Publications

2008
Simulation

DEC v. Riverside

By: David A. Lax, James K. Sebenius, Lawrence Susskind and Thomas Weeks

Riverside Lumber is a pulp manufacturer in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. Riverside regularly dumps effluent into a nearby river. The Division of Environmental Conservation (DEC) claims that the effluent is toxic and jeopardizes the local salmon catch.... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Conflict Management; Cooperation; Courts and Trials; Decision Choices and Conditions; Natural Environment; Negotiation; Pulp and Paper Industry; Northwestern United States

December 1993 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Medical Products Co.

By: Robert H. Hayes

In early 1990, the company is contemplating changes in its European plant network for producing hypodermic products, including the total production capacity to be provided, the number and location of plants over which to spread this capacity, and which products should... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Decision Making; Forecasting and Prediction; Cost; Production; Performance Capacity; Performance Effectiveness; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Europe

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

Keywords: Marketing; Sales; Technology Industry

27 May 2015
News

A Playbook for Making America More Entrepreneurial

Research Summary

Competitive Dynamics of the Textile-Apparel-Retail Channel

By: Janice H. Hammond

Janice H. Hammond established in 1991 (with Frederick H. Abernathy and John Dunlop of Harvard University and David Weil of Boston University) the Harvard Center for Textile and Apparel Research. Funding provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has supported the... View Details

August 2021
Supplement

Coats: Supply Chain Challenges: Spreadsheet Supplement

By: Willy C. Shih

Coats, the largest thread maker in the world, transformed its business to digital colour measurement so that it could respond better to customer demand in the garment industry for rapid product cycles and more fragmented colour choices. Its embrace of digital colour... View Details

Keywords: Inventory Management; Supply Chain; Inventory; Supply Chain Management; Operations; Growth and Development Strategy; Forecasting and Prediction; Demand and Consumers; Consolidation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Asia

April 2013 (Revised April 2014)
Case

Transitions Asia: Managing Across Cultures

By: Roy Y.J. Chua and Dawn H. Lau

The director of an interim executive search firm, Chee Lung Tham, faced a clash of culture and management styles when his mainland Chinese client threatened to fire the American interim manager that Tham had assigned. The client, Wong Lung, ran a family-owned garment... View Details

Keywords: China; Cross-cultural Management; Management Style; Conflict Management; Family Business; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Service Industry; China

July 2012 (Revised April 2014)
Case

Research In Motion: The Mobile OS Platform War

By: Alan MacCormack, Brian Dunn and Chris F. Kemerer

The case describes competition in the market for smart phones in the US, and the position of one player, Research In Motion (RIM) who manufacture the popular Blackberry line of products. Early in 2011, RIM is in trouble. Its stock price has plummeted, amidst poor... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Product Development; Technology Strategy; Platform Strategy; Software; Hardware; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Digital Platforms; Applications and Software; Telecommunications Industry; Technology Industry; Canada; United States

January 2012 (Revised August 2012)
Case

Dirigo International

By: Christopher M. Gordon and Chad M. Carr

Dirigo International is proposing a major expansion of their life sciences research and manufacturing facilities in the heart of a major city and middle to lower income residential neighborhood. The company and city government are seeking a development solution in the... View Details

Keywords: Production; Property; Expansion; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; Research and Development; Outcome or Result; Biotechnology Industry

March 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Carrot or Stick? Getting Paid for Innovation at Tessera Technologies

By: Willy C. Shih

Tessera Technologies has been very successful developing technologies for the semiconductor and mobile device industry, and then licensing them broadly to manufacturers. In addition to licensing patents, it also supplies know-how to help manufacturers move into... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Innovation Strategy; Patents; Courts and Trials; Rights; Mobile Technology; Semiconductor Industry; California

September 2007 (Revised December 2008)
Case

Michael Fernandes at Nicholas Piramal

By: Michel Anteby and Nitin Nohria

Michael Fernandes, the Director of Custom Manufacturing Operations at the pharmaceutical company Nicholas Piramal India Limited (NPIL), schedules a meeting with three of his reports, whose interpersonal conflicts with one another are causing his business development... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Management Skills; Groups and Teams; Conflict Management; Cooperation; Pharmaceutical Industry; India; United Kingdom; Canada

26 Mar 2021
News

Bosses Are 'Thriving' Right Now — But Most Employees Say The Opposite

2012
Other Unpublished Work

Selection, Reallocation, and Knowledge Spillover: Identifying the Sources of Productivity Gains from Multinational Activity

By: Laura Alfaro and Maggie X. Chen

The impact of multinational activity on host-country productivity has been a major topic of economic research. A positive impact can be attributed to knowledge spillovers from foreign multinational to domestic firms or a less stressed, alternative explanation—firm... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Performance Productivity; Supply and Industry; Knowledge; Manufacturing Industry

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

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02 Feb 2021
Blog Post

Finding My Focus in Health care Amidst a Global Pandemic

decade, legislators have passed countless health care policies that impact how hospitals, insurance companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers deliver services to patients. Even more, the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has uncovered major... View Details

June 2025
Case

(Family) Size Matters: Nico Oprée and the Decreasing Power of Family Unity over Time

By: Lauren Cohen, Octavian Graf Pilati, Dominik V. Eynern and Sophia Pan

Nico Oprée, a fourth-generation (G4) member of his family’s heavy manufacturing business, found himself reflecting on how the firm would navigate a deepening shareholder conflict. While the second generation (G2) had managed the business in harmony, dynamics shifted... View Details

2007
Working Paper

What Causes Industry Agglomeration? Evidence from Coagglomeration Patterns

By: Glenn Ellison, Edward Glaeser and William R. Kerr

Many industries are geographically concentrated. Many mechanisms that could account for such agglomeration have been proposed. We note that these theories make different predictions about which pairs of industries should be coagglomerated. We discuss the measurement of... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Labor; Industry Clusters; Transportation; Manufacturing Industry; United States