Automobiles - Publications - Faculty & Research

18 Dec 2019
Book

6 Skills That Wise Companies Harness for World-Changing Innovation

means, including Machiavellian ones, if necessary, to bring together people with conflicting goals and spur them into action. When the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry tried to restrict Honda from entering the automobile... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

15 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Remembering Alfred Chandler

Giant Enterprise: Ford, General Motors, and the Automobile Industry, provides a wonderful overview of the development and complex nature of the automobile industry. His writings, which display great... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

18 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

How Disruptive Innovation Changes Education

our schools." The ability of these lenses to shed new light on complicated problems has been proven in contexts ranging from national defense to semiconductors; from health care to retailing; and from automobiles to financial... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

22 May 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

A Luxury Industry Veteran Teaches the Importance of Aesthetics to Budding Business Leaders

they are today.” Among the presentations: Team Lincoln pitched the idea that Ford could lead the driverless car market with the Lincoln brand, marketing the backseat of an automobile as a warm, luxurious comfort zone, and wooing... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Beauty & Cosmetics; Apparel & Accessories; Auto; Tourism

01 Mar 2010
Op-Ed

A Golden Opportunity for Ford and GM

Toyota's tragic automobile recalls offer a historic opportunity for Ford's CEO Alan Mulally and General Motors' new CEO Ed Whitacre. After years of decline, they can reestablish the preeminence of American-made autos if they are wise at... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Auto

23 Jan 2008
Op-Ed

A House Divided: Investment or Shelter?

their ilk sprung up. For a machinist at an automobile plant, the American dream was to own a 3-bedroom expandable Cape Cod cottage. “Americans who lacked the prescience to pick up shares in Google or Amazon could buy a house.” The anchor... View Details

Keywords: by Nicolas P. Retsinas; Banking; Construction; Real Estate

05 Sep 2006
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Porsche’s Risky Roll on an SUV

Porsche erected a small but substantial plant in Leipzig in eastern Germany. And unlike BMW or Daimler-Benz, Porsche did not move closer to the main U.S. market. The controversial Cayenne has turned out to be Porsche's best-selling View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Auto; Manufacturing

05 Aug 2002
Research & Ideas

Five questions for Regina E. Herzlinger

automobiles that once cost more than a house are now cheaper, better, and available to all income classes. Indeed, the word "Toyota" is now used as shorthand to identify low-cost, high-quality goods and services. Q: Your article... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

18 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

Selling Luxury to Everyone

of Maybach sales operations for Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC, has perhaps faced a more significant challenge than the rest of the panel over the last several years: launching an extremely high-end automobile during a tough economy. Starting at... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Consumer Products

26 Apr 2011
Op-Ed

HBS Faculty Comment on Environmental Issues for Earth Day

smart cities will perform better environmentally, financially, and socially than has been the case in most of the world's cities to date. A pretty smart way, we'd say, of protecting our environment. Benjamin G. Edelman, Assistant Professor Of Business Administration In... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Energy; Utilities

11 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Riding the Internet Fast Track

Finally, if the ease of customer retention is high, early investment in customer acquisition can pay dividends over a longtime horizon. For example, Web users find changing Internet service providers a difficult task, but buying an View Details

Keywords: by Peter Jacobs

20 Mar 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, March 20, 2018

Michigan, essentially halted the corporation’s U.S. production and resulted in significant gains for the nascent United Automobile Workers of America union and the Committee for Industrial Organization, both of which had supported the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Oct 2009
First Look

First Look: October 14

a major role in Japan's success in manufacturing-driven industries (e.g., Toyota in automobiles and Nintendo with videogames). First, hierarchical industry organizations can "lock out" certain types of innovation indefinitely by... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

How the Giants of Enterprise Seized the Future

immortal, it would only be because it never rested. Henry Ford's career bears some interesting similarities to Watson's. Ford built his first automobile, the quadricycle, in 1896. Many people at the time thought the automobile was a mere... View Details

Keywords: by Richard S. Tedlow

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

The Climate Needs Aggressive CEO Leadership

Corporations are facing great uncertainty. For the world to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, the United States eventually will have to put a price on carbon dioxide emissions, as has been done by Europe, parts of Canada, and California. To plan for the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Toffel & Auden Schendler; Energy; Utilities

13 Jul 2009
Research & Ideas

Diagnosing the Public Health Care Alternative

public health insurance market might work, imagine an automobile dealership run by the feds that sells cars made by Toyota and others, along with cars made by the government itself, manufactured with money borrowed from our children. As... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Health

14 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Water, Electricity, and Transportation: Preparing for the Population Boom

helped plan the oft-praised public transportation system in Singapore. The city encourages use of its system by keeping rider fees low, discourages individual automobile purchases by charging high ownership taxes, and keeps the trains... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

02 Jun 2011
Research & Ideas

Signing at the Top: The Key to Preventing Tax Fraud?

at the beginning of the form with signing at the end. In one experiment, they teamed up with an automobile insurance company, manipulating the signature line on the policy review forms that customers receive at the end of each year. The... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Accounting

24 May 2004
Research & Ideas

The Watsons: IBM’s Troubled Legacy

of which was the unionization of its plants and the creation of the United Automobile Workers, General Motors was anxious to turn the nation's attention to its ambitions for the future. This it attempted to do through... View Details