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- February 2023
- Supplement
Coats Dyehouse Management
By: Willy C. Shih
Coats, the largest thread maker in the world, transformed its business to digital colour measurement so that it could respond better to customer demand in the garment industry for rapid product cycles and more fragmented colour choices. Its embrace of digital colour...
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- February 2023
- Case
Doing Business in Nairobi, Kenya
By: Archie Jones, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Kuria Kamau
This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Nairobi, Kenya. It highlights Kenya's economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2023 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main...
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Keywords:
Business History;
Business and Government Relations;
Technological Innovation;
Foreign Direct Investment;
Economic Growth;
Financial Crisis;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Kenya;
Nairobi;
Africa
- October 2021
- Case
Esquel Group: Turning Crises into Transformation
By: William C. Kirby, Adina Wong, Noah B. Truwit and John McHugh
Focuses on a Hong Kong-based, globally-established textile and apparel manufacturer and its experience in navigating turbulent geopolitical environments. Identifies ways the company has pursued business priorities while upholding its sustainability values.
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- August 2021
- Supplement
Coats: Supply Chain Challenges
By: Willy C. Shih
Coats, the largest thread maker in the world, transformed its business to digital colour measurement so that it could respond better to customer demand in the garment industry for rapid product cycles and more fragmented colour choices. Its embrace of digital colour...
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- August 2021
- Teaching Note
Coats: Supply Chain Challenges
By: Willy C. Shih
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 621-115.
Faced with continuing cost pressure, should Coats, the world's largest thread maker, relocate some of its make-to-stock manufacturing to an ultra-low-cost region while leaving make-to-order demand close to customers?
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- August 2021
- Supplement
Coats: Supply Chain Challenges: Spreadsheet Supplement
By: Willy C. Shih
Coats, the largest thread maker in the world, transformed its business to digital colour measurement so that it could respond better to customer demand in the garment industry for rapid product cycles and more fragmented colour choices. Its embrace of digital colour...
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- May 2021 (Revised July 2021)
- Case
Coats: Supply Chain Challenges
By: Willy C. Shih and Adina Wong
Coats, the largest thread maker in the world, transformed its business to digital colour measurement so that it could respond better to customer demand in the garment industry for rapid product cycles and more fragmented colour choices. Its embrace of digital colour...
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- 2023
- Working Paper
Coupling and Coupling Compromises: Supplier Factories’ Responses to Worker Activism
By: Yanhua Bird, Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel
Activist pressure has prompted many companies to adopt formal corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies, but little is known about the influence of ongoing activism on companies’ implementation of these policies and the implications for other less-contested CSR...
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- February 2021
- Case
Threadless: The Renewal of an Online Community
By: Shane Greenstein, Karim Lakhani and Christian Godwin
Threadless, an online apparel company and artist community which Jake Nickell founded in 2000, continued to maintain its status as a top company in the online apparel industry during its second decade. From 2010 to 2020, Threadless continued to operate its...
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Keywords:
Business Model;
Decision Making;
Entrepreneurship;
Innovation and Invention;
Leading Change;
Management;
Marketing;
Product Launch;
Operations;
Supply Chain;
Distribution;
Networks;
Sales;
Strategy;
Adaptation;
Information Technology;
Applications and Software;
Digital Platforms;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
North America
- November 2019
- Case
Celebrity Fashions Limited (A)
By: V.G. Narayanan, Tanvi Deshpande and Shreya Ramachandran
In May 2017 in Chennai, India, the chairman of Celebrity Fashions doubted whether the company could last until the end of the year. Venkatesh Rajagopal had found that the company, a readymade garment manufacturing and exporter he founded in 1989, was having a hard time...
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- November 2019
- Supplement
Celebrity Fashions: Moving Ahead (B)
By: V.G. Narayanan, Tanvi Deshpande and Shreya Ramachandran
Supplements the (A) Case.
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- January 2019 (Revised July 2019)
- Case
New Balance: Managing Orders and Working Conditions
By: Michael W. Toffel, Eileen McNeely and Matthew Preble
New Balance Athletics, Inc., a major U.S.-based athletic footwear and apparel brand, sources most of its footwear products from independent suppliers whose factories are located in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Monica Gorman, vice president of responsible leadership...
