Publications

Web

The Women in the Relay Assembly Test Room – The Human Relations Movement – Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Historical Collections

HBS Home HBS Index Contact Us A New Vision An Essay by Professors Michel Anteby and Rakesh Khurana Introduction The Hawthorne Plant Employee Welfare Illumination Studies and Relay Assembly Test Room Enter... View Details

August 2016 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Videojet (A)

By: Raffaella Sadun, Bharat Anand and Eric Van den Steen

In 2005 Craig Purse, the CEO of Videojet, a company recently acquired by the conglomerate Danaher, is dealing with the unexpected failure of a new high-tech printer just launched in the market. The new product exemplified the first real instance in which the Videojet... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Processes; Conglomerates; Relational Contracts; Corporate Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Diversification; Management Practices and Processes; Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; United States

January 2017
Case

Kada Orthopedics: A Bone of Contention

By: Kevin Schulman and Matt Strickland

Kada Orthopedics is a small implantable orthopedic device manufacturer founded by industry veterans trying to sell stable-technology products to an increasingly cost-conscious healthcare market. Although they have marginally successful product in early 2016, the... View Details

Keywords: Market Design; Growth And Development Strategy; Health Care; Business Startup; Growth and Development; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Business Startups; Supply and Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

September 2007
Case

Vendor Compliance at Geoffrey Ryans (A)

Geoffrey Ryans, a regional department store, faced two major issues relating to its retail furniture line: a large percentage of stock received from East Asian vendors was not in sellable condition, and furniture pieces had high customer return rates. Discusses... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Supply Chain; Retail Industry; East Asia

Web

Introduction - The Product - The Human Factor – Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Historical Collections

fueled by confidence in the ability of businesses to ensure both the creation and the consumption of mass-produced goods. The companies with which Ayres and Davenport corresponded often sent advertising... View Details

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

Fourthly, although a low-profile corporation, Unilever was embedded in business systems and official decision-making worldwide. This was derived from the company's long-established position as a large firm in many countries, from its role... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

September 2019
Supplement

Keroche (B): Considering Entry into the Kenyan Beer Market

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding

This case discusses the situation of the Kenyan alcoholic drinks producer Keroche in July 2004, when co-founder Tabitha Karanja was debating whether to enter the Kenyan beer market. Doing so would mean direct competition with the multinational EABL in an industry and... View Details

Keywords: Keroche; Alcohol; Alcoholic Drinks; Alcoholic Beverages; Beverages; Drinks; Wine Industry; Wine; Fortified Wine; Viena; Beer; Beer Market; Manufacturing; Production Capacity; Capacity; Growth; Regulated; Unregulated; Informal; Informal Market; Regulation; Illicit; Illegal; Substandard; Dangerous; Shutdown; Factory; Safe; Affordable; Low-income Consumers; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Production; Investment; Safety; Quality; Small Business; Family Business; Crime and Corruption; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Income; Demographics; Geographic Scope; Geographic Location; Goods and Commodities; Government Legislation; Growth and Development; Business History; Lawsuits and Litigation; Laws and Statutes; Lawfulness; Goals and Objectives; Consumer Behavior; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Social Issues; Poverty; Strategy; Competition; Entrepreneurship; Marketing; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Kenya; Nairobi; Africa

Research Summary

Overview

Hisano’s research addresses the social and cultural implications of technological development and economic changes mainly in the twentieth-century United States. By analyzing the regulation, manipulation, and presentation of food color, her current book project links... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Consumer Behavior; Agribusiness; Food And Environment; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Business And Government; Advertising; Goods and Commodities; Food; History; Government and Politics; Marketing; Business and Government Relations; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

22 Feb 2022
News

Brand New

contemporize them and make them resonate with people again?” Sundy’s answer? “We have to fall in love with our customers.” Since joining La-Z-Boy in early 2021, he has been on a listening tour, meeting consumers, View Details

Keywords: April White; manufacturing; life experience; leadership; Black; African American; Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing; Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing

April 1989 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Masco Corp. (A)

By: Michael E. Porter and Cynthia A. Montgomery

Describes the history and corporate position of a large and successful producer of faucets and related household products. Masco is considering entry into the $14 billion furniture industry. Designed to be used with Household Furniture Industry in 1986 in a strategy... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Market Entry and Exit; Corporate Strategy; Rank and Position; Consumer Products Industry

September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Background Note

Leadership and Teaming

By: Ethan Bernstein

Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail... View Details

2010
Case

Groupe Ariel, S.A.: Parity Conditions and Cross-Border Valuation: Brief Case.

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and James Quinn

Groupe Ariel evaluates a proposal from its Mexican subsidiary to purchase and install cost-saving equipment at a manufacturing facility in Monterrey. The improvements will allow the plant to automate recycling and remanufacturing of toner and printer cartridges, an... View Details

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Valuation; Business Subsidiaries; Policy; Cash Flow; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; International Finance; Problems and Challenges; Production; Currency; Manufacturing Industry; Mexico

July 2020
Case

Amanda and Kristen: Mented Cosmetics

By: Steven Rogers, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Alterrell Mills

The co-founders (Black HBS alumnae) of an e-commerce beauty startup explore the unmet needs within the beauty industry. This case study examines the entrepreneurial opportunities that come from identifying an underserved market, specifically within the Black community... View Details

February 2012
Article

Management Practices across Firms and Countries

By: Nicholas Bloom, Christos Genakos, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

For the last decade we have been using double-blind survey techniques and randomized sampling to construct management data on over 10,000 organizations across 20 countries. On average, we find that in manufacturing American, Japanese, and German firms are the best... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Competency and Skills; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Organizations; Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Sectors; Performance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Private Equity; Multinational Firms and Management; United States; Germany; Japan; China; India

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2017
Working Paper

International Business and Emerging Markets: A Long-Run Perspective

By: Geoffrey Jones

This working paper explores long-run patterns in the strategies of international business in developing countries. There was a massive wave of Western multinational investment in the developing world during the first wave of globalization before the 1920s. The... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Developing Countries and Economies; History; Emerging Markets; Problems and Challenges

SSRN

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October 1992 (Revised December 1992)
Case

American Connector Company (A)

By: Gary P. Pisano

American Connector Co. is forced to reexamine operations at its Sunnyvale plant when a Japanese competitor announces plans to build an "ultimate" plant in the United States. Case examines issues related to benchmarking a competitor's manufacturing capabilities and... View Details

Keywords: Production; Infrastructure; Competitive Strategy; Global Strategy; Policy; Strategic Planning; Performance Productivity; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Performance Effectiveness; Sunnyvale; Japan

Article

Control, Performance, and Knowledge Transfers in Large Multinationals: Unilever in the United States, 1945-1980

By: G. Jones

This article considers key issues relating to the organization and performance of large multinational firms in the post-Second World War period. Although foreign direct investment is defined by ownership and control, in practice the nature of that "control" is far from... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Governance Controls; Performance; Business or Company Management; Ownership; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States