by Willy C. Shih - Publications - Faculty & Research

March 2020
Case

ZEISS Group: Organize by Customer Culture?

How should ZEISS, the German manufacturer of precision optical and optoelectronic systems manage two historic businesses that operated fairly autonomously? The Industrial Quality Solutions (IQS) business sold measurement equipment to manufacturing companies in sectors... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Manufacturing Industry; Europe; Germany

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January 2025
Case

U.S. Steel: Proposed Acquisition by Nippon Steel

By: Willy C. Shih

The case setting is the proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel, which elicited a great deal of controversy. The real purpose of the case is to look at the history of the American steel industry since World War II and understand how the steel minimill... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business History; Technological Innovation; Business Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Steel Industry; United States

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15 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Apple Pay’s Technology Adoption Problem

communications readers used by Apple Pay unless consumer demand is high. First off, Apple must convince merchants to adopt its service, says Willy Shih, the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Management... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Technology; Retail

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Courses by Faculty - Course Catalog

Advanced Negotiation: Great Dealmakers, Diplomats, and Deals Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Spring 2026 Q3Q4 3.0 Negotiation and Diplomacy Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Spring 2026 Q3Q4 3.0 Willy View Details

19 Oct 2021
Research & Ideas

Fed Up Workers and Supply Woes: What's Next for Dollar Stores?

School, is an expert on global supply chain and co-wrote an HBS case study, revised in 2019, on Dollar General, one of the largest dollar store operators, shortly before it was acquired by New York investment firm KKR. View Details

Keywords: by Christine Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Retail

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Courses by Faculty Unit - Course Catalog

Shawn Cole Spring 2026 Q4 1.5 General Management Course Title Faculty Name Term Quarter Credits Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise (also listed under Technology & Operations Management) Willy View Details

May 2023
Supplement

Sian Flowers: Fresher by Sea - Video Supplement

By: Willy C. Shih

The setting for this case is the Sian Flowers, a company headquartered in Kitengela, Kenya that exports roses to predominantly Europe. Because cut flowers have a limited shelf life and consumers want them to retain their appearance for as long as possible, Sian or its... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain; Supply Chains; Sustainability; Sustainable Agriculture; Sustainability Reporting; Carbon Emissions; Supply Chain Management; Quality; Ship Transportation; Cost Management; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Africa; Kenya; Netherlands; Europe

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Awards

McKinsey Award. First Place

By: Gary P. Pisano

First Place winner of the McKinsey Award with Willy C. Shih for the best article in the Harvard Business Review during 2009 for the paper "Restoring American Competitiveness." View Details

July 2023
Supplement

Sian Flowers: Fresher by Sea? – PowerPoint Supplement

By: Willy C. Shih and Michael W. Toffel

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14 Dec 2012
News

High-Tech Factories Built to Be Engines of Innovation

21 Jun 2022
News

Asian Grocery Retailers Hit Hard by Import Costs and Delays

2012
Working Paper

IP Modularity: Profiting from Innovation by Aligning Product Architecture with Intellectual Property

By: Joachim Henkel, Carliss Y. Baldwin and Willy C. Shih

In this paper we explain how firms seeking to take advantage of distributed innovation and outsourcing can bridge the tension between value creation and value capture by modifying the modular structure of their technical systems. Specifically, we introduce the concept... View Details

Keywords: Modularity; Value Appropriation; Distributed Innovation; Open Innovation; Strategy; Open Source Distribution; Value; Complexity; Intellectual Property

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Summer 2013
Article

IP Modularity: Profiting from Innovation by Aligning Product Architecture with Intellectual Property

By: Joachim Henkel, Carliss Y. Baldwin and Willy C. Shih

Firms seeking to take advantage of distributed innovation and outsourcing can bridge the tension between value creation and value capture by modifying the modular structure of their technical systems. Specifically, this article introduces the concept of "IP... View Details

Keywords: Modularity; Value Appropriation; Distributed Innovation; Open Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Intellectual Property; Value

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27 Nov 2021
News

Unpacking the Dollar Tree Price Hike

January 2020
Teaching Plan

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group: Acquisition of Volvo Cars and Volvo Cars: Acquisition by Geely

By: Willy Shih

This teachning plan is for the two cases 619-041 which describes Geely's acquisition of Volvo Cars, and 619-042 which describes Volvo Cars' acqusition by Geely. The case is designed to illustrate the different sides of an M&A transaction and the organizational culture... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Mergers and Acquisitions; Auto Industry; China; Sweden

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