Manufacturing Costs - Publications - Faculty & Research

08 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Who Is the Chief Sustainability Officer?

behave and operate in a more sustainable way? It allows you to envision new markets, new opportunities, and new needs. Very few companies have reached this stage." Boosting Commitment Many companies don't make it to the innovation stage because they focus only on... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Manufacturing

01 Dec 2018
News

Competencies and Credentials

degree inflation: Over the last decade, changes in employment expectations have created a powerful combination of underachievement and misalignment that is costing both US competitiveness and working-class Americans aspiring to a decent... View Details

01 Sep 2011
News

Green Day

system, it also shaves about $1 million off the cost of HVAC installation. That savings, says Mulpuri, cancels out any price premium on Soladigm’s product over “ordinary” glass. But the numbers don’t tell the whole story, he continues.... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna;Sarah Auerbach; Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Manufacturing

17 Nov 2022
News

Alumni Leaders on Decarbonization Strategies for Combating Climate Change

– our scientists and engineers have delivered massive design improvements and our manufacturing and supply chain leaders have delivered unbelievable cost improvements. If you take the View Details

23 Dec 2014
First Look

First Look: December 23

Bandiera, Oriana, Andrea Prat, and Raffaella Sadun Abstract—We develop a new survey instrument to codify CEOs' diaries in large samples and use it to measure the labor supply of 1,114 family and professional CEOs of manufacturing firms... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

06 Dec 2021
News

What's the Word?

says. “And that was overly optimistic; it worked only when everything clicked.” The subsequent national conversation about minimizing risk through reshoring—that is, bringing American manufacturing facilities back to the United... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; illustrations by Martha Rich; Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Manufacturing

04 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Attention Medical Shoppers: What Health Care Can Learn from Walmart and Amazon

ER costs have dropped significantly. The Power Of Checklists Gawande also stressed the importance of implementing checklists in health care. (Gawande is the author of The Checklist Manifesto. Knowing that the View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

09 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 9

advice by drawing on both academic research and the lessons of skilled practitioners. It begins with a discussion of the potential benefits and costs of advice seeking and advice giving. The note then defines and distinguishes four... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Dec 2019
What Do You Think?

How Does a Company like Boeing Respond to Intense Competitive Pressure?

inevitable; it will never be eliminated. This is an oversimplication of a complex phenomenon, with nuances in every large organization that has grown beyond the “one for all and all for one” startup spirit. But when it rises to a level that affects marketing plans,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Air Transportation

30 Jan 2021
News

Finding a Fresh Approach to Dry Cleaning

or to spot- and hand-clean garments before they go into the dry-cleaning process. “Most cleaners don’t do that,” he says. “That kind of detail isn’t cheap. A laundered shirt that might cost 99 cents to clean at a competitor starts around... View Details

Keywords: Personal and Laundry Services; Personal Services

18 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 18, 2009

efficiency benefits of market transactions Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-091.pdf Leveraging Waste: Implications for Competition and Welfare (revised) Author:Deishin Lee Abstract We study the competitive and welfare implications when a View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 9, 2015

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=49214 Working Papers Lifting the Veil: The Benefits of Cost Transparency By: Mohan, Bhavya, Ryan W. Buell, and Leslie K. John Abstract— A firm's costs are... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2004 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Pratt & Whitney: Engineering Standard Work

By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington

As the engineering of state-of-the-art jet engines becomes more and more complex, Pratt & Whitney leaders face major competitive problems. Product development projects are not meeting the cost, quality, and lead-time targets. The leadership develops a design,... View Details

Keywords: Design; Engineering; Cost; Knowledge Management; Time Management; Product Launch; Standards; Product Development; Problems and Challenges; Quality; Creativity; Competitive Strategy; Manufacturing Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

09 Jul 2018
Research & Ideas

Overcoming the Challenges of Selling Brand New Technology (Hey, Need a 3-D Printer?)

ago. Or the first Newton, Tang, or Roomba. Everyone knows and understands a better mousetrap when they see one—no selling skills really required. But a 3-D printer? Why would I want that? How much does it cost to maintain? What’s wrong... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Manufacturing

01 Apr 1998
News

Short Takes

Be Flexible In today's competitive and volatile business environment, depending on forecasting as the basis for planning and strategy has become a particularly risky way to operate. Especially vulnerable are manufacturing projects that... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons and Caroline Chauncey

03 Aug 2020
News

A Clean Start

could combine electricity and carbon dioxide and also be worth more than what it cost to make. After four months of weighing alternatives, he settled on formic acid: a commodity chemical and energy-rich electrofuel, or carbon-neutral... View Details

Keywords: Maureen Harmon

02 Mar 2017
What Do You Think?

Is China About to Overtake the US for World Trade Leadership?

currency, triggering a chain reaction that some believe contributed to the Great Recession of 2008. Here’s their thinking: Although the depressed value of the yuan increased the cost of raw materials imported by China, it produced a huge... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

15 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Business IT Innovation is so Difficult

but that makes firms vulnerable to innovative upstarts over the long haul. Would this trend also hold true for companies engaging in business processs innovation? McElheran wondered—a question not much studied by researchers. To find out, she drew on 1999 US Census... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

07 Dec 2016
Blog Post

Marketing Reimagined: A Recap of the 2016 Marketing Innovation Conference

memorable take-a-ways came out of the session. For example, Matt Taylor, CEO of Tracksmith and Becca Freeman of LOLA shared the power of earned media for early-stage startups. Several of the panelists also addressed paid media; efforts can be successful but close... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment / Media / Sports

January 2003 (Revised January 2008)
Case

The British Motorcycle Industry at a Crossroads

By: Jan W. Rivkin

By 1975, the collapse of the British motorcycle industry is nearly complete. Only one British manufacturer, NVT, remains in operation. In this setting, the British government commissions the Boston Consulting Group to identify and evaluate strategic alternatives for... View Details