Publications

January 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Cisco Business Councils (2007): Unifying a Functional Enterprise with an Internal Governance System

By: Ranjay Gulati

In response to the 2001 market downturn, Cisco Systems implemented a major restructuring that transformed the company from a decentralized to centralized organization. While recognizing that a centralized, functional structure was necessary to avoid product and... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Customer Focus and Relationships; Governing and Advisory Boards; Resource Allocation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Corporate Strategy; Technology Industry

5 Nov 2005 - 8 Nov 2005
Conference Presentation

Exploring the Architecture of Complex Software Products

By: Alan MacCormack

Keywords: Product Design; Applications and Software; Complexity

January 1999
Exercise

Seneca Systems (B): General and Confidential Instructions for C. Stevens, Vice President, Assembly Division

Seneca is a three-party negotiation-mediation simulation. The context is a product failure crisis in a manufacturing company with highly autonomous units. The heads of two divisions are in a dispute over who has responsibility for failures in a key product. The head of... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Participants; Business Divisions; Power and Influence; Manufacturing Industry

January 2014 (Revised July 2016)
Case

Samuel Slater & Francis Cabot Lowell: The Factory System in U.S. Cotton Manufacturing

By: Tom Nicholas and Matthew Guilford

At the time of the American War of Independence (1776-1783) and for several decades after it, Great Britain dominated the global production of cotton textiles. In fact, Britain became so dominant in textile manufacturing and trading that Manchester, its industrial... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Production; Business History; Manufacturing Industry; Great Britain; Massachusetts

07 Dec 2015
News

Nurturing a Healthy Food System for Producers and Consumers

Andrew Kendall (MBA 1988) is on a mission to change the way New England eats. As executive director of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation, his family’s philanthropic organization, he is dedicated to creating a “resilient and healthy food View Details

23 Jun 2020
Book

Beginning America Over Again with a New Electoral System

Created by the people for the people, the American political system is instead "a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly—the Democrats and the Republicans—and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

February 2011 (Revised August 2012)
Teaching Note

Emotiv Systems Inc.: It's the Thoughts that Count (TN)

By: Elie Ofek and Natalie Kindred

Teaching Note for 510050. View Details

Keywords: Product Launch; Technological Innovation; Applications and Software; Decision Choices and Conditions; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Marketing Channels; Price

January 1999
Exercise

Seneca Systems (A): General and Confidential Instructions for C. Stevens, Vice President, Assembly Division

Seneca is a three-party negotiation-mediation simulation. The context is a product failure crisis in a manufacturing company with highly autonomous units. The heads of two divisions are in a dispute over who has responsibility for failures in a key product. The head of... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Participants; Business Divisions; Power and Influence; Manufacturing Industry

01 Jun 2017
News

A Finger on the Pulse of the Financial System

to meet with BFFS faculty to promote the productive exchange of ideas. “We began by mobilizing Harvard research around the realities of how markets, individuals, and institutions behave ,” says Greenwood. “Ultimately though, we want the... View Details

21 Mar 2023
Blog Post

Grundfos: Innovation & Inspiration for Sustainable Product Design

In January 2023, Professors Willy Shih and Mike Toffel led more than 40 HBS MBA students on site visits to witness the energy transition and innovative sustainable production activities throughout Denmark and the Netherlands, in their new... View Details

1989
Discussion Paper

Problems in the Development and Manufacture of Defense Systems

By: J. Ronald Fox

Keywords: National Security; Production; Product Development; Business and Government Relations; Problems and Challenges

29 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Inventing Products is Less Valuable Than Inventing Ideas

social network that would allow everyone to share their lives with one another across geographies. "Compared to the value of the global network idea, the value of the actual product of a platform for college kids was much less,"... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology

26 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

How Electronic Patient Records Can Slow Doctor Productivity

productivity implications from increased information technology. "We often look at systems on the basis of their technical capability, the fact that they can store this many records or process that many... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Health

02 Apr 2024
Research & Ideas

Employees Out Sick? Inside One Company's Creative Approach to Staying Productive

absences every day and were managing to keep production running, so the CEO called in Tamayo and his colleagues to understand how. “They realized, if you help me today, then I’ll help you tomorrow.” To gauge how managers were coping, the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Fashion

November 1986 (Revised June 1987)
Case

Fieldcrest Division of Fieldcrest Mills, Inc.: Compensation System for Field Sales Representatives

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Focuses on the compensation plan for Fieldcrest sales representatives. Management is reviewing the structure of the plan and must decide how to establish compensation goals and guidelines for the following year so that sales efforts are allocated among products and/or... View Details

Keywords: Markets; Competitive Strategy; Compensation and Benefits

January 1999
Exercise

Seneca Systems (B): General and Confidential Instructions for Dr. D. Monosoff, Vice President, Data Devices Division

Seneca is a three-party negotiation-mediation simulation. The context is a product failure crisis in a manufacturing company with highly autonomous units. The heads of two divisions are in a dispute over who has responsibility for failures in a key product. The head of... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Participants; Business Divisions; Power and Influence; Manufacturing Industry

January 1999
Exercise

Seneca Systems (A): General and Confidential Instructions for Dr. D. Monosoff, Vice President, Data Devices Division

Seneca is a three-party negotiation-mediation simulation. The context is a product failure crisis in a manufacturing company with highly autonomous units. The heads of two divisions are in a dispute over who has responsibility for failures in a key product. The head of... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Participants; Business Divisions; Power and Influence; Manufacturing Industry

September 1992 (Revised October 1995)
Teaching Note

Eastman Kodak Co.: Managing Information Systems Through Strategic Alliances TN

By: Lynda M. Applegate

Teaching Note for (9-192-030). View Details

Keywords: Management; Information Technology; Strategy; Alliances; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry