Manufacturing - Publications - Faculty & Research

30 Dec 2016
News

Walter E. Mattson, Former President of New York Times, Dies at 84

Keywords: newspapers; digital media; negotiation; manufacturing; leadership; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

July 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Foxconn Technology Group (A)

By: Robert G. Eccles, George Serafeim and Beiting Cheng

In 2010, Foxconn Technology Group, the largest and fastest growing multinational company in the Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) industry, came under public scrutiny after a string of employee suicides reached the international press. Although the company was... View Details

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April 2008
Teaching Note

Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in Good Times and Bad (Brief Case)

By: Michael Beer and Elizabeth Collins

Teaching note for case # 2175 View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Human Resource Management; Incentives; Motivation; Manufacturing; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership; Change Management; Production; Organizations; Human Resources; Manufacturing Industry

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01 Dec 2006
News

Inside Intel

equipment. By 1979, that figure had increased by two orders of magnitude to $217.4 million. Fabrication facilities [“fabs”] were expensive. During the 1970s, the semiconductor industry became capital intensive. Manufacturing at Intel... View Details

Keywords: Richard S. Tedlow; Hanna, Julia; technology; manufacturing; innovation; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing

February 1997 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Jim Sharpe: Extrusion Technology, Inc. (A)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Barbara Feinberg

Jim Sharpe, 11 years after receiving his MBA from Harvard and working for others, has finally become his own boss and 100% owner of manufacturer of aluminum extrusions. After 10 months of an unfunded search, he acquires the business in an LBO and prepares to face his... View Details

Keywords: Acquisitions; Search Funds; Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurs; Turnarounds; Bank Loan; Manufacturing; Metals Processing; Entrepreneurial Finance; Leveraged Buyouts; Labor Unions; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Crisis Management; Management Skills; Experience and Expertise; Borrowing and Debt; Manufacturing Industry

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25 Sep 2018
News

Esquel Group Looks to a Robotic Future

Keywords: international trade; robotics; manufacturing; supply chain; innovation; Apparel Manufacturing; Apparel Manufacturing

January 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

DJI- Striving for Innovation Amid Contestation

By: William C. Kirby and Daniel Fu

DJI was founded in a college dorm room in Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong. By 2020, DJI, a company manufacturing drones, occupied a 77% share of consumer drone sales in the United States with a wide array of clients including law enforcement and government agencies. Its... View Details

Keywords: Drones; Hong Kong; China; Chinese Manufacturing; Chinese Dream; China's Political Economy; International Relations; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Cybersecurity; Conflict and Resolution; Market Entry and Exit; Manufacturing Industry; Hong Kong; China

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01 Mar 2023
News

Family Recipe

Ask Philip Jones (OPM 32, 2003), CEO of Jones Dairy Farm, to name a favorite from the company’s products and he’ll demur (it’s like picking a favorite child) before fessing up: It’s the roll sausage, made from his great-great-great-grandmother’s recipe of pork, salt,... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; family business; leadership; food manufacturing; Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing

01 Dec 2019
News

Action Plan: Tapping into a Legacy

As the new managing director of Hall & Woodhouse, one of England’s leading regional breweries, Matt Kearsey (AMP 193, 2017) knows that the best-tasting beer requires more than premium hops and pure spring water. “We give the process the time it needs,” he says. “We... View Details

Keywords: Leah Flickinger; manufacturing; craft beer; leadership; management; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing

January 2025
Case

COMAC - Chinese Aviation Soars to New Heights

By: William C. Kirby and Daniel Fu

COMAC's C919 manifested the first challenge to the Boeing-Airbus duopoly since it came to dominate aircraft manufacturing in the 1990s. Beijing sought to export the C919 abroad in its quest to become a "transportation superpower." Was it a wise decision for COMAC to... View Details

Keywords: Aviation; Boeing; Airbus; Aircraft; State-owned Enterprise (SOE); Chinese Manufacturing; Airline Industry; Airports; Global Strategy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Supply Chain; Expansion; Aerospace Industry; China; United States; Europe

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2011
Teaching Note

Xinxing Ductile Iron Pipes: Transforming the Management Control System in Time of Crisis (TN)

By: Ning Jia, F. Warren McFarlan and Xiaohui Li

Xinxing Ductile Iron Pipes Co. is a Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) that manufactures cast pipe products and steel products. The company had grown to become a dominant player in the ductile iron pipe industry, holding more than 40% domestic market share and nearly... View Details

Keywords: Control Systems; Cost Centers; Manufacturing; Profit Centers; China; Iron ＆ Steel; China

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19 May 2023
News

Quiet Acceleration

Tesla introduced manufacturing efficiencies that helped deliver 15 consecutive profitable quarters and generated $22 billion in available capital. Last year, the company’s operating margin was 16.8 percent, substantially higher than its... View Details

Keywords: financial management; auto manufacturing; supply chairn management; leadership; Tesla; Transportation Equipment Manufacturing; Transportation Equipment Manufacturing

November 2016 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Formlabs: Selling a New 3D Printer

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Olivia Hull and Amram Migdal

Headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, Formlabs manufactures 3D printers used to print everything from prototypes and models to jewelry, dental, and sculpture molds. As Formlabs prepares to ship its latest model, the Form 2, Head of Customer Development and... View Details

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10 Mar 2021
News

Action Plan: Brewing Awareness

bitterness of an IPA. To change that, Murad launched White Owl Brewery in his hometown of Mumbai in 2014. A few years later, contract manufactured at plants in northern and southern India, White Owl currently offers four different brews... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; beer; India; leadership; COVID-19; manufacturing; marketing; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing

2023
Working Paper

Organizational Responses to Product Cycles

By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Vittorio Bassi, Anant Nyshadham, Jorge Tamayo and Nicolas Torres

We use daily administrative data from a leading automobile manufacturer to study the organizational impacts of introducing new models to the auto assembly line. We first show that costly defects per vehicle spike when new models are introduced. As a response, the firm... View Details

Keywords: Product Quality Upgrading; Product Cycles; Organizational Behavior; Knowledge Hierarchies; Worker Skills; Auto Manufacturing; Training; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Knowledge Management; Production; Product; Organizational Structure; Auto Industry; Argentina

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June 2014
Teaching Note

Lit Motors

By: Thomas Eisenmann

In mid-2012 Lit Motors had created both engineering and design prototypes and conducted initial customer tests on less than $750,000 of investment. Lit Motors' founder, Daniel Kim, had started the company to design and manufacture an efficient electric 2-wheeled... View Details

Keywords: Lean Startup; Prototyping; Electric Vehicle; Urban Vehicle; Customer Test; Gyroscope; Entrepreneurs; Development Stage Enterprises; Creativity; Disruptive Technologies; Consumer Surveys; Market Segmentation; Manufacturing Costs; Entrepreneurship; Auto Industry; United States; California

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22 Feb 2022
News

Brand New

contemporize them and make them resonate with people again?” Sundy’s answer? “We have to fall in love with our customers.” Since joining La-Z-Boy in early 2021, he has been on a listening tour, meeting consumers, furniture dealers, and View Details

Keywords: April White; manufacturing; life experience; leadership; Black; African American; Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing; Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing

October 2016
Case

La-Z-Boy (A)

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Natalie Kindred

Kurt Darrow, CEO of La-Z-Boy furniture, must decide whether to continue an overhaul of the company's strategy in the face of a collapse in demand during the great recession. Having pared back La-Z-Boy's portfolio of brands and manufacturing network, he intends to... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Manufacturing; Organizational Transformations; Reorganization; Furniture Industry; Corporate Strategy; Home Fashion; Turnaround; Portfolio Rationalization; Globalization Of Supply Chain; Brand Repositioning; Business Growth and Maturation; Brands and Branding; Competitive Strategy; Vertical Integration; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

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April 2018
Teaching Note

Formlabs: Selling a New 3D Printer

By: Frank Cespedes

Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-001. Formlabs is a venture that manufactures and sells 3D printers used in a variety of industries and applications. As the young company prepares to ship its latest model, the head of Customer Development is tasked with developing a... View Details