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Link Manufacturing Process and Product Life Cycles
Operations and supply chain management Magazine ArticleThe regularity of the growth cycles of living organisms has always fascinated thoughtful he observers regularity and of has the invited growth a cycles variety of living attempts to apply the same principles—of a predictable sequence of rapid growth followed by maturation, decline, and death—to companies and selected industries. One such concept, known as the […] -
The Feudal World of Japanese Manufacturing
Competitive strategy Magazine ArticleYears ago, while visiting friends in the United States, I happened to see the classic children’s film The Wizard of Oz. Near the end, Dorothy at last appears before the all-powerful wizard—a terrifying image of smoke and light. Only when her dog, Toto, tugs at a curtain over to one side does she see a […] -
Time to Reform Job Shop Manufacturing
Operations and supply chain management Magazine ArticleAmerican industry is beginning to put its manufacturing house in order. Companies building high-volume standardized products like copiers, appliances, and automobiles are learning from their foreign rivals and emulating their commitment to ongoing product and process innovation. But one important segment of U.S. industry—job shop manufacturers—continues to postpone needed reforms. Many of these companies have […] -
Crate & Barrel Holdings CEO Janet Hayes on Navigating Turbulent Times for Retail
Global Business Digital ArticleConsumers' tastes are changing fast, but one things remains: they value quality, value, and inspiration in their products. -
Yesterday's Accounting Undermines Production
Finance & Accounting Magazine ArticleOutdated cost accounting and management control systems are an obstacle to the lasting success of new manufacturing technologies and procedures. They... -
How a German Manufacturing Company Set Up Its Analytics Lab
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleThree things to get right. -
The Biggest Challenges of Data-Driven Manufacturing
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleAnd how to overcome them. -
Bringing Manufacturing Back to the U.S. Is Easier Said Than Done
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleWhat will it take to reverse a decades-long shift to global supply chains? -
Will Apple Spark a U.S. Manufacturing Renaissance?
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleSometimes, PR moves end up having bigger-than-anticipated effects. Just look at auto manufacturing in the South. -
Community Financing Breathes Life into a New U.S. Manufacturing Firm
Competitive strategy Digital ArticleEven in this contentious election year, all sides agree on one issue: The loss of American manufacturing jobs over the past decade has been a disaster for the U.S. economy. It would be unrealistic to imagine a return to low-value-add, low-skill, low-wage production in the commodity industries that employed millions of Americans a century ago. […] -
It’s Time to Bring Manufacturing Back to the U.S.
Competitive strategy Digital ArticleA growing number of executives of U.S.-based companies are repatriating their manufacturing capabilities — moving some production operations back from overseas. One such company is Ford, which announced last year that it will move jobs from China and Mexico back to the U.S. Another example is Caterpillar, which is investing $120 million in a new […] -
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. -
Frugal Manufacturing
Operations and supply chain management Magazine ArticleThe business press does not rush to do stories on tool pegboards. An editor hears that Westinghouse’s Asheville, North Carolina plant has shortened machine setup times, eliminated many computer transactions, and cut inventories and indirect labor costs by two-thirds—all in only a couple of years—and you can bet the reporter sent to cover the story […] -
Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System
Human resource management Magazine ArticleThe Toyota story has been intensively researched and painstakingly documented, yet what really happens inside the company remains a mystery. Here’s new insight into the unspoken rules that give Toyota its competitive edge. -
Can Marketing and Manufacturing Coexist?
Marketing Magazine ArticleMarketing personnel in companies that manufacture industrial goods often complain about the activities and attitudes of their manufacturing counterparts with laments such as: “Why can’t they become market-oriented or customer-oriented?” “Why are they so provincial?” The manufacturing people, on the other hand, lament like this: “The marketing people have no understanding of costs, profits, plants, […] -
Simple Truths of Japanese Manufacturing
Human resource management Magazine ArticleIn the past few years many observers have offered explanations for the enormous success of Japanese manufacturers. Some analysts trace Japan’s impressive industrial performance to unique cultural and historical factors, while others point to farseeing and shrewd public policies to promote international competitiveness. The author of this article compares the management practices of five Japanese […] -
Production-Line Approach to Service
Customer experience Magazine ArticleThe service sector of the economy is growing in size but shrinking in quality. So say a lot of people. Purveyors of service, for their part, think that they and their problems are fundamentally different from other businesses and their problems. They feel that service is people-intensive, while the rest of the economy is capital-intensive. […] -
Hidden Factory
Technology & Operations Magazine ArticleTo reduce high manufacturing overhead, companies should look beyond their direct labor and materials costs to the costs of transactions. These transactions... -
It's Manufacturing's Turn for Special Treatment
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleFollowing up on his pledge to provide greater support for manufacturing in his State of the Union address, President Obama has announced a proposal to... -
Washington Must Help the U.S. Regain the Lead in Manufacturing
Competitive strategy Digital ArticleThe federal government can and should play a much bigger role in helping American companies regain the lead in manufacturing. We need to invest a commensurate amount of federal R&D dollars in advanced manufacturing technologies as we do in other areas of science, technology, and engineering. The last administration created an assistant secretary for manufacturing […]
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Overview of Service Design in the Performing Arts
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details This technical note intends to provide an overview of the existing studies on service design in the performing arts, which are mainly focused on the world... -
Boeing 767: From Concept to Production (A)
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details Describes the evolution of the Boeing 767 from the conception of the project to the start of manufacturing. Shows how the company manages an enormously... -
MRC, Inc. (B)
Finance & Accounting Case Study5.00View Details MRC, Inc. faces a decision regarding entry into the production of polyester fiber in competition with much larger firms. An updated version of an earlier... -
Challenges of the 21st Century: Natural Disasters
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details Natural disasters are global phenomena, with huge economic, social and personal impacts, and tangled with other 'big picture' issues. They often cause... -
Mercury Athletic: Valuing the Opportunity, Spanish Version
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details In January 2007, West Coast Fashions, Inc., a large designer and marketer of branded apparel, announced a strategic reorganization that would result in... -
CIBA Vision: The Daily Disposable Lens Project (A)
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details Examines CIBA Vision's decision on whether to launch a major new R&D initiative to develop a low-cost, daily disposable contact lens, and how to organize... -
MW Petroleum Corp. (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Amoco Corp. is negotiating to sell a wholly-owned subsidiary, MW Petroleum, to Apache Corp. MW owns large reserves of oil and gas comprising many properties... -
Changing Face of the Indian Television Industry: 2006
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95View Details Television in India has been around for just over four decades. For the first 17 years, transmission was restricted to black and white, and sales figures... -
ELITE: AFFINITY FINANCING AND SMART LEASES
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details The case documents the original mattress leasing program initiated by François Pugliese, the owner of premium mattress firm Elite in Etoy (Switzerland).... -
John Deere Component Works (A), Spanish Version
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details The division has recognized the inadequacies of its existing, traditional cost system for estimating product costs. Describes the innovative activity-based... -
Boeing 767: From Concept to Production (B)
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details Updates the (A) case to the present day. The issue facing students is whether Boeing's approach to managing new airplane programs must be modified to... -
Digital Equipment Corp.: The Endpoint Model (B2)
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details Should follow Digital Equipment Corp.: The Endpoint Model (B1). A new plant manager has been hired; the case describes her experience, management philosophy,... -
Akron Crane Works: The Insourcing Proposal
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details In 2017, Peter Tang must prepare the economic analysis of a proposal to insource production of certain parts currently purchased by the Tower and Lattice... -
Shanghai Interior Automotive Door System: Running a Manufacturing Operation in China
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95View Details Shanghai Inteva Automotive Door System Co. Ltd (formerly Shanghai Delphi) was a leading player in China's automotive component industry with a 30%market... -
Aggregate Production Management
Communication Case Study8.95View Details This note defines the aggregate production planning problem and outlines the elements that are analyzed when evaluating alternative plans. An example... -
Samuel Slater, Francis Cabot Lowell, and the Beginnings of the Factory System in the United States
Global Business Case Study8.95View Details Deals with the coming of the mechanized textile industry to the United States, and with it, the nation's first factories. Considers the introduction of... -
The Absheron Project: BP's Production Sharing Agreement in Azerbaijan
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details This case is used in a Darden second-year elective in corporate finance, "Corporate Financial Policies." It asks students to analyze the cash flows estimated... -
Belle, Inc.
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95View Details Charlie Reese, an operations manager for a fragrance manufacturer, is given a directive to reduce costs in order to free up working capital for other... -
Globalization of CEMEX
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95View Details CEMEX is a Mexican company that has become a major international competitor in cement while maintaining a higher level of profitability than other, longer-established... -
Toronto-Dominion Bank: Customer Service Index (A)
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95View Details Members of TD's Personal Financial Services Division's marketing research team, were preparing their presentation to a group of the bank's senior vice-presidents....
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Overview of Service Design in the Performing Arts
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details This technical note intends to provide an overview of the existing studies on service design in the performing arts, which are mainly focused on the world... -
Link Manufacturing Process and Product Life Cycles
Operations and supply chain management Magazine ArticleThe regularity of the growth cycles of living organisms has always fascinated thoughtful he observers regularity and of has the invited growth a cycles variety of living attempts to apply the same principles—of a predictable sequence of rapid growth followed by maturation, decline, and death—to companies and selected industries. One such concept, known as the […] -
Boeing 767: From Concept to Production (A)
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details Describes the evolution of the Boeing 767 from the conception of the project to the start of manufacturing. Shows how the company manages an enormously... -
The Feudal World of Japanese Manufacturing
Competitive strategy Magazine ArticleYears ago, while visiting friends in the United States, I happened to see the classic children’s film The Wizard of Oz. Near the end, Dorothy at last appears before the all-powerful wizard—a terrifying image of smoke and light. Only when her dog, Toto, tugs at a curtain over to one side does she see a […] -
MRC, Inc. (B)
Finance & Accounting Case Study5.00View Details MRC, Inc. faces a decision regarding entry into the production of polyester fiber in competition with much larger firms. An updated version of an earlier... -
Time to Reform Job Shop Manufacturing
Operations and supply chain management Magazine ArticleAmerican industry is beginning to put its manufacturing house in order. Companies building high-volume standardized products like copiers, appliances, and automobiles are learning from their foreign rivals and emulating their commitment to ongoing product and process innovation. But one important segment of U.S. industry—job shop manufacturers—continues to postpone needed reforms. Many of these companies have […] -
Challenges of the 21st Century: Natural Disasters
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details Natural disasters are global phenomena, with huge economic, social and personal impacts, and tangled with other 'big picture' issues. They often cause... -
Mercury Athletic: Valuing the Opportunity, Spanish Version
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details In January 2007, West Coast Fashions, Inc., a large designer and marketer of branded apparel, announced a strategic reorganization that would result in... -
CIBA Vision: The Daily Disposable Lens Project (A)
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details Examines CIBA Vision's decision on whether to launch a major new R&D initiative to develop a low-cost, daily disposable contact lens, and how to organize... -
MW Petroleum Corp. (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Amoco Corp. is negotiating to sell a wholly-owned subsidiary, MW Petroleum, to Apache Corp. MW owns large reserves of oil and gas comprising many properties...