Publications

April 1995
Case

Montague Corporation (A)

By: Norman A. Berg and James Weber

The Montague Corp. is a small company started in 1987 and owned by David Montague, age 31, and his father. The company designs, manufactures in Taiwan, and sells through distributors worldwide a high-quality "bicycle that folds." The company offices are located in... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Financial Strategy; Financial Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Globalized Firms and Management; Family Business; Bicycle Industry; Taiwan; Cambridge

March 1994
Case

Intel Corp.: Leveraging Capabilities for Strategic Renewal

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Ashish Nanda

Traces the history of Intel from its earliest days as a technology-driven memory company to its emergence as an increasingly market-focused microprocessor company with emerging systems capabilities. The focus is on the strategic, organizational, and management... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Adaptation; Management Skills; Management Practices and Processes; Strategy; Organizations; Information Technology Industry

February 2003 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Asociacion Colombiana de Industrias Plasticas (Acoplasticos)

By: Michael E. Porter and Willis M. Emmons III

Acoplasticos was established in 1961 as a lobbying group for Colombia's major plastics manufacturing companies. In the early 1980s, the organization shifted its focus toward improving the productivity of the Colombian plastics and rubber cluster, which also included... View Details

Keywords: Cooperation; Information Technology; Alliances; Research and Development; Business and Government Relations; Performance Productivity; Developing Countries and Economies; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Colombia

26 Jul 2022
News

Fragile US supply chains take center stage as Congress works out kinks in new chips bill

Kim B. Clark

Kim B. Clark joined the Harvard faculty in 1978 and served as Dean of the Faculty at Harvard Business School from 1995 to 2005. He received the B.A. (1974), M.A. (1977), and Ph.D. (1978) degrees in economics from Harvard University.

Professor Clark's research has... View Details

March 2006 (Revised November 2006)
Case

China: To Float or Not To Float? (C)- Esquel Group and the Chinese Renminbi

By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel

In July 2005, China revalued its currency by 2.1% and adjusted its exchange rate regime toward a more market-based system. Esquel Group, a family-run, privately held textiles firm specializing in high-quality cotton shirts with its most significant manufacturing base... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Currency Exchange Rate; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Value Creation; China

April 2001
Exercise

Selecting a Hosting Provider

Asks students to develop criteria for selecting a Web hosting company, then to select one of three profiled in case exhibits. In choosing a hosting vendor, students represent one of two companies: one a start-up, the other an industrial-age manufacturer. By assigning... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Partners and Partnerships; Internet

January 1993 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Medtronic, Inc.

In 1991, Bill George, CEO of Medtronic, the world's largest manufacturer of pacemakers, was evaluating his strategic options in light of the changing economic environment. In the United States, Europe, and Japan, governments were considering regulatory changes to... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Corporate Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Policy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

13 Sep 2021
News

Can a Green-Economy Boom Town Be Built to Last?

02 Oct 2020
News

Computer Simulations Are Better — and More Affordable — than Ever

16 Nov 2016
News

Is Your Company Committed to Being "Healthy"?

October 2002 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Union Corrugating Company (A)

By: Paul W. Marshall and Julia Stevens

Lauri Union graduates from Harvard Business School and takes over her family's steel-corrugated roofing and siding manufacturing firm, which her mother has most recently run. The industry is mature, entry barriers to competitors are low, and the company is over 50... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Family Business; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Family Ownership; Gender; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry

September 2017
Case

Sensing (and Monetizing) Happiness at Hitachi

By: Ethan Bernstein and Stephanie Marton

Inspired by research linking happiness and productivity, Hitachi had invested in developing new “people analytics” technologies to help companies increase employee happiness. Hitachi had begun manufacturing high-tech badges that quantify a wearer’s activity patterns.... View Details

Keywords: People Analytics; Japan; Sociometers; Wearables; Interpersonal Communication; Human Resources; Happiness; Technology Industry; Japan

May 2022
Article

When Does Product Liability Risk Chill Innovation? Evidence from Medical Implants

By: Alberto Galasso and Hong Luo

Liability laws designed to compensate for harms caused by defective products may also affect innovation. We examine this issue by exploiting a major quasi-exogenous increase in liability risk faced by U.S. suppliers of polymers used to manufacture medical implants.... View Details

Keywords: Product Liability; Innovation; Tort; Medical Devices; Vertical Foreclosure; Product; Innovation and Invention; Legal Liability; Laws and Statutes; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

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Article

Foreign Competition and Domestic Innovation: Evidence from U.S. Patents

By: David Autor, David Dorn, Gordon H. Hanson, Gary P. Pisano and Pian Shu

Manufacturing accounts for more than three-quarters of U.S. corporate patents. The competitive shock to this sector emanating from China's economic ascent could in theory either augment or stifle U.S. innovation. Using three decades of U.S. patents matched to corporate... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Production; Trade; Competition; Innovation and Invention; United States

April 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Change at Whirlpool Corporation (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin, Dorothy A. Leonard and Gary Hamel

In 1998, the CEO of Whirlpool Corp. decides to change the company's strategy significantly to escape an increasingly unattractive "stalemate" in the appliance industry. The change he proposes involves a fundamental shift in the company's focus--from manufacturing to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Competitive Advantage; Strategic Planning; Production; Brands and Branding; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry; United States

April 1986 (Revised May 1988)
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (B)

By: Kim B. Clark

Dissects the manufacturing process and procedures of a high-end computer manufacturer. The main issue is how to introduce new products and ramp them up quickly in a competitive environment where time-to-market is crucial. Focuses on engineering change orders--how they... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Time Management; Product Launch; Production; Business Processes; Competitive Strategy; Computer Industry