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- November 15, 2022
- Article
What Really Makes Toyota’s Production System Resilient
By: Willy C. Shih
Toyota has fared better than many of its competitors in riding out the supply chain disruptions of recent years. But focusing on how Toyota had stockpiled semiconductors and the problems of other manufacturers, some observers jumped to the conclusion that the era of...
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Keywords:
Supplier Relationships;
Manufacturing;
Supply Chain;
Production;
Auto Industry;
United States;
Japan
- August 2022
- Article
Contract Duration and the Costs of Market Transactions
By: Alexander MacKay
The optimal duration of a supply contract balances the costs of reselecting a supplier against the costs of being matched to an inefficient supplier when the contract lasts too long. I develop a structural model of contract duration that captures this tradeoff and...
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- June 2022
- Teaching Plan
Pacesetters
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Mel Martin
Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 322-019. City Sealcoating CEO Keith Chaney had just publicly called out the Boston Chamber of Commerce for their slow progress on their supplier diversity program, Pacesetters. Established in 2018 by regional business leaders,...
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- April 2022
- Teaching Note
Tempur Sealy International (A, B & C)
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher
Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 718-422, 718-423, and 718-424. The cases explore the long-term relationship between Tempur Sealy (TPX, a mattress manufacturer) and Mattress Firm (MFRM, a bedding retailer and TPX's largest customer). For almost 20 years, the firms...
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Keywords:
Porter's 5 Forces;
Bargaining Power;
Buyer Power;
Customer Power;
Supplier Power;
Negotiations;
Value Capture;
Private Equity;
Consumer Durables;
Consumer Discretionary;
Mattresses;
B-2-B;
Industry Dynamics;
Leadership;
Compensation;
Corporate Strategy;
Business Strategy;
Value Creation;
Competition;
Cooperation;
Distribution;
Negotiation;
Industry Structures;
Customers;
Relationships;
Distribution Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
Retail Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
United States;
South Africa
- April 6, 2022
- Article
In Uncertain Times, Big Companies Need to Take Care of Their Suppliers
By: Willy C. Shih
Many large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have long been ruthless with their suppliers, demanding extremely low prices and loading them up with risks. Given that the current turmoil buffeting global supply chains is unlikely to end anytime soon, OEMs should...
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- February 2022
- Supplement
SpartanNash Company: The Amazon Warrants (A)
By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher
As of 12/31/21, Amazon held $22 billion of equity and warrants in related companies. In fact, it often requests a free grant of warrants when it enters into a new commercial agreement with a supplier. Over the past 20 years, Amazon has gotten warrants almost 20...
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- January 2022
- Case
SpartanNash Company: The Amazon Warrants (A)
By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher
As of 12/31/21, Amazon held $22 billion of equity and warrants in related companies. In fact, it often requests a free grant of warrants when it enters into a new commercial agreement with a supplier. Over the past 20 years, Amazon has gotten warrants in almost 20...
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- December 2021
- Case
Whistleblowing at Veolia: A Technology Solution
By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese, Christian Godwin and James Weber
In 2019, Bruno Masson, the vice chairman of Veolia’s Ethics Committee, was preparing for a meeting on a rollout plan for a new whistleblowing system to more countries. Veolia, a global supplier of water, waste, and energy services, had recently gone through several...
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- November 2021 (Revised March 2022)
- Case
Pacesetters
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Mel Martin
City Sealcoating CEO Keith Chaney had just publicly called out the Boston Chamber of Commerce for their slow progress on their supplier diversity program, Pacesetters. Established in 2018 by regional business leaders, Pacesetters was supposed to facilitate...
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Keywords:
Racial Wealth Gap;
Procurement;
Suppliers;
Diversity;
Programs;
Small Business;
Restructuring;
Contracts;
United States;
Boston
- June 2021
- Case
Reversing Course on a Reverse E-Auction (A)
By: Kym Lew Nelson, James K. Sebenius and Alex Green
Global consumer products powerhouse LSP has found enormous savings in a trial run of a new competitive bidding tool for their procurement organization known as a reverse e-auction. But when Jen Baldwin is asked to achieve the same savings from her suppliers for a...
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- June 2021
- Supplement
Reversing Course on a Reverse E-Auction (B)
By: Kym Lew Nelson, James K. Sebenius and Alex Green
Global consumer products powerhouse LSP has found enormous savings in a trial run of a new competitive bidding tool for their procurement organization known as a reverse e-auction. But when Jen Baldwin is asked to achieve the same savings from her suppliers for a...
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- June 2021
- Supplement
Reversing Course on a Reverse E-Auction (C)
By: Kym Lew Nelson, James K. Sebenius and Alex Green
Global consumer products powerhouse LSP has found enormous savings in a trial run of a new competitive bidding tool for their procurement organization known as a reverse e-auction. But when Jen Baldwin is asked to achieve the same savings from her suppliers for a...
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- June 2021
- Supplement
Reversing Course on a Reverse E-Auction (D)
By: Kym Lew Nelson, James K. Sebenius and Alex Green
Global consumer products powerhouse LSP has found enormous savings in a trial run of a new competitive bidding tool for their procurement organization known as a reverse e-auction. But when Jen Baldwin is asked to achieve the same savings from her suppliers for a...
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- January 2021 (Revised May 2021)
- Case
Aptiv PLC Board of Directors (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz
Aptiv’s board must decide whether a joint venture with an auto maker is the right next step in the company’s efforts to develop and commercialize a production-ready autonomous driving system. While many commentators believed that Aptiv’s self-driving technologies had...
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Keywords:
Automotive Industry;
Bankruptcy Reorganization;
Board Of Directors;
Board Committees;
Board Decisions;
Board Dynamics;
Corporate Boards;
Innovation And Strategy;
Legal Aspects Of Business;
Spin Off;
Strategic Alliances;
Strategic Change;
Strategic Evolution;
Supplier Relationships;
Technological Change;
Corporate Governance;
Governing and Advisory Boards;
Innovation Strategy;
Going Public;
Joint Ventures;
Leadership;
Restructuring;
Technological Innovation;
Transformation;
Auto Industry;
Europe;
United States
- November–December 2020
- Article
Dancing with Giants: How Small Women-and Minority- Owned Firms Use Soft Power to Manage Asymmetric Relationships with Larger Partners
By: Kisha Lashley and Timothy G. Pollock
We explore how minority- and women-owned suppliers lacking hard power manage asymmetric relationships with larger, more powerful buyers in the context of supplier diversity relationships. We examine how these suppliers create and use soft power to manage the...
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- August 2020
- Article
Improving Working Conditions in Global Supply Chains: The Role of Institutional Environments and Monitoring Program Design
By: Jodi L. Short, Michael W. Toffel and Andrea R. Hugill
Activism seeking to improve labor conditions in global supply chains has led many transnational corporations to adopt codes of conduct and monitor suppliers for compliance. Drawing on thousands of audits conducted by a major social auditor, we identify structural...
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- 2020
- Working Paper
No Line Left Behind: Assortative Matching Inside the Firm
By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Vittorio Bassi, Anant Nyshadham and Jorge Tamayo
How do firms pair workers with managers, and which constraints affect the allocation of labor within the firm? We characterize the sorting pattern of managers to workers in a large readymade garment manufacturer in India and then explore potential drivers of the...
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- Article
How B2B Companies Can Win Back Customers They've Lost
By: Frank V. Cespedes and León Poblete
Most research and training in sales focus on acquiring new customers. But winning back previous customers is increasingly important: mergers, choice in supply chains, and uncertainty about trade wars mean that B2B customers are constantly re-evaluating relationships...
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- March 2019 (Revised June 2019)
- Case
Global Sourcing at Nike
By: Nien-hê Hsieh, Michael W. Toffel and Olivia Hull
This case explores the evolution of Nike’s global product sourcing strategy, in particular ongoing efforts to improve working conditions at its suppliers’ factories. When the case opens in July 2018, Vice President of Sourcing Amanda Tucker and her colleagues in Nike’s...
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Keywords:
Sourcing;
Factory Conditions;
Trade;
Geography;
Geographic Scope;
Globalized Firms and Management;
Corporate Accountability;
Corporate Governance;
Governance Compliance;
Collaborative Innovation and Invention;
Innovation Strategy;
Labor;
Human Capital;
Working Conditions;
Supply Chain Management;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Labor and Management Relations;
Complexity;
Sports Industry;
Fashion Industry;
Oregon;
Portland;
Asia;
North and Central America
- 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;
Consumer Products Industry