Supply chain management

Companies realize the importance of providing spare parts and after-sales services, but most could make far more money in the aftermarket than they do. Here’s how.

Now 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.

The company realized that controlling its future meant controlling its supply chain.

A manager gets inside information that could affect the future of her firm.

For the many organizations that depend on their rank and file to move the goods and delight the customers, motivation is an ongoing battle. The key to victory may be held by the Marines, who use five unique practices to spark extraordinary energy and commitment. Businesses can, too.

Since Blockbuster began sharing rental revenues with its suppliers, both parties have seen increased profits. The authors say revenue sharing will work...

Artwork: Michael Johansson, Self Contained, 2010, containers, caravan, tractor, Volvo, pallets, refrigerators, etc., 8.2 x 10.8 x 2.4 m Hong Kong–based Esquel, one of the world’s leading producers of premium cotton shirts, faced a quandary in the early 2000s. Apparel and retail customers such as Nike and Marks & Spencer had begun asking the company […]

Companies need to do more than simply invest in building effective supply chains - they need to place an equal priority on maintaining them.

The most popular offshore sites for service functions are overheating. Now is the time for companies to explore a world of opportunity beyond those hot spots and to base investment decisions not just on costs but also on talent, markets, strategic aims, and appetite for risk.

Today, most multinationals have a conspicuous social conscience. They publicize their internal codes of conduct, monitor labor conditions in their global supply chains, and require suppliers to meet basic labor practice standards. But despite efforts to be better global citizens, companies by themselves are unable to eliminate abuses in their supply chains. In fact, so […]

Early in 1984, the top executives of an East Coast hardware chain made a momentous decision. Without consulting the company’s suppliers, they decided to phase out its fleet of trucks and its network of warehouses. Maintaining this distribution system was costing the company about 5% of annual sales, and the executives believed the company was […]

Corporate leaders seeking to boost growth, learning, and innovation may find the answer in a surprising place: the Linux open-source software community....

To make progress on environmental issues, Peter Senge says, organizations must understand that they’re part of a larger system. Senge, the founder of the Society for Organizational Learning, a faculty member at MIT Sloan School of Management, and the author of The Fifth Discipline and The Necessary Revolution, spoke with HBR senior editor Steven Prokesch […]

Identifying the decision makers and their purchasing motives often requires a psychologist’s eye.

Extreme weather and rising demand for resources call for a fundamentally new strategy.

By designing and deploying enterprise systems in a different way, Japan’s Shinsei Bank turned IT from a constraint into a launchpad for growth.

When the biotech pioneer had to get a blockbuster drug to market fast, it didn’t lock itself into a rigid supply chain. It joined with partners to become a virtual manufacturer.

6 strategies that work.

When service companies put employees and customers first, a radical shift occurs in the way they manage and measure success.

How nonstrategic suppliers can help customers solve important problems

In April 2020, the world struggled to contain the exponential escalation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Dozens of countries had imposed restrictions...

In 2018, Pepsico is considering adding a new supplier of CO2 to its manufacturing process in Eastern European plants. The new supplier offers a very competitive...

Supplement to case UV7749 The B case in this series picks up after the protagonist, Henry Franklin, has delivered his recommendation to use "first in,...

Bruynzeel Keukens, the Dutch kitchen industry leader faced a dilemma, it had audacious objectives in terms of maintaining leadership and increasing market...

In 2014 The Alta Gracia clothing factory in the Dominican Republic was doing something quite unusual in the industry; it was paying its employees a living...

We evaluate the impact of a supply chain pilot implemented at Hugo Boss. This pilot entailed altering the way in which Hugo Boss orders from its suppliers....

Soon after Robin Kovitz (MBA 2007) acquired Baskits Inc., the largest gift basket company in Canada, she became convinced that the business needed to...

Supplement to case IN1598 This case puts participants in the shoes of the directors of Barry Callebaut (BC), a cocoa-sourcing and chocolate manufacturing...

Blockchain is transforming business. What's your strategy? Leaders of forward-thinking organizations are exploring how blockchain can transform the way...

Sky Germany is the leading pay TV provider in Germany and Austria. In 2010, the company was losing money and facing a lot of operational challenges such...

This case focuses on the actions of Beijing Baman Technology Co., Ltd. ("Baman") to improve supply chain performance to support its innovative "boundaryless...

Rapidly growing Vipp sells highly differentiated (and expensive) "designer" versions of a product that most buyers think about in purely functional terms:...

In this case, the CEO of A.P. Moller - Maersk, one of the world's largest container shipping companies, considers whether competition or collaboration...

Go shopping in the "dollar channel" with this case, which explores the decision of a fast-growing company to expand its distribution network. The case...

In October 2011, Zhang Yuping, founder and chairman of Hengdeli, the largest Swiss watch retailer in the world, wondered how to work more closely with...

In 2021, General Motors (GM) announced an ambitious goal to sell only zero-emission cars and light trucks by 2035. This declaration was part of a broader...

Loyalty Management UK (LMUK) manages British supermarket chain Sainsbury's frequent-shopper card program, called Nectar. LMUK uses Sainsbury's sponsorship...

Syncra Systems makes Internet-based software that allows supply chain partners to compare disparate forecasts and production plans, to uncover any discrepancies...

In May 2019 Memphis-based pharmacist and social entrepreneur Phil Baker hopes coding will start soon on blockchain software and related applications that...

Companies realize the importance of providing spare parts and after-sales services, but most could make far more money in the aftermarket than they do. Here’s how.

In April 2020, the world struggled to contain the exponential escalation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Dozens of countries had imposed restrictions...

Now 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.

In 2018, Pepsico is considering adding a new supplier of CO2 to its manufacturing process in Eastern European plants. The new supplier offers a very competitive...

Supplement to case UV7749 The B case in this series picks up after the protagonist, Henry Franklin, has delivered his recommendation to use "first in,...

The company realized that controlling its future meant controlling its supply chain.

Bruynzeel Keukens, the Dutch kitchen industry leader faced a dilemma, it had audacious objectives in terms of maintaining leadership and increasing market...

In 2014 The Alta Gracia clothing factory in the Dominican Republic was doing something quite unusual in the industry; it was paying its employees a living...

We evaluate the impact of a supply chain pilot implemented at Hugo Boss. This pilot entailed altering the way in which Hugo Boss orders from its suppliers....

Soon after Robin Kovitz (MBA 2007) acquired Baskits Inc., the largest gift basket company in Canada, she became convinced that the business needed to...