Manufacturing Performance - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Feb 2002
News

If You're #1, Watch Out

You're the top performer in your market. Your products are of such a high quality that they exceed the requirements of all but the most demanding customers, and you're the only one able to serve them. Clear sailing ahead, right? Wrong,... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Manufacturing

17 Dec 2015
News

Applying Strategy Concepts In Innovative Ways Through Technology

aggregated into an industry. Team members study data and collaborate on beer design, pricing, and packaging, as well as on decisions about manufacturing and marketing. After each round of play, reports are generated that include balance... View Details

01 Mar 2023
News

Case Study: Power Nappy

Illustration by Alvaro Dominguez Before she had a baby of her own, Amrita Saigal (MBA 2014) kept hearing from friends that the “natural” diapers on the market didn’t hold up as well as the old standards, like Pampers. Trained as a mechanical engineer, Saigal knew her... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Manufacturing

19 Oct 2011
News

A Good Look

Levy: Ingredients for beauty from an unlikely source. Photo courtesy Kerty Levy A company that manufactures the nutritional ingredients used in animal feed doesn’t seem like the most likely incubator for a beauty products division. But... View Details

Keywords: Health and Personal Care Stores; Retail Trade

01 Mar 2005
News

Better Care at Lower Cost

The U.S. health-care industry isn’t immune to the forces of disruptive innovation that already have transformed other businesses, from computer manufacturing to retailing, HBS professor Clayton M. Christensen told 250 participants at the... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Health, Social Assistance

01 Apr 1997
News

Guitar Hero

want." Juszkiewicz, who turned around an ailing Oklahoma electronics manufacturer before performing similar magic at Gibson, has done more than just resuscitate the guitar maker. Through the purchase of... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons

01 Dec 1998
News

New HBS Alumni Board Members

Northwestern University before coming to Soldiers Field. Driggs and his wife, Lorraine, have six children. Edward F. Fischer (71st PMD) is vice president of manufacturing technologies and operations at Duro Industries in Fall River,... View Details

01 Mar 2011
News

Making Their Way

clear that if my family was going to stay in manufacturing, we would have to become globally competitive.” The Wisconsin businesses were sold in 2002, and a new company with a new strategy, Chirch Global Manufacturing (CGM), was born.... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing; Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing; Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing; Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing; Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing; Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing

01 Apr 1998
News

Short Takes

Be Flexible In today's competitive and volatile business environment, depending on forecasting as the basis for planning and strategy has become a particularly risky way to operate. Especially vulnerable are manufacturing projects that... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons and Caroline Chauncey

01 Sep 2009
News

From Bytes to Bites

THOMAS: A career switch from high tech to the restaurant biz calls on every bit of HBS know-how. Photo Courtesy Scherrer As a teen, Laurie Thomas (MBA ’93) didn’t devote her summers to extracurricular activities. Instead, the Wisconsin native worked, usually at her... View Details

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

01 Dec 2011
News

Alumni Book Briefs

Manufacturing Excellence: A Leader’s Guide to Achieving and Sustaining Excellence by Larry E. Fast (PMD 52, 1986) (Productivity Press) Fast explains how to implement and sustain a top-down, comprehensive strategy for View Details

Keywords: Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries

17 Nov 2022
News

Alumni Leaders on Decarbonization Strategies for Combating Climate Change

achieve price parity with diesel trucks in 2023, five years sooner than previously forecasted. This is leading to big investments by EV battery manufacturers in the US, as well as fleet electrification investment opportunities. While most... View Details

01 Jan 2004
News

Donald P. Nielsen, MBA 1963

self-cleaning rat cages for psychology labs. Learning that pharmaceutical companies use large quantities of rats, they negotiated a deal with him and over the next few months also executed a roll-up strategy that eventually made them the largest U.S. View Details

27 Apr 2023
News

Life Preserver

of the world's population but only 0.5% of transplants are performed there. Giwa and his colleagues at the Global Solutions Program investigated ideas for creating more organs: Could technology be developed to 3D-print organs? Could pig... View Details

Keywords: April White

01 Oct 2001
News

Making a World of Difference

morning paper, a history lesson, or a conflict in the classroom," recalls Slifka. At HBS, he notes, General Georges F. Doriot's manufacturing course also had a powerful impact. "He taught us to be innovative, to be courageous, and to... View Details

Keywords: Young, Susan; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

01 Dec 2011
News

Making the Case for Leadership

plant in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to introduce a new pilot project designed to enhance the motivation and performance of a group of 200 employees. A rare female manager at Frito-Lay, Johnson finds that her youth, inexperience, and... View Details

01 Aug 2001
News

Cleveland Global Alumni Conference a Sold-Out Success

had to undertake a complete transformation of how Merck operates," he said, outlining strategies that included stepping up resources devoted to scientific research and marketing, integrating divisions of the company, and heading off problems in the clinical process by... View Details

Keywords: Hanna, Julia; Frank Batten (MBA '52); Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

02 Oct 2015
News

The ‘F’ Word

made it far enough to launch a spring and fall collection and received widespread media coverage. The brand was slowly starting to gain traction with customers, too. But by the end of 2012, the startup—running low on cash and plagued by operational and View Details

Keywords: Walt Disney Studios

19 Aug 2024
News

Quantum Leap

logistics to web services—will be disrupted, with experts predicting that quantum machines will rapidly perform tasks that would take today’s fastest digital supercomputers years to complete. Quantum computers will be able to carry out... View Details

01 Jun 2019
News

City on a Hill

Education Leadership Project (PELP), a collaborative effort with the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) that employs management concepts and entrepreneurial strategies to improve student performance in large school districts. But... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photographed by Clay Cook

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