Publications

June 2020 (Revised May 2022)
Case

Vanguard Retail Operations (A)

By: Willy C. Shih and Antonio Moreno

The first two cases in this series are set in the financial services industry, and explore whether it is better for back-office workers to be generalists who provide the flexibility of being able to handle the complete range of transactions that the company faces or... View Details

Keywords: Pooling; Generalist Model; Specialist Model; Operations; Service Operations; Management; Job Design and Levels; Financial Services Industry; United States

August 2009 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Intel NBI: Radio-Frequency Identification

By: Willy C. Shih and Thomas Thurston

The Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) group was a start-up that was part of Intel's New Business Initiatives. It sought initially to develop and sell a high performance Rf fast read rate module targeted at fixed position readers that might be found in loading docks... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Organizational Structure; Failure; Diversification; Integration; Semiconductor Industry

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11 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 11

Invention of Data Privacy in the United States and France Author:J. Gunnar Trumbull Publication:In The Voice of the Citizen Consumer, edited by K. Bruckweh. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010 An abstract is unavailable at this... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

20 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: Jan. 20

self-report of a licensee. Self-reporting gives rise to demand for auditing by the licensor or third-party attestation by the licensee. We characterize the optimal royalty contract, accounting system choice... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Aug 2011
First Look

First Look: August 9

Cases & Course MaterialsLeading by Values: Sam Palmisano and IBM William W. GeorgeHarvard Business School Case 411-097 An abstract is unavailable at this time. Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/411097-PDF-ENG... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Feb 2016
First Look

February 9, 2016

and Technology Through Academic-Industry Partnerships By: Chai, Sen, and Willy C. Shih Abstract—Partnerships that foster the translation of scientific advances emerging from... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

31 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 31

Abstract Theories of the firm have been dominated by a legacy of ideas from early industrialization that pose zero-sum opposition between capital and labor (or capital and nearly everything else), differentiating the economy from society... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2012
Case

Renesas Electronics and the Automotive Microcontroller Supply Chain (A)

By: Willy Shih and Margaret Pierson

The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan in March 2011 caused extensive damage to Renesas Electronics wafer fabrication facility, a critical link in the global automotive supply chain. Many OEMs sole-sourced customized microprocessors from the fab, so its... View Details

Keywords: Natural Disasters; Crisis Management; Supply Chain Management; Production; Strategy; Semiconductor Industry; Auto Industry; Japan

December 2024
Supplement

Vanguard Retail Operations

By: Antonio Moreno, Willy C. Shih and Margaret Underwood

October 2024
Background Note

Outsourcing Primer

This note provides some background on one of the key resource allocation decisions managers make as they develop and produce products and services: what should they do with the walls of their own firm, and what they should depend upon suppliers or contractors to... View Details

Keywords: Outsourcing; Offshoring And Outsourcing; Production; Product Development; Resource Allocation; Supply Chain Management; Manufacturing Industry; United States; Asia

February 2024
Background Note

Frederick Herzberg on Motivating Employees

This background note summarizes Frederick Herzberg's development of his motivation-hygiene theory, his theory regarding job enrichment, and how the theory has evolved. This is at the core of extrinsic versus intrinsic motivation. View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Theory; Service Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

April 6, 2022
Article

In Uncertain Times, Big Companies Need to Take Care of Their Suppliers

Many large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have long been ruthless with their suppliers, demanding extremely low prices and loading them up with risks. Given that the current turmoil buffeting global supply chains is unlikely to end anytime soon, OEMs should... View Details

Keywords: Supplier Relationship; Supply Chain Management; Supply Chain; Relationships; Risk and Uncertainty; Auto Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

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August 2021
Supplement

Coats: Supply Chain Challenges: Spreadsheet Supplement

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

Summer 2020
Article

Is It Time to Rethink Globalized Supply Chains?: The COVID-19 Pandemic Should Be a Wake-up Call for Managers and Prompt Them to Consider Actions That Will Improve Their Resilience to Future Shocks

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the complex interdependencies of globalized supply chains. While these global multistage production networks had spread during a relatively benign environment of falling trade barriers and increasing interdependencies among countries,... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chains; Pandemic; Resilience; Supply Chain Management; Supply Chain; Global Range; Health Pandemics; Disruption; System Shocks; Crisis Management; Manufacturing Industry; United States; Asia; Europe; China

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October 2018 (Revised August 2019)
Module Note

Supply Chain Management

This note on supply chain management provides background for the seven class supply chain module in the Technology & Operations Management required curriculum course taught at the Harvard Business School. This module includes four broad topics: sourcing and supply... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Information; Supply ＆ Demand; Supply Chain Industries; Supply Chain Management; Supply Chain; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; United States; Asia; Europe; Japan; China

May 2018
Supplement

Video Supplement to Toyota Motor Manufacturing, U.S.A. case (693-019): An updated video of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, Georgetown, KY site showing seat installation

This is an updated video of the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK) assembly facility in Georgetown, KY. It is meant to be paired with the 693-019 Toyota Motor Manufacturing U.S.A. case, but with higher quality video. The vidoe shows a line tour of Assembly Two... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Manufacturing Strategy; Lean Management; Toyota Production System; Just-in-time; Lean Production; Automotive Industry; Automobile Manufacturing; Automotive; Automotive Supply Chain; Production; Operations; Logistics; Auto Industry; United States

September 2012
Supplement

Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation: Working with Project Teams as a 'Single Point of Contact'

June 2010 (Revised October 2010)
Course Overview Note

Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise

This Module Note for Instructors outlines the structure and content of the Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise MBA second year elective course at the Harvard Business School. The course focuses on giving students a solid grounding in the construction of... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Business Growth and Maturation