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08 Jan 2014
What Do You Think?

Do Productivity Increases Contribute to Social Inequality?

Summing Up Does Social Equality Improve Productivity? Inequality in our society is an important and growing issue. It prompted a debate among respondents to this month's column about the causes, specifically the role played by innovation... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

January 1982 (Revised November 1982)
Case

General Foods: Productivity Measurement Program

By: Robert H. Hayes and Kim B. Clark

Keywords: Performance Productivity; Performance Improvement; Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry

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02 Apr 2018
News

Practice Makes Perfect: Why Chinese Manufacturers Have A Production Advantage

01 Nov 2021
What Do You Think?

How Long Does It Take to Improve an Organization’s Culture?

University (completed before the outset of the pandemic) concluded that a strong corporate culture fosters better execution, reduction in agency cost, and therefore, higher productivity and creativity. Of the many executives surveyed, 92... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Web

Product Management - Course Catalog

HBS Course Catalog Product Management Course Number 1765 Senior Lecturer Sara McKinley Torti Spring; Q3; 1.5 credits Exam Career Focus: This half course provides an introduction to product management,... View Details

August 1994 (Revised May 1997)
Case

Olympus Optical Company, Ltd. (A): Cost Management for Short Life Cycle Products

Explores Olympus Optical's strategic response to major losses in its camera business. Key to Olympus's recovery were its extensive product planning process, a quality improvement program, and an aggressive cost-reduction program. In particular, the case details... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Product Design; Business Strategy; Product Development; Consumer Products Industry

August 2021
Teaching Note

Fair Park Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site (A) and (B)

By: Willy Shih

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 622-003 and 622-004. View Details

Keywords: Operations Improvement; Operations And Processes; Toyota Production System; Operations; Service Operations; Health Pandemics; Service Delivery; Problems and Challenges; Goals and Objectives; Measurement and Metrics; Health Industry; United States

01 May 2012
News

The #1 Productivity Tool You Aren't Using

19 Dec 2012
Research & Ideas

How to be Extremely Productive

project flopped, don't attack the person"). Deborah Blagg: Classic productivity books often focus on time management, but Extreme Productivity takes a much broader look. It reads more like a... View Details

Keywords: by Deborah Blagg

August 2021 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Fair Park Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site (A)

By: Willy Shih

This case is an opportunity to apply the methods of the Toyota Production System (TPS) to the analysis of an everyday service application: administering Covid-19 vaccines. It describes the start-up of a drive-up Covid-19 mass vaccination site at the Texas State Fair... View Details

Keywords: Operations Improvement; Operations And Processes; Toyota Production System; COVID-19 Pandemic; Operations; Service Operations; Health Pandemics; Problems and Challenges; Goals and Objectives; Measurement and Metrics; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States; Texas

16 Apr 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Can Biometric Tracking Improve Healthcare Provision and Data Quality? Experimental Evidence from Tuberculosis Control in India

Keywords: by Thomas Bossuroy, Clara Delavallade, and Vincent Pons; Health; Medical Devices & Supplies

24 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

How Cost Accounting is Improving Healthcare in Rural Haiti

School. Originally used to measure product and services costs in manufacturing, finance, and retail, TDABC had more recently been used to analyze expenses in large American hospitals. The Haiti study was the first time the system had been... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

09 Mar 2016
Lessons from the Classroom

In This Classroom, Beer Can Improve Your Grade

simulations, but Strategic Brew stands alone in scope. All 940 first-year students play the game simultaneously as part of the required Strategy course. Roughly 40 faculty and project members manage and supervise the events. “It’s a View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Education; Food & Beverage

September 1986 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Solagen: Process Improvement in the Manufacture of Gelatin at Kodak

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Brian DeLacey

Kodak must decide whether to make a major investment in a production facility designed around a new technique for producing the gelatin critical to so many film and paper products. Currently, gelatin making is an arcane art, unchanged in 150 years and heavily dependent... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Buildings and Facilities; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Experience and Expertise; Engineering; Investment; Time Management; Production; Research and Development; Semiconductor Industry

23 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

Product Disasters Can Be Fertile Ground for Innovation

to improve their products along with safety for their customers. About the Author Michael Blanding is a writer based in Boston. [Image: JohnnyGreig] Related Reading The Hard Work of Failure Analysis At... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health; Medical Devices & Supplies

July 2012
Class Lecture

The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work

By: Teresa M. Amabile

What really makes people happy, motivated, productive, and creative at work? Professor Amabile's research, based on analyzing nearly 12,000 daily diaries of team members working on collaborative projects, reveals some surprising answers. Inner work life—a person's... View Details

Keywords: Employee Motivation; Fostering Performance; Improving Creativity; The Importance Of Progress; Employee Attitude; Enhancing Work Life; Improving Productivity; Inner Work Life; Motivation and Incentives; Working Conditions; Creativity; Performance Productivity; Attitudes; Employees

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01 Dec 2017
News

2017 in Finance: Helping Consumers Improve Their Financial Life

Large consumer banks have historically collected a lot of data on their customers, which they have used to sell standardized products. Increasingly, however, we have seen new entrants using customer data to help the consumer and provide them with customizable View Details

Keywords: Omer Ismail (MBA 2007), chief commercial officer, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, the firm’s digital consumer financial services business; Finance

November 2004
Case

The Electronic Product Code: Future Impact on the Global Food System

By: Ray A. Goldberg and James Weber

The Electronic Product Code (EPC) is a successor to the Uniform Product Code and will improve the efficiency and traceability of the global food system. This case focuses on how best to implement this new system and respect the privacy of the ultimate consumer, and the... View Details

Keywords: Information; Rights; Ethics; Consumer Behavior; Management Systems; Technology Adoption; Innovation and Invention; Food and Beverage Industry