Publications

27 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

How the FBI Reinvented Itself After 9/11

was about running a business. It was all about supply chains and helping the military figure out the best way to get stuff to Europe. Of course, identity and structure both had to change. And then the war... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

August 1989 (Revised December 1997)
Case

U.S. Airline Industry--1978-88 (A), The

Describes the evolution of the airline industry in the first decade after deregulation (1978-88). Looks at the primary areas of operation in which managers can effect change (planes, people, routes, marketing). The basic teaching objective is to cover industry... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Industry Structures; Air Transportation Industry; United States

21 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

What Went Wrong at J.C. Penney?

hard to manage costs and shorten the supply chain. That was J.C. Penney historically. ''It was not clear why someone would go there in the face of all the other available options'' But over time, the... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Retail

April 2025 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Governing Sustainability in a Shifting Context (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

In early 2025, boards of directors had to rethink corporate responsibility and sustainability efforts amid rapidly-shifting social, legal, regulatory, and economic forces. While just a few years earlier, calls to address racial justice and climate change reached into... View Details

21 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

The Most Common Strategy Mistakes

about the value chain (the supply side). You can't have competitive advantage without both. “The granddaddy of all mistakes is competing to be the best, going down the same path as everybody else and... View Details

Keywords: by Joan Magretta

October 1995 (Revised June 1996)
Case

Li & Fung (Trading) Ltd.

Li & Fung, one of the largest export trading companies in Asia, works primarily as an agent to connect U.S. and European manufacturers and retailers of nondurable, mass-market consumer goods with suppliers located all over East Asia who manufacture products according... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Marketplace Matching; Supply Chain Management; Trade; Manufacturing Industry; Retail Industry; Asia; United States; Europe

Web

Finance - Faculty & Research

demand about as much as one's own recent payout experience. Third, the spillover effect decays as time passes while the effect of one's own experience does not. We discuss implications of this analysis for commercial sustainability of this complicated but promising... View Details

Web

Business History - Faculty & Research

Development Strategy ; Knowledge Sharing ; Industry Growth ; Monopoly ; Organizational Culture ; Supply Chain Management ; Partners and Partnerships ; Risk and Uncertainty ;... View Details

Web

Winners & Runners-Up | New Venture Competition

Suppliermarket Jon Burgstone Asif Satchu Brad Loftus Business Track Runner-Up Improves the efficiency of supply chain management for mid-size and small manufacturing companies... View Details

28 Mar 2016
Research & Ideas

What's a Boss Worth?

chain of command—not just upper managers or C-level executives—can have on worker performance. “If you recognize that,” says Stanton, “it should inform how you recruit people, promote people, and structure... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Service

Web

Your Alumni Community - Alumni

editor, or just want to send us a note, please do. We'd love to hear from you. Social Media Feeds Hi everyone! I’m Carrie - A rising EC at Moderna this summer. I’ll be taking over today to share a day in the life of a MBA Supply View Details

13 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 13

initially? Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/810096-PDF-ENG Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (A) (Abridged) V.G. Narayanan and Lisa BremHarvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

17 Jun 2011
HBS Case

KFC’s Explosive Growth in China

should develop a national footprint—supported by a company-owned distribution system since third-party suppliers didn't exist—instead of growing in geographic chunks through franchising. Su sourced products from within China whenever possible. This was no easy feat... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Food & Beverage

04 Aug 2006
What Do You Think?

What Happens When the Economics of Scarcity Meets the Economics of Abundance?

terms of where value is added in the supply chain . The value is created through the service of helping customers find what they want within the sea of choice . It is ironic that the Internet, which is... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

February 2018 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Sandlands Vineyards

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Gregory Saldutte

Approximately 80% of the wineries in the U.S. break even or lose money. An even greater percentage lose money on an economic basis (i.e., after a charge for the cost of equity). Tegan Passalacqua is a successful, young, Californian winemaker who specializes in making... View Details

June 1995
Case

Polaroid Corporation: European Distribution System

By: Janice H. Hammond and Afroze A Mohammed

Describes distribution operations in Polaroid Europe. In the late 1980s, Polaroid senior management in the United States proposed moving from a system of 12 decentralized warehouses to a centralized distribution system in which all inventory for European retailers... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Operations; Risk Management; Distribution Channels; Logistics; Transition; Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Industry Structures; Consumer Products Industry; Europe; European Union; United States

January 2007 (Revised January 2010)
Case

Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Ellen Knebel

Describes the retailer-supplier negotiations of Tom Muccio, one of the earlier Proctor & Gamble (P&G) employees to be based in Bentonville, Arkansas, in negotiating the early operational components of the supplier-retailer partnership between P&G and Wal-Mart in the... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Supply Chain Management; Partners and Partnerships; Conflict and Resolution; Bentonville

July 2013 (Revised November 2021)
Module Note

Exploration vs. Exploitation

By: Willy Shih

This module note introduces James March's concept of exploration and exploitation, and the management challenge of balancing the allocation of resources to the two activities in the firm. The note also touches on the O'Reilly and Tushman paper on the ambidextrous... View Details