Publications

September 1990 (Revised June 1994)
Case

Catawba Industrial Co.

By: Francis Aguilar

A department general manager has to decide whether or not to add a lightweight compressor to the line, what price to charge, and what volume to produce. The analysis requires maximizing contribution in a situation where one factor is constrained. As such, it takes into... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Capital Budgeting; Business Earnings; Cost Accounting; Cost Management; Asset Pricing

January 2001 (Revised May 2010)
Case

BP Amoco (B): Financing Development of the Caspian Oil Fields

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane

British Petroleum and Amoco were the two largest members of the Azerbaijan International Oil Consortium (AIOC), an 11-firm consortium that was spending $10 billion to develop oil fields in the Caspian Sea. As of March 1999, AIOC had completed a $1.9 billion development... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Policy; Capital Budgeting; Project Finance; Emerging Markets; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financing and Loans; Financial Strategy; Mining Industry; Energy Industry; United Kingdom; Europe

21 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

7 Successful Battle Strategies to Beat COVID-19

toward gunfire, where they certainly would be needed. Southwest Airlines famously provides structure to staff built on culture and an aligned operating model. In the field, staff members know what levers they can pull to respond to current conditions, including a... View Details

Keywords: by Euvin Naidoo

10 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

Long-Tail Economics? Give Me Blockbusters!

result in dead ends but occasionally lead in an unexpected direction to a blockbuster result. Some big budget movies are flops, others are sleepers, still others meet expectations. More risky than pursuing blockbusters is not to pursue... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Entertainment & Recreation; Pharmaceutical

February 1991
Case

Burlington Northern: The ARES Decision (B)

By: Julie H. Hertenstein and Robert S. Kaplan

The ARES team formally proposes that Burlington Northern implement the ARES system. The project meets resistance. In light of financial restructuring and high level of debt, executives wonder whether the company can afford ARES. Weak links during the ARES development... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Restructuring; Cost vs Benefits; Decision Choices and Conditions; Borrowing and Debt; Capital Budgeting; Projects; Technology Adoption; Service Industry

25 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: ‘Can China Lead?’

of higher education are in the process of slow-motion self-destruction. The University of California system, once the greatest system of public higher education in the world, has been weakened and made increasingly dysfunctional due to state View Details

Keywords: Re: William C. Kirby & F. Warren McFarlan; Education; Technology

05 Jan 2011
Op-Ed

Funding Unpredictability Around Stem-Cell Research Inflicts Heavy Cost on Scientific Progress

typical lab has 20 to 40 people, led by a senior researcher (the "principal investigator''). Most people in a lab are doctoral or postdoctoral students who are pursuing careers in science. Labs have many different projects under investigation simultaneously. Most... View Details

Keywords: by William Sahlman; Biotechnology; Health; Pharmaceutical

10 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

HBS Faculty Views on Debt Crisis

hesitant to vote for such proposals. Add to this the ideological divisions about whether to emphasize taxes or spending when closing the budget gap, and we have a difficult and volatile fiscal outlook for this country. Given these... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

February 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Supplement

Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (C)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

Analyzes the company’s decision on Project Cowboy following the events described in the B Case. View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Growth Management; Demand and Consumers; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Value Creation; Supply and Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; North America

23 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

Creative Entrepreneurship in a Downturn

spent on them. When consumer budgets are tight, such products will have plenty of appeal. “If history is any guide, we can expect some significant industry shapers to emerge from the current crisis.” In terms of lessons from the past,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

December 2001
Teaching Note

Parenting Magazine TN

By: Paul A. Gompers

Teaching Note for (9-291-015). A rewritten version of an earlier teaching note. View Details

Keywords: Money; Capital; Capital Budgeting; Decisions; Cost Accounting; Economic Systems; Negotiation Process; Corporate Accountability; Negotiation Deal; Business Startups; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Journalism and News Industry; Publishing Industry

19 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 19, 2009

Approved projects will receive an annual operating budget of $2 million. Together they must develop a joint plan for how the money should be spent. Purchase this exercise: http://hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=909041... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

21 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Searching for Better Practices in Social Investing

investors lose. The idea has garnered much discussion in the United States since President Obama proposed spending up to $100 million on social impact bond pilot programs when announcing the 2012 budget in February. While the idea of a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

18 Jan 2021
Book

How Thinking Like a Startup Helps Governments Solve More Problems

Forces. He had at his disposal a large part of the $600-plus billion Department of Defense budget and some of the most inventive people at DARPA, the DoD’s research arm, and other places. And yet he still began a startup outside the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

02 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Digital Initiative Summit: The Business of Crowdsourcing

Boston predict which places might be violating public health regulations. And it is working with an education nonprofit in Watertown, Mass., Education Resource Strategies, to study how school districts spend money. "The outcome is that this nonprofit can take a school... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

09 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Moving From Bean Counter to Game Changer

influence didn't extend beyond their own remit into firm-wide budgeting or strategizing for other business areas. So this risk function was incapable of promoting risk managers toward the organizational role of frame-maker. Mikes says the... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Banking

13 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

Managing to Learn: How Companies Can Turn Knowledge into Action

learned" manual to apply to the 757 and 767 models. Allegheny Ludlum, meanwhile, continuously experiments with its steel products, interpreting and applying the results, while allowing work teams freedom from departmental budget... View Details

Keywords: by Laurie Joan Aron

February 2023
Case

Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

In July 2019, Graphic Packaging CEO Michael Doss was proposing a $600 million investment in a new machine to produce coated recycled board (CRB), a type of paper packaging used for consumer products (cups, cereal boxes, beverage boxes, etc.) that utilized recycled... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Growth Management; Demand and Consumers; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Value Creation; Supply and Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; North America