Publications

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March 2002 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Metalcraft Supplier Scorecard

By: Susan L. Kulp, V.G. Narayanan and Ronald L. Verkleeren

An automotive components company uses a supplier scorecard to make sourcing decisions and review its supplier performance. View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Quality; Performance Evaluation; Decision Making; Service Operations; Motivation and Incentives; Supply and Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry

Stemberg was a pioneer in the retail industry. By contracting directly with manufacturers of office supplies and eliminating the wholesaler, Stemberg was able to offer discounted supplies to small businesses... View Details

Keywords: Retail

05 Dec 2023
Blog Post

Taking Learning Beyond the Classroom

Grasso of Urban Mining Industries, protagonists of the case, "Harvard University and Urban Mining Industries: Decarbonizing the Supply Chain", facilitated by Professors Shirley Lu and Robert Kaplan. The case describes Harvard University's... View Details

28 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

Eyes Shut: The Consequences of Not Noticing

Editor's note: Behavioral economist Max H. Bazerman decided to pursue the subject of noticing after realizing that he wasn't very good at it himself. "The truth is that I was truly terrible at noticing," says Bazerman, the Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of... View Details

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman; Retail

01 Jun 2001
News

Virtual Plant Tours and Beer Game Dysfunction

exercise, administered in the computer lab. A software program simulates a supply chain from retailer through wholesaler and distributor up to the beer factory. Students take roles as a participant in the... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

May 2011
Case

Baria Planning Solutions, Inc.: Fixing the Sales Process

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt

Baria Planning Solutions (BPS) is a consulting firm that specializes in using spend analysis to help companies identify savings through reduced procurement costs and improved supplier performance. Management is concerned about the disappointing performance of the sales... View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Analysis; Technology; Operations Management; Product Lines; Manufacturing; Capacity Planning; Production Planning; Production; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Supply Chain Management; Salesforce Management; Planning; Consulting Industry; North and Central America

March 1993
Case

Liz Claiborne, Inc. and Ruentex Industries, Ltd. (Abridged)

By: Roy D. Shapiro and Marie-Therese M. Flaherty

Details the evolution of a value-creating supplier-buyer partnership. Describes the buyer's (Liz Claiborne) manufacturing and marketing strategy, and details the workings of the firm's relationship with an important Taiwanese supplier of piece goods (Ruentex Industries... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Production; Supply Chain Management; Alliances; Value Creation; Manufacturing Industry

October 1996 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Tweeter etc.

By: John T. Gourville and George Wu

In the early 1990s, Tweeter etc., a small regional retailer of higher-end audio and video equipment, faced increasing competitive pricing pressures from several large regional and national consumer electronics chains. In response, in 1993, they introduced "Automatic... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Customer Focus and Relationships; Price; Market Entry and Exit; Supply Chain Management; Competition; Electronics Industry; Retail Industry

10 Jun 2022
Blog Post

New Venture Competition 2022: Business and Environment Ventures

disrupt traditional supply chain models by allowing users to carry out digital business through a collaborative supply chain. DIBIZ is dedicated to users who struggle to find... View Details

24 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 24, 2017

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53388 Intermediation in the Supply of Agricultural Products in Developing Economies By: Ferreira, Kris Johnson, Joel Goh, and Ehsan Valavi Abstract—Problem Definition: Farmers face several... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Sep 2019
News

A Climate Change Optimist

Verizon’s move to shift its energy use to 50 percent renewables by 2025, and supply chain programs to increase carbon sequestration through soil health initiatives with companies like Danone and Cargill:... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photo by Seth Lowe

01 Jun 2012
News

Faculty Research Online

HBS Cases: Overcoming the Stress of ‘Englishnization’ CEOs of global companies increasingly mandate that their employees learn English. The problem: these workers can experience a loss of status and believe they aren’t as effective in... View Details

Keywords: Clothing and Clothing Accessories Stores; Retail Trade

May 2016 (Revised August 2016)
Teaching Plan

Sustainability at Siemens

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Emer Moloney

June 2012
Teaching Note

Harvest: Organic Waste Recycling with Energy Recovery (TN) (A) and (B)

By: Deishin Lee

This case describes the waste management industry and a clean technology solution for landfill diversion and renewable energy production. The (A) case focuses on the operational characteristics of organic waste recycling with energy recovery, and the characteristics of... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Waste Management; Sourcing; Operations Management; Environment; Wastes and Waste Processing; Renewable Energy; Operations; Supply Chain Management; Utilities Industry; Manufacturing Industry

March 1993 (Revised April 1995)
Case

IBM After-Sales Service

By: Janice H. Hammond

IBM has established a service delivery system to provide service and maintenance parts for its installed base of computers. The case outlines the competitive pressures IBM faces from alternative providers of maintenance services (e.g. other OEMs, third-party... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Service Operations; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Logistics; Operations; Distribution; Customer Focus and Relationships; Competitive Strategy; Computer Industry

01 Mar 2005
News

Ideas: Books

research team) examine 24 cases of collaboration between businesses and nonprofit organizations in Mexico (a food bank and an American supermarket), Colombia, Chile (a pharmacy chain and an elder-care home), Argentina (a newspaper and a... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

December 2006
Case

Vipp A/S

By: Robert D. Austin and Daniela Beyersdorfer

Rapidly growing Vipp sells highly differentiated (and expensive) "designer" versions of a product that most buyers think about in purely functional terms: Trash bins. Examines how the company successfully produces and positions a trash bin so that it is regarded as an... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Creativity; Product Design; Luxury; Brands and Branding

01 Jun 2017
News

Case Study: Something New

expertise in various parts of a complex supply chain and high efficiency (to keep lead times down and costs manageable). But that is valuable precisely because it is difficult and thus very hard to... View Details

Keywords: April White

October 1990 (Revised May 1994)
Case

Confederated Pulp & Paper

By: David E. Bell

A rewritten version of an old case that updates the dates and prices and simplifies the economics. The issue is still one of determining a suitable inventory of wood for the mill to last through the winter. View Details

Keywords: History; Supply Chain Management; Spending; Forecasting and Prediction; Economic Growth; Information Management; Pulp and Paper Industry