Publications

Trevor Fetter is a Senior Lecturer and the Henry B. Arthur Fellow on the faculty of Harvard Business School. He teaches two MBA required courses: Leadership and Corporate Accountability, and Financial Reporting and Control. At HBS he has also taught a Short... View Details

August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (A)

By: Willy Shih

This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Henry Ford's Model T was a car for the masses. After considerable experimentation, Ford Motor... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Exploration; Dominant Design; Business Growth and Maturation; Business History; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan

03 Jun 2016
News

Again in a Great City

thousands of abandoned homes, needs more housing The Detroit economy was already wavering when the Cummings family arrived. By early 1992, Detroit’s debt rating would be cut to junk bond status. From an investor’s point of view, the city... View Details

Keywords: April White; photographed by Brian Kelly

24 Nov 2008
Research & Ideas

Harvard Business School Discusses Future of the MBA

For the school that so boldly launched the MBA 100 years ago and went on to become the bluest of blue-chip brands in business education, it seemed only fitting that Harvard Business School should mark its centennial year by examining the... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson & HBS Bulletin; Education

November 1989 (Revised February 1992)
Case

Ford Motor Co.: Dealer Sales and Service

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger

Since Henry Ford founded Ford Motor Co., Ford vehicles have been sold and serviced the same way. By the late 1980s Ford began to consider making changes in its sales and service process. Two developments forced Ford to reconsider these processes. First, Ford found... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Distribution Channels; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Industry; Auto Industry; Retail Industry; United States

01 Dec 1999
News

The Way You See It

single individual has achieved so much in such a short time," with "Microsoft's technology accelerating the world economy." Most influential business leader Bill Gates Jack Welch Henry Ford Alfred P. Sloan Thomas J. Watson The runner-up... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons. Data collection by Ericka Webb.

November 2018 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Bangladesh: Into the Maelstrom

By: Reshmaan Hussam, Sophus A. Reinert and Namrata Arora

In the fall of 2018, Rohima Begum considered her options as the small island, or “char,” on which her family’s house rested slowly but inescapably eroded into the mighty Brahmaputra River in northern Bangladesh. The country, once unceremoniously dubbed a “basket case”... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Adaptation; Environmental Management; Problems and Challenges; Immigration; Bangladesh

Amitabh Chandra is the Henry and Allison McCance Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School where he is the Faculty Chair of the joint View Details

July 2011
Article

Unexploited Efficiencies in Higher Education

By: Henry C. Eyring

In "Unexploited Efficiencies in Higher Education," Henry C. Eyring argues that one way that the U.S. can compete globally in college attainment is to decrease cost-per-graduate. He explains how many stakeholders in higher education stand to benefit from unexploited... View Details

Keywords: Performance Measurement; Innovation; Control Systems; Education; Performance Evaluation; Innovation and Invention; Education Industry; United States

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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

01 Sep 2018
News

After the Fall

beliefs,” Greenwood says, chalking it up to an abundance of optimism. Before the crisis, for instance, the “Armageddon scenario” for housing price growth in 2006 was a 5 percent drop. During the lowest point of the crisis, housing prices fell View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Myers; illustration by Dan Bejar; Monetary Authorities-Central Bank; Finance; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance; Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support; Government

13 Feb 2024
Cold Call Podcast

Apple’s Dilemma: Balancing Privacy and Safety Responsibilities

Keywords: Re: Nien-he Hsieh & Henry W. McGee

01 Mar 2025
News

Work of Art

Jason Price (MBA 2003) in the main gallery space at NXTHVN, the art community he cofounded in New Haven’s Dixwell neighborhood Trying to capture the scope of what’s going on at NXTHVN, the nonprofit arts and community organization Jason Price (MBA 2003) cofounded with... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; photos by Chris Sorensen; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

18 Feb 2021
Interview

Amy Edmondson: Are You Missing One of Your Most Important Jobs as a Manager?

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Chris Clearfield

During our conversation, we talked about:

• The renewed interest in the concept of psychological safety
• J.D. Thompson’s notion of “reciprocal coordination needs”
• How knowledge work does not produce objective or mechanical... View Details

Keywords: Psychological Safety; Management Skills; Management Style; Interpersonal Communication

Rohit Deshpandé is a Baker Foundation Professor and Sebastian S. Kresge Professor of Marketing, Emeritus at Harvard Business School, where he has been teaching in the Advanced Management Program,... View Details

Keywords: advertising; agribusiness; airline; banking; beauty products; beverage; financial services; home video games; marketing industry; pharmaceuticals; telecommunications; tourism; video games

February 2001 (Revised October 2002)
Background Note

Entrepreneurial History: A Conceptual Overview

By: Nancy F. Koehn

Analyzes HBS cases on five entrepreneurs and the companies they built: Josiah Wedgwood, Henry Heinz, Marshall Field, Howard Schultz of Starbucks, and Michael Dell. These five cases and their accompanying teaching notes comprise a course module on entrepreneurial... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Demand and Consumers; Competition; Business History; Entrepreneurship; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Strategy; Society