Remove Apparel Remove Management Remove Operations
article thumbnail

Can Lean Manufacturing Put an End to Sweatshops?

Harvard Business

Traditional mass manufacturing is based on principles of “Scientific Management” that date back to the 19th century. Workers specialize in simple, highly routinized operations. They are incentivized to complete operations as quickly as possible. Managers hold virtually all decision-making authority.

Apparel 119
article thumbnail

How Chinese Companies Disrupt Through Business Model Innovation

Harvard Business

The American textile and apparel industries, for example, will tell you that the evidence can be found in the blood on the floor — their blood, on what used to be their floor. Experts continue to debate whether Chinese businesses are truly disruptive. For some industries in the West, this question appears a bit ridiculous.

Company 125
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

How to Excel at Both Strategy and Execution

Harvard Business

For decades, we’ve often thought of leadership profiles in unique buckets—two popular varieties were the “visionaries”, who embrace strategy and think about amazing things to do, and the “operators”, who get stuff done. It just does not work.” receive stock options and health insurance.

Strategy 141
article thumbnail

Innovation Should Be a Top Priority for Boards. So Why Isn’t It?

Harvard Business

In contrast, 70% of respondents think their boards have effective processes for staying current on the company; 69% for compliance; 66% for financial planning; and 55% for risk management — although we should note that managing risks is a crucial consideration when pursuing innovation.

article thumbnail

Is Your Company Actually Set Up to Support Your Strategy?

Harvard Business

For every company wrestling with evolutions in its strategy, success depends as much on matching the operating model to those evolutions as it does on the soundness of the strategy itself. But exactly how do today’s companies create or update an operating model to match adaptations or wholesale changes in strategy?

article thumbnail

Why Top Management Should Listen to Activist Investors

Harvard Business

Now, you will have to translate your strategic thinking into a value creation plan that your management team and board will embrace. Starbucks applies its capabilities in talent management and distinctive retailing to everything it does.

article thumbnail

Organizational Fitness for Growth: Five Insights for CEOs

Kates Kesler

We recently completed a study for the CEO of a very well known, global sports-apparel brand company. Our sports-apparel CEO had the right idea in challenging his team to think about the organization and ask: are we fit for growth, given our strategies going forward? Learning from Big Companies.

Apparel 82