Operational Focus - Publications - Faculty & Research

12 Apr 2007
Working Paper Summaries

From Manufacturing to Design: An Essay on the Work of Kim B. Clark

Keywords: by Sylvain Lenfle & Carliss Y. Baldwin; Manufacturing

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Increasing Value in Care Delivery - Health Care

through improving operations is the focus of Professor Robert Huckman’s research, MBA course curriculum, and Executive Education teaching. Huckman is the faculty chair of the HBS Health Care Initiative and... View Details

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Executive Education - Entrepreneurship

essential leadership skills to guide your company through growth and success. Who should attend: OPM alumni who are C-suite executives, owners, or multigenerational business leaders with at least 10 years of operational experience.... View Details

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Winners & Runners-Up | New Venture Competition

re-evolve the future. SurgiBox Mike Teodorescu (DBA 2018) Alumni Track Crowd Favorite Safe surgery, any time, any place. Business Track, 2021 Concord Materials Robert Lane (MBA 2021) Anthony Valente (MBA 2022) Business Track Co-Winner Integrated materials management... View Details

May 2021
Simulation

Customer Compatibility Exercise Application

By: Ryan W. Buell

Customers impose considerable variability on the operating systems of service organizations. They show up when they wish (arrival variability), they ask for different things (request variability), they vary in their willingness and ability to help themselves (effort... View Details

Keywords: Customer Compatibility; Customer Relationship Management; Strategy; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Performance Efficiency; Analysis; Consumer Behavior; Analytics and Data Science

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07 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Effective Leaders Share the Spotlight with Their Teams

inclusive CEO increased a company’s average three-day return by 0.8 percent. This is likely because these managers retain staff, which may result in increased operating efficiency and innovation, Zou says, and markets seem to quickly... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

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Research - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

appreciate the associated risks. Begenau and Stafford suggest and provide evidence for an additional consideration: that high leverage signals an excessive focus on financing decisions over good management, specifically over... View Details

January 2004
Article

Corporate Venturing: The Origins of Unilever's Pregnancy Test

By: Geoffrey Jones and Alison Kraft

The relative ability of different sizes of firm and organisational designs to develop and sustain dynamic capabilities in innovation and create new businesses remains a matter of contention. While Chandler among many others has emphasised the pre-eminent role of large... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Organizational Design; Technological Innovation; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Brands and Branding; Multinational Firms and Management; Product Development; Product Launch; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Great Britain

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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

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July – August 2010
Article

Are You Ignoring Trends That Could Shake Up Your Business?

By: Elie Ofek and Luc Wathieu

Virtually all managers in consumer businesses recognize major social, economic, and technological trends. But many do not consider the profound ways in which trends--especially those that seem unrelated to their core markets--influence consumers' aspirations,... View Details

Keywords: Trends; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Product Development

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23 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Building a Better Buyer-Seller Relationship

Buyers and sellers in mature industrial markets can turn single transactions into long-term beneficial relationships by a deeper understanding of the complex connection between the two, says Harvard Business School professor Narakesari Narayandas. A "must-do"... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

10 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

John Kotter’s Plan to Accelerate Your Business

organizational design that has not one, but two "operating systems." One system conducts the everyday business of business, while the second system, more like an agile network, sits alongside to focus on the opportunities and demands of... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

11 Mar 2024
Blog Post

A Day in the Life: Ben Hsieh

takeover of Unilever by 3G Capital / Kraft Heinz. Over our 80-minute case, we discuss the strategies of Unilever (long-term value creation with sustainability at the center) and 3G / Kraft Heinz (steep budget cuts and higher operating... View Details

27 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

The Hidden Cost of a Product Recall

more important than previously thought, says Ariel D. Stern, an assistant professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, where she is the Hellman Faculty Fellow in the Technology and Operations Management Unit. “Product... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Auto; Medical Devices & Supplies

06 Oct 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

18 Tips Managers Can Use to Lead Through COVID's Rising Waters

address concerns, and ultimately get everyone back on the same track to achieve team goals. Team leaders should focus their relaunch in four key areas. Revisit your shared purpose. A relaunch ensures that every team member understands and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

14 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

Pay Attention To Your ‘Extreme Consumers’

people who are very unlike you." The Difference Between Saying And Doing As former marketing manager for female shaving products at Gillette, Avery often utilized principles of "design thinking," moving beyond surveys and focus groups to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

01 Mar 2024
News

The War Within

she began to hear warnings that a Russian invasion was imminent. So she put her plans on hold, and instead began to focus on finding ways to assist Ukrainians. Ames has deep ties within the region: In 1992, she was named the director of... View Details

Keywords: Janelle Nanos; illustration by Daniel Bejar

07 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

4+2 = Sustained Business Success

our formula for success is not as simple as it sounds. Companies can all too easily forget or ignore the basics, as we saw in the waning years of the last century. And succeeding at the eight business practices can be hard work. Maintaining a laserlike View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria, William Joyce & Bruce Roberson

01 Dec 2023
News

A Continuum of Innovation

solutions, and lead change in organizations. We’re proud to have made it possible for all RC students to have access during that course to advanced versions of GAI, which include tools that dramatically simplify programming, to ensure that they are View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

April 2025
Case

Salesforce Agentforce: The Limitless Workforce

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Allison Ciechanover and George Gonzalez

In early 2025, Salesforce was a global leader in cloud-based enterprise software, best known for pioneering customer relationship management (CRM) delivered as a service. Over the past two decades, the company had expanded into marketing, customer service, analytics,... View Details