Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,448)
- Faculty Publications (579)
- March 2001 (Revised September 2005)
- Case
Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, The
By: Sandra J. Sucher and Stacy McManus
In just seven days, the Ritz-Carlton transforms newly hired employees into "Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen." The case details a new hotel launch, focusing on the unique blend of leadership, quality processes, and values of self-respect and dignity,... View Details
- November 2000 (Revised November 2002)
- Case
Activity-Based Management at W.S. Industries (A)
By: V.G. Narayanan and Sanjay Pothen
W.S. Industries undertakes the design and implementation of an activity based costing (ABC) system, and the ABC information empowers workers to make process improvement decisions. Workers' incentive pay is tied to cost savings from process improvements. View Details
- October 2000 (Revised June 2017)
- Case
Vyaderm Pharmaceuticals: The EVA Decision
By: Robert Simons and Indra A. Reinbergs
In 2016, the new CEO of Vyaderm Pharmaceuticals introduces an Economic Value Added (EVA) program to focus the company on long-term shareholder value. The EVA program consists of three elements: EVA centers (business units), EVA drivers (operational practices that... View Details
- August 2000
- Case
Project ACHIEVE - January 2000
By: H. Kent Bowen and Elizabeth Kind
Education services target public schools to assist the school with technology and services that will improve their communication with students, parents, and the community. There is also the goal of increasing scores of measured learning. How does a small company do... View Details
- November 1999
- Case
Lucent Technologies: Optical Networking Group
By: Marco Iansiti and Barbara Feinberg
Set in June 1999, this case describes the development of a new platform product, the Wavestar OLS 400G, that responded both to a demand for greater "bandwidth" and aggressive competitors seeking to supply it. The 400G's development process took only 14 months and... View Details
- August 1999 (Revised May 2001)
- Case
Catanese and Vulcan (A)
By: V.G. Narayanan and Sanjay Pothen
A small CPA firm puts in a new performance measurement system, and profits increase by 350% in less than a year. This case illustrates the reasons for improved profitability as well as the sustainability of levels of growth, the opportunities, and the threats that... View Details
- February 1999
- Case
Volant Skis
By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Matt Verlinden
Volant brought innovation to the ski equipment industry in 1989 by developing a stainless steel ski. He claimed the skis could turn more easily, could hold an edge in icy conditions, and were more stable than aluminum or fiberglass skis. The company's "soft-flex"... View Details
- November 1998 (Revised July 1999)
- Background Note
Business as Stakeholder in Public Education: A History of Business Efforts to Improve Public Schools in the United States
Explores seven roles businesses and business leaders have played with respect to U.S. public education reform historically and today: "owners" helping set the agenda; "investors" donating funds; "customers" hiring graduates; "experts" contributing management know-how;... View Details
- October 1998 (Revised December 1999)
- Case
Gene Research, the Mapping of Life and the Global Economy
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Juan Enriquez-Cabot
A new firm is being created to speed up the process of mapping humans, animals, and plants by combining gene technology with rapid gene identification to improve the health and well being of the human population and the productivity of crops and animals. How does one... View Details
- 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
- 1997
- Book
Finding Time: How Corporations, Individuals, and Families Can Benefit from New Work Practices
By: Leslie Perlow
Why do Americans work so hard? Are the long hours spent at work really necessary to increase organizational productivity? Perlow documents the work life of employees who assume that for their own success and the success of their organization they must put in extended... View Details
- 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
Peoria Engine Plant (A): (Abridged)
By: Robert S. Kaplan and Amy P. Hutton
Describes the cost control system used at an automobile engine plant for labor and overhead costs. The finance staff prepares daily, weekly, and monthly variance reports against budgets. Department supervisors, finance staff, and the plant manager discuss the use and... 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 (Revised April 1996)
- Case
ENTel and the Privatization of Argentine Telecommunications
Growing fiscal deficits, persistent economic recession, and underinvestment in the nation's telecommunications infrastructure lead the Argentine government to privatize its state-owned monopoly provider of telecommunications services, ENTel, in late 1990. The... 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