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- 17 Oct 2007
- Research & Ideas
Why Global Brands Work
Japanese automakers create single products and brands for worldwide consumption, while Ford customizes products for local markets. You know who won. Why do global brands work? What makes them work? Professor John Quelch provides some answers. Key concepts include: For decades, Ford has created specialized products for different countries while Toyota, Nissan, and Honda sold standard products under a single brand umbrella. Ford's strategy resulted in added manufacturing and supply chain costs, a balkanized bureaucracy, and deteriorating market share, financial performance, and stock price. There are 5 characteristics that all top global brands have in common. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 22 Nov 2006
- Research & Ideas
CEO Succession: The Case at Ford
When Ford Motor Company looked to replace Bill Ford as CEO, it turned not to another auto industry insider but instead to Boeing's Alan Mulally. We talk with Harvard Business School professor Joseph L. Bower to better understand Ford's move and the larger issues of CEO succession. Key concepts include: New CEOs are often plucked from outside the company—about a third of the time for S&P 500 companies. Industry knowledge isn't a specific determinant of a new CEO's success, but knowledge of the business is crucial—see Lou Gerstner at IBM. Companies need to plan CEO succession ten years in advance—not react to an immediate situation. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 05 Sep 2006
- Research & Ideas
HBS Cases: Porsche’s Risky Roll on an SUV
Why would a company want to locate in a high-cost, high-wage economy like Germany? Porsche's unusual answer has framed two case studies by HBS professor Jeffrey Fear and colleague Carin-Isabel Knoop. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Apr 2006
- Research & Ideas
American Auto’s Troubled Road
Harvard Business School faculty dissect where U.S. auto makers went wrong, and how they might again get on the road to growth. From HBS Alumni Bulletin. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 26 Nov 2001
- Research & Ideas
How Toyota Turns Workers Into Problem Solvers
Toyota's reputation for sustaining high product quality is legendary. But the company's methods are not secret. So why can't other carmakers match Toyota's track record? HBS professor Steven Spear says it's all about problem solving. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 23 Jul 2001
- Research & Ideas
How One Center of Innovation Lost its Spark
It's no secret that innovation is what has always made places like Silicon Valley and Hollywood so special. Creativity and expertise centered in one location, it seems, spurs yet more innovation at ever increasing speeds. But what happens when the well runs dry? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 12 Oct 1999
- Research & Ideas
Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System
How can one production operation be both rigidly scripted and enormously flexible? In this summary of an article from the Harvard Business Review, HBS Professors H. Kent Bowen and Steven Spear disclose the secret to Toyota's production success. The company's operations can be seen as a continuous series of controlled experiments: whenever Toyota defines a specification, it is establishing a hypothesis that is then tested through action. The workers, who have internalized this scientific-method approach, are stimulated to respond to problems as they appear; using data from the strictly defined experiment, they are able to adapt fluidly to changing circumstances. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
Finding Success in the Middle of the Market
Let's face it—the middle market isn't sexy. Sears isn't Victoria's Secret. But it can be very profitable to know how to play "midfield" adroitly, says professor and soccer enthusiast John Quelch. Key concepts include: Midfield represents the middle of the market, to which one end of the market aspires to trade up while the other end may have to trade down. A company controls midfield by fielding a complete product line that includes backs and forwards. Cost and service tradeoffs are required of companies that continue to dominate the middle ground. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.