auto - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Oct 2001
News

New Economy Notables: Peter C. Wendell

portfolio of companies. Some go great and some don't. But the individual entrepreneur has all his or her eggs in one basket. They are the real actors; we're just the stagehands. Where the new economy is going We've clearly had our excesses, but when the View Details

Keywords: Young, Susan; Finance

Edward V. Rickenbacker

Prior to purchasing Eastern in 1938, Rickenbacker had successful careers in automobile racing and the auto industry at large, in addition to his distinguished service in the United States military in World War I. Once joining Eastern... View Details

Keywords: Transportation

Profile

Carolin Oldenbuettel

worked on a project to optimize the target costing management system, aligning new car models to feasible costs,” she says. “What I like about the auto industry is that they’re more and more influenced by tech—self-driving cars, for... View Details

Keywords: Consulting

22 Apr 2008
News

The Next Harvard Square? Really?

warehouse has been next door to us forever. And what will become of Herb Goodman’s Auto Sales and his smiley-face sign in this new order of things? When my office on the third floor of Teele Hall looked out on Herb and his dealings, I... View Details

Keywords: Construction; Construction of Buildings; Construction; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Real Estate

01 Jun 2012
News

They Call Him Mr. China

built a $500 million auto parts manufacturing business, ASIMCO Technologies, and managed it with such dexterity that it was twice named one of the Best Employers in China. But it wasn’t easy, especially for someone who didn’t speak the... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management; Manufacturing; Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers; Retail Trade

Profile

Ben Faw

more private sector experience. Through a friend of a friend, he found an opportunity at Tesla Motors where he worked on global supply chain coordination. “I was impressed by what Elon Musk was trying to do to disrupt the auto industry... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government; Technology; Manufacturing

01 Dec 2011
News

A Deal on Wheels

came up with the CarLotz concept, were friends and former investment banking colleagues. After some HBS networking, the two found Montgomery, who was working in McKinsey & Company’s automotive practice and had previous experience running multiple View Details

Keywords: Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers; Retail Trade

30 Jun 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: The Role of Business Leaders in Sustaining Market Capitalism

Rahul Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Auto Ltd.Nancy M. Barry, President, Nancy Barry AssociatesBertrand P. Collomb, Honorary Chairman and Director, LafargeJorge Paulo Lemann, Founder, InBevDavid Murray, Chair of the Board, Guardians of the Future... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

01 Dec 2013
News

Plugged In

When the 2014 Cadillac ELR—the carmaker's new electric luxury vehicle—rolled onstage at the Detroit auto show earlier this year, Juan Camargo (MBA 2012) sat in the fourth row, beaming. And it wasn't just because, as assistant marketing... View Details

Keywords: Transportation Equipment Manufacturing; Manufacturing

06 Mar 2006
What Do You Think?

The China Dilemma for U.S. Firms: Comply, Resist, or Leave?

General Motors and others during apartheid. For General Motors, the issues had to do with employment policies and whether or not to sell autos in a repressive society. For companies like Cisco Systems and Microsoft, the question has... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology

March 1993 (Revised July 2008)
Case

Liability Management at General Motors

By: Peter Tufano

An analyst at General Motors charged with managing the structure of the automaker's debt must decide whether and how to modify the interest rate exposure of the firm's most recent debt offering. The analyst must take into consideration GM's liability management policy... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Financial Management; Interest Rates; Risk Management; Auto Industry; North America

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October 14, 2023
Article

Will Consumers Buy Selfish Self-Driving Cars?

By: Julian De Freitas

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Ethics; Technological Innovation; Safety; Auto Industry

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2021
Working Paper

Trade and the Single Car Market: The EC-Japan Elements of Consensus, 1985–1999

By: Grace Ballor

In 1991, in the midst of the program to create a liberal Single European Market and in the context of a new Joint Declaration for cooperation with Japan, the European Commission brokered a private deal to restrict Japanese imports into the European Community for nearly... View Details

Keywords: Market; Protectionism; Liberalization; Trade; Markets; International Relations; Auto Industry; Europe; European Union; Japan

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February 28, 2020
Article

How Tesla Sets Itself Apart

By: Lou Shipley

Tesla and its flamboyant, and sometimes erratic, innovator Elon Musk have turned the more than a century old industry upside down in a mere 16 years. Traditional automakers are ill prepared to compete in today’s software-centered world. Unlike nimble Tesla, they are... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Information Technology; Transportation; Business Model; Technological Innovation; Disruption; Auto Industry

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February 1979 (Revised August 1979)
Case

Fiat-Trattori

By: Thomas R. Piper and Ulrich E. Wiechmann

Keywords: Auto Industry

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2019
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 10 Variations on the Theme of Flow Production

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

The purpose of this chapter is to explore how technologies and organizations engaged in flow production evolve over time. To allow for an apples-to-apples comparison, I examine organizations using essentially the same physical technologies, making similar products, and... View Details

Keywords: Flow Production; Ford; General Motors; Competitiveness; Information Technology; Organizational Design; Production; Auto Industry

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February 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Honda Innovations: Leveraging External Insights to Accelerate Creation

By: Antonio Davila

Nick Sugimoto, CEO of Honda Innovations—the open innovation organization of Honda, has to decide how to extend his organization’s approach to innovation across the world. Honda Innovations dates back to 2000 when Honda created Honda Research Institute in Silicon... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Radical Innovation; Corporate Venturing; Corporate Innovation; Organization Structure; Management Control; Business Units; Disruption; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Global Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Structure; Strategy; Auto Industry; San Francisco; Japan

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June 2018 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Renegotiating NAFTA

By: Laura Alfaro, Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason and Sarah Jeong

January 1, 2019 marked the 25th anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Twenty-five years after the landmark trade pact was signed by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, considerable debate surrounded it. Trade and trade agreements were a... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Negotiation; Agreements and Arrangements; Cost vs Benefits; Auto Industry; United States; Mexico; Canada

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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

By: Willy C. Shih

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