Publications

Profile

Joe Khoury

Why was earning your MBA at HBS important to you? As an engineering school graduate, I felt that I needed to acquire new skills related to business, economics and management. Having worked in the Middle East and Asia, I also wanted to... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Consulting; Investment Banking

12 Oct 2017
Blog Post

Why I Spent this Summer Coding

cultivate technical talent in the institution given the swelling interest, such as offering the new computer science class CS50 for MBAs that’s designed for future managers, product managers, and founders. The new joint MS/MBA program... View Details

October 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Background Note

Evolution of the Drone Industry

By: Rory McDonald, Andy Wu, Emilie Billaud and Ryan Bayer

This note focuses on the development of the drone industry in recent years and provides insights on the drone technology, regulations, applications, market size, top players, and ecosystem. This note was written in conjunction with the case study “Parrot: Navigating... View Details

Keywords: Drones; Information Technology; Disruption; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Engineering; Product Development; Technology Industry; Asia; Europe; North America; United States

February 2013 (Revised March 2015)
Case

The LEGO Group: Publish or Protect?

By: Willy C. Shih and Sen Chai

Senior managers at the LEGO Group are faced with a quandary: Should they patent inventions coming out of their manufacturing process development work, should they keep them as trade secrets, or should they publish them so that they would go into the public domain and... View Details

May 1988 (Revised October 1989)
Teaching Note

Alloy Rods Corp., Teaching Note

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Teaching Note for (9-586-046). View Details

Keywords: Metals and Minerals; Industrial Products Industry

February 1963
Case

Markham Instrument Co. (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Industrial Products Industry

Find at Harvard

November 1973
Article

Men and Machines in Indonesia's Light Manufacturing Industry

By: Louis T Wells Jr

Keywords: Production; Machinery and Machining; Manufacturing Industry; Indonesia

Find at Harvard

May 1987
Supplement

Copeland Corp.: The Focused Factory, Video

By: David A. Garvin

Introduces students to the products, shows the company's focused factories, introduces the principal managers, and describes the process the company went through in executing a major change in manufacturing strategy and philosophy. Can be used independently to... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Change; Machinery and Machining; Product; Production; Strategy

01 Jul 2019
What Do You Think?

Are Super Stretch Goals Only for the Very Young?

products. “The tech industry in general, young or old, can accommodate stretched goals, simply because digital can reach millions of people worldwide in one second, and all that they have to do is to create the product once [versus] other... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

06 Aug 2018
Research & Ideas

Supersmart Manufacturing Tools are Lowering Prices on TVs, Bulbs, and Solar Panels

Management Practice in Business Administration at Harvard Business School, who recently published a paper on the topic of technology commoditization in MIT Sloan Management Review. According to Shih, manufacturers are able to duplicate the latest technology used in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing; Electronics

April 1999 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Aluminum Smelting in South Africa: Alusaf's Hillside Project

With prices at all-time lows at the beginning of 1994, South Africa's sole primary aluminum producer--Alusaf--is considering building the world's largest greenfield smelter. Using cost estimates in this case, students can evaluate the relative cost position of this... View Details

Keywords: Metals and Minerals; Analysis; Markets; Profit; Capital; Industrial Products Industry; South Africa

23 Oct 2019
News

Future Tech Leaders Dive into New Program

Students in the new joint MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences Program have the opportunity to participate in five design cycles, which build the skills needed to take a product concept from hunch to launch.... View Details

Keywords: University Collaborations; MS/MBA

April 1970 (Revised December 1983)
Case

Norton Co. (A)

Introduces the "Norton Plan" designed to halt Norton's declining share of the grinding wheel market. View Details

Keywords: Machinery and Machining; Competitive Strategy; Sales; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry

August 1992 (Revised February 1995)
Case

Otis Pacific Asia Operations (B): Regionalization

By: Michael Y. Yoshino

Describes Otis's effort to build a regional organization linking its previously autonomous opportunities across the Pacific Asia region. Describes changes being made in several key functions, including manufacturing, marketing, engineering, and finance. Presents major... View Details

Keywords: Engineering; Finance; Marketing Strategy; Production; Opportunities; Competition; Integration