Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(151)
- Faculty Publications (83)
- Article
Recent Advances in the Empirics of Organizational Economics
By: Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen
We present a survey of recent contributions in empirical organizational economics, focusing on management practices and decentralization. Productivity dispersion between firms and countries has motivated the improved measurement of firm organization across industries... View Details
Keywords: Economics; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Productivity; Geographic Location; Motivation and Incentives; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Competition; Human Capital; Markets; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Multinational Firms and Management; India; Brazil; United States
- September 2009
- Case
Peter Schultz at The Scripps Research Institute
By: H. Kent Bowen, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld and Courtney Purrington
Peter Schultz, Professor of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute, managed an extremely productive lab. This case examines how Schultz recruited, motivated and inspired the students and scientists that worked with him. View Details
- August 2009
- Supplement
The TSMC Way: Meeting Customer Needs at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (CW)
By: Willy C. Shih
When L.C. Tu receives an emergency order, he is confronted with a range of production scheduling choices, each of which has unique costs and trade-offs. The case was designed to help students understand job-shop style production and the impact of disruptions and... View Details
- 2009
- Chapter
Plant-Size Distribution and Cross-Country Income Differences
By: Laura Alfaro, Andrew Charlton and Fabio Kanczuk
We investigate, using plant-level data for 79 developed and developing countries, whether differences in the allocation of resources across heterogeneous plants are a significant determinant of cross-country differences in income per worker. For this purpose, we use a... View Details
- January 2009
- Article
Spatial Diversity in Invention: Evidence from the Early R&D Labs
By: Tom Nicholas
This article uses historical data on inventor and firm R&D lab locations to examine the technological and geographic structure of corporate knowledge capital accumulation during a formative period in the organization of US innovation. Despite the localization of... View Details
- 2008
- Working Paper
Firm-Size Distribution and Cross-Country Income Differences
By: Laura Alfaro, Andrew Charlton and Fabio Kanczuk
We investigate, using plant-level data for 79 developed and developing countries, whether differences in the allocation of resources across heterogeneous plants are a significant determinant of cross-country differences in income per worker. For this purpose, we use a... View Details
- November 2007 (Revised April 2022)
- Case
Control Data Corporation and the Urban Crisis
By: Tom Nicholas and Laura Gaie Singleton
Control Data Corporation is considering its response to the assassination of renowned civil rights activist Martin Luther King. Four months prior, William Norris, president of the Minneapolis-based computer firm had already committed to building a plant in a low-income... View Details
- October 2006 (Revised November 2006)
- Case
Integrated Packaging Corporation: Struggling to Do the Right Thing (A)
By: Herman B. Leonard and Orson Watson
As a child, Al Fuller had seen his working-class, African-American neighborhood disintegrate as factory jobs moved away. He resolved to help inner-city communities do better when he grew up. Some years later, as an accomplished university graduate with several years... View Details
- March 2006
- Case
The Whitesides Lab
By: H. Kent Bowen and Francesca Gino
A significant part of the long-term economic growth in developed economies depends on the translation of scientific research into new products and processes. Focuses on the front end of this value creation stream. The laboratory of George Whitesides has a 30-year... View Details
- January 2006
- Case
Jack Strang at SequenceLabs
By: Mukti Khaire, John J. Gabarro and Lynda M. Applegate
How can entrepreneur manage his firm if things go wrong despite having a great idea, a solid team, and financial backing? Jack Strang founded a biotech firm with his friend Peter Evans, to develop molecular pathway-based "cures" for metabolic disorders. The idea was... View Details
- November 2005 (Revised March 2006)
- Case
Genentech - Capacity Planning
By: Daniel C. Snow, Steven C. Wheelwright and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld
While facilitating a complex clinical approval process over the next two to three years for a family of new cancer drugs, Genentech must develop a long-term capacity plan for a major class of new cancer products. Adding to the complexity and uncertainty is the fact... View Details
- July 2005
- Teaching Note
Globalizing Consumer Durables: Singer Sewing Machine before 1914 (TN)
Teaching Note to (9-804-001). View Details
- November 2004
- Case
Deere & Company
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Hal Hogan
John Deere & Co. wants to improve shareholder value and provide incentives to do so. The task is difficult in a volatile agriculture and construction industry. It also wants to be more global and provide machinery that traces commodities from the field to the consumer. View Details
- August 2004 (Revised March 2005)
- Teaching Note
Flextronics: Deciding on a Shop-Floor System for Producing the Microsoft Xbox (TN)
By: Jeffrey T. Polzer, Hillary Anger Elfenbein and Jenny Illes
Teaching Note to (9-403-090). View Details
- July/August 2004
- Article
Stakeholders and Environmental Management Practices: An Institutional Framework
By: Magali Delmas and Michael W. Toffel
Despite burgeoning research on companies' environmental strategies and environmental management practices, it remains unclear why some firms adopt environmental management practices beyond regulatory compliance. This paper leverages institutional theory by proposing... View Details
- spring 2004
- Article
Multinationals and Linkages: An Empirical Investigation
By: Laura Alfaro and Andres Rodriguez-Clare
Several recent papers have used plant-level data and panel econometric techniques to carefully explore the existence FDI externalities. One conclusion that emerges from this literature is that it is difficult to find evidence of positive externalities from... View Details
- October 2003 (Revised March 2008)
- Case
Salick Cardiovascular Centers: Business Plan
By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Kaushik Sen, Alex Tkachenko and Carolyn Wolff
A seasoned health services entrepreneur develops a business plan for a cardiovascular-focused factory. Will it work? View Details
- April 2003
- Tutorial
ABC Pen Factory Tutorial
By: Robert S. Kaplan
To preview this online product, Authorized Faculty can call our customer service department at 1-800-545-7685 or 617-783-7600. Illustrates, via a guided audio tour accompanied by dynamically changing spreadsheets, the role for activity-based cost systems. The numerical... View Details
Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants
- October 2002 (Revised May 2003)
- Case
Dynatrol Corporation: Andover Assembly Division
By: H. Kent Bowen, Janice H. Hammond and Ramchandran Jaikumar
While grappling with glitches in the design and operation of its production system, Andover Assembly must also launch a new sensor product line to meet ultimatums issued by frustrated Signatron vice presidents. The financial returns of the division are not meeting... View Details
- December 2000 (Revised January 2002)
- Background Note
Incentives and Controllability: A Note and Exercise
By: Brian J. Hall
Describes three performance measures for "plants" or businesses: cost centers, revenue centers, and profit centers. Discusses what should be done if a function outside of the "controllability" of the manager affects the performance measure and therefore compensation. View Details