Publications

Research Summary

Managing sustainability in supply chains

By: Michael W. Toffel

I am examining codes of conduct, management process standards, and government voluntary programs that address environmental and labor issues, seeking to understand what enables some of these programs to actually deliver on their promise of distinguishing organizations... View Details

Keywords: Environment; Environmental Performance; Environmental Regulation; Environmental Strategy; Regulation; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; California

Research Summary

The Supply Chain Economy: A New Industry Categorization for Understanding Innovation in Services

By: Karen Mills

An active debate has centered on the importance of manufacturing for driving innovation in the U.S. economy. This paper offers an alternative framework that focuses on the role of suppliers of goods and services (the “supply chain economy”) in national performance. We... View Details

Summer 2021
Article

Platform Leadership and Supply Chains: Intel, Centrino, and the Restructuring of Wi-Fi Supply

By: Roberto Fontana and Shane Greenstein

In this paper we examine Intel’s launch of Centrino and interpret it as platform leaders attempt to restructure a supply chain. We provide a narrative of key actions and how they coordinated changes and offer a framework of the predictable consequences for... View Details

Keywords: Mobile and Wireless Technology; Product Launch; Supply Chain; Restructuring; Framework

Register to Read

20 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

Moving from Supply Chains to Supply Networks

successful firms. Some firms have completely changed the competitive dynamics of their industries because of the kind of competitive advantage they've been able to gain in the supply chain. Wal-Mart, of... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

1995
Article

Competitiveness and the New Industrial Policy

By: Rafael Di Tella, Alberto Ades and Mark Carney

Keywords: Industrial Policy; Competitiveness; Productivity; Competition; Performance Productivity; Supply and Industry; Policy

2014
Article

Bond Supply and Excess Bond Returns

By: Robin Greenwood and Dimitri Vayanos

We examine empirically how the maturity structure of government debt affects bond yields and excess returns. Our analysis is based on a theoretical model of preferred habitat in which clienteles with strong preferences for specific maturities trade with arbitrageurs.... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Investment Return

March 2021
Article

Loan Guarantees and Credit Supply

By: Natalie Bachas, Olivia S. Kim and Constantine Yannelis

The efficiency of federal lending guarantees depends on whether guarantees increase lending supply or simply act as a subsidy to lenders. We use notches in the guarantee rate schedule for Small Business Administration (SBA) loans to estimate the elasticity of bank... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Financing and Loans; Banks and Banking; Credit

2021
Working Paper

Disclosure-Driven Social Engagement in Supply Chains

By: Caleb Kwon and Andrew Di Wu

Keywords: Disclosure; Supply Chain; Corporate Social Responsibility

March 2021
Article

On the Direct and Indirect Real Effects of Credit Supply Shocks

By: Laura Alfaro, Manuel García-Santana and Enrique Moral-Benito

We explore the real effects of bank-lending shocks and how they permeate the economy through buyer-supplier linkages. We combine administrative data on all Spanish firms with a matched bank-firm-loan dataset of all corporate loans from 2003 to 2013 to estimate... View Details

Keywords: Credit Supply Shocks; Bank Lending Channel; Input-output Linkages; Output; Mechanisms; Trade Credits; Price Effects; Economics; Credit; System Shocks; Employment; Investment; Spain

30 Jan 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Credit Supply Shocks, Network Effects, and the Real Economy

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro, Manuel García, and Enrique Moral-Benito

September 2014 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief: What Can We Learn from Commercial Supply Chains?

By: Willy Shih and Margaret Pierson

Organizing speedy and efficient supply operations for unpredictable major natural disasters was a continuing challenge for the U.S. military, and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti was both unique in its operational scope and political complexity. As he reviewed the... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chains; Humanitarian Assistance; Disaster Relief; Distribution; Logistics; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Operations; Distribution Industry; United States; Haiti

Educators

11 Apr 2023
Cold Call Podcast

A Rose by Any Other Name: Supply Chains and Carbon Emissions in the Flower Industry

Keywords: Re: Willy C. Shih & Michael W. Toffel; Agriculture & Agribusiness

March 2016
Teaching Note

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Inge Skjelfjord and the Cacao Supply Chain

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Inge Skjelfjord, with a long career in international finance focused on agribusiness projects, had a vision to build a cacao research center that would help smallholder cacao farmers, who benefited the least from the chocolate value chain. He aimed to support the... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness Industry; Farming; Farm; Policy; Change Management; Innovation; Agribusiness; Education; Economic Growth; Research; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Ecuador

November 2018
Technical Note

Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply

By: Alberto Cavallo

Educators

June 2023
Case

Tractor Supply Co

By: David L. Ager and Michael A. Roberto

In February 2023, Hal Lawton, CEO of Tractor Supply Co, the largest farm and ranch retailer in the United States reflected on the company’s 70% growth between 2019 and 2022. Economists had begun to predict an economic downturn and experts were predicting softening... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Demand and Consumers; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Retail Industry

Educators

August 2020
Article

Improving Working Conditions in Global Supply Chains: The Role of Institutional Environments and Monitoring Program Design

By: Jodi L. Short, Michael W. Toffel and Andrea R. Hugill

Activism seeking to improve labor conditions in global supply chains has led many transnational corporations to adopt codes of conduct and monitor suppliers for compliance. Drawing on thousands of audits conducted by a major social auditor, we identify structural... View Details

Keywords: Monitoring; Supplier Relationship; Sustainability; Sustainability Management; Sustainable Operations; Sustainable Supply Chains; NGO; Operations; Supply Chain Management; Governance Compliance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Global Range; Working Conditions

19 Feb 2018
Working Paper Summaries

The Supply Chain Economy: A New Framework for Understanding Innovation and Services

Keywords: by Mercedes Delgado and Karen G. Mills

January 2014
Article

Fashioning an Industry: Socio-cognitive Processes in the Construction of Worth of a New Industry

By: Mukti Khaire

This study of the high-end fashion industry in India examines the process of construction of the worth of a new industry. Analyses of data from multiple sources revealed that framing by early entrepreneurs and the socio-cognitive processes that resulted from the... View Details

Keywords: Fashion And Creative Industries; Fashion Industry

2017
Working Paper

Intermediation in the Supply of Agricultural Products in Developing Economies

By: Kris J. Ferreira, Joel Goh and Ehsan Valavi

Problem Definition: Farmers face several challenges in agricultural supply chains in emerging economies that contribute to extreme levels of poverty. One common challenge is that farmers only have access to one channel, often an auction, for which to sell their crops.... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries; Agricultural Supply Chain; Intermediation; Multiple Cahnels; Walrasian Auction; Developing Countries and Economies; Supply Chain; Distribution Channels; Profit; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry