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Publications
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- Faculty Publications (2,021)
- October 1992 (Revised September 1996)
- Case
McDonald's Corporation
By: David M. Upton and Joshua D. Margolis
McDonald's has over many years built an operating strategy based on consistency and quality through a limited product range. Competitive forces have drawn the company into a much wider variety of foods and services in order to maintain growth. Now, new competitors... View Details
- October 1992 (Revised December 1992)
- Case
American Connector Company (A)
By: Gary P. Pisano
American Connector Co. is forced to reexamine operations at its Sunnyvale plant when a Japanese competitor announces plans to build an "ultimate" plant in the United States. Case examines issues related to benchmarking a competitor's manufacturing capabilities and... View Details
- September 1992
- Case
Kodak Business Imaging Systems Division
By: Marie-Therese M. Flaherty and Steven C. Wheelwright
Describes Kodak's decision regarding a manufacturing site for some of its products. Compares several types of products (with different cost structures) and several worldwide locations (with different characteristics). Provides a framework (model) for comparing and... View Details
- September 1992 (Revised July 1993)
- Case
Staples, Inc.
By: David E. Bell
Staples is dissatisfied with the merchandising of its office furniture. The case reviews the situation, allowing students to consider whether the category should be dropped or changed. Permits consideration of the portfolio of products a positioning implies, and... View Details
- August 1992 (Revised February 1995)
- Case
Otis Pacific Asia Operations (B): Regionalization
Describes Otis's effort to build a regional organization linking its previously autonomous opportunities across the Pacific Asia region. Describes changes being made in several key functions, including manufacturing, marketing, engineering, and finance. Presents major... View Details
Keywords: Engineering; Finance; Marketing Strategy; Production; Opportunities; Competition; Integration
- August 1992 (Revised July 2013)
- Case
ChemBright, Inc.
ChemBright is a small start-up company that manufactures private-label household chemicals. The company sells its products to grocery chains in the New England area. Its strategy is based on a significant logistics-based cost advantage. The primary case decisions are... View Details
- March 1992 (Revised April 2000)
- Case
Joline Godfrey and the Polaroid Corporation (A)
By: Linda A. Hill and Nancy A Kamprath
Describes how Joline Godfrey, an intrapreneur at the Polaroid Corp., introduced and developed a project that could help Polaroid move to a more service- as opposed to product-oriented focus. Also depicts the mentor-protege relationship between Godfrey and Gerald... View Details
- March 1992 (Revised October 1994)
- Case
AT&T Consumer Products
Describes the factors AT&T Consumer Products managers considered in deciding whether to locate a new plant for telephone answering machines in the United States, Asia, or Mexico. Describes in depth the restructuring of AT&T during the 1980s, the competition facing its... View Details
- February 1992 (Revised January 2002)
- Case
BMW: The 7-Series Project (A)
By: Gary P. Pisano
Explores BMW's decision about how to manufacture prototype vehicles. Historically, BMW's prototypes were handcrafted by highly skilled artisans in the company's shop. A proposal has been made to alter the process so that prototypes are made in a way that can better... View Details
- December 1991 (Revised October 1998)
- Case
Eli Lilly and Co.: Manufacturing Process Technology Strategy--1991
By: Gary P. Pisano, Steven C. Wheelwright and Jonathan West
Outlines the evolution of Lilly's corporate manufacturing strategy over the past decade. The corporate vice president of manufacturing must decide on the next phase of Lilly's strategy for the early 1990s, as well as to what extent and what role process development... View Details
- December 1991 (Revised February 1992)
- Case
Dayton Electric Corp.
Concerns a product redesign decision for one of the company's most successful motor products, its rectified power, medium D-C motor, the RPM. A one-year redesign program has proposed a design that comes close to meeting its stated cost and performance goals, but at the... View Details
- November 1991 (Revised January 1997)
- Case
Motorola, Inc.: Bandit Pager Project (Abridged)
Describes the development of a fully automated production line for manufacturing radio pagers. The company regarded the project as highly successful; it becomes clear in the case, however, that there were some shortcomings as well. Some marketing issues were not... View Details
- November 1991 (Revised April 1994)
- Case
Nucleon, Inc.
By: Gary P. Pisano
Nucleon is a small biotechnology company whose first potential product is about to enter clinical testing. Before Nucleon can begin clinical trials, however, its management must decide how and where to manufacture the product. Three options are being contemplated: 1)... View Details
- November 1991 (Revised June 1997)
- Case
Micom Caribe (A)
By: David M. Upton and Joshua D. Margolis
Describes the Puerto Rican manufacturing plant of a transnational company. The award-winning plant has dramatically improved the quality of flexibility of its operations, by taking a radical approach to manufacturing. The methods center on the use of specific... View Details
- October 1991 (Revised September 1998)
- Case
Maxwell Appliance Controls
By: Robert S. Kaplan
A profitable manufacturing division of a large company is looking for new ways to identify sources of productivity improvements. Led by its senior finance officer, an activity-based cost system is developed to identify activities performed for its highly varied product... View Details
- October 1991 (Revised August 2000)
- Case
Becton Dickinson & Company: VACUTAINER Systems Division (Condensed)
By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Frank V. Cespedes
Becton Dickinson, a phenomenally successful company with an 80% market share in the blood collection needles and syringes market faces a change in the customer buying environment (cost containment pressures at hospitals). This forces a reevaluation of the company's... View Details
- September 1991 (Revised November 1997)
- Case
Gillette's Launch of Sensor
By: Pankaj Ghemawat and Benjamin C. Esty
The introduction of the Sensor Shaving System, one of the biggest product launches ever, forced Gillette to reevaluate its strategy in its shaving and non-shaving business. It had to decide whether to go ahead with the launch and if so, at what scale. Permits analysis... View Details
- September 1991 (Revised September 2010)
- Case
Dore-Dore
By: Janice H. Hammond and Audris Wong
Dore-Dore, a French manufacturer of socks and children's knitwear, has just converted a portion of its knitwear operations to a flexible modular system to allow faster response and greater flexibility. The case provides an opportunity to assess the changes in knitwear... View Details
- September 1991 (Revised January 1998)
- Case
Chaparral Steel: Rapid Product and Process Development
By: Dorothy Leonard-Barton and Gil Preuss
One of the nation's foremost mini-mills' core competence is the rapid realization of technology into products. This case describes the development of a highly innovative casting technique and features the role of the company's culture in achieving its goals. The... View Details
- September 1991 (Revised December 1991)
- Case
G. Heileman Brewing Co. (A): Power Failure At PowerMaster
In June 1991, Heileman announced plans to introduce a high-alcohol malt liquor under the name PowerMaster (PM). Although the company claimed PM would be positioned as an upscale product and marketed on the basis of its superior taste, minority advocates and alcohol... View Details