Publications

Research Summary

Estimating Demand Uncertainty Using Judgmental Forecasts

Measuring demand uncertainty is a key activity in supply chain planning, but is difficult when demand history is unavailable such as for new products. One method that can be applied in such cases uses dispersion among forecasting experts as a measure of demand... View Details

May 2008 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Chi Mei Optoelectronics

By: Willy C. Shih, Chintay Shih, Jyun-Cheng Wang and Ho Howard Yu

Chi Mei is a Taiwanese industrial group that makes a major diversification into the technology intensive TFT-LCD flat panel display industry. Because the diversification is far away from its core competence in petrochemicals, it is an opportunity to examine how the... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Supply Chain; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Information Technology; Electronics Industry; Manufacturing Industry; China; South Korea; Taiwan

October 2024
Background Note

The Semiconductor Industry

By: Andy Wu, Steve Blank and Matt Higgins

The semiconductor industry powers modern technology, from consumer electronics to data centers. This background note explores the layers of the semiconductor inudstry value chain, including Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDMs), fabless companies, and foundries, while... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Supply Chain; Product Design; Customer Value and Value Chain; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; Semiconductor Industry; United States; China; Taiwan

04 Aug 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Effect of Market Leadership in Business Process Innovation: The Case(s) of E-Business Adoption

Keywords: by Kristina McElheran; Technology

2009
Book

Supercorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Opportunity, Profits, Growth, and Social Good

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Supercorp is based on a 3-year study involving more than 350 interviews in 20 countries to identify the leadership practices and operating methods of major companies seeking profitable growth through innovation that benefits society. For example, when the tsunami and... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Opportunities; Welfare

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2025
Book

Negotiation: The Game Has Changed

By: Max Bazerman

The world has changed dramatically in just the past few years—and so has the game of negotiation. COVID-19, Zoom, political polarization, the online economy, increasing economic globalization, and greater workplace diversity—all have transformed the who, what, where,... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Change

February 2011 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Sound Group China: Urban Waste Entrepreneurs

By: John D. Macomber, Chad M. Carr and Fan Zhao

Private sector entrepreneur in China with advanced solid waste management capability competes with state owned enterprises and also government policies supporting a rival technology. Wen Yibo has used engineering expertise and political savvy to build a major privately... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Public Sector; Service Delivery; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Wastes and Waste Processing; Urban Development; Utilities Industry; China

September – October 2011
Article

The Manufacturer's Incentive to Reduce Lead Times

By: Santiago Kraiselburd, Richard Pibernik and Ananth Raman

It is generally a well acknowledged fact that, ceteris paribus, reducing the lead times between downstream and upstream parties in a supply chain is desirable from an overall system perspective. However, an upstream party (e.g., a manufacturer) may have strong... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Demand and Consumers; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Production; Supply Chain Management; Sales; Manufacturing Industry; Retail Industry

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20 Apr 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Why Every Company Needs a CSR Strategy and How to Build It

Keywords: by Kash Rangan, Lisa A. Chase & Sohel Karim

October 21, 2022
Article

Climate Regulations Are About to Disrupt Global Shipping

By: Willy C. Shih

Ships that transport goods across oceans are collectively a major generator of greenhouse gases. Rules from the International Maritime Organization and the European Union aimed at curbing these emission promise to make transoceanic and regional shipping more expensive... View Details

Keywords: Shipping; Decarbonization; Environmental Regulation; Supply Chain; Disruption; Shipping Industry; Atlantic Ocean; Oceania; Asia; Europe; North and Central America

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01 Aug 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Can Business Transform Primary Health Care Across Africa?

Keywords: Re: Regina E. Herzlinger; Pharmaceutical; Health

2018
Working Paper

Hot or Not? What Makes Product Categories Attractive to Fair Trade and Eco-labeling Organizations

By: Kristin Sippl

This paper probes extant theory on product diversification in the empirical realm of fair trade and eco-labeling organizations (i.e., certification organizations). While much is known about diversification in for-profit firms, less is known about the more complex... View Details

Keywords: Hybrid Organizations; Fair Trade; Eco-labeling; Goods and Commodities; Diversification; Strategy

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31 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 31

that the impact of improved operational efficiency depends on whether the disruption is due to factors that are internal versus external to the firm and its supply chain. We use a sample of over 500 disruptions collected from company... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

23 Jan 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Transaction Costs and the Duration of Contracts

Keywords: by Alexander MacKay

October 2022 (Revised July 2025)
Case

Driving Decarbonization at BMW

By: Shirley Lu, George Serafeim and Michael W. Toffel

The case describes BMW’s electrification and decarbonization strategy, and how the company measured carbon emissions throughout the life cycle of its vehicles and used tools like carbon abatement cost curves to evaluate decarbonization opportunities. In mid-2022,... View Details

Spring 2021
Article

Corporate Resilience and Response During COVID-19

By: Alex Cheema-Fox, Bridget LaPerla, George Serafeim and Hui (Stacie) Wang

The coronavirus pandemic caused a sharp market decline while raising heterogeneous responses across companies related to their employees, supply chain, and repurposing of operations to provide needed products and services. We study whether during the 2020 COVID-19... View Details

SSRN

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Article

Transparency as a Solution for the Hospital Capacity Problem

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

COVID dramatically clarified a shortcoming in our great healthcare system, but like everything in the world, it has its shortcomings. What we see through the apex of COVID is that many hospitals in hotspot areas cannot provide an adequate supply of beds. Although the... View Details

Keywords: Hospital Capacity; Health Care and Treatment; Performance Capacity; Planning; Cooperation

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January 2025
Case

Arsenal Capital Partners' Refinancing of Pinnacle

By: Victoria Ivashina and Srimayi Mylavarapu

Arsenal Capital Partners’ portfolio company, Pinnacle, a leading producer of high-performance adhesive technologies, has experienced rapid growth under Arsenal’s ownership. Over just two years, Pinnacle's EBITDA increased from $13.5 million to $60 million. By mid-2021,... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Growth Management

May 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Benetton Group S.p.A., 2012

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

On May 31, 2012, after 36 years on the Milan Stock Exchange, Benetton was officially delisted and taken private by Edizione, the Benetton family's holding company. Since 2000, Benetton shareholders had seen its market value fall from $4.3 billion to $720 million at the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Fashion; Retail; Privatization; Family Ownership; Performance Improvement; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Globalized Firms and Management; Change Management; Restructuring; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Italy