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- Faculty Publications (258)
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- All HBS Web (736)
- Faculty Publications (258)
- November 1991 (Revised June 1997)
- Case
Micom Caribe (A)
By: David M. Upton and Joshua D. Margolis
Describes the Puerto Rican manufacturing plant of a transnational company. The award-winning plant has dramatically improved the quality of flexibility of its operations, by taking a radical approach to manufacturing. The methods center on the use of specific... View Details
Keywords: Business Plan; Multinational Firms and Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Product Launch; Production; Performance Improvement; Quality; Strategy; Manufacturing Industry
Upton, David M., and Joshua D. Margolis. "Micom Caribe (A)." Harvard Business School Case 692-002, November 1991. (Revised June 1997.)
- Research Summary
When Distance Shrinks: The Effects of Competitor Proximity on Firm Survival
What are the performance implications of locating close to firms in one's industry? The existing empirical evidence is mixed. In this paper I argue that proximity between firms affects their performance differently... View Details
- Article
Control, Performance, and Knowledge Transfers in Large Multinationals: Unilever in the United States, 1945-1980
By: G. Jones
This article considers key issues relating to the organization and performance of large multinational firms in the post-Second World War period. Although foreign direct investment is defined by ownership and control, in practice the nature of that "control" is far from... View Details
Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Governance Controls; Performance; Business or Company Management; Ownership; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States
Jones, G. "Control, Performance, and Knowledge Transfers in Large Multinationals: Unilever in the United States, 1945-1980." Business History Review 76, no. 3 (Fall 2002): 435–478.
- 19 Oct 2010
- Working Paper Summaries
The Impact of Supply Learning on Customer Demand: Model and Estimation Methodology
- October 1991 (Revised September 1998)
- Case
Maxwell Appliance Controls
By: Robert S. Kaplan
A profitable manufacturing division of a large company is looking for new ways to identify sources of productivity improvements. Led by its senior finance officer, an activity-based cost system is developed to identify activities performed for its highly varied product... View Details
Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Management Teams; Quality; Performance Improvement; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Production; Manufacturing Industry
Kaplan, Robert S. "Maxwell Appliance Controls." Harvard Business School Case 192-058, October 1991. (Revised September 1998.)
- August 1985 (Revised December 1987)
- Case
Waters Chromatography Division: U.S. Field Sales (A)
Provides background information on the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) industry and the Waters Chromatography Division, an operation engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of HPLC instrument systems and chemical products. An overview of Waters'... View Details
Bonoma, Thomas V. "Waters Chromatography Division: U.S. Field Sales (A)." Harvard Business School Case 586-011, August 1985. (Revised December 1987.)
- 02 Aug 2013
- Working Paper Summaries
J. Richard Hackman (1940-2013)
Keywords: by Ruth Wageman & Teresa M. Amabile
- September 1983 (Revised October 1984)
- Case
Boston Whaler, Inc.: Managing the Dealer Network
Mr. Joseph Lawler, newly-appointed president of Boston Whaler, Inc. (BWI), believes that better dealer management is the key to his company's continued growth. BWI manufactured a high-price, high performance line of power and other boats for the recreational,... View Details
Bonoma, Thomas V. "Boston Whaler, Inc.: Managing the Dealer Network." Harvard Business School Case 584-036, September 1983. (Revised October 1984.)
- 23 Jan 2007
- First Look
First Look: January 23, 2007
capacity for each business process? 2) How much resource capacity (time) is required to perform work for a company's many transactions, products, and customers? The book demonstrates how to develop simple, valid answers to these two... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
- 1 Mar 2013 - 2 Mar 2013
- Conference Presentation
The Value of Flexibility in Baseball Roster Construction
By: Timothy Chan and Douglas S. Fearing
Drawing inspiration from the theory of production flexibility in manufacturing networks, we provide the first optimization-based analysis of the value of positional flexibility (the ability of a player to play multiple positions) for a major league baseball team in the... View Details
Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Design; Production; Resource Allocation; Groups and Teams; Adaptation; Sports
- Teaching Interest
Short Intensive Program (SIP): Agile at Scale: From OKR's and Agile to Execution Excellence
What do you want to get out of your remaining time at HBS, your career and life-plan to make an impact, starting from Day 1 post-HBS? By developing tools to drive your personal success and strategy at HBS, in this interactive immersion, we will dive into how the... View Details
- February 2017 (Revised April 2018)
- Case
Kameda Seika: Cracking the U.S. Market
By: Elie Ofek, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno
In spring 2016, Kameda’s CEO, Michiyasu Tanaka, is facing difficult questions from board members over the lackluster performance of the company’s U.S. subsidiary. Kameda was the leading player in the Japanese rice cracker market and was looking to expand overseas to... View Details
Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Adaptation; Performance Improvement; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Japan; United States
Ofek, Elie, Nobuo Sato, and Akiko Kanno. "Kameda Seika: Cracking the U.S. Market." Harvard Business School Case 517-095, February 2017. (Revised April 2018.)
- April 1984 (Revised November 1988)
- Background Note
Statistical Quality Control for Process Improvement
Describes systematic methods for process debugging and improvement, based on statistical quality control. Examples are from manufacturing settings, but techniques are also useful for services and sales, and to quantity improvement as well as quality improvement. View Details
Bohn, Roger E. "Statistical Quality Control for Process Improvement." Harvard Business School Background Note 684-068, April 1984. (Revised November 1988.)
