Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,284)
- Faculty Publications (575)
- February 1993 (Revised April 1995)
- Case
Sharp Corporation: Technology Strategy
By: David J. Collis and Tomo Noda
Teaches the evolution of the corporate strategy of Sharp Corp., Japan. Sharp Corp., a second-tier assembler of TV sets and home appliances, gradually and consistently improved performance by developing expertise in electronic device technologies such as specialized ICs... View Details
- December 1992 (Revised March 1997)
- Case
Peoria Engine Plant (A)
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
- October 1992 (Revised October 1993)
- Case
Lehigh Valley Industries (LVI)
By: Kim B. Clark
Describes a situation confronting a manufacturer of forged parts that has recently undergone a leveraged buyout. The company is under pressure to improve operating performance dramatically. Describes several options designed to improve performance, including adding... View Details
- October 1992
- Supplement
American Connector Co. (B)
By: Gary P. Pisano
Presents a plant manager's proposal to improve operations at American Connector Co. The plan attempts to imitate operations at DJC Corp., a successful Japanese competitor. Requires students to consider how changes in manufacturing impact productivity, flexibility, and... View Details
- April 1992 (Revised June 1993)
- Case
Otis South Africa (A)
By: Michael Beer
Otis Worldwide CEO, George David, was frustrated with the slow pace of nonwhite advancement within Otis South Africa. After a few years of trying to elicit action from South African management, he decided to send a 28-year old U.S. employee to take over as the human... View Details
- April 1992
- Article
Does Corporate Performance Improve after Mergers?
- November 1991 (Revised June 1997)
- Case
Micom Caribe (A)
By: David M. Upton and Joshua D. Margolis
Describes the Puerto Rican manufacturing plant of a transnational company. The award-winning plant has dramatically improved the quality of flexibility of its operations, by taking a radical approach to manufacturing. The methods center on the use of specific... View Details
- October 1991 (Revised January 2000)
- Case
Workplace Safety at Alcoa (A)
By: Kim B. Clark and Joshua D. Margolis
Examines the challenge facing the managers of a large aluminum manufacturing plant in its drive to improve workplace safety. The CEO of the company has made safety a top priority. The plant has made good progress in reducing the injury rate, but now confronts the need... View Details
- October 1991 (Revised September 1998)
- Case
Maxwell Appliance Controls
By: Robert S. Kaplan
A profitable manufacturing division of a large company is looking for new ways to identify sources of productivity improvements. Led by its senior finance officer, an activity-based cost system is developed to identify activities performed for its highly varied product... View Details
- September 1991 (Revised January 1997)
- Case
Manzana Insurance: Fruitvale Branch (Abridged)
Deals with performance assessment and improvement of a service operation in the insurance industry, a market that is highly sensitive to response time. Two branch offices in direct competition are described, and the impact of response time on performance is suggested.... View Details
- September 1991 (Revised November 1993)
- Case
Snake River Steel
- 1991
- Other Unpublished Work
Improving the Performance of the Men's Dress Shirt Industry: A Channel Perspective
By: J. H. Hammond, J Dunlop, F A Abernathy and D. Weil
- July 1991 (Revised August 2000)
- Case
California PERS (A)
By: Jay O. Light, Jay W. Lorsch and James O. Sailer
Examines California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), the world's fourth largest pension fund. Dale Hanson, CEO of CalPERS, has a problem; how does he use CalPERS' influence as the holder of a small percentage of 1,300 American companies to put pressure on... View Details
- 1991
- Book
Competitiveness and the State: Government and Business in Twentieth-Century Britain
By: G. Jones and M. W. Kirby
This book looks at the relationship between the British government and business since 1900, and examines the impact of government policies on business, productivity and competitiveness. The authors argue that government has a legitimate role to play in improving... View Details
- May 1991
- Article
Presidential Commitment and the Veto
By: Daniel E. Ingberman and Dennis Yao
A president's power to veto is widely recognized as an important weapon in the struggle with Congress over legislation. In this paper we investigate the effectiveness of the veto weapon with a simple model of presidential powers that incorporates informal institutional... View Details
- February 1991
- Case
Burlington Northern: The ARES Decision (A)
By: Julie H. Hertenstein and Robert S. Kaplan
Burlington Northern's decision whether to invest in ARES, an automated train control system, is a ($350 million) strategic investment in information technology. Although set in a service industry (railroad) the issues around this decision arise in many organizations... View Details
- May 1990 (Revised September 1994)
- Background Note
Note on Financial Reporting Strategy and Analysis When Managers Have Proprietary Information
Provides a framework that helps explain these real-world observations about accounting and financial statement analysis. When managers have superior information on firms' strategies, and when investors suspect that managers have incentives not to fully disclose this... View Details
- March 1990 (Revised June 1993)
- Case
Analog Devices, Inc.: The Half-Life System
By: Robert S. Kaplan
The company has committed to major improvements in quality, cost, and on-time delivery performance. Despite strong senior management support, however, the actual rate of improvement was disappointing until a new measurement philosophy was introduced. The new approach... View Details
- Article
Measuring the Effectiveness of Competition in Defense Procurement: A Survey of the Empirical Literature
By: James J. Anton and Dennis A. Yao
This article surveys the literature that has attempted to measure competition's effects on defense procurement. The focus is on conceptual underpinnings of models rather than technical aspects of estimation procedures. While providing valuable insight, the models are... View Details
- December 1988 (Revised March 1990)
- Case