Publications

August 2000 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Borders Group, Inc.

By: Zeynep Ton and Ananth Raman

Describes Borders Group, a well-known retail chain, in late 1999 and its traditional strengths and rapid growth in the 1990s. By 1990, however, the company had fallen behind Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble in leveraging the Internet for book retailing, although it... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Distribution Channels; Service Operations; Business Growth and Maturation; Economic Growth; Industry Growth; Growth and Development; Internet; Business Model; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Supply and Industry; Retail Industry; Publishing Industry

01 Sep 2006
News

One-on-One with Carter Roberts

these issues, not just because of supply chain or competitive advantage, but because increasingly they also want to be good citizens. And they want to do the right thing while delivering to their... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson

01 Sep 2005
News

Get Ready for Saudi Oil Shock

supply could be made up in other parts of the world? I would argue very strongly that once Saudi Arabia’s oil goes into decline the world’s oil supply has very likely peaked. The reality is that in the last... View Details

Keywords: Lewis I. Rice; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services; Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing; Manufacturing

01 Dec 2017
News

2017 in Energy: A Future of Lower Energy Prices

natural gas prices revert to historical mean levels. Depending on where you are in the economic supply chain that can be beneficial or detrimental. If you look at all the economies that depend on petro... View Details

Keywords: Sarah Wright (MBA 1997), founder, Hull Street Energy

06 Jun 2013
Op-Ed

How to Do Away with the Dangers of Outsourcing

challenge of managing relationships with "partners" or "associates." Yet as the Rana Plaza disaster and too many other examples show, every outsourced stop along the supply and production View Details

Keywords: by Ranjay Gulati; Manufacturing; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion

August 2017 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Flex Hungary: Launching Production (A)

By: Willy Shih

This case examines design choices in the construction of flow lines. Flow lines are a popular way of arranging production because they are simple and inherently efficient. Equipment or workstations are arranged according to the sequence of steps in which a product is... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Line-balancing; Flow Line; Conveyor-paced Line; Consumer Goods; Consumer Products; Production Management; Production Planning; Production Scheduling; Operations; Production; Management; Supply Chain; Design; Analysis; Goods and Commodities; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; European Union

September 1992 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Staples, Inc.

By: David E. Bell

Staples is dissatisfied with the merchandising of its office furniture. The case reviews the situation, allowing students to consider whether the category should be dropped or changed. Permits consideration of the portfolio of products a positioning implies, and... View Details

Keywords: Change; Product Positioning; Supply Chain; Salesforce Management; Manufacturing Industry

November 2011 (Revised January 2014)
Teaching Note

FIJI Water: Carbon Negative?

By: Michael W. Toffel and Francesca Gino

Keywords: Energy; Pollutants

11 Nov 2014
First Look

First Look: November 11

efficiency of the response be characterized? He wondered if they could overcome some of the hurdles to applying concepts from commercial supply chains. The case explores some of the lessons learned from the Haiti disaster and offers an... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2000 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Firestone/Ford Tire Controversy, The (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Roger Orosman Nieves

Examines the high-profile Firestone/Ford product recall/investigation that took place in the summer of 2000. Focuses on the management of supplier relationships and incentives. View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Sharing; Supply Chain Management; Motivation and Incentives; Crisis Management; Corporate Accountability; Product; Service Operations; Auto Industry

18 Dec 2023
Blog Post

Climate Symposium 2023: Adopting Climate Solutions at Scale

join a wide range of panel discussions featuring industry experts in the following areas: Decarbonizing Farming; Food Supply Chain and Waste; Scaling Green Energy Generation; Hard to Decarbonize Sectors;... View Details

01 Dec 2007
News

Where Are the Innovators in Health Care?

brilliant, effective innovators have forced sluggish U.S. industries to become more productive. Sam Walton’s exquisitely detailed supply chain management, coupled with his daring decision to locate Wal-Marts... View Details

Keywords: Regina E. Herzlinger; Health, Social Assistance; Management

12 Mar 2018
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Why BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Is Not a Socialist

cost-cutting; in fact, cutting infrastructure, supply chain costs, and excess expenses should be done all the time, in good times and bad. This is the approach used by ExxonMobil as it has been one of the... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Banking

20 Jun 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, June 20

case:https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/905409-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 317-052 The Ready-Made Garment Industry: A Bangladeshi Perspective (A) Responsibility for working conditions in contract factories within the supply... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

31 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 31, 2018

of Manufacturing Clusters By: Buciuni, Giulio, and Gary P. Pisano Abstract—Over the past two decades, the greater prevalence of global supply chains has had contrasting effects on Western manufacturing... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

04 Oct 2022
Blog Post

Climate Stories Episode #10: Amanda Li (MBA 2018): Speeding Climate Change Solutions Through Project Finance Efficiencies

which leads to a lot of overhead in terms of origination costs. It involves copying and pasting from hundreds of models and contracts. Issues involving permitting, manufacturing and supply chain as well as... View Details

22 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The ‘Mother of Fair Trade’ was an Unabashed Price Protectionist

California pharmacist and drugstore owner who balked at the price-slashing practices of chain store competitors and spearheaded a local price-control movement to protect her own bottom line—a crusade that would ultimately gain such... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail; Health; Legal Services

October 2001 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Herman Miller(B): Creating Innovation Streams

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Stacy McManus

In 1997, Mike Volkema faced the difficulty of attempting to revitalize a once dynamic organization. Volkema wondered how he could incorporate advances made within subsidiaries, such as Miller SQA's business model innovation, into the company as a whole while also... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Product Design; Product Development; Product; Supply Chain Management; Business Model; Service Delivery; Customer Value and Value Chain; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry

July 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Background Note

Staging Two-Sided Platforms

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Andrei Hagiu

Firms that aspire to develop two-sided platforms face a formidable challenge. Prospective users on each side will not invest in the platform until they are confident there will be enough users on the other side. Traditional strategies for dealing with this... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Risk Management; Two-Sided Platforms; Supply Chain; Strategy; Retail Industry