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Quality
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- spring 1991
- Article
Breaking the Cycle of Failure in Services
By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and James Heskett
Most managers recognize that good service is a direct result of having effective, productive people in customer contact positions. However, most service companies perpetuate a cycle of failure by tolerating high turnover and expecting employee dissatisfaction. This... View Details
- March 1991
- Background Note
Note on Taguchi Methods for Improving Quality Through Design
- March 1991 (Revised December 1994)
- Case
Marks and Spencer Ltd. (B)
Describes the firm's 1988 expansion into the United States through the acquisition of Brooks Brothers, a specialty up-market men's clothing chain and Kings Super Markets, a high quality New Jersey grocer. View Details
- March 1991
- Article
The Role of Audits and Audit Quality in Valuing New Issues
By: S. Datar, G. A. Feltham and J. S. Hughes
- 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
- Article
Total Quality Management and the Human Resource Professional: Applying the Baldrige Framework to Human Resources
By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Christopher L. Hart
The still evolving discipline of total quality management (TQM) has left many human resource professionals confused about their role. The authors believe that the HR function personnel should spearhead company quality efforts, as well as assess the performance of their... View Details
- September–October 1990
- Article
Zero Defections: Quality Comes to Services
By: F. Reichheld and W. E. Sasser Jr.
Keywords: Quality
- March 1990
- Case
Lehrer McGovern Bovis, Inc. (Abridged)
Describes the growth of a construction management company and the operating problems it now encounters. Designed to introduce students to the value of competition in the construction industry, to show how the techniques of value analysis can be used to strategic... 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
- January 1990 (Revised June 1995)
- Case
Colliers International Property Consultants
By: Nitin Nohria
Describes the origins, organizational structure, management practices, and use of information technology (IT) in Colliers, a real estate network. Colliers provides local firms with a way to maintain local autonomy while gaining national and international coverage.... View Details
- January 1990 (Revised February 1990)
- Teaching Note
Sedalia Revisited, Teaching Note
By: Roy D. Shapiro
Teaching Note for (9-687-004). View Details
Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Design; Quality; System; Employees; Framework; Competition; Production; Strategy
- October 1989 (Revised June 1993)
- Case
Texas Eastman Co.
By: Robert S. Kaplan
The company as part of a commitment to Total Quality Management has installed a computer system that accumulates 30,000 observations on its processes every 2-4 hours. Operating people have found the monthly summaries of financial performance not too useful in this... View Details
- October 1989 (Revised May 1996)
- Case
Xerox Corp.: Leadership Through Quality (A)
By: Todd D. Jick and Leonard A. Schlesinger
Describes the "Leadership Through Quality" effort undertaken by Xerox in the 1980s. Includes the history of Xerox in the 1970s and its need to make major changes in quality by the 1980s. Most of the remainder of the case details the step-by-step process by which Xerox... View Details
- Article
Fly-by-Night Firms and the Market for Product Reviews
By: Gerald R. Faulhaber and Dennis A. Yao
This paper presents a model that permits third-party information provision in a market characterized by information asymmetries and reputation formation. The model is used to examine how the market for information provision affects prices and supply in the primary... View Details
- April 1989 (Revised January 1990)
- Case
Texas Instruments: Cost of Quality (B)
By: Robert S. Kaplan
A division questions whether to retain, modify, or abandon its cost of quality system now that more direct measures of quality have been adopted. Discusses the role of quality cost measurement in a mature quality management system. View Details
- April 1989
- Teaching Note
Texas Instruments: Cost of Quality (A) and (B), Teaching Note
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Teaching Note for (9-189-029) and (9-189-111). View Details
Keywords: Texas
- February 1989 (Revised October 1994)
- Case
Asahi Breweries Ltd.
Focuses on competitive repositioning, organizational renewal, and personal leadership. Describes how Asahi Breweries was faced with a major capacity expansion decision after succeeding in increasing market share dramatically in the traditionally stable Japanese beer... View Details
- October 1988 (Revised December 1994)
- Case
Maytag in 1984
By: David J. Collis and Nancy Donohue
Highlights Maytag's unique position in the industry in 1984. Maytag, a much smaller player than its competitors has prior to 1984 been successful in producing high quality merchandise and charging a premium for it. By 1984 Maytag is also attempting expansion.... View Details
- August 1988 (Revised November 1988)
- Case
Texas Instruments: Cost of Quality (A)
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Texas Instruments implements a Cost of Quality (COQ) system as part of a company-wide "Total Quality Thrust." After several years of operation, group management questions whether or not the COQ system should be updated to make it more useful in identifying areas for... View Details