Publications

March 2007
Teaching Note

Bradley Marquez: Reduction in Force (TN) (A) and (B)

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Terence Heymann

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing

June 2004 (Revised December 2005)
Teaching Note

Offshoring at Global Information Systems, Inc. (TN)

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Teaching Note to (9-204-144). View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing

01 Sep 2005
News

In 1999, Wall Street bankers Randy Altschuler (MBA ’98) and Joseph Sigelman (MBA ’97) founded OfficeTiger in Madras, India, to serve as an outsourcing shop to perform secretarial services for Wall Street financial firms. Today, the... View Details

01 Sep 2007
News

Back from the Brink

MILLS: Sometimes when the bottom falls out of the bottom line, the only place to go is up. Harold Mills (MBA ’98) is CEO of ZeroChaos, an IT staffing and human- resources outsourcing firm based in Orlando, Florida. With some $365 million... View Details

Keywords: Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

Comment

Discussion of 'The Use of Management Control Mechanisms to Mitigate Moral Hazard in the Decision to Outsource'

By: Dennis Campbell

Keywords: Management; Decision Making; Ethics; Job Cuts and Outsourcing

January 1976 (Revised December 1988)
Case

Webster Industries (A)

The manufacturing manager of Webster's largest division is told to cut his managerial payroll by 15%. Provides company background data and a description of the manufacturing manager's reactions to the proposed reduction. Provides the students with an opportunity to... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Cost Management

Educators

1990
Article

Outsourcing: Harbinger of IS's Transformation

By: R. L. Nolan

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Transformation

01 Dec 2004
News

Warren Buffett Speaks at HBS

from his Burden Hall audience. Asked about outsourcing and whether the U.S. government should offer tax inducements to counter it, Buffett replied that he saw outsourcing as “a small part of a much, much... View Details

Keywords: Warren Buffett; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

16 May 2016
HBS Case

Food Safety Economics: The Cost of a Sick Customer

an effort to differentiate by being more locally sourced and thereby fresher, as perceived by consumers, Chipotle was perhaps putting its brand at greater reputational risk.” Companies are increasingly outsourcing their food inspection... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

Joseph I. Miller

outsource their engine production to Cummins. By the end of his tenure, Cummins had reached the billion-dollar revenue mark and had captured over 45% of the domestic market for diesel engines. View Details

Keywords: Fabricated Goods

February 2014
Background Note

Furloughs: An Alternative to Layoffs for Economic Downturns

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Susan J. Winterberg

This note describes the practice of employee furloughs (also known as work sharing or short-time work) including their regulatory frameworks in different countries and the business and ethical implications of their use. View Details

Keywords: Work Sharing; Furloughs; Temporary Layoff; Short Time Work; Employee Relationship Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing

Educators

April 2001
Exercise

Selecting a Hosting Provider

Asks students to develop criteria for selecting a Web hosting company, then to select one of three profiled in case exhibits. In choosing a hosting vendor, students represent one of two companies: one a start-up, the other an industrial-age manufacturer. By assigning... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Partners and Partnerships; Internet

13 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 13

Abstract Governments and other organizations often outsource activities to achieve cost savings from market competition. Yet such benefits are often accompanied by poor quality resulting from moral hazard, which can be particularly... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2001
Article

Preferences over Inflation and Unemployment: Evidence from Surveys of Happiness

By: Rafael Di Tella, Robert MacCulloch and Andrew Oswald

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Happiness

Read Now

1995
Article

What Downsizing Does to Creativity

By: T. M. Amabile and R. Conti

Keywords: Creativity; Job Cuts and Outsourcing

April 11, 2010
Article

Solving Jobs Crisis Won't Be a Quick Fix

By: William W. George

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Problems and Challenges

Read Now

2008
Working Paper

A Replication Study of Alan Blinder's 'How Many U.S. Jobs Might Be Offshorable?'

By: Troy Smith and Jan W. Rivkin

In a 2007 working paper, Alan Blinder assessed the "offshorability" of hundreds of U.S. occupations and estimated that between 22% and 29% of all U.S. jobs were potentially offshorable. This note reports the results of an exercise in which members of Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Wages; Research; United States