- October 1994
- Case
Olympus Optical Company, Ltd. (B): Functional Group Management
Documents the emergence of the functional group management system at Olympus's camera manufacturing facility. This system increases the pressure on the work force to decrease costs and improve output by treating the facility's 10 autonomous groups as profit centers,... View Details
Cooper, Robin. "Olympus Optical Company, Ltd. (B): Functional Group Management." Harvard Business School Case 195-073, October 1994.
- September 1988 (Revised December 1998)
- Case
Donner Co.
By: Roy D. Shapiro
The management of a small manufacturer of circuit boards faces a number of production and operations management problems. The first day on this case is used to analyze the production capacity of various stages in the process and to examine bottlenecks and key... View Details
Keywords: Information Management; Management; Management Practices and Processes; Production; Performance Capacity; Problems and Challenges; Semiconductor Industry
Shapiro, Roy D. "Donner Co." Harvard Business School Case 689-030, September 1988. (Revised December 1998.)
- September 2009
- Article
Labor Market Institutions and Global Strategic Adaptation: Evidence from Lincoln Electric
By: Jordan I. Siegel and Barbara Zepp Larson
Although one of the central questions in the global strategy field is how multinational firms successfully navigate multiple and often conflicting institutional environments, we know relatively little about the effect of conflicting labor market institutions on... View Details
Keywords: Institutions; Labor Market; Complementarity; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Labor Unions; Laws and Statutes; Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Manufacturing Industry
Siegel, Jordan I., and Barbara Zepp Larson. "Labor Market Institutions and Global Strategic Adaptation: Evidence from Lincoln Electric." Management Science 55, no. 9 (September 2009): 1527–1546. (Although one of the central questions in the global strategy field is how multinational firms successfully navigate multiple and often conflicting institutional environments, we know relatively little about the effect of conflicting labor market institutions on multinational firms' strategic choice and operating performance. With its decision to invest in manufacturing operations in nearly every one of the world's largest welding
markets, Lincoln Electric offers us a quasi-experiment. We leverage a unique data set covering 1996–2006 that combines data on each host country's labor market institutions with data on each subsidiary's strategic choices and historical operating performance. We find that Lincoln Electric performed significantly better in countries with labor laws and regulations supporting manufacturers' interests and in countries that allowed the free
use of both piecework and a discretionary bonus. Furthermore, we find that in countries with labor market institutions unfriendly to manufacturers, Lincoln Electric was still able to overcome most (although not all) of the institutional distance by what we term flexible intermediate adaptation.)
- September 2009
- Article
Are You Having Trouble Keeping Your Operations Focused?
As a business broadens over time, it can lose the operational edge that led to its original success. Core strengths atrophy, efficiency or quality suffers, and sharper rivals close in to take advantage of the loss of focus. In his classic article "The Focused Factory"... View Details
Keywords: Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Goals and Objectives; Resource Allocation; Operations; Performance Efficiency
Huckman, Robert S. "Are You Having Trouble Keeping Your Operations Focused?" Harvard Business Review 87, no. 9 (September 2009): 90–95.
- October 1992
- Supplement
American Connector Co. (B)
By: Gary P. Pisano
Presents a plant manager's proposal to improve operations at American Connector Co. The plan attempts to imitate operations at DJC Corp., a successful Japanese competitor. Requires students to consider how changes in manufacturing impact productivity, flexibility, and... View Details
Pisano, Gary P. "American Connector Co. (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 693-049, October 1992.
- January 2018
- Case
Environmental Technology Fund Partners and E-Leather
By: Vikram S. Gandhi and Aldo Sesia
It is 2014 and Environmental Technologies Fund (ETF) Partners, a UK-based venture capital firm, has an opportunity to invest in a privately held UK company that manufactured engineered composition leather extracted from waste leather using an environmentally friendly... View Details
Keywords: Sustainability; Venture Capital; Investment Strategy; Investment; Strategy; Ownership; Valuation; Energy Conservation; Equity; Technological Innovation; Environmental Sustainability; Performance Efficiency; Manufacturing Industry; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom
Gandhi, Vikram S., and Aldo Sesia. "Environmental Technology Fund Partners and E-Leather." Harvard Business School Case 318-001, January 2018.
- April 2024 (Revised November 2024)
- Case
Moderna: Pioneering a People Platform to Accelerate Science Innovation
By: Tatiana Sandino, Emil Dy and Samuel Grad
Moderna was founded in 2010 to explore how messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) could be used to create breakthrough medicines by encoding instructions for the body to create antibodies. When Stéphane Bancel (HBS 2000) took over in 2011, he bet on the potential of this... View Details
Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Talent and Talent Management; Selection and Staffing; AI and Machine Learning; Digital Strategy; Innovation and Management; Leadership Development; Management Practices and Processes; Management Systems; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Alignment; Employee Relationship Management; Science-Based Business; Expansion; Pharmaceutical Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States
Sandino, Tatiana, Emil Dy, and Samuel Grad. "Moderna: Pioneering a People Platform to Accelerate Science Innovation." Harvard Business School Case 124-091, April 2024. (Revised November 2024.)