Publications

August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (A)

By: Willy Shih

This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Henry Ford's Model T was a car for the masses. After considerable experimentation, Ford Motor... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Exploration; Dominant Design; Business Growth and Maturation; Business History; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan

15 Jun 2021
News

Keeping Hourly Workers Focused on the Stock, Not the Clock

a partner and co-head of private equity in the Americas for KKR. “It also happens to be good business. If you share ownership, you make people feel like they are truly cared for. Employee turnover goes down,... View Details

Keywords: April White; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

09 Mar 2023
Blog Post

Where Will You Be in 30 Years: Behind the Scenes of the 5 Big Life Decisions Documentary

to do everything twice as well. In addition, John Rice’s (MBA 1992) experience as a Black professional led him to create Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), a national non-profit organization that... View Details

03 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

The Truck Driver Who Reinvented Shipping

Malcolm P. McLean, a truck driver, fundamentally transformed the centuries-old shipping industry, an industry that had long decided that it had no incentive to change. By developing the first safe, reliable, and cost effective approach to... View Details

Keywords: by Anthony J. Mayo & Nitin Nohria; Manufacturing; Transportation; Aerospace

10 May 2021
Research & Ideas

Who Has Potential? For Many White Men, It’s Often Other White Men

Many well-meaning companies want to diversify their workforces but face an all-too-common problem: They take great pains to hire more women and people of color, only to find that these employees don’t stick... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Web

Our Mission | About

leaders, we mean people who embody a certain type of competence and character—both the competence that comes from the general manager’s perspective the School cultivates and... View Details

Erling Lorentzen

Keywords: Pulp and Paper

08 May 2013
News

When the CEO Burns Out

19 Apr 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Is India’s Manufacturing Sector Moving Away from Cities?

Keywords: by Ejaz Ghani, Arti Grover Goswami & William R. Kerr; Manufacturing

02 Aug 2004
What Do You Think?

For Greater Transparency, Is Section 404 an Effective Response?

broken. It is really about people and ethics." B. V. Krishnamurthy concurred, saying "... the Act ... is unlikely to result in any radical transformation of the system. Such a transformation has to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

20 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Five Discovery Skills that Distinguish Great Innovators

that distinguish innovative entrepreneurs and executives from run-of-the-mill managers. What Makes Innovators Different? So what makes innovators different from the rest of us? Most of us believe this question has been answered. It's a... View Details

Keywords: by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gergersen & Clayton M. Christensen

February 2004 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Hewlett-Packard: Culture in Changing Times

By: Michael Beer, Rakesh Khurana and James Weber

HP had been a highly successful and respected company for decades. It was well known for its company culture and management practices--the HP way--which emphasized both profits and people. Changing markets, strong competitors, and the growth of its computer business,... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Decision Choices and Conditions; Human Resources; Leading Change; Managerial Roles; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Performance Effectiveness; Adoption; Competition

January 2018
Case

Under Armour

By: Rory McDonald, Clayton M. Christensen, Daniel West and Jonathan E. Palmer

After 20 years of growth unprecedented in the sports apparel industry, Under Armour finds itself with a new record to beat: making the leap from $5 to $10 billion in sales—a feat only accomplished to date by competitors Nike and Adidas. At the heart of this challenge... View Details