Publications

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February 2016
Article

A Structured Approach to Managing Stakeholders in Lean Six Sigma Projects: Role Call!

By: Vijaya Sunder and Shashank Shah

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April 1999 (Revised May 2005)
Case

GE's Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch's Leadership

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Meg Wozny

GE is faced with Jack Welch's impending retirement and whether anyone can sustain the blistering pace of change and growth characteristic of the Welch era. After briefly describing GE's heritage and Welch's transformation of the company's business portfolio of the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Global Strategy; Leadership Development; Goals and Objectives; Six Sigma; Management Succession; Service Operations; Quality; Corporate Strategy

October 2000
Case

GE's Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch's Leadership Multimedia Case

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Meg Wozny

General Electric is faced with Welch's impending retirement, and the question on many minds is whether anyone can sustain the blistering pace of change and growth characteristic of the Welch era. After briefly describing GE's heritage and Welch's transformation of the... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation

March 2008 (Revised March 2009)
Case

The Home Depot, Inc.

For its first 20 years, Home Depot was known for its entrepreneurial spirit and focus on customer service. Merchandising, purchasing, and store operations were all decentralized. When the company hit $45 billion in sales, many believed that a more disciplined approach... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Profit; Leading Change; Six Sigma; Service Operations; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Retail Industry

August 2012 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Hub and Spoke, HealthCare Global and Additional Focused Factory Models for Cancer Care

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Amit Ghorawat, Meera Krishnan and Naiyya Saggi

This case compares and contrasts four different models for delivering cancer care in India and the US. Students are asked to select the best model in its alignment with the Six Forces in those two countries and Africa, to which one of the models is considering... View Details

Keywords: Cancer Care Services; Focused Factories For Cancer Care; Hub And Spoke Cancer Care; Cancer Care In The U.S.; Cancer Care In Africa; Cancer Care In India; Health Care and Treatment; Business Model; Six Sigma; Health Disorders; Health Industry; United States; India; Africa

June 2001
Case

GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (A)

By: Michael A. Wheeler and Gillian Morris

GE's chief litigation counsel sought to rationalize litigation flow by viewing it as a manufacturing process. By applying the principles of Six Sigma, P.D. Villareal created an Early Dispute Resolution (EDR) system that enabled both lawyers and managers to work... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Lawsuits and Litigation; Six Sigma; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Conflict and Resolution; Energy Industry; Technology Industry; United States

05 Dec 2022
What Do You Think?

How Would Jack Welch’s Leadership Style Fare in Today’s World?

the company). On the other hand, under Welch GE either pioneered or stamped its approval on many useful practices that might not have otherwise enjoyed such widespread adoption. They include the Work-Out, Six View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Industrial Products; Media & Broadcasting; Medical Devices & Supplies; Manufacturing

Web

Advisory Board - Entrepreneurship

on the future of engineering education. Joe received his BS, MS, and PhD from MIT and was awarded National Science, Adams and McDermott Fellowships. He was elected to Sigma Xi. Josh Lerner, Harvard Business School Josh Lerner is the Jacob... View Details

01 Sep 2010
News

Noted & Quoted

“Your chances of getting a generally accepted best practice in your average American hospital are a coin toss. That’s not Six Sigma by a long shot.” — HBS professor Richard Bohmer describing problems with... View Details

Keywords: Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance; Hospitals; Health, Social Assistance

Career Coach

Robert Kimmel

ColorMatrix Corporation. He is a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, and spent time as a marketing associate for the Scotch Tape division at 3M. Prior to HBS, Robert worked as a Technical Marketing... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Consumer Products; Entrepreneurship; Manufacturing; Private Equity; Financial Services (All)

01 Jun 2010
News

Green Dreams: Eco-Friendly Countertops

definitely hasn’t held her back. Her chief operations officer, a Six Sigma Black Belt, works continually to make every aspect of IceStone’s manufacturing process more efficient. “Now my classmates cheer me... View Details

Keywords: Sarah Auerbach; Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

March 2006
Background Note

Customer-Introduced Variability in Service Operations

By: Frances X. Frei

Presents a typology of customer-introduced variability and offers guidance on how to manage each type. Central to the ideas developed is how to mitigate the effects of the apparent trade-off between reducing variability and diminishing the service experience or... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Six Sigma; Consumer Behavior; Service Operations; Performance Efficiency

January 1999 (Revised February 2000)
Case

GE...We bring good things to life. (A)

By: James L. Heskett

Jack Welch and the Corporate Executive Council of General Electric are faced with a decision about whether and how to implement a six-sigma quality-improvement effort in the context of many other initiatives already undertaken at GE in recent years. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Leadership Style; Six Sigma; Quality; Organizational Change and Adaptation

September 2010 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Assembling Smartphones: Takt Time ≠ Cycle Time?

By: Willy Shih and Ethan Bernstein

The case was prepared to be used as part of a process review in the first year Technology and Operations Management course at HBS. It offers students an opportunity to discuss the context of a manufacturing process choice, and then examine actual production numbers... View Details

Keywords: Cognition and Thinking; Research and Development; Design; Six Sigma; Measurement and Metrics; Production

October 2010
Case

The Cleveland Clinic: Improving the Patient Experience (Abridged)

By: Ananth Raman, Anita L. Tucker and Rachel Gordon

Healthcare has traditionally focused on medical outcomes and financial performance. The big question is always, "How much is it going to cost?" What would happen though if healthcare also considered question of "How does the patient feel?" This case looks at the... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Ethics; Health Care and Treatment; Six Sigma; Performance Improvement; Safety; Value Creation