptive Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Leadership; Global Strategy; Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Japan

04 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

Scrap the Big New Year's Resolutions. Make 6 Simple Changes Instead.

quiet walk in the woods, but it can also involve experiencing the essence of your immediate surroundings in other ways. For example, when Takeuchi travels outside Japan and the United States, he always makes a point of first visiting an... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

15 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Kids Benefit From Having a Working Mom

©iStockphoto Here's some heartening news for working mothers worried about the future of their children. Women whose moms worked outside the home are more likely to have jobs themselves, are more likely to hold supervisory responsibility at those jobs, and earn higher... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

16 Jun 2021
HBS Case

Cruising in Crisis: How Carnival Is Riding Out the COVID-19 Storm

On February 1, 2020, a passenger who had been on Carnival’s Diamond Princess ship docked in Japan tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Soon afterward, 700 people on the ship contracted the virus—the largest coronavirus outbreak outside... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Travel

March 2014
Case

Babcock International Plc

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2013, Babcock International Plc (Babcock) was the largest engineering services provider in the UK with sales of over £3 billion. Under the leadership of CEO Peter Rogers, Babcock had grown revenues and profits nearly tenfold over the previous decade as it benefited... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Change; Strategy And Leadership; Diversification; United Kingdom; Military; Nuclear Power; Nuclear; Engineering And Construction; Conglomerates; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Global Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Construction Industry; Energy Industry; United Kingdom