Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,432)
- Faculty Publications (489)
- Article
The Perils of Excellence: Barriers to Effective Process Improvement in Product-Driven Firms
By: Rebecca M. Henderson, Jesus del Alamo, Todd Becker, James Lawton, Peter Moran, Saul Shapiro and Dean Vlasak
- January 1998
- Case
Connecticut Spring and Stamping Corp. (C)
By: H. Kent Bowen, Massimo Russo and Steven J. Spear
Andy Youmans, executive vice president of CSSC, joins a group of U.S. executives on a tour of Japanese factories that practice the TPS. Three of the factories produce products similar to CSSC's, and even though they use similar equipment, they are significantly more... View Details
- January 1998
- Case
Connecticut Spring and Stamping Corporation (B)
By: H. Kent Bowen, Massimo Russo and Steven J. Spear
Connecticut Spring and Stamping Corp. (CSSC), a 50-year-old spring manufacturing and metal stamping firm, is experiencing slow sales growth and feeling the impact of global competition. The company has over 800 customers but little understanding of those customers'... View Details
- January 1998 (Revised May 1999)
- Case
General Scanning, Inc. (A)
By: H. Kent Bowen, Sean McClenaghan and Charles Tillen
General Scanning, Inc. was founded by Jean Montagu and Pierre Brosens, two MIT mechanical engineers with an interest in developing innovative products based on the early application of lasers. They invented proprietary technology for laser beam positioning and scanning... View Details
- November 1997 (Revised December 1999)
- Case
Cinemex
By: James L. Heskett
The founders of Cinemex, the largest capitalized venture start-up in Mexican history, are debating several issues concerning the operations of their new chain of motion picture theatres in Mexico City. The first concerns whether some seats should be left unsold to... View Details
- Article
Reengineering Channel Reordering Processes to Improve Total Supply-Chain Performance
By: Janice H. Hammond and T. H. Clark
- June 1997
- Case
Massachusetts General Hospital: CABG Surgery (B)
By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Mikelle Eastley
Once the CABG care path is implemented and other care paths begun, hospital staff and administration examine the resulting data. Further methods of improving care and reducing cost are presented for analysis. View Details
- May 1997
- Teaching Note
Product Development Process, Organization and Improvement, Instructor's Note
By: Marco Iansiti
Explores how development projects fit (or do not fit) within a firm's development strategy and its wider competitive goals. Module materials, and this note, focus on two broad approaches to process design (sequential and flexible) that were originally introduced in the... View Details
- April 1997
- Case
Romeo Engine Plant (Abridged)
By: Robert S. Kaplan and Amy P. Hutton
A newly reopened automobile engine plant has been organized along total quality and teamwork principles. Employees now solve problems and ensure quality, rather than watch parts being produced. New operating and financial systems have been installed to promote... View Details
- January 1997 (Revised June 1997)
- Case
Corporate New Ventures at Procter & Gamble
By: Teresa M. Amabile and Dean Whitney
Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble is faced with an urgent need to revitalize new-product innovation, given its recent focus on incremental product improvements and its aggressive growth goals. As part of this effort, the company's top executives form a small,... View Details
- November – December 1996
- Article
What Is Strategy?
By: M. E. Porter
Today's dynamic markets and technologies have called into question the sustainability of competitive advantage. Under pressure to improve productivity, quality, and speed, managers have embraced tools such as TQM, benchmarking, and reengineering. Dramatic operational... View Details
Keywords: Strategy
- October 1996 (Revised April 1997)
- Case
Team New Zealand (A)
By: Marco Iansiti and Alan D. MacCormack
The case describes the development process used by Team New Zealand to design their two yachts for the 1995 America's Cup. During development, the team makes extensive use of simulation and physical prototyping to improve the initial design concept. As they approach... View Details
- September 1996
- Case
Silicon Graphics, Inc. (B)
By: Marco Iansiti and Alan D. MacCormack
After the release of the "Challenge" computer in 1993, Silicon Graphics executives meet to discuss the follow-up project. Should they pursue an incremental improvement to the Challenge, or opt for a radically new design recently demonstrated at Stanford University? View Details
- July 1996 (Revised January 1997)
- Case
Northwest Airlines: Strategic Alliance and Strategic Position--May 1996
By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Davis Dyer
Describes the strategic position of Northwest Airlines in 1996 and discusses its financial rebound and changes and improvements since the 1993 restructuring agreement. Describes the company's new strategy and its management of principal strategic assets, focusing at... View Details
- April 1996 (Revised June 2001)
- Case
Partners HealthCare System, Inc. (B): Cardiac Care Improvement
By: Gary P. Pisano and Maryam Golnaraghi
Explores the challenges confronting the CEO at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in the wake of radical changes in the health care environment. As pressures have risen for cost containment in health care, the hospital has embarked on a series of reengineering efforts to... View Details
- January 1996
- Case
Biogen, Inc.: rBeta Interferon Manufacturing Process Development
Biogen, Inc., a Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company, is wrapping up a project to develop a new manufacturing process for a new drug product that will reposition the company from a purely research-oriented company to a fully integrated pharmaceutical manufacturing... View Details
- November 1995
- Case
Transformation of Pratt & Whitney North Haven (C)
By: H. Kent Bowen, Linda A. Hill, Andrew P. Burtis, Sylvie Ryckebusch and John Schiavone
As part of the Pratt & Whitney North Haven restructuring effort, Ed Northern and his business unit managers are encouraging workers to make decisions and take an active role in improving the manufacturing process at North Haven. Business Unit Manager Tom Hutton has... View Details
- October 1995
- Teaching Note
Procter & Gamble: Improving Consumer Value Through Process Design TN
Teaching Note for (9-195-126). View Details
- May 1995 (Revised April 1998)
- Case
AT&T Paradyne
By: Robert S. Kaplan
A company making data communication devices has adopted a Total Quality philosophy for working with suppliers, employees, and customers. The finance group finds its existing cost system has become obsolete because of a shift from manual to automatic production... View Details
- April 1995 (Revised April 1995)
- Case
Pillsbury: Customer Driven Reengineering
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Pillsbury is transforming itself from an integrated producer of flour and bakery products to a value-added supplier of premium branded products. After initial successes applying activity-based costing to manufacturing operations, two senior executives decide to... View Details