Operations Strategy - Publications - Faculty & Research

April 1999 (Revised September 1999)
Case

Compaq Computer: Consumer Notebook Group

Presents the background for a video of a focus group on Compaq Computer's new consumer notebook. Engineers, manufacturers, and retailers had collaborated on the product design, which has been approved by the executive committee. A launch is scheduled for nine months... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Product Launch; Product Design; Outcome or Result; Social and Collaborative Networks; Corporate Strategy; Computer Industry

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01 Oct 2001
News

Helping Hands for HBS

that their HBS degree could not save them from the vicissitudes of the marketplace." (In Transition: From the HBS Club of New York's Career Management Seminar, a 1991 book written by Burton and Wedemeyer, is still a favorite among job changers.) Burton, who is... View Details

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

2008
Working Paper

Economic Factors Underlying the Unbundling of Advertising Agency Services

By: Mohammad Arzaghi, Ernst R. Berndt, James C. Davis and Alvin J. Silk

This paper addresses a longstanding puzzle involving the unbundling of services that has occurredover more than two decades in the U.S. advertising agency industry: How can the shift from the bundling to the unbundling of services be explained and what accounts for the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Framework; Service Operations; Decisions; Relationships; Price; Diversification; Geography; Cost; Advertising Industry; United States

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01 Jun 2017
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for June 2017

must disrupt the way we think about social change. The author suggests how this can be done by sharing stories and case studies focused on innovative approaches to large-scale social change. Operating Model Canvas: Aligning View Details

25 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

An Organization Your Customers Understand

the role of organization in regard to a business unit's success, or in the choice of which structure to use, is intertwined with a large number of other important factors. These include the strategy of the business, the quality of its... View Details

Keywords: by Robert Simons

2010
Working Paper

The Unbundling of Advertising Agency Services: An Economic Analysis

By: Mohammad Arzaghi, Ernst R. Berndt, James C. Davis and Alvin J. Silk

We address a longstanding puzzle surrounding the unbundling of services occurring over several decades in the U.S. advertising agency industry: What accounts for the shift from bundling to unbundling of services and the slow pace of change? Using Evans and Salinger's... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Change; Forecasting and Prediction; Cost; Price; Analytics and Data Science; Surveys; Marketing Strategy; Media; Service Operations; Agency Theory; Mathematical Methods; Advertising Industry; United States

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16 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Data.gov: Matching Government Data with Rapid Innovation

"Second, to explore the organizational constraints and resistance to an open-data approach. All agencies will have issues, of course, about making data available, because historically they may have not. "Third, to probe issues of View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Technology

20 Mar 2019
News

Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire

would gradually replace fossil fuels, and consumers might begin to refuse to buy them. However, the trouble lies with huge fossil fuel assets that aren’t fully depreciated and that we need to stop operating,” she said. Therefore, it is critical that policy help raise... View Details

Keywords: Allison Webster; Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation; Transportation

20 May 2020
Blog Post

Jeff Surette and Mike Peters: A Winning Team at TB12

and wellness company dedicated to helping people do what they love – better and for longer. Now they both are key leaders in the growing company that is making a positive impact on athletes around the world. Building a Winning Strategy... View Details

August 2009 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Calera Corporation

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Thomas J. Steenburgh and Lauren Barley

Brent Constantz, founder, CEO, and president of Calera Corporation, felt a surge of optimism as he gazed at the recently commissioned prototype flue gas processing line at Calera's R&D facility in Moss Landing, California. It was late May 2009, and Calera was an... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Product Design; Product Development; Environmental Sustainability; Commercialization; Green Technology Industry

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13 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 13

information environment in which foreign subsidiaries operate affects investment decisions in multinational corporations (MNCs). We hypothesize and find that foreign subsidiaries in country-industries with more transparent information... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jun 2022
News

Turning Point: Sparking Change

feel like a million dollars, because I had successfully defended my position in front of 70 people and a tough professor. I was in love with marketing from then on, but Chip Bupp, my operations and production management professor, showed... View Details

01 Sep 2009
News

From Bytes to Bites

Silicon Valley a natural fit. It’s a path that worked quite nicely for Thomas, who eventually rose to vice president of marketing at SuccessFactors, a software firm focused on employee performance and strategy solutions. Then, in 1995,... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Food Services and Drinking Places; Hospitality; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

01 Mar 2025
News

Audit: War & Peace

the conversation to unfold. He launched the course War & Peace in 2020 with the aim of challenging students’ approach to leadership, negotiation, and strategy by studying conflicts of the past 2,500 years. The syllabus begins with the... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Illustration by Matt Rota

June 1973 (Revised July 1982)
Case

Textron, Inc.

By: Norman A. Berg

Covers the historical development, current business, management philosophies, corporate strategy, and the nature and role of the corporate headquarters in managing the highly diversified operations. Based on Textron, Inc. (A). View Details

Keywords: History; Management Style; Business or Company Management; Corporate Strategy; Business Headquarters; Operations

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01 Sep 2004
News

Outsourcing for Radical Change

Linder Photo Courtesy of Accenture Institute As research director at the Accenture Institute for High Performance Business, Jane C. Linder (MBA 1976, DBA 1989) was asked to provide a managing director with new material for a speech on "transformational outsourcing" –... View Details

Keywords: Laura Singleton; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

June 2011 (Revised October 2012)
Case

IBM China Development Lab Shanghai: Capability by Design

By: Willy Shih, Kamen Bliznashki and Fan Zhao

When IBM shifted from a traditional territory-based multinational organization to what it called a globally integrated enterprise, it established its headquarters for "Growth Markets" in Shanghai and "Established Markets" in New York. This positioned its China... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Corporate Strategy; Global Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Research and Development; Emerging Markets; Product Development; Information Technology Industry; China

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18 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Breaking Through a Growth Stall

often inadequate for scaling. SG&A (selling, general, and administrative) costs then rise faster than revenues, and resource-constrained ventures are forced to raise a dilutive round of capital, operate in small niches, or go out of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne