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How Would Copernicus See Capitalism?
Economics Digital ArticleWe’ve been sharing thoughts in this blog about how the rapid growth of the emerging economies, along with other modern realities, will reshape the practice — and thus rewrite the rules — of capitalism. Many readers are aware that these are ideas in development for our forthcoming book on the topic. This week we decided […] -
Engineering Your Way Out of the Global Chip Shortage
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleIf you design for resilience, you'll be better able to navigate disruptions. -
Why You Need a Supplier-Diversity Program
Global Business ResearchIt can lift up disadvantaged communities - and make your business more competitive. -
An Innovative Way to Prevent Adversarial Supplier Relationships
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleFormal relational contracts can keep suppliers and buyers from turning on each other when times get tough. -
Go Downstream: The New Profit Imperative in Manufacturing
Business models Magazine ArticleNow that providing services is more lucrative than making products, the old foundations for success in manufacturing are crumbling. Smart manufacturers are creating new business models to capture profits at the customer’s end of the value chain. -
The Biosphere Rules
Operations strategy Magazine ArticleNature employs production processes that are surprisingly efficient, environmentally sound—and widely imitable. -
Netflix’s “American Factory” and the New Geography of Manufacturing
Operations and supply chain management Digital ArticleHow the industry is changing in the U.S., China, and Africa. -
Why Process Is U.S. Health Care's Biggest Problem
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleWithout it, technology can't live up to its potential. -
A CEO’s Common Sense of CIM: An Interview with J. Tracy O’Rourke
Hiring and recruitment Magazine ArticleAccording to Wickham Skinner (“What Matters to Manufacturing,” HBR January–February 1988), too many managers now approach production difficulties with “a menu of textbook techniques”—CIM, for example—when they should be thinking through the same old questions: What is my business? Where is the market? What machines and flexibilities do I really need? With Skinner’s strictures in […] -
Inside Mount Sinai's Hospital-at-Home Program
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Digital ArticleIt led to fewer readmissions and complications. -
Keep Your Eye on Process Improvement
Operations and supply chain management Digital ArticleIn my consulting and research I’ve seen many companies launch process improvement programs such as Total Quality Management, Business Reengineering, Lean, and Six Sigma. Many got significant benefits, including lower costs, faster time-to-market, and better customer experiences. But after one round of improvement, they gave up and let their organization get flabby again. Organizations, like […] -
The Case of the Machinists’ Mutiny
Change management Magazine Article“You can’t be serious!” Mike Trail, the president and fourth-generation owner of Trail Manufacturing, stared at five older men standing uncomfortably in his small office. “I’m afraid we are, Mike.” Sandy Mulder, the most senior of the five, was polite but firm. “We won’t switch over to the new equipment. We want to continue to […] -
Dell’s Cost Cutting Is Not a Growth Strategy
Operations and supply chain management Digital ArticleCan you make a growth strategy out of massively slashing costs? No? Are you sure? Better tell Michael Dell then, because reaching Dell’s stated goal of slashing $3 billion in annual expenses over three years seems to be the once-ambitious computer maker’s primary obsession. In its latest big moves announced this week Dell is shuttering […] -
Augmented Reality Is Already Improving Worker Performance
Operations and supply chain management Digital ArticleOne example shows a productivity boost of over 30% — on a worker’s first use, and without prior training. -
5 Ways U.S. Hospitals Can Handle Financial Losses from Medicare Patients
Operations strategy Digital ArticleHealth care leaders can prevent a bad situation from getting worse. -
Information Technology and the Board of Directors
Technology & Operations Magazine ArticleEver since the Y2K scare, boards have grown increasingly nervous about corporate dependence on information technology. Since then, computer crashes, denial... -
The Limits of 3D Printing
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleIt won't replace standard manufacturing anytime soon. -
Circular Supply Chains Are More Sustainable. Why Are They So Rare?
Organizational Development Digital ArticleWhat companies can learn from successful recycling efforts. -
Don’t Trust Your Gut With Assortment Planning
Operations and supply chain management Digital ArticleThis blog post is part of the HBR Online Forum The Future of Retail. Retailers periodically update their product assortments, deleting slow sellers and adding new products in response to shifts in consumer demand or to accommodate new offerings from suppliers. Assortment-planning processes vary greatly across retailers and product segments but have one thing in […] -
What the Pandemic Means for Health Care’s Digital Transformation
Technology and analytics Digital ArticleThree key priorities identified by leading CIOs.
