Publications
Publications
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(296)
- Faculty Publications (97)
Metals
→
- June 2014 (Revised October 2015)
- Case
Molycorp: Financing the Production of Rare Earth Minerals (A)
By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield
Molycorp, the western hemisphere's only producer of rare earth minerals, was in the middle of a $1 billion capital expenditure project in its effort to become a vertically integrated supplier of rare earth minerals, oxides, and metals. Yet it had just reported lower... View Details
Keywords: Convertible Debt; Uncertainty; Competition; Startup; China; Supply ＆ Demand; Growth; Rare Earth Minerals; Discounted Cash Flows; Mining; Payoff Diagrams; Option Pricing; Capital Budgeting; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Financial Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Vertical Integration; Valuation; Metals and Minerals; Mining Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Canada; California
- January 2014 (Revised March 2014)
- Case
Ford Asia Pacific & Africa: The E-coating Facility Decision in Gujarat, India (A)
By: Juan Alcacer and Nancy Hua Dai
In April 2013, Ford Asia Pacific & Africa (FAPA) was examining its options for e-coating service metal parts for the Ford Customer Service Division in Sanand, Gujarat, India. Randy Creel, Director of Parts Supply & Logistics, FAPA, worked with his colleagues in the US,... View Details
- October 2013 (Revised December 2015)
- Case
Alcoa's Bid for Alcan (A)
By: Paul Healy and Penelope Rossano
In spring 2007, Alcoa CEO Alain Belda was concerned about the company's market position in light of increased competition from developing markets. China's recent entry into the aluminum market was affecting both supply and demand. Furthermore, downstream and upstream... View Details
- August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
- Case
Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (A)
By: Willy Shih
This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Henry Ford's Model T was a car for the masses. After considerable experimentation, Ford Motor... View Details
Keywords: Innovation; Exploration; Dominant Design; Business Growth and Maturation; Business History; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan
- August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
- Supplement
Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (B)
By: Willy Shih
This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Henry Ford's Model T was a car for the masses. After considerable experimentation, Ford Motor... View Details
Keywords: Innovation; Exploration; Dominant Design; Business Growth and Maturation; Business History; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan
- March 2013
- Case
Singapore Metals Limited
Singapore Metals Limited (SML) has declining sales but has developed a new product (curled metal pile driver pads) that, in field tests, delivers customer benefits that are many times SML's manufacturing costs. Jonathan Lee and Alex Tan of SML's Engineered Products... View Details
- February 2013
- Case
New Earth Mining, Inc.
By: William E. Fruhan and Wei Wang
New Earth Mining is one of the largest producers of precious metals in the U.S. While the firm operates mines primarily in the U.S. and Canada, it has also made substantial investments in gold exploration projects in Australia and Chile. New Earth has been very... View Details
- November 2012
- Case
CSIRO: The Light Metals Flagship Decision
By: Willy Shih, Margaret P. Pierson and Dawn Lau
This case explores the challenge of investing in basic research as a public good. CSIRO was Australia's leading science and research agency, and it was chartered to enhance national prosperity through R&D. Its Flagships program was designed to align research interests... View Details
Keywords: R＆D; Basic Research; Government-funded Research; Public Goods; Extractive Industries; Metals; Metals Processing; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Technology Adoption; Technology Platform; Manufacturing Industry; Mining Industry; Oceania; Australia
- June 2012 (Revised December 2017)
- Case
Marc Rich and Global Commodity Trading
By: Geoffrey Jones and Espen Storli
Examines the career of Marc Rich, the world's leading commodity trader before his criminal indictment in the United States in 1983. The case surveys the historical growth of commodity trading, especially in metals, from the late nineteenth century, and its evolving... View Details
- May 2011 (Revised August 2011)
- Case
The Offshore Drilling Industry in 2011
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Kenneth Corts and Joseph McElroy
After booming in 2007 and early 2008, the offshore drilling industry slumps in 2009. Lower oil prices lead oil companies to reduce drilling budgets, and rig utilization falls from essentially 100% to 70% in some markets. Day rates--the prices paid for a rig's... View Details
- April 2011
- Case
Shell Nigeria: The WikiLeaks Cables
By: Sandra J. Sucher, Rebecca M. Henderson and Matthew Preble
In November 2010, WikiLeaks began releasing the first of hundreds of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables that it had obtained. Among the thousands of cables published by early 2011, were several that shed light on Royal Dutch Shell's operations in Nigeria and its... View Details
- March 2010 (Revised May 2013)
- Case
Chile's Copper Surplus: The Road Not Taken (A)
By: Laura Alfaro, Dante Roscini and Renee Kim
In 2008, Andres Velasco, Chile's Finance Minister, was under mounting criticisms over his fiscal policy. As the world's largest copper producer, Chile was benefiting from the rise in copper prices, which had more than tripled since 2003. Copper revenues translated into... View Details
- August 2009 (Revised September 2009)
- Case
Tenova: Mining for Growth in an Economic Crisis
By: Gary P. Pisano, Elena Corsi and Elisa Farri
In December 2008, Gianluigi Nova, CEO of Tenova SpA, a technology and equipment supplier to the metals and mining industry, had to choose between two options. The first was to continue growing in the company's core business: equipment for the steel production. The... View Details
- October 2008 (Revised March 2011)
- Case
Curled Metal Inc.—Engineered Products Division
By: Benson P. Shapiro and Frank V. Cespedes
Curled Metal Incorporated has declining sales but has developed a new product (curled metal pile driver pads) that, in field tests, deliver customer benefits that are many times CMI's manufacturing costs. Joseph Fernandez and Rajiv Sanwal of CMI's Engineered Products... View Details
- September 2008 (Revised October 2012)
- Case
Tong Lung Metal Industry Co., Ltd.
By: Willy C. Shih, Chintay Shih, Chen-Fu Chien, Ho Howard Yu and Yu-Shian Chiang
Develop its own branded line, or continue as an original design manufacturer (ODM)? Tung Lung Metal Industries Co. Ltd. is a Taiwanese maker of door lock hardware that is faced with the question of whether to continue to focus on its ODM business or start placing more... View Details
- April 2008 (Revised May 2012)
- Case
Ti-Tech (A)
By: Benson P. Shapiro, John T. Gourville and Craig E. Cline
This case concerns the selection and scheduling of orders by a small industrial titanium fabricator that recently has been plagued by poor deliveries and a lack of capacity. At the time of the case, Ti-Tech must decide which of four orders to accept, with capacity... View Details
- January 2007 (Revised July 2013)
- Case
To JV or Not To JV? That Is the Question (for XTech in China)
By: Daniel J. Isenberg and Paul W. Marshall
XTech, a leading manufacturer of metal parts for the telecommunications industry, is being pushed by its large equipment vendor customers to establish a manufacturing operation in China. CEO Reinhold Hesse is debating several options: establishing a joint venture,... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Search; Global Ventures; Succession; Acquisitions; Private Equity; Negotiation; Partners and Partnerships; Expansion; Joint Ventures; Management Succession; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Global Strategy; Acquisition; Manufacturing Industry; Telecommunications Industry; China; United States
- 2005
- Case
Ventures in Salt: Compass Minerals International
By: Rebecca Henderson, J. Sternman and R. Nanda
Keywords: Metals and Minerals
- September 2004 (Revised December 2004)
- Case
Metso Paper: Globalization of Finnish Metal Workshops
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Marikka Heikkila and Kalle Lyytinen
Metso Paper, the world's largest producer of paper machines, aims to transform itself into a knowledge- and information-based service and solution provider for the paper industry by aggressively exploiting information technologies. In the fall of 2002, Jorma Hujala, a... View Details