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- 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
- 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
- May–June 2013
- Article
Can Global Brands Create Just Supply Chains? Response: Promoting Political Mobilization
By: Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel
Codes of conduct indicate that working conditions are improving overall at the factories being monitored by multinational corporations, and that these codes of conduct also create possibilities for political mobilization that can improve labor conditions more broadly. View Details
Keywords: Regulation; Auditing; Labor Relations; Occupational Safety; Environmental Operations; Environmental Regulation; Employees; Labor; Labor and Management Relations; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Manufacturing Industry; China; Bangladesh; India; Honduras; Nicaragua; Pakistan; Guatemala; Malaysia; Viet Nam
- November 2012 (Revised January 2013)
- Case
SANY: Going Global
By: Rajiv Lal, Stefan Lippert, Nancy Hua Dai and Di Deng
April 17, 2012, was a special day for SANY Group and for its founder Liang Wen'gen. Headquartered in Changsha, SANY Group had transformed itself in two decades from a small welding material factory in 1989 to a leading global construction equipment manufacturer with 5... View Details
Keywords: China; Expansion; Business Growth; Heavy Industry; Strategy Development; Globalization; Growth and Development; Emerging Markets; Strategy; Construction Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Asia; China; Europe; Germany; India; North and Central America; South America
- August 2012 (Revised February 2021)
- Case
Hub and Spoke, HealthCare Global and Additional Focused Factory Models for Cancer Care
By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Amit Ghorawat, Meera Krishnan and Naiyya Saggi
This case compares and contrasts four different models for delivering cancer care in India and the US. Students are asked to select the best model in its alignment with the Six Forces in those two countries and Africa, to which one of the models is considering... View Details
- August 2012 (Revised August 2014)
- Case
Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (A)
By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Natalie Kindred
Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), a U.S. network of four privately owned oncology focused factory hospitals, was weighing options for growth. CTCA was entirely cancer focused and specialized in treating patients with complex and advanced-stage cancers, who... View Details
Keywords: Cancer; Cancer Treatment; Health Care; Healthcare; Accountability; Outcomes; Outcomes Measurement; Outcomes Reporting; Hub And Spoke Cancer Care; Hub And Spoke; Hub-and-spoke; Focused Factory; Mission and Purpose; Private Ownership; For-Profit Firms; Health Disorders; Medical Specialties; Policy; Business Model; Expansion; Decision Choices and Conditions; Advertising; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Health Industry; United States
- June 2012
- Article
The Transparency Paradox: A Role for Privacy in Organizational Learning and Operational Control
Using data from embedded participant-observers and a field experiment at the second largest mobile phone factory in the world, located in China, I theorize and test the implications of transparent organizational design on workers' productivity and organizational... View Details
Keywords: Transparency; Privacy; Organizational Learning; Operational Control; Organizational Performance; Chinese Manufacturing; Field Experiment; Rights; Interpersonal Communication; Management Practices and Processes; Ethics; Corporate Disclosure; Performance Productivity; Boundaries; Organizations; Social and Collaborative Networks; Labor and Management Relations; Power and Influence; Manufacturing Industry; China
- August 2011 (Revised May 2012)
- Case
Haier: Taking a Chinese Company Global in 2011
By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Phillip Andrews
In 2011, Haier, China's leading appliance manufacturer, had over $20 billion in worldwide sales and had just been named the leading refrigerator manufacturer worldwide. Describes Haier's rise over three decades from a defunct refrigerator factory in China's Qingdao... View Details
- April 2011 (Revised September 2011)
- Case
Willy Jacobsohn and Beiersdorf: Managing Expropriation and Anti-Semitism
By: Geoffrey G. Jones and Christina Lubinski
This case examines the management of home and host country risk by Beiersdorf during the interwar years. It can be used both in business history courses and more generally to teach political risk management by multinational corporations. Beiersdorf, a German personal... View Details
- February 2010 (Revised October 2010)
- Case
Re-THINK-ing THINK: The Electric Car Company
By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron
On January 5, 2010, 48-year-old Richard Canny was on his way to meet the governor of Indiana. He was reading his newly issued press release announcing that THINK planned to start automobile production in Elkhart County, Indiana to launch its THINK City battery-operated... View Details
- February 2010 (Revised April 2010)
- Case
China: Getting Richer Still
By: Diego A. Comin and Richard H. K. Vietor
In the last quarter of 2009, China's GDP growth rate again approached 10%. While the global financial crisis had certainly hurt - causing layoffs of as many as 20 million factory workers - a huge stimulus package on top of continuing domestic demand had restored... View Details
- January 2010 (Revised July 2011)
- Case
Hindustan Unilever Limited
By: Thomas J. DeLong and Mona Srivastava
This case illustrates Hindustan Unilever Limited's conflict resolution and people development policies using a “leading from the middle” example. The story centers on the challenges faced by an HR manager at a factory who must meet organizational objectives while... View Details
- August 2009
- Supplement
The TSMC Way: Meeting Customer Needs at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (CW)
By: Willy C. Shih
When L.C. Tu receives an emergency order, he is confronted with a range of production scheduling choices, each of which has unique costs and trade-offs. The case was designed to help students understand job-shop style production and the impact of disruptions and... View Details
- August 2009
- Case
The TSMC Way: Meeting Customer Needs at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
By: Willy C. Shih, Chen-Fu Chien, Chintay Shih and Jack Chang
When L.C. Tu receives an emergency order, he is confronted with a range of production scheduling choices, each of which has unique costs and trade-offs. The case was designed to help students understand job-shop style production and the impact of disruptions and... View Details
- 2009
- Chapter
Evaluating the Impact of SA8000 Certification
By: Michael J. Hiscox, Claire Schwartz and Michael W. Toffel
SA 8000, along with other types of certification standards and corporate codes of conduct, represents a new form of private governance of working conditions, initiated and implemented by companies, labor unions, and non-governmental activist groups. Whether these codes... View Details
- December 2008 (Revised February 2017)
- Case
Olam International
By: David E. Bell and Mary Shelman
In 20 years, Sunny Verghese had built Singapore-based Olam International from a small Nigerian export company into a $5 billion global leader in agricultural commodities with a core competence in Africa. Olam's growth had come by pursuing product and geographic... View Details
- November 2007 (Revised May 2008)
- Case
Haier Hefei Electronics Co. (A)
By: Lynn Sharp Paine
The Haier Group, the first mainland Chinese company to make the Financial Times list of Asia's "most admired companies," attributes its success in large measure to the new value system it has sought to instill throughout the organization. However, when Haier takes over... View Details
- February 2007 (Revised May 2007)
- Case
Li & Fung 2006
By: F. Warren McFarlan, William C. Kirby and Tracy Manty
Describes the opportunities and strategy facing one of the most innovative global supply-chain companies, and the strategy it has chosen to deal with the expanding demand for its services. Li & Fung links thousands of factories in India, China, and elsewhere to nearly... View Details
- November 2006 (Revised March 2007)
- Case
Liz Claiborne and the New Working Woman
By: Anthony Mayo and Mark Benson
At age 47, with two decades of experience as a lead designer for a Fortune 500 fashion company, Liz Claiborne put her life savings on the line to form Liz Claiborne, Inc., a partnership that included her husband. A decade later, in 1986, Claiborne was CEO of her own... View Details
- October 2006 (Revised November 2006)
- Case
Integrated Packaging Corporation: Struggling to Do the Right Thing (A)
By: Herman B. Leonard and Orson Watson
As a child, Al Fuller had seen his working-class, African-American neighborhood disintegrate as factory jobs moved away. He resolved to help inner-city communities do better when he grew up. Some years later, as an accomplished university graduate with several years... View Details