Publications

October 2003
Case

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company: Building a Platform for Distributed Innovation

By: Marco Iansiti and Marcin Strojwas

Surging costs of building a state-of-the-art fabrication facility were pushing firms to outsource manufacturing while advanced technologies were requiring a tighter coupling between design and manufacturing. Explores the development of strategy in this environment.... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Model; Networks; Product Design; Production; Decisions; Customer Relationship Management; Supply Chain Management

09 Oct 2019
Blog Post

Video: Thinking Secondhand First

CEO and co-founder of thredUP, James Reinhart (MBA/MPA-ID 2009) is disrupting the retail industry out of the mission to keep clothing out of landfills. Reinhart thought of his secondhand clothing business while at HBS and has since built a colossal logistics and View Details

November 2012
Case

New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. (Abridged)

By: H. Kent Bowen, Robert S. Huckman, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Matthew Preble

Considers whether New Balance, one of the world's five largest manufacturers of athletic footwear, should respond to Adidas' planned acquisition of Reebok—a transaction that would join the second- and third-largest companies in the industry. Highlights the unique... View Details

Keywords: Production; Competitive Strategy; Supply Chain; Brands and Branding; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Sports Industry; Retail Industry; Asia; United States

14 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

The High Cost of the Slow COVID Vaccine Rollout

officials took steps to speed vaccine development last year, the United States and other countries could have paid to build manufacturing infrastructure and shore up the supply chain needed to produce... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

24 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 24

trained professionals with many years of experience. Loans evaluated under more permissive incentive schemes are rated significantly less risky than the same loans evaluated under pay-for-performance. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/13-002.pdf... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Jul 2020
Blog Post

HBS Summer Fellows Respond to COVID-19

world. Peter Le: Understand how global supply chain works and what are the potential drivers and hurdles for efficient global supply chain... View Details

10 Nov 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

Research News and Tips: Innovating Across Time Zones

Harvard Business Review 98, no. 5 (September–October 2020): 98–105. Weaknesses in supply chain strategy exposed As anyone who went grocery shopping in the early days of the pandemic can tell you, empty... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

December 2002 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Tesco Plc.

By: David E. Bell

Tesco, a supermarket chain, has been transformed from a third-rate retailer to a global leader in the past ten years. This case describes how that was accomplished. Interviews with Tesco employees explain the company's approach to understanding customers, motivating... View Details

Keywords: History; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain Management; Global Strategy; Globalization; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Strategy; Retail Industry

August 2015 (Revised March 2016)
Supplement

Rana Plaza (C): Primark and Victim Compensation

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

Keywords: Labor Relations; Corporate Social Responsibility; Sustainability; International Marketing; Supply Chain Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Marketing; Labor Unions; Environmental Sustainability; Globalized Markets and Industries

December 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Nestlé: Agricultural Material Sourcing Within the Concept of Creating Shared Value (CSV)

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Lorin A. Fries

Corporate Head of Agriculture Hans Jöhr's mind raced in anticipation of the executive board meeting that afternoon. Jöhr recognized the meeting as a key opportunity to strategize far into the future, reexamining how his team's efforts in sustainable agricultural... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Value Creation; Quality; Supply Chain Management; Social Issues; Environmental Sustainability; Problems and Challenges; Growth and Development Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Health Industry

01 Dec 2018
News

Combating Climate Change

problems. Supply chains will be disrupted. There will be new conflicts over water, resources, and human migration. The very physical integrity of factories and buildings will be threatened. So what can... View Details

March 1999 (Revised June 2004)
Case

Keurig

By: Paul W. Marshall and Jeremy Dann

Nick Lazaris becomes Keurig's third CEO in three years, after one founder was fired and the other decided to leave the company. He inherits a company that has made several abortive attempts to launch its new coffee brewing system. Now, problems with crucial suppliers... View Details

Keywords: Resignation and Termination; Product Launch; Supply Chain Management; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Manufacturing Industry

01 Dec 2017
News

2017 in Energy: A Future of Lower Energy Prices

natural gas prices revert to historical mean levels. Depending on where you are in the economic supply chain that can be beneficial or detrimental. If you look at all the economies that depend on petro... View Details

Keywords: Sarah Wright (MBA 1997), founder, Hull Street Energy

January 2010 (Revised February 2010)
Case

IFP, Indonesia

By: Roy D. Shapiro

IFP, Ltd. is a Europe-based multinational mining and minerals company contemplating an investment to produce forest products in Indonesia. The primary case decisions are 1) how to assess political and operating risk, 2) how to integrate economic and political risk... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Investment; Geographic Location; Risk Management; Supply Chain Management; Business and Government Relations; Forest Products Industry; Indonesia

October 1996
Teaching Note

Liz Claiborne, Inc. and Ruentex Industries, Ltd. Case Series TN

By: Roy D. Shapiro and Marie-Therese M. Flaherty

Teaching Note for (9-690-048), (9-690-049), and (9-690-050). View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Production; Cooperation; Supply Chain; Apparel and Accessories Industry