Publications

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September 2013 (Revised June 2016)
Case

The Morning Star Company: Self-Management at Work

By: Francesca Gino, Bradley R. Staats, Brian J. Hall and Tiffany Y. Chang

Morning Star, a collection of affiliated companies, had grown steadily since 1970 when Chris Rufer, president and founder, started the business hauling tomatoes to processing plants in a truck. The company's main products continued to be tomato-based, including a... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Motivation and Incentives; Working Conditions; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Food; Management Practices and Processes; Compensation and Benefits; Manufacturing Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

October 1986 (Revised November 2003)
Case

Pinnacle Mutual Life Insurance Company

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

Pinnacle Mutual is one of the largest mutual life insurance companies in the world. Offering a full range of financial services, it competes with a broad group of financial service providers. In an effort to compete more effectively, Pinnacle adopted GAAP accounting... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry

December 2018 (Revised August 2022)
Teaching Note

Revenue Recognition at HBP

By: Siko Sikochi and Paul Healy

In early 2014, Corporate Learning, one of three business units at Harvard Business Publishing (HBP), was in the process of revamping its flagship product, Harvard Manage-Mentor (HMM) from version 11.0 (HMM11) to version 12.0 (HMM12). The revamped software would be... View Details

Keywords: Accrual Accounting; Budgets and Budgeting; Revenue Recognition; Financial Reporting; Publishing Industry; Education Industry; United States

24 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Rethinking Activity-Based Costing

excerpted here, authors Kaplan and Anderson suggest the process be simplified through an approach they call "time-driven ABC." Here's an overview. The solution to the problems with ABC is not to abandon the concept. ABC after... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & Steven R. Anderson

Article

How Actors Change Institutions: Towards a Theory of Institutional Entrepreneurship

By: Julie Battilana, Bernard Leca and Eva Boxenbaum

As well as review the literature on the notion of institutional entrepreneurship introduced by Paul DiMaggio in 1988, we propose a model of the process of institutional entrepreneurship. We first present theoretical and definitional issues associated with the concept... View Details

Keywords: Change; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Framework; Research; Theory; Organizations; Management Practices and Processes

Find at Harvard

26 Mar 2015
News

Budgeting Tool Used by 3G Attracts Wider Following

2015
Working Paper

Coactive Vicarious Learning: Towards a Relational Theory of Vicarious Learning in Organizations

By: Christopher G. Myers

Vicarious learning—a process of individual belief and behavior change that occurs through being exposed to, and making meaning of, another's experience—has long been recognized as a key driver of individual, team and organizational success. Yet existing perspectives on... View Details

Keywords: Organizations; Learning

SSRN

24 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 24

and Frances X. Frei Publication:Chap. 8 in Operational Control in Asset Management: Processes and Costs. 1st ed., edited by Michael Pinedo, 154-168. Denmark: SimCorp StrategyLab, 2010 Abstract This chapter examines patterns in the cost... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

29 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 29

across all contexts of innovation, our goal is to develop a more generalized account of what drives the process of innovation. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-096.pdf Much Ado About... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2010
Case

Mekong Capital: Building a Culture of