Publications

January 2007 (Revised July 2013)
Case

To JV or Not To JV? That Is the Question (for XTech in China)

By: Daniel J. Isenberg and Paul W. Marshall

XTech, a leading manufacturer of metal parts for the telecommunications industry, is being pushed by its large equipment vendor customers to establish a manufacturing operation in China. CEO Reinhold Hesse is debating several options: establishing a joint venture,... View Details

December 1998 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Singulus

By: Walter Kuemmerle and Chad S Ellis

Describes Singulus, the compact disk metallizer business of Leybold AG, a large German company, which has been put up for sale. In April 1995, buyout firm Schroder Ventures has to decide whether to acquire the business. The investment decision is complicated by a... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Decision Choices and Conditions; Manufacturing Industry; Germany

February 2020
Case

Klöckner & Co: Steeling for a Digital World

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Hoping to get ahead of potential digital disruption at Klöckner & Co.—one of the world’s largest steel and metal distributors—CEO Gisbert Rühl set up both kloeckner.i (KCI), an internal transformation arm, and XOM Materials (XOM), an independent industry platform. KCI... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Markets; Industry Structures; Supply and Industry; Technology Adoption; Transformation; Digital Transformation; Steel Industry; Information Technology Industry; Europe; Germany

03 Sep 2013
First Look

First Look: September 3

lawyers inevitably start to keep work to themselves as the firm navigated an ever-more competitive environment? Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/search/414022-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 513-097 Singapore Metals Limited... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Ball: EVA Driving the World's Leading Can Manufacturer (A)

By: Jonas Heese and Susan Pinckney

The case describes Ball’s multi decade history of using Economic Value Added to drive decision making and workforce compensation. In 2016, the company acquired Rexam PLC and became the world’s leading metal beverage container company. Consumer demand for varied... View Details

February 2015 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Winnan Metal: Fulfilling the Dream

By: William R. Kerr, Jim Sharpe and James Weber

Neil Kashyap and Neil Lombardo (HBS '08) acquired Winnan Metal, Inc., a metal fabrication shop, after raising a search fund and an 11 month search to fulfill their dreams of becoming business owners. Two weeks after they took control of the company, Winnan's largest... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurial Management; Turnarounds; Bank Loan; Crisis Management; Financial Analysis; Search Funds; Acquisitions; Financial Capital Needed; Management; Operations Management; Sales; Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Change Management; Manufacturing Industry; United States; Indiana

August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (A)

By: Willy Shih

This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Henry Ford's Model T was a car for the masses. After considerable experimentation, Ford Motor... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Exploration; Dominant Design; Business Growth and Maturation; Business History; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan

January 2014 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Ford Asia Pacific & Africa: The E-coating Facility Decision in Gujarat, India (A)

By: Juan Alcacer and Nancy Hua Dai

In April 2013, Ford Asia Pacific & Africa (FAPA) was examining its options for e-coating service metal parts for the Ford Customer Service Division in Sanand, Gujarat, India. Randy Creel, Director of Parts Supply & Logistics, FAPA, worked with his colleagues in the US,... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Investment; International Business; Location Strategies; Global Strategy; Supply Chain

October 1993 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Connecticut Spring and Stamping Corp. (A)

By: H. Kent Bowen

Connecticut Spring and Stamping Corp. (CSSC) is a small, privately owned metal working company with a reputation for providing quality products to its customers. CSSC's business is primarily the production of springs and stamped parts used in a variety of mechanical... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Engineering; Private Ownership; Quality; Manufacturing Industry

July 2021 (Revised October 2023)
Case

K.C. Li: The Tungsten King

By: Geoffrey Jones and Casey Verkamp

This case examines the business career of Kuo-Ching Li, who was born in China in 1892, and built a successful minerals trading business called Wah Chang in the United States during the interwar years. He acquired a prominent role in tungsten, the strongest natural... View Details

Keywords: Immigration Acts; Racial Bias; Globalization; Government and Politics; Business History; Entrepreneurship; Business and Government Relations; Mining Industry; China; United States; Latin America

June 2017 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Goodbye IMF Conditions, Hello Chinese Capital: Zambia's Copper Industry and Africa's Break with Its Colonial Past

By: Rafael Di Tella, Vincent Pons, Sarah Mehta and David Lane

Over the past several decades, rapid growth in Chinese investment and trade has created for Africa a new development partner. China represents an alternative to U.S. and European nations whose past imperialism, resource avarice, and economic dictates—through the... View Details

Keywords: Copper; Imperialism; IMF; World Bank; ODA; Debt Relief; Growth and Development; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Labor and Management Relations; History; Development Economics; China; Zambia; Africa

January 1994
Article

Foreign Multinationals in British Manufacturing, 1850-1962

By: G. Jones and Frances Bostock

This article draws on a new database to describe the dimensions and characteristics of 685 foreign companies which established British manufacturing subsidiaries between 1850 and 1962. The numbers of foreign companies grew from the 1890s, expanded rapidly in the... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Business Subsidiaries; Expansion; Chemicals; Metals and Minerals; Food; Mergers and Acquisitions; Market Entry and Exit; Research and Development; Trade; Investment; Production; United Kingdom; United States; Scotland; Wales

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January 1997 (Revised June 1997)
Case

Southwire: Beyond 2000

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Melissa Dailey

Southwire, based in Carrollton, GA, was the leading producer of aluminum and copper rod, wire, and cable for the transmission and distribution of electricity. In one decade, CEO Roy Richards, Jr. grew annual sales from $500 million in 1985 to $1.9 billion in 1995, an... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Growth Management; Competitive Strategy; Global Strategy; Manufacturing Industry

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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

Keywords: Globalization; Competency and Skills; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Production; Customer Relationship Management; Quality; Training; Performance Efficiency; Cost Management; Sales; System

August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Supplement

Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (B)

By: Willy Shih

This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Henry Ford's Model T was a car for the masses. After considerable experimentation, Ford Motor... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Exploration; Dominant Design; Business Growth and Maturation; Business History; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan