Publications

July 2013
Case

Jackson Automotive Systems

By: William E. Fruhan and Wei Wang

Jackson Automotive Systems produces automotive parts for advanced heating and air conditioning systems, engine cooling systems, fuel injection and transfer systems, and various other engine parts and it supplies them to the automotive industry primarily in Michigan.... View Details

Keywords: Production; Financial Crisis; Corporate Finance; Auto Industry; Auto Industry; Michigan

November 2011 (Revised June 2012)
Case

The Big 3 Roar Back

By: William W. George

The "Big 3"—Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Chrysler—were all headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. Born between 1903 and 1928, they dominated the automobile industry in the U.S. for decades until they became complacent. In the 1970s they started losing share to... View Details

Keywords: Production; Labor Unions; Labor and Management Relations; Industry Clusters; Competitive Strategy; Auto Industry; Auto Industry; Michigan

2011
Working Paper

The Architecture of Transaction Networks: A Comparative Analysis of Hierarchy in Two Sectors

By: Jianxi Luo, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Daniel E. Whitney and Christopher L. Magee

Many products are manufactured in networks of firms linked by transactions, but comparatively little is known about how or why such transaction networks differ. This paper investigates the transaction networks of two large sectors in Japan at a single point in time. In... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Market Transactions; Networks; Competitive Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Auto Industry; Japan

November 2009
Case

Dawn Stokes: The View from the Driver's Seat

By: Boris Groysberg and Lindsay Tanne

Dawn Stokes founded and was successful as CEO of Texas Driving Experience, a company that provided driving lessons, both safety-based for teens, and high-performance racecar driving for individual thrill seekers and corporate events. Although the company had done well,... View Details

Keywords: Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Training; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Auto Industry; Auto Industry; Texas

March 2004 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Foreign Exchange Hedging Strategies at General Motors

By: Mihir A. Desai and Mark Veblen

How should a multinational firm manage foreign exchange exposures? Examines transactional, translational, and competitive exposures. Describes General Motors' corporate hedging policies, its risk management structure, and how accounting rules impact hedging decisions.... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Currency Exchange Rate; Investment; Financial Markets; Auto Industry; Auto Industry; Argentina; Japan; Canada; United States

February 1992 (Revised January 2002)
Case

BMW: The 7-Series Project (A)

By: Gary P. Pisano

Explores BMW's decision about how to manufacture prototype vehicles. Historically, BMW's prototypes were handcrafted by highly skilled artisans in the company's shop. A proposal has been made to alter the process so that prototypes are made in a way that can better... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Research and Development; Design; Production; Strategy; Quality; Decision Making; Auto Industry; Auto Industry; Germany

July 1993 (Revised June 1994)
Case

Peak Electronics: Vendor Relationship with the Ford Motor Co. (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Relationships; Auto Industry; Auto Industry

February 1990 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Carter Automotive Group

By: Walter J. Salmon

The Carter Automotive Group is a Southern California automobile dealer group. The head of the group is assessing whether his current and unique marketing strategy should be modified in light of changing competitive conditions. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Change; Competition; Auto Industry; Auto Industry; California

October 1988 (Revised May 1990)
Case

Ford Motor Co.: The Product Warranty Program (A)

Raises powerful issues concerning product warranty policy as a strategic marketing variable. Also raises several exciting issues concerning the role of product policy in competitive battles, product line issues, interfunctional coordination issues, and some ethical... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Marketing Strategy; Insurance; Product; Policy; Auto Industry; Auto Industry; United States

November 1987 (Revised March 1990)
Case

Ethyl Corp. in 1979

Describes the competitive situation facing the market leader in antiknock additives, the Ethyl Corp. Demand is declining rapidly and Ethyl has to decide whether to close capacity, and if so, how. Raises issues of corporate as well as SBU strategy because antiknock... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Corporate Strategy; Performance Capacity; Auto Industry; Auto Industry

October 2019
Case

Feeling Machines: Emotion AI at Affectiva

By: Shane Greenstein and John Masko

In 2016, Affectiva—a Boston-based emotion AI software company with a long track record of building emotion-sensing software for market research—had attempted to expand into new verticals by releasing a mobile software development kit (SDK) that downloaders could adapt... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Market Research; Business Model; Finance; Revenue; Decision Making; Risk and Uncertainty; Market Entry and Exit; Applications and Software; AI and Machine Learning; Auto Industry; Auto Industry; United States

December 2012
Article

Defending the Markers of Masculinity: Consumer Resistance to Brand Gender-Bending

By: Jill Avery

I study the Porsche Cayenne SUV launch to ethnographically analyze how men consuming a gendered brand respond to perceived brand gender contamination. Consumers' communal gender work in a Porsche brand community is analyzed to uncover brand gender contamination's... View Details

Keywords: Brands; Brand Building; Brand Equity; Brand Management; Brand Positioning; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Gender; Identity; Customer Focus and Relationships; Auto Industry; Auto Industry

Spring 2013
Article

China's Quest to Adopt Electric Vehicles

By: Christopher Marquis, Hongyu Zhang and Lixuan Zhou

The Chinese government's effort to create an electric vehicle industry is a bold experiment in local and system-level innovation. It also provides a window into understanding the promise and peril of economic development policies, both for China and for the rest of the... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Development Economics; Emerging Markets; Auto Industry; Auto Industry; China

September 2003
Supplement

Edmunds.com, Inc. (B)

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Erin Sullivan

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Auto Industry; Auto Industry