Filter Results:
(459)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web (737)
- Faculty Publications (271)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web (737)
- Faculty Publications (271)
Sort by
- February 1986 (Revised November 1989)
- Case
Copeland Corp.: Evolution of a Manufacturing Strategy--1975-82 (A)
By: David A. Garvin
Describes the evolution of a company's manufacturing strategy over an eight-year period. Copeland had pursued a strategy of building freestanding focused plants devoted to single processes or product lines, and then moving products from the home plant at Sidney, Ohio... View Details
Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Product; Production; Strategy; Restructuring; Geographic Location; Manufacturing Industry; Ohio
Garvin, David A. "Copeland Corp.: Evolution of a Manufacturing Strategy--1975-82 (A)." Harvard Business School Case 686-088, February 1986. (Revised November 1989.)
- Research Summary
Flexibility in Manufacturing Systems
David M. Upton has examined the management of flexibility in manufacturing systems. Although flexibility has become an issue of critical competitive importance in a growing number of industries, it remains an ill-understood concept. The broad use of the term and its... View Details
- October 1993 (Revised November 1994)
- Case
Michigan Manufacturing Corp.: The Pontiac Plant--1988
By: Clayton M. Christensen
Michigan Manufacturing is a broad-line maker of components for the automotive industry. It has developed a network of nine plants as its product line has grown. Newer, higher-volume products tend to be made in newer, focused, high-volume plants, while older product... View Details
Keywords: Cost Accounting; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Profit; Brands and Branding; Mission and Purpose; Networks; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry
Christensen, Clayton M. "Michigan Manufacturing Corp.: The Pontiac Plant--1988." Harvard Business School Case 694-051, October 1993. (Revised November 1994.)
- August 1988 (Revised August 1989)
- Case
Poletown Dilemma, The
By: Thomas R. Piper
Senior management of General Motors must select a site for a new assembly plant to replace two plants located in Detroit. The economics strongly favor a site in an adjacent state. However, a relocation would have substantial, negative impact on the existing work force,... View Details
Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business and Government Relations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Offices; Management Teams; Restructuring; Economics; Auto Industry; Michigan
Piper, Thomas R. "Poletown Dilemma, The." Harvard Business School Case 389-017, August 1988. (Revised August 1989.)
- April 1982 (Revised September 1986)
- Case
Ideal Standard France: Pat Paterson
A newly appointed country subsidiary manager must decide on action for an operation losing $1 million per month. He is constrained by price controls on one hand and sensitive union relations on the other. Furthermore a major loss-contributing plant has recently been... View Details
Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Transition; Cost Management; Management; Crisis Management; Labor and Management Relations
Bartlett, Christopher A. "Ideal Standard France: Pat Paterson." Harvard Business School Case 382-139, April 1982. (Revised September 1986.)
- November 1992
- Case
Process Control at Polaroid (B)
By: H. Kent Bowen and Steven C. Wheelwright
The plant manager of a film production operation wants to create and implement a new approach to quality within the next 12 months. Issues of personnel (and their roles), production processes (and their control), and quality standards must be addressed. View Details
Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Job Design and Levels; Management Practices and Processes; Production; Quality; Mathematical Methods
Bowen, H. Kent, and Steven C. Wheelwright. "Process Control at Polaroid (B)." Harvard Business School Case 693-048, November 1992.
- November 2012
- Article
The Organization of Firms Across Countries
By: Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen
We argue that social capital as proxied by trust increases aggregate productivity by affecting the organization of firms. To do this we collect new data on the decentralization of investment, hiring, production, and sales decisions from Corporate Headquarters to local... View Details
Keywords: Decentralization; Social Capital; Theory Of The Firm; Firm Objectives, Organization, And Behavior; Business Economics; Management Of Technological Innovation And R＆D; Technological Change: Choices And Consequences; Diffusion Processes; Organizational Structure; Performance Productivity; Trust; Technology Adoption; Multinational Firms and Management
Bloom, Nicholas, Raffaella Sadun, and John Van Reenen. "The Organization of Firms Across Countries." Quarterly Journal of Economics 127, no. 4 (November 2012). (Slides from 2008, Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 12-005, August 2011.)
