How to Optimize Knowledge Sharing in a Factory Network

Designing a manufacturing network entails devising and managing flows of innovation and know-how—not just determining what to produce and where—and organizing the resulting logistics flows.

Adjusting Project Management Techniques to Uncertainty

This article argues that critical path thinking (CPM, PERT, Gantt chart) is not appropriate where project goals are poorly defined. Contingency thinking is better.

INSEAD: One School, Two Campuses – Going to Asia

In the late 1990s, INSEAD stood at a crossroads: to one side was the status quo, a continuation of its expansion on the Fontainebleau campus; to the other was a bold step, a further commitment to the Asian market by opening a second campus in the region. Professors Lasserre and De Meyer, and Sam Garg provide an analysis and chronology of the decision-making process. … [ Read more ]

A Typology of Plants in Global Manufacturing Networks

In today’s complex global manufacturing environment, managers face tough questions. What’s the best way to implement integrative strategies for plant networks? How is know-how created and transferred? Drawing on in-depth case studies, Professors Ann Vereecke, Roland Van Dierdonck and Arnoud De Meyer create a typology of plants in global manufacturing networks, offering both technical analysis and practical advice.

Rhodex-Puguet S.A.

Rhodex-Puguet has long been a leader in the specialty chemicals market. Its success has been attributed to heavy investment in R&D, but lately, instead of producing innovative, new products, it’s having problems with missed deadlines, overworked staff and unclear expectations. So what does a firm do when it finds its R&D suddenly stands for Returns Declining? Professor Arnoud De Meyer challenges you to find the … [ Read more ]

Not Quite As Per The Plan: Impact of Uncertainty on Project Management

It is common for projects to miss budgets, schedules and opportunities, in spite of the heroic efforts of the project manager to keep things on track. There is a need for the project management tool-kit to expand beyond task management. Professors Arnoud De Meyer, Christoph Loch and Michael Pich classify the associated and often-neglected uncertainty, and they suggest alternative techniques for project management, depending on … [ Read more ]

Alcatel Access Systems (A-B-C)

During the 1990s, the telecommunications environment was undergoing a series of complex changes that would dramatically alter the competitive landscape: deregulation, globalisation and new technological developments. Professors Paul Verdin, Rudi Bogaert and Arnoud De Meyer present issues and challenges (mainly for product development and innovation) within a multinational telecom equipment manufacturer organised on a country-based unit structure and facing these environmental changes.