Publications

December 1998
Case

Pioneer Hi-Bred: Turning Seeds Into Factories

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Melissa Dailey

The agricultural sector is among the preeminent information technology users in our economy," exclaimed an August 1998 Forbes ASAP survey of the U.S. economy's best and worst users of information technology (IT). The survey designated Pioneer Hi-Bred International,... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Multinational Firms and Management; Information Management; Infrastructure; Business Strategy; Information Technology; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Iowa

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10 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

Homers: Secrets on the Factory Floor

A factory worker uses company time and materials to fashion a lamp he will take home for personal use—an artifact called a "homer." The practice is probably illegal and clearly against written company policy. If discovered, the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing

April 2020
Case

Ginkgo Bioworks: The Cell as a Factory

By: Paul A. Gompers, Amitabh Chandra and Matthew Wozny

21 Jun 2022
News

To Improve Management, Build a Decision Factory

25 Mar 2020
Podcast

Data-centric business: Inside the artificial intelligence factory

Artificial intelligence seems to have repealed the laws of business physics, allowing “digital native” companies to grow at the stroke of a key and cross traditional market boundaries unimpeded. In their new book, Competing in the Age of AI: Strategy and Leadership... View Details

28 Mar 2012
What Do You Think?

Are Factory Jobs Important to the Economy?

manufacturing jobs as a share of total non-farm employment have fallen from 20% to 10% over the same time frame." Worse yet, there is the possibility that the jobs created today and tomorrow may not be as good as the factory jobs of the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Manufacturing

fall 1992
Article

The Factory as a Learning Laboratory

By: D. A. Leonard-Barton

Keywords: Learning

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16 Mar 2017
News

Competing with the Chinese Factory of 2017

25 Mar 2020
News

Data-centric business: Inside the artificial intelligence factory

November 1986 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Vought Aero Products: Factory of the Future

By: David A. Garvin

Keywords: Production; Strategy; Air Transportation Industry

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14 Dec 2012
News

High-Tech Factories Built to Be Engines of Innovation

September 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Case

Alessi: Evolution of an Italian Design Factory (C)

By: Youngme E. Moon, Vincent Dessain and Anders Sjoman

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Design; Consumer Products Industry; Italy

September 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Case

Alessi: Evolution of an Italian Design Factory (B)

By: Youngme E. Moon, Vincent Dessain and Anders Sjoman

Since the 1970s, world-renowned architect and designer, Alessandro Mendini, has acted as adviser and counselor to Alessi, the Italian household goods design factory. By discussing Mendini's role as art director, the case introduces the artistic side of Alessi, where... View Details

Keywords: Design; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Consumer Products Industry; Italy

07 Jan 2015
News

Cost of saving factory jobs via lower wages

January 2014 (Revised July 2016)
Case

Samuel Slater & Francis Cabot Lowell: The Factory System in U.S. Cotton Manufacturing

By: Tom Nicholas and Matthew Guilford

At the time of the American War of Independence (1776-1783) and for several decades after it, Great Britain dominated the global production of cotton textiles. In fact, Britain became so dominant in textile manufacturing and trading that Manchester, its industrial... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Production; Business History; Manufacturing Industry; Great Britain; Massachusetts