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Keywords:
Footwear;
Athletic Footwear;
Manufacturing;
CSR;
Sustainability;
Quality Management;
Supply Chains;
Operations;
Management;
Production;
Working Conditions;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Labor and Management Relations;
Supply Chain Management;
Supply Chain;
Order Taking and Fulfillment;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry
- January–February 2019
- Article
Case Study: When Two Leaders on the Senior Team Hate Each Other
By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly Baden
In this fictional case, the CEO of a sports apparel manufacturer is faced with an ongoing conflict between two of his top executives. Specifically, the head of sales and the CFO are at each other’s throats and the tension is having a ripple effect on their teams and...
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- February 2018
- Case
Montes Calcados: A Step Ahead
By: James L. Heskett and James T. Kindley
Montes Calçados (MC) is a well-known "fast-fashion" Brazilian manufacturer of casual, but fashionable, shoes for women aged 18–35 in major cities worldwide. To boost its declining revenues, MC must evaluate two growth options: whether to expand distribution online (at...
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- December 2017
- Supplement
Data-Driven Manufacturing: The Kutesmart System
By: Willy C. Shih
This supplementary video shows the Kutesmart System at Redcollar Group. It is an example of a mass customization system that is data-driven, but is predominantly based on manual operations. It is offered as a contrast to highly automated data-driven manufacturing.
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- August 2017
- Case
Data-driven Manufacturing: The Kutesmart System
By: Willy Shih and Nancy Hua Dai
The data-driven manufacturing system at this Chinese bespoke mens' suit manufacturer illustrates the use of information technology to support mass customization in a largely manual production environment. It contrasts sharply with some of the Industrie 4.0...
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- November 2016 (Revised December 2017)
- Case
Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear: Bringing the Executive Team Together
By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly Baden
Cameron (Cam) Barker, founder and CEO of Blake Sports Apparel and Switch Activewear, manufacturers and distributers of sports apparel and accessories, was facing a challenge with his executive team. Their inability to work together on seemingly simple issues was a...
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- October 2016 (Revised April 2018)
- Case
ASICS: Chasing a 2020 Vision
By: Elie Ofek, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno
In early 2016, Motoi Oyama, president and CEO of ASICS, a major sports apparel and footwear manufacturer based in Japan, lays out his company’s growth plan for the upcoming 5 years. The new plan set ambitious goals in terms of revenue and profit increases. At the heart...
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Keywords:
Brand Management;
Sports Apparel;
Competitive Positioning;
Direct To Consumer Marketing;
Retail Formats;
Lifestyle Brands;
Information Technology;
Competition;
Brands and Branding;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Digital Platforms;
Product Positioning;
Marketing Channels;
Sports;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry
- July–August 2016
- Article
Beyond the Holacracy Hype: The Overwrought Claims—and Actual Promise—of the Next Generation of Self-Managed Teams
By: Ethan Bernstein, John Bunch, Niko Canner and Michael Lee
Holacracy and other forms of self-organization have been getting a lot of press. Proponents hail them as "flat" environments that foster flexibility, engagement, productivity, and efficiency. Critics say they're naive, unrealistic experiments. We argue, using evidence...
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Keywords:
Self-Managed Organizations;
Self-Managed Teams;
Reliability;
Adaptability;
Holacracy;
Organization Design;
Organization Structure;
Organizational Charts;
Organizational Architecture;
Organizational Forms;
Organizational Design;
Organizational Structure;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Performance Effectiveness;
Performance Productivity;
Management Practices and Processes;
Management Systems;
Managerial Roles;
Human Resources;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
North America
- February 2016 (Revised August 2016)
- Case
Chilli Beans: Peace, Love, and Sunglasses
By: José B. Alvarez, Robert Mackalski and Andrew Otazo
This case illustrates how Chilli Beans became the most popular sunglasses retailer in Brazil and the issues it faced when expanding into the United States.
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Keywords:
Sunglasses;
Brazil;
Sao Paulo;
Chilli Beans;
Watches;
Fast Fashion;
Supply Chain;
Retail;
Franchise;
International Expansion;
Culture;
Middle Class;
Fashion;
Corporate Entrepreneurship;
Global Strategy;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Customer Value and Value Chain;
Design;
Economic Growth;
Economic Slowdown and Stagnation;
Goods and Commodities;
Leadership;
Marketing;
Operations;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Brazil;
China