Product Engineering - Publications - Faculty & Research

17 Dec 2013
First Look

First Look: December 17

unmatched and unchecked culture of engineering ambition, of rote learning and educational experimentation, of sophisticated tastes along with basic concerns with food safety. It is a country that is at once cosmopolitan and confused about... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

06 May 2015
What Do You Think?

Are You Ready for Personalized Predictive Analytics?

combination, and analysis of data about each of us from a number of disparate sources. Pretty exciting, no? Some years ago, we heard the story about the GE maintenance engineer who, based on information from the firm's advanced monitoring... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

03 Oct 2012
What Do You Think?

Can We Bring Back the “Industrial Commons” for Manufacturing?

skills, and engineering capabilities" resulting from the clustering of universities, suppliers, and manufacturers in industries such as biotechnology, electronic components, and semiconductors in which rapidly-developing innovations... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Manufacturing

29 May 2001
Research & Ideas

Race Does Matter in Mentoring

interest of privacy, I have used pseudonyms for the participants.) Williams, an African-American, was born and raised in a middle-class neighborhood in Washington, DC. After earning his bachelor's degree at one of the nation's leading colleges, he began his career as a... View Details

Keywords: by David A. Thomas

04 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

Don’t Lose Money With Customers

"Firms today have access to a wealth of information about customers and sales prospects," says Narayandas. "Now more than ever before, companies are able to leverage technology to work more closely and to collaborate in new ways with customers—from... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

22 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

Getting to Eureka!: How Companies Can Promote Creativity

and innovation tend to be used interchangeably, but when it comes to novel ideas in business, they are not necessarily the same thing. "Creativity and innovation are different stages in the same process," says Professor Teresa M. Amabile. "Creativity is... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

20 May 2013
Op-Ed

Making America an Industrial Powerhouse Again

computer science, optics, and various engineering disciplines. We need to get over the outdated notion that manufacturing is "mature" and unconnected to science. Anyone who believes that should take a tour of a factory that... View Details

Keywords: by Gary Pisano; Manufacturing

12 Aug 2008
Op-Ed

Google-Yahoo Ad Deal is Bad for Online Advertising

these characteristics to influence prices. For example, consider an advertiser that is the sole bidder for a given term, e.g., a product that it alone sells. That advertiser's payment to Google does not reflect bidding to beat a... View Details

Keywords: by Benjamin G. Edelman; Advertising; Publishing

12 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 12, 2018

period. Stock indexes can transform longstanding behavior via nonpecuniary channels. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53030 Machine Learning and Human Capital: Experimental Evidence on Productivity... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

07 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

The Organizational Model for Open Source

a company to develop new productivity software was a complete non-starter. No sane VC would or should fund a venture to compete with the Microsoft monopoly." Even though his project is in the early stages, over 33,000 people... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

10 Dec 2001
Research & Ideas

Governance in India and Around the Globe

Indian software maker Infosys specifically, and other Indian firms more generally.We document the under-studied effect that global product and labor markets can play in the convergence of corporate governance systems worldwide. This... View Details

Keywords: by Tarun Khanna & Krishna Palepu; Technology

06 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

How Small Wins Unleash Creativity

All good managers understand the importance of making sure that every member of a team feels personally motivated and necessary throughout the workday, lest their work should stagnate and suffer. But what's the key to igniting creativity, joy, trust, and View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

10 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

American Auto’s Troubled Road

game, highly profitable Toyota has announced it will produce 9.06 million cars worldwide this year, while money-losing GM will cut production (after manufacturing an estimated 9.08 million vehicles in 2005). Increasingly, the glory days... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Manufacturing; Transportation; Auto

06 Jun 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: June 6, 2017

forthcoming American Economic Journal: Economic Policy Selection and Market Reallocation: Productivity Gains from Multinational Production By: Alfaro, Laura, and Maggie X. Chen Abstract—Assessing the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Does Market Capitalism Have a Future?

could lead to populist politics that would adversely affect the conduct of capitalism. A second major concern was that our productive system, as currently operated, contributes to unsustainable environmental damage and resource depletion.... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

08 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 8

to accomplish the following: mine your sales data to identify "homerun" products you're missing; reinvent your forecasting and pricing strategies; build end-to-end agility into your supply chain; establish incentives that align... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 1997
Case

Enron Development Corporation: The Dabhol Power Project in Maharashtra, India (A) (Abridged)

By: Louis T. Wells Jr.

A large, lucrative power plant is negotiated for construction/operation by an American power company in India's evolving privatized power sector. The process of incorporating the project is captured in this case. The American company will own and operate the plant in... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Transition; Energy Generation; Construction; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Emerging Markets; Negotiation Process; Production; Privatization; Energy Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

29 Nov 2004
Research & Ideas

Caves, Clusters, and Weak Ties: The Six Degrees World of Inventors

work in your lab and expecting her to spend her career there, you now hire more mid-career professionals who bring a deeper, richer human and social capital to your firm. It changes the question of how do I make my R&D lab more View Details

Keywords: by Sara Grant; Publishing

23 Jun 2021
Research & Ideas

One More Way the Startup World Hampers Women Entrepreneurs

Before launching new products, entrepreneurs are often filled with doubt: Will their ideas successfully take off in the marketplace—or will they fall flat? To cut down on uncertainty, creators can post their inventions on platforms such as View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

September 1989 (Revised July 1991)
Case

Caterpillar, Inc.: George Schaefer Takes Charge

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

For over half a century, Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT) had been a world leader in the manufacture of earthmoving and construction machinery. In 1982, just months after it recorded the highest sales and profits in its history, CAT experienced its greatest crisis. Demand fell... View Details