Detroit - Publications - Faculty & Research

27 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

The Dynamics of Standing Still: Firestone Tire & Rubber and the Radial Revolution

attempt was made to justify the investment for automakers on economic grounds. The projected return on the investment to serve Detroit was 6.5 percent, which fell below the investment hurdle rate of 8 to 10 percent used to evaluate other... View Details

Keywords: by Donald N. Sull; Manufacturing; Transportation

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HBS - The year in Review

Steven Povich, MBTA Kelsey Roberts, City of Detroit Anuja Samuel, Equal Justice Initiative Leadership Fellows Press Release Alumni Achievement Recognized Each year Harvard Business School recognizes a small number of outstanding alumni by... View Details

01 Dec 2009
News

One Man Crime Wave

of excreted pollutants wither the leaves on the trees and sicken the livestock. We hate our cars, Detroit .They are expensive, murderous junk, and they manage to look glassily contemptuous of the people who own them.” (Pale Gray for... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; fiction writing; Arts, Entertainment; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

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Harvard Business School

Brown became chief executive officer of the Amsale Group, which includes the luxury bridal collections of Amsale, Christos, and Kenneth Pool. Carlton Guthrie MBA 1978 Carlton Guthrie is co-chairman and president of Detroit Chassis, one of... View Details

Michael Ilitch

Ilitch built a small take-out pizza shop in Detroit into a 4,700 chain enterprise. At a time when take-out food was still a novelty, Ilitch catered to an increasingly mobile and convenience-oriented population. His strategy was based on... View Details

Keywords: Restaurants & Lodging

01 Jun 2016
News

Rethinking Housing in the Motor City

Detroit needs more housing, says developer John Rhea (MBA 1992). That’s a counterintuitive idea for most people who have driven the streets of that shrinking city, passing thousands of vacant homes and nearly abandoned neighborhoods.... View Details

Keywords: April White

03 Jun 2016
News

Again in a Great City

Above: Cummings in the iconic Fisher Building, known as “Detroit’s largest art object.” Cummings and his partners are redeveloping the 28-story landmark. A trip through downtown Detroit with Peter Cummings (OPM 13, 1988) is part urban... View Details

Keywords: April White; photographed by Brian Kelly

01 Sep 2016
News

Feedback

42, 2012) It is not often that one can actually improve the quality of life for those in need. But SecondBite does that and more. Well done, Ian. —Leon Zwier via alumni.hbs.edu Motor City Momentum Re: Peter Cummings (OPM 13, 1988) [I’m] so happy to read of these... View Details

01 Jun 2000
News

Seeing the Light

biotech job for Kirlin, a company her great-grandfather had founded. As she told the Detroit News (March 20, 2000), "Detroit is the hub of resources important to manufacturers like Kirlin. It was my first home. I could be part of the... View Details

Joseph Boyer

Boyer helped William S. Burroughs develop the adding machine and was the inventor of the first successful pneumatic hammer. In 1900, Boyer moved the Burroughs Adding Machine Company to Detroit. By 1930, at the time of Boyer's death, Burroughs Adding Machine Company was... View Details

Keywords: Computers & Electronics

15 Aug 2017
Blog Post

Where Work Meets Passion: A Summer In Community Development

a community-based real estate project in Detroit. The best way I describe the D to people is layered and complex! There’s so much going on – the good, the bad, and the ugly – as the city works to redefine itself. After reaching back within my college network, I decided... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government

Portrait Project

Matt Simpson

rejected by it every day. A blue-collar kid from Detroit who wanted to work with cars didn’t fit the crowd. I was an outsider and made to feel it every day. I felt numb, losing any joy and pride I used to have. Instead of succeeding, each... View Details

07 Sep 2021
News

Embracing Activism for Social Change

In 2020, the city of Detroit logged some 7,000 calls involving mental health emergencies—a critical issue, notes Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who says, “When the mentally ill turn to the police for a response,... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg

24 Apr 2014
News

MBAs take their business acumen on the road

and hit the road this summer. Alaoui recalls the work MBAxAmerica did for Sebastian Jackson, owner of the Detroit barbershop Social Club Grooming Co. Jackson wanted to donate hair shavings to accelerate compost for urban renewal projects.... View Details

John S. (Jack) Knight

Knight inherited Akron's Beacon-Journal in 1933 from his father and built it into a leading newspaper publishing conglomerate. A Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Knight also had a knack for business. Through several major acquisitions including the Miami Herald,... View Details

Keywords: Publishing & Print Media

02 Mar 2020
News

Cheese Whiz

through a range of initiatives, including a complimentary employee shuttle service, free and subsidized child care, and classes in emotional intelligence. “Rural America is the Detroit of 2008,” Scharfman said. “As a model for... View Details

Keywords: manufacturing; labor; innovation; cheese; Food Manufacturing; Manufacturing

22 Feb 2022
News

Brand New

supply chain complexity and an inflationary environment?” For Sundy, it’s an exciting challenge he calls his “MBA 2.0.” Heigh-ho: “My mom was a teacher in the Detroit public schools and my dad was a barber. My parents would be up at the... View Details

Keywords: April White; manufacturing; life experience; leadership; Black; African American; Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

Bernard F. Gimbel

and Milwaukee, Gimbel ran Saks Fifth Avenue stores in New York, Chicago, Detroit and Beverly Hills. During World War II, Gimbel earned huge profits on scarce consumer goods, which he had purchased earlier at low prices. View Details

Keywords: Retail

Harry B. Cunningham

Cunningham took over S. S. Kresge with a vision to convert the retail chain into a discounter. Cunningham opened the first K-Mart discount store in a Detroit suburb in 1962. When Cunningham embarked on his mission, company sales were $483... View Details