Publications

July 1989 (Revised April 1996)
Case

AUCNET: TV Auction Network System

The AUCNET system links buyers and sellers in the wholesale used car market in Japan. Video images delivered via videodisk or satellite along with an inspector's opinion and objective character based data are used to conduct a realtime auction over computers and... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Auctions; Service Industry; Japan; United States

April 2003 (Revised November 2005)
Teaching Note

Sony AIBO: The World's First Entertainment Robot (TN)

By: Youngme E. Moon

Teaching Note for (9-502-010). View Details

Keywords: Technology Industry; Japan; United States

February 2001
Background Note

National Innovation Systems and Comparative Industry Evolution

Discusses U.S. and Japanese innovation systems. Illustrates these with comparative studies of computer and pharmaceutical industries. Probes effects of labor, capital, and customer market institutions on these sectors in the United States and Japan. View Details

Keywords: Industry Growth; Innovation and Invention; Computer Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Japan; United States

February 1991 (Revised December 1992)
Case

Xerox and Fuji Xerox

Describes the growth and development of Fuji Xerox, Xerox's joint venture in Japan, and the evolving relationship between Fuji Xerox and Xerox. Focuses on the technological development of Fuji Xerox, and on the contributions that Fuji Xerox has made to Xerox's... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Electronics Industry; Japan; United States

1988
Book

Managing Quality: The Strategic and Competitive Edge

By: David A. Garvin

Keywords: Management; Quality; Operations; Japan; United States

Find at Harvard

01 Jun 2007
News

Letters

area and a mentor from my days at HBS. Professor Hayes had just returned from doing research in Japan and had written a white paper comparing differences in manufacturing management between American and Japanese electronics production.... View Details

22 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: Jan. 22

Leather Suit and the Paradox of Japanese Capitalism Ramanna, Karthik, and Matthew ShafferHarvard Business School Case 113-026 Two lost decades later, capitalism in Japan embodies peculiar contradictions-preserving wealth and social... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Jan 2009
First Look

First Look: January 21, 2009

Case 709-017 Despite a tradition of high household savings, Japan has supported a dynamic and technically sophisticated consumer-lending sector. The high profitability of the sector has periodically attracted interest from domestic banks... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

12 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

Global Poverty Needs a Global Answer

Asian countries have made spectacular advances. These include post-WWII Japan and more recently Singapore, China, India, South Korea, and Taiwan. Nevertheless most Africans were better off forty years ago than they are today. Average per... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

27 Jul 2015
Research & Ideas

The ‘Promotion’ That Makes You Feel Bad

Companies change strategy, operational processes, and policies all the time, each shift creating a new group of winners and losers. When Steve Jobs became CEO of Apple for the second time, the culture shifted, with designers enjoying elevated status, perhaps at the... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

October 2018 (Revised August 2019)
Module Note

Supply Chain Management

By: Willy C. Shih

This note on supply chain management provides background for the seven class supply chain module in the Technology & Operations Management required curriculum course taught at the Harvard Business School. This module includes four broad topics: sourcing and supply... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Information; Supply ＆ Demand; Supply Chain Industries; Supply Chain Management; Supply Chain; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; United States; Asia; Europe; Japan; China

2011
Article

Strategic Change and the Jazz Mindset: Exploring Practices That Enhance Dynamic Capabilities for Organizational Improvisation

By: Ethan S. Bernstein and Frank J. Barrett

How can leaders adopt a mindset that maximizes learning, remains responsive to short-term emergent opportunities, and simultaneously strengthens longer-term dynamic capabilities of the organization? This chapter explores the organizational decisions and practices... View Details

Keywords: Dynamic Capabilities; Strategic Change; Jazz; Jazz Mindset; Improvisation; Innovation; Change Management; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Leading Change; Leadership Style; Leadership; Management; Management Style; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizations; Creativity; Strategy; Auto Industry; Banking Industry; Bicycle Industry; Computer Industry; Consulting Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Education Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Financial Services Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Health Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Music Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Retail Industry; Semiconductor Industry; Service Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Japan; Taiwan; Europe; Asia

Read Now

April 1993
Case

Sumiko Ito

By: David A. Thomas

Describes the life and career of the first Japanese female investment banker at Nomura Securities, Sumiko Ito, who later became a partner at Alex Brown, a U.S. investment bank. Organized around the major life events and career transitions Ms. Ito experienced. Set in... View Details

Keywords: Investment Banking; Personal Development and Career; Gender; Diversity; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Japan; England; United States

01 Dec 2009
News

Up on the Green Roof

ROOFTOP GARDEN: HBS project manager Kevin Ruby surveys Shad Hall’s newly planted perennials. Photographs by Neal Hamberg When it came time to replace the leaky roof on Shad Hall — runners joked of dodging buckets placed on the indoor track to catch ceiling drips — the... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Construction of Buildings; Construction

21 Jun 2011
First Look

First Look: June 21

Japan after World War II. Trade surpluses with the United States played a major role in propelling growth. But there were two key differences. First, the scale of Chinese currency intervention was without precedent, as were the resulting... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 2, 2018

corporate profitability, Japan introduced the JPX-Nikkei400 in 2014. The index highlighted the country's “best-run” companies by annually selecting the 400 most profitable among Japan's large and liquid firms. We find that managers... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

19 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 19

(cherry blossoms) Project, where the company asked users in Japan to report about how cherry blossoms were blooming near them day by day, had opened up opportunities for the company's consumer business in Japan. The project ultimately... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2023
Case

Food & Life Companies

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Akiko Saito

Founded in 1984 in Japan, Food & Life Companies Ltd. (F&LC) operated Sushiro, the largest conveyor belt sushi restaurant chain in Japan, and other types of restaurants that offered sushi and fish cuisine. F&LC was committed to offering high-quality sushi at an... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry; Japan; Asia; United States