John Paul MacDuffie Faculty Profile

John Paul MacDuffie
Associate Professor of Management

PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1991; BA, Harvard University, 1977

Research Areas
Flexible/lean production systems; organizational learning and knowledge transfer; modularity and "build-to-order"; managing organizational and technological change; collaborative design and production; international comparative human resource strategies; the changing employment contract

Current Projects
Lean production: its consequences for productivity, quality, and product variety; its diffusion across company and country boundaries; and its reliance on high performance work systems. Longitudinal data collection over 10 years from international sample of 70+ automotive assembly plants. "Build-to-order" how it may be facilitated by the Internet and by experiments with modular design and production. The impact of B2B exchanges on historically-established modes of exchange between customers and suppliers.

Academic Positions Held
Wharton: 1990-present (Co-Director, Reginald H. Jones Center for Management Policy, Strategy, and Organization, 2001-2006).

Other Positions
Director of Outreach Services, Coastal Economic Development, Bath, Maine, 1979-82

Career and Recent Professional Awards; Teaching Awards
Zannetos PhD Thesis Prize, Sloan School of Management, MIT, 1991; Outstanding Young Scholar Award, Industrial Relations Research, 1997; Undergraduate Division Excellence in Teaching Award, 1992; Miller-Sherrerd Teaching Award for MBA Core Courses, 1994; MBA Core Curriculum Award, 1997, 1998, 2000.

Professional Leadership 2003-2007
Co-Director, International Motor Vehicle Program (IMVP), 2001-present

Representative Publications
(with L. Hunter)
"What Makes Teams Take? Employee Reactions to Work Reorganization." Industrial and Labor Relations Review (2002).

(with S. Helper and C. Sabel)
"Pragmatic Collaborations: Advancing Knowledge While Controlling Opportunism." Industrial and Corporate Change 9.3 (2000).

"The Road to 'Root Cause': Shop-Floor Problem-Solving at Three Auto Assembly Plants." Management Science 43.4 (1997).

(with S. Helper)
"Creating Lean Suppliers: Diffusing Lean Production Through the Supply Chain." California Management Review 39.4 (1997).

"Human Resource Bundles and Manufacturing Performance: Organizational Logic and Flexible Production Systems in the World Auto Industry." Industrial and Labor Relations Review 48.2 (1995).