- March 2010 (Revised October 2018)
- Case
Toby Johnson (A): Leading After School
By: Boris Groysberg, Leslie Danford, Amy Lodge and Tereh Sayles
After completing her MBA in 2007, Toby Johnson, a former army pilot with the 18th Airborne Corps Rapid Deployment Force, joined PepsiCo's Leadership Development Program (LDP). For her first assignment with PepsiCo, Johnson accepted a position as a manufacturing-manager... View Details
Keywords: Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Compensation and Benefits; Business or Company Management
Groysberg, Boris, Leslie Danford, Amy Lodge, and Tereh Sayles. "Toby Johnson (A): Leading After School." Harvard Business School Case 410-103, March 2010. (Revised October 2018.)
- February 1990
- Case
Wood Structures, Inc.
Ostensibly a case about employee turnover in a small construction component company, Wood Structures, Inc. is actually a snapshot of the whole company. In particular it addresses issues of leadership, morale, and teamwork (or the lack thereof) in a company dependent on... View Details
Barnes, Louis B. "Wood Structures, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 490-061, February 1990.
- June 1999 (Revised November 2006)
- Case
Basil "Buzz" Hargrove and de Havilland, Inc. (A)
By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Angela Keros
Buzz Hargrove, national president of the Canadian Auto Workers, needs to find a way to secure an agreement from a negotiated contract with de Havilland, Inc. Local union leaders feel the deal is not good enough, but Hargrove is convinced management will close the plant... View Details
Keywords: Media; Power and Influence; Negotiation Deal; Leadership; Agreements and Arrangements; Business Exit or Shutdown; Labor Unions; Negotiation Types; Management Teams; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Canada
McGinn, Kathleen L., and Angela Keros. Basil "Buzz" Hargrove and de Havilland, Inc. (A). Harvard Business School Case 899-138, June 1999. (Revised November 2006.)
- 2025
- Working Paper
Private Equity and Workers: Modeling and Measuring Monopsony, Implicit Contracts, and Efficient Reallocation
By: Kyle Herkenhoff, Josh Lerner, Gordon M. Phillips, Francisca Rebelo and Benjamin Sampson
We measure the real effects of private equity buyouts on worker outcomes by building a new
database that links transactions to matched employer-employee data in the United States. To
guide our empirical analysis, we derive testable implications from three theories in... View Details
Herkenhoff, Kyle, Josh Lerner, Gordon M. Phillips, Francisca Rebelo, and Benjamin Sampson. "Private Equity and Workers: Modeling and Measuring Monopsony, Implicit Contracts, and Efficient Reallocation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 25-046, March 2025. (Revised June 2025.)
- October 1998 (Revised December 1999)
- Case
Gene Research, the Mapping of Life and the Global Economy
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Juan Enriquez-Cabot
A new firm is being created to speed up the process of mapping humans, animals, and plants by combining gene technology with rapid gene identification to improve the health and well being of the human population and the productivity of crops and animals. How does one... View Details
Keywords: Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Technological Innovation; Business Processes; Health Care and Treatment; Performance Productivity; Welfare; Agribusiness; Genetics; Science-Based Business; Biotechnology Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry
Goldberg, Ray A., and Juan Enriquez-Cabot. "Gene Research, the Mapping of Life and the Global Economy." Harvard Business School Case 599-016, October 1998. (Revised December 1999.)
- January 2021
- Case
Toyota and Its Labor Union in Argentina (A)
By: Jorge Tamayo, Erik Snowberg and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago
In 2011, Daniel Herrero, CEO of Toyota Argentina (TASA) since 2010, was about to meet with the Secretary-General of the union representing automotive industry workers in the country. The company produced vehicles in Argentina since 1997 at their plant at Zárate, and,... View Details
Keywords: Manufacturing Performance; Bargaining; Production; Performance; Labor Unions; Labor and Management Relations; Fairness; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Auto Industry; Argentina
Tamayo, Jorge, Erik Snowberg, and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago. "Toyota and Its Labor Union in Argentina (A)." Harvard Business School Case 721-394, January 2021.
- February 1986 (Revised March 1990)
- Supplement
Copeland Corp.: Evolution of a Manufacturing Strategy--1975-82 (C)
By: David A. Garvin
In the preceding case, Copeland had to choose between two alternative plant layouts for organizing its Sidney plant. Now it must get work force approval for a change in "bumping" rules before proceeding with the change. Management must decide how to proceed--to... View Details
Keywords: Strategy; Production; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Labor and Management Relations; Restructuring; Decisions; Change Management; Manufacturing Industry; Ohio
Garvin, David A. "Copeland Corp.: Evolution of a Manufacturing Strategy--1975-82 (C)." Harvard Business School Supplement 686-090, February 1986. (Revised March 1990.)
- 2012
- Working Paper
Is India's Manufacturing Sector Moving Away from Cities?
By: Ejaz Ghani, Arti Grover Goswami and William R. Kerr
This paper investigates the urbanization of the Indian manufacturing sector by combining enterprise data from formal and informal sectors. We find that plants in the formal sector are moving away from urban and into rural locations, while the informal sector is moving... View Details
Keywords: Urban Development; Policy; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Geographic Location; Education; Infrastructure; Manufacturing Industry; India
Ghani, Ejaz, Arti Grover Goswami, and William R. Kerr. "Is India's Manufacturing Sector Moving Away from Cities?" Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 12-090, April 2012.
- December 1995 (Revised January 2008)
- Case
Lenzing AG: Expanding in Indonesia
By: Debora L. Spar
In 1994, Lenzing AG, the world's largest rayon manufacturer, is deciding whether to expand production in South Pacific Viscose, its Indonesian subsidiary. Indonesia is a booming market for rayon, but management still has some concerns about the expansion. First, for... View Details
Spar, Debora L., Lygeia Ricciardi, and Laura Bures. "Lenzing AG: Expanding in Indonesia." Harvard Business School Case 796-099, December 1995. (Revised January 2008.)
- April 1996
- Case
Southern Pulp and Paper
A paper mill's paper machines are a bottleneck in the operation. The causes include poor scheduling, lack of investment, and ineffective process control. The plant manager is charged with improving this situation fairly rapidly and has a number of proposals for change... View Details
Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Performance Improvement; Infrastructure; Pulp and Paper Industry
Upton, David M., and William H. Bolen, Jr. "Southern Pulp and Paper." Harvard Business School Case 696-103, April 1996.
- March–April 2024
- Article
Case Study: Navigating Labor Unrest
By: Jorge Tamayo
Paulo Ferreira, the president of Luna Brazil, has an ambitious plan to turn around the dismal performance of the plant he oversees in Campinas. The wrinkle is, he needs the buy-in of the powerful local union, which is still smarting from a 10-year-old labor conflict... View Details
Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Layoffs; Manufacturing; Labor and Management Relations; Labor Unions; Negotiation Tactics; Conflict and Resolution; Performance Improvement; Corporate Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Brazil
Tamayo, Jorge. "Case Study: Navigating Labor Unrest." Harvard Business Review 102, no. 2 (March–April 2024): 144–149.
- August 1994
- Case
Saturn Corp.'s Module II Decision
In the Spring of 1994, Saturn Corp. was setting sales records by attracting more than 25,000 buyers per month. Saturn officials believed there was a long-term opportunity to sell 400,000 to 500,000 cars per year in the United States and selected international markets.... View Details
Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Production; Expansion; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Retail Industry; Tennessee; United States
McGahan, Anita M., and Greg Keller. "Saturn Corp.'s Module II Decision." Harvard Business School Case 795-011, August 1994.
- April 1996 (Revised May 2008)
- Exercise
Adam Baxter Company/Local 190: 1985 Negotiation, Local 190 Confidential Information
By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Victoria Medvec
Includes a series of three negotiation exercises portraying management/labor relations at ABC over a period of seven years. ABC, initially a family-owned business, had prided itself on its cooperative relationship with its union, Local 190. With the skyrocketing... View Details
Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Compensation and Benefits; Labor Unions; Wages; Working Conditions; Negotiation Process; Labor and Management Relations
McGinn, Kathleen L., and Victoria Medvec. "Adam Baxter Company/Local 190: 1985 Negotiation, Local 190 Confidential Information." Harvard Business School Exercise 396-325, April 1996. (Revised May 2008.)