Fabrication and manufacturing

The “bounded awareness” phenomenon causes people to ignore critical information when making decisions. Learning to expand the limits of your awareness before you make an important choice will save you from asking “How did I miss that?” after the fact.

When Ben Franklin wrote Poor Richard’s Almanac and the words, “A little neglect may breed great mischief,” he did not have price fixing in mind. To the 47 executives in companies in the folding-box industry convicted of price fixing, however, the words seem tailored to fit. In those companies convicted under antitrust laws in 1976, […]

Femtosecond lasers emit pulses of light that last just a millionth of a billionth of a second. These lasers enable surgery so precise that a single mitochondrion can be removed without harming the rest of the cell, and machining so controlled that structures can be micromachined within a piece of glass. Eric Mazur, a professor […]

Strategic dreams often turn into nightmares if companies start engaging in expensive and distracting restructurings. It’s far more effective to choose a design that works reasonably well, then develop a strategic system to tune the structure to the strategy.

Toyota demonstrates how more-efficient supplier relationships can speed production and boost innovation.

At this large GM plant the union and management jointly seek to change the meaning of work itself

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 […]

Bob Carlton, CEO of an auto parts manufacturer, wouldn’t be caught dead in a strip club. But if that’s what it takes to make a sale…

Tracking things like customer satisfaction and employee turnover can powerfully supplement traditional bookkeeping. Unfortunately, most companies botch the job.

It takes more than good intentions to innovate in a customer-centric way. A disciplined process of customer R&D at the front lines will turn wishes into an enduring competitive edge—and a growing market cap.

Over the past century, breakthroughs such as brand management and the divisionalized organization structure have created more sustained competitive advantage than anything that came out of a lab or focus group. Here’s how you can make your company a serial management innovator.

As industries and technologies evolve, value can migrate up or down the value chain. But the players have a big say in how—and even whether—that happens.

A chief executive reflects on what makes employees passionate and the business lessons he learned in a close call on a glacier.

Traditional go-to-market strategies don’t work because they assume customers will stay in the channels that were designed for them. Time for a fresh look at how shoppers really behave.

Fifty percent of Americans play video games, spending approximately seven hours a week glued to some type of screen, according to the Electronic Software Association. While that level of play gets blamed for everything from violence to obesity to illiteracy, gamers can bring some desirable qualities to the workforce if companies know how to exploit […]

A first look at the economic data.

Volkswagen AG is arguably the most daring company in Europe today. Since becoming chairman of the board of management in 1982, Carl H. Hahn has spearheaded a breathtaking program of expansion, acquiring the Spanish carmaker Seat in 1986 and Czechoslovakia’s Skoda in 1990. Today Volkswagen is building or refitting new plants from East Germany to […]

Everyone agrees that managing change is tough, but few can agree on how to do it. Most experts are obsessed with "soft" issues, such as culture and motivation,...

In Mexico, business, family, and politics are often intermingled.

Companies will need to rethink their supply chains.