Michigan - Publications - Faculty & Research

November 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

MiDAS: Automating Unemployment Benefits

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

In 2015, the state of Michigan considered whether to nominate its Michigan Integrated Data Automated System (MiDAS) for a prestigious state technology award. Launched in 2013 amid severe budget pressures, the $47 million automated fraud detection system was designed to... View Details

Citation

Educators

February 2021 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Henry Ford: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Max Saffer

This case traces the rise of Henry Ford from a small farm in Michigan to the controlling shareholder of the Ford Motor Company. The case describes how Ford, as young man, acquired engineering skills and the risks he took as he built and marketed one of the first... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Entrepreneurship; Personal Characteristics; Business Startups; Management; Success; Values and Beliefs; Technological Innovation; Personal Development and Career; Auto Industry; United States; Michigan

Citation

Educators

Purchase

March 2011 (Revised April 2021)
Case

The Whiz Kids

By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen

In October 1945, Henry Ford II received a telegram in his office at the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan written by Charles "Tex" Thornton, a U.S. Air Force colonel. The telegram presented an opportunity for Ford to deploy a system of statistical control which... View Details

Keywords: Ford Motor Company; Statistical Control; Management Systems; Accounting; Operations; Strategy; Mathematical Methods; Auto Industry; United States

Citation

Educators

Purchase

January 2016 (Revised February 2016)
Case

Citizens United and Corporate Speech

By: David Moss and Marc Campasano

The story of Citizens United began in late 2007, as leading members of the Republican and Democratic parties were preparing for the 2008 presidential primaries. Democrats expected a three-way contest in their party between Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, Senator (and... View Details

Keywords: Rights; Internet and the Web; Political Elections; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business and Government Relations

Citation

Educators

June 2020
Teaching Note

Brand Storytelling at Shinola

By: Jill Avery, Giana M. Eckhardt and Michael Beverland

Detroit, Michigan, aka “The Motor City,” is known as the birthplace of most of the American classic automotive brands. It is a city filled with the rich history of the industrial age, the pride of American manufacturing, and of the soulful sounds of Motown music. It is... View Details

Keywords: Brand Storytelling; Brand Management; Brand Management Of Places; Luxury Brand; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Luxury; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; United States

Citation

Purchase

January 2012 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Dow Chemical: Innovating for Sustainability

Dow Chemical is one of the few major American industrial corporations that was founded in the late 19th century that is still in existence. From its origins producing bromine out of the brine underneath Midland, Michigan, the company has evolved from a diversified... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Chemical Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

01 May 2013
What Do You Think?

Why Isn’t ‘Servant Leadership’ More Prevalent?

prevalent? What do you think? To Read More: Max De Pree, Leadership is an Art (East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 1987) Adam Grant, Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success (New York: Viking Press, 2013) Robert... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

06 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

Cut Salaries or Cut People? The Best Way to Survive a Downturn

Reduction, co-authored by Harvard Business School’s Christopher T. Stanton, along with Jason Sandvik and Nathan Seegert of the University of Utah; and Richard Saouma of Michigan State University. “Managers changed the mix of commissions,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

04 Apr 2023
Book

Two Centuries of Business Leaders Who Took a Stand on Social Issues

While shareholders still reign supreme at many companies, a widespread shift toward more responsible business practices is driving more leaders to take a stand on social and environmental issues today, says Harvard Business School Professor Geoffrey Jones. Jones... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Consumer Products; Fashion; Retail; Green Technology

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

Citation

Educators

Purchase

09 Nov 2021
Research & Ideas

The Simple Secret of Effective Mentoring Programs

Richard Saouma of the Eli Broad School of Business at Michigan State University, and Nathan Seegert, of the University of Utah. Matching new employees with experienced workers Previous studies show the importance of early on-the-job... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

31 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Can Insurance Technology Solve the Uninsured Driver Problem?

insurance at a time and only pay for coverage on the days they actually drive. The high cost of the uninsured While 13 percent of drivers nationwide are uninsured, the problem is even worse in some states like California (17 percent), View Details

Keywords: by Ray Kluender; Insurance

January 2018
Case

Mary Barra, CEO, General Motors

By: Nitin Nohria, Kerry Herman and Sarah Gulick

Library case detailing the career of Mary Barra, GM’s CEO from January 2014, and her handling of the GM ignitions scandal, GM’s move into electric and autonomous car development, and activist investors. View Details

Keywords: CEO; Female Ceo; Automobiles; Leadership; Crisis Management; Auto Industry; Michigan

Citation

Educators

February 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

StockX: The Stock Market of Things

By: Chiara Farronato, John J. Horton, Annelena Lobb and Julia Kelley

Founded in 2015 by Dan Gilbert, Josh Luber, and Greg Schwartz, StockX was an online platform where users could buy and sell unworn luxury and limited-edition sneakers. Sneaker resale prices often fluctuated over time based on supply and demand, creating a robust... View Details

Citation

Educators

Purchase

18 Nov 2013
Research & Ideas

Pulpit Bullies: Why Dominating Leaders Kill Teams

functioning of the team. Together with Leigh Plunkett Tost of the University of Michigan and Richard P. Larrick of Duke University, Gino explores this question in When Power Makes Others Speechless: The Negative Impact of Leader Power on... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

19 Sep 2016
Research & Ideas

Why Isn't Business Research More Relevant to Business Practitioners?

Policy,” in which University of Michigan Professor Andrew J. Hoffman wrote, “One of the reasons (among many) that the public discourse on critical scientific issues of our day has become so confused is that too many academics, according... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

11 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Non-competes Push Talent Away

non-compete status in Michigan, they discovered a natural test bed, thanks to an inadvertent policy change. In 1905, during the initial automotive industry boom, Michigan passed Public Act No. 329, which prohibited "all agreements and... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology

26 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

The Power of the Noncompete Clause

associate professor of technology and operations management, their paper—available for download—is titled "Noncompetes and Inventor Mobility: Specialists, Stars, and the Michigan Experiment." What they found: While noncompetes... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace