Chain - Publications - Faculty & Research

June 2017
Teaching Note

The De Beers Group: Exploring the Diamond Reselling Opportunity

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Daniel P. Gross and Lauren G. Pickle

In September 2014, Tom Montgomery (SVP of strategic initiatives at the De Beers Group) and his team launched a pilot program in the United States to explore $1 billion diamond market for pre-owned (recycled) diamonds. According to Montgomery, the motivation for the... View Details

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27 Oct 2014
News

Track Customer Service, but Don't Forget the Financials

Keywords: customer satisfaction; financial results; front line employees; decision making

01 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 1

processes. We describe a property-rights model of firm boundary choices along the value chain that generalizes Antràs and Chor (2013). To assess the evidence, we construct firm-level measures of the upstreamness of integrated and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 9, 2008

Olga Memedovic Publication:Special Issue on Global Value Chains and Innovation Networks: Prospects for Industrial Upgrading in Developing Countries. Part 1. International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation, and Development 1,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 22, 2008

Business School Case 207-091 Jerzy Peters, Managing Director of Patron Capital Partners, must decide the best investment option on the development of the Odra Polish theater chain and the associated real estate. Capital Field was a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

24 Sep 2013
First Look

First Look: September 24

now facing its board as it encounters investor pressure to improve performance. Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/search/114021 Harvard Business School Case 614-009 VF Brands: Global Supply Chain Strategy No abstract available. Purchase... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Teams | New Venture Competition

clinics and patients, improving access and clinic efficiency. Zyra Sara Kamprad (MBA 2025) Camilla Lopes (MBA 2025) Empowering the U.S. hemp industry with end-to-end brokerage services for sustainable supply chain growth View Details

01 Mar 2004
News

Zanzibar: Something for Everyone

and spice market, and the former slave market. Here we saw the dungeon-like quarters where slaves were kept, chained together, for up to three weeks. Many of them died; those who lived proved their strength and were auctioned off. The... View Details

Keywords: Accommodation; Hospitality; Food Services and Drinking Places; Hospitality

15 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Business IT Innovation is so Difficult

firms do to upgrade their IT-based business processes? Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. "It's not just about writing a check to an IT vendor," McElheran explains. "There's a complicated assembly of processes and people and organizational structures and supply... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

02 Feb 2015
Research & Ideas

Disruptors Sell What Customers Want and Let Competitors Sell What They Don’t

Chain One key distinction between unbundling and decoupling is that while the former takes place only at the point of consumption, the latter can take place anywhere along the chain of testing, choosing, and... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

02 Mar 2015
News

To Market, To Market

building an agricultural and market infrastructure in places—like parts of Nepal, Romania, Haiti, and Guatemala—where little or none has previously existed. “The way we do this is through value-based development, where we engage farmers in wealth-creating value View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Agriculture; Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations; Personal Services

18 Jul 2018
Blog Post

Amira Rashad: An Ambidextrous Mind Meets Consumer Needs in the Middle East

focusing the consumer experience on the shopping list, "we know what the customer is going to buy 70 to 80 percent of the time," says Amira. That knowledge informs BulkWhiz's supply chain management, giving it purchasing leverage with... View Details

June 2024
Supplement

Legacy Partners (A)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

Stephen Holbrook and Austin Pulsipher (both HBS '19) had been leading Nutrishare since acquiring the company six months earlier in mid-2021.... View Details

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March 2024
Teaching Note

Madrigal: Conducting a Customer-Base Audit

By: Eva Ascarza, Peter S. Fader, Bruce Hardie and Michael Ross

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 524-046. This case presents a scenario where Madrigal, a U.S. retailer with a rich 20-year history and a solid loyalty program, faces a turning point with the arrival of a new CEO. This leadership change reveals a critical gap in... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; United States

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27 Aug 2007
Op-Ed

Mattel: Getting a Toy Recall Right

million toys manufactured in China with lead paint and/or loose, potentially dangerous magnets. Clearly Mattel did not have sufficiently tight quality control procedures in its supply chain to compensate for the extra risks of outsourcing... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Consumer Products

13 May 2020
Blog Post

Crisis Leadership with Nikhil Patel: The Critical Importance of Trust

done.” Effective communication must be accompanied with efficiencies in structure. “We have to operate more like a private company in which different departments have their own authority to act without running every decision up the chain... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government; Social Enterprise

Web

BiGS Research | Institute for Business in Global Society

and managerial disciplines to drive sustained, high-impact social change. Working Conditions in Supply Chains Providing key managerial insights from research on assessing and improving working conditions in supply chains. Global... View Details

21 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 21, 2015

company's efforts on its entire value chain from its raw materials sourcing to the lifestyle of its end consumers. The plan especially centered on wood, which represented 60% of IKEA Group's total procurement in volume and constituted a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2010
Teaching Note

From Imitation to Innovation: Zongshen Industrial Group (TN)

By: Willy C. Shih

Teaching Note for 610057. View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Transformation; Problems and Challenges; Taxation; Information Technology; Selection and Staffing; Talent and Talent Management; Corporate Strategy; Acquisition; Technology Adoption; Supply Chain; Motorcycle Industry

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winter 1989
Article

Split-Awards Procurement and Innovation

By: James J. Anton and Dennis A. Yao

In many procurement settings, it is possible for a buyer to split a production award between suppliers. In this article, we develop a model of split-award procurement auctions in which the split choice is endogenous. We characterize the set of equilibrium bids and... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Cost; Supply Chain; Investment; Balance and Stability

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