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Coordination: An Overview
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details Designed to accompany Module II of the first-year required course on Technology and Operations Management. Particularly useful in conjunction with Corning... -
Sitting Pretty: Managing Customer-Driven Innovation at Faurecia Car Seating
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details Faurecia is a world-class player in the automotive components sector, active in four main areas: automotive seating, vehicle interiors, exhaust systems... -
Copeland Corp.: Evolution of a Manufacturing Strategy--1975-82 (C)
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details In the preceding case, Copeland had to choose between two alternative plant layouts for organizing its Sidney plant. Now it must get work force approval... -
Boeing 787: Manufacturing a Dream
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details Case traces the design and development of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Emphasis is on executive leadership and firm strategy in coordinating across a global... -
Innovation Strategy at Microsoft: Clouds on the Horizon
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Microsoft employs 90,000 people and its products affect millions of users around the world every day. Developing the next version of Windows or Office... -
Autonomous Vehicles: Smooth or Bumpy Ride Ahead?
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details In early 2019, transportation was set to undergo a major transformation with the advent of autonomous vehicles (AVs), also referred to as driverless cars,... -
Lie, Cheat, and Steel: Governance and Scandal at ThyssenKrupp
Global Business Case Study11.95View Details On March 7, 2013, ThyssenKrupp Group CEO Heinrich Hiesinger was shocked to receive a resignation letter from Gerhard Cromme, chairman of the company's... -
Erik Peterson (C)
Organizational Development Case Study5.00View Details Describes the outcome of Erik Peterson's one-day meeting with his superior and the events of the subsequent day's meeting with the president and vice... -
Chris Lee's Investment Plan
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details In December 2012, a young worker in Toronto wants to invest $50,000 savings. He needs to decide the equity portfolio that will result in the lowest risk... -
Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (A)
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth... -
The Sequel to Chance Encounters
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details Movie-industry analyst David Fitzhugh must estimate the value of the sequel rights associated with Chance Encounters, a soon-to-be-produced movie. The... -
Pancho's Burritos
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details Pancho's Burritos is a high-end fast-food restaurant located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Due to a recent surge in customers, the lines at the restaurant... -
Analyzing Low Patient Satisfaction at Herzog Memorial Hospital
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details In late 2012 Adeline Herzog Memorial Hospital in Castle Rock, Colorado, was facing a problem with patient satisfaction. The Press-Ganey scores for the... -
School of Rock: Tuning into Structured Empowerment (A)
Management Case Study11.95View Details In summer 2021, School of Rock was a youth-oriented music education company with 291 franchise- and company-owned schools globally. Before CEO Rob Price's... -
Lean at Wipro Technologies
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details Wipro Technologies, a rapidly growing software services firm based in India, decided to use principles from the Toyota Production System (also known as... -
Student Success at Georgia State University (B)
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details This is a supplement to the Student Success at Georgia State University (A) case. The (B) case includes the results of a randomized control trial that... -
Supply Chain Collaboration at JD.com
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details At the November 2019 Open Day conference, the vice-president of JD.com shared his understanding of the role that supplier collaboration played in an uncertain... -
Pyrex
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details -
General Electric--Thermocouple Manufacturing (A)
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details GE is considering introducing a "just-in-time" production system to reduce inventory in its thermocouple manufacturing area. The case presents students... -
Supply Chain Evolution at HP (B)
Leadership & Managing People Case Study5.00View Details The (A) and (B) cases describe the evolution of HP supply chain for its PC business in Europe between years 1992 and 1999 and the different initiatives:...
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How Would Copernicus See Capitalism?
Economics Digital ArticleWe’ve been sharing thoughts in this blog about how the rapid growth of the emerging economies, along with other modern realities, will reshape the practice — and thus rewrite the rules — of capitalism. Many readers are aware that these are ideas in development for our forthcoming book on the topic. This week we decided […] -
Engineering Your Way Out of the Global Chip Shortage
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleIf you design for resilience, you'll be better able to navigate disruptions. -
Why You Need a Supplier-Diversity Program
Global Business ResearchIt can lift up disadvantaged communities - and make your business more competitive. -
An Innovative Way to Prevent Adversarial Supplier Relationships
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleFormal relational contracts can keep suppliers and buyers from turning on each other when times get tough. -
Go Downstream: The New Profit Imperative in Manufacturing
Business models Magazine ArticleNow that providing services is more lucrative than making products, the old foundations for success in manufacturing are crumbling. Smart manufacturers are creating new business models to capture profits at the customer’s end of the value chain. -
Coordination: An Overview
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details Designed to accompany Module II of the first-year required course on Technology and Operations Management. Particularly useful in conjunction with Corning... -
The Biosphere Rules
Operations strategy Magazine ArticleNature employs production processes that are surprisingly efficient, environmentally sound—and widely imitable. -
Sitting Pretty: Managing Customer-Driven Innovation at Faurecia Car Seating
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details Faurecia is a world-class player in the automotive components sector, active in four main areas: automotive seating, vehicle interiors, exhaust systems... -
Netflix’s “American Factory” and the New Geography of Manufacturing
Operations and supply chain management Digital ArticleHow the industry is changing in the U.S., China, and Africa.