For decades, U.S. companies have been outsourcing manufacturing in the belief that it held no competitive advantage. That's been a disaster, maintain Harvard professors Pisano and Shih, because today's low-value manufacturing operations hold the seeds of tomorrow's innovative new products. What those companies have been ceding is the country's industrial commons—that is, the collective operational capabilities that underpin new product and process development in the U.S. industrial sector. As a result, America has lost not only the ability to develop and manufacture high-tech products like televisions, memory chips, and laptops but also the expertise to produce emerging hot products like the Kindle e-reader, high-end servers, solar panels, and the batteries that will power the next generation of automobiles. To rebuild the commons and restore its wealth-generating machine will require government and industry in the U.S. to make two drastic changes: First, the government must change the way it supports basic and applied scientific research to promote the broad collaboration with business and academia needed to tackle society's big problems. Second, corporate management practices and governance structures must be overhauled so they no longer exaggerate the payoffs and discount the dangers of outsourcing production and cutting investments in R&D. Restoring the ability of enterprises to develop and manufacture high-tech products in America is the only way the country can hope to pay down its enormous deficits and raise its citizens' standard of living.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Company's acquisition of Volvo cars was widely viewed with skepticism because of the poor track record of cross-border auto industry acquisitons. This case looks at the acquisition and post-acquisition integration from the point of view of Chinese managers at Geely. A companion case, 613-042 Volvo Cars: Acquisition by Geely looks at the acquisition from the point of view of Swedish managers at Volvo.
Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Willy C. Shih, and Nancy Dai. "Zhejiang Geely Holding Group: Acquisition of Volvo Cars." Harvard Business School Case 619-041, February 2019.
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Mitch Lowe, the CEO of MoviePass, was having trouble convincing people of the viability of the company's business model. The company was building a multi-sided platform, and was planning to extract value from increasing traffic to movie theaters through a number of mechanisms. It also appeared to be making assumptions around its flat-rate pricing model. By making some assumptions, this case affords an opportunity for students to practice with discovery-driven planning.
Zheijiang Geely Holing Company's acquisition of Volvo Cars was widely viewed with skepticism because of the poor track record of cross-border auto industry acquisitions. This case looks at the acquisition and post-acquisition integration from the point of view of Swedish managers at Volvo. A companion case, 613-041 Zheijiang Geely Holding Group: Acquisition of Volvo Cars looks at the acquisition from the point of view of Chinese managers at Geely.
Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, Willy Shih, and Nancy Dai. "Volvo Cars: Acquisition by Geely." Harvard Business School Case 619-042, February 2019.
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