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Innovating the Toyota, and YouTube, Way

Harvard Business Review

As global innovators, however, they share a remarkable core value and best practice: they invest in the innovative capabilities of their suppliers. The more deeply Jim's essays discussed the nature of supplier relationships, work-flow and value creation in lean enterprise, the keener the connection with YouTube's Space.

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Strategy’s No Good Unless You End Up Somewhere New

Harvard Business Review

Innovation isn’t always strategic, but strategy making sure as heck better be innovative. It is important, however, to understand the nuances and complexities of innovation as they relate to strategy. Not all innovation is created equal. Execution is essential to successful innovation and strategy.

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India’s Secret to Low-Cost Health Care

Harvard Business Review

costs by using practices commonly associated with mass production and lean production. When it comes to innovations in health care delivery, these Indian hospitals have surpassed the efforts of other top institutions around the world. This innovation has also reduced costs. Innovation has flourished in the U.S.

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Why Can’t U.S. Health Care Costs Be Cut in Half?

Harvard Business Review

Enter Henry Ford, who revolutionized the industry with his manufacturing innovations , lowering the price of cars from $2,000 in 1908 to just $260 by 1925 — an 87% reduction! He didn’t do it by making cars shoddier or offshoring production to low-wage countries. But the most innovative Indian hospitals are doing much more.

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Does Your Leadership Flunk the Testing Test?

Harvard Business Review

Supposedly set to launch this July — and then September — New York City announced that its innovative bike sharing program would be delayed until at least next spring. But the importance and pace of innovation rollouts demand a different design sensibility. Until it works, we're not going to put it in. Jaws dropped.

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B-Schools Aren’t Bothering to Produce HR Experts

Harvard Business Review

In the 1980s, our organizations learned a great deal about how to improve productivity, quality, and costs from Japanese practices. And in the 1990s, our companies began to learn more from innovations at home, particularly in the area of high-performance work systems. It’s as if businesses have forgotten that they work.

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Breaking the Death Grip of Legacy Technologies

Harvard Business Review

automakers took decades to adopt lean production methods despite the obvious benefits from increased productivity and lower work-in-process inventory. Even General Motors, which had a bird’s eye view of the Toyota Production System from its joint venture with Toyota at New United Motors Manufacturing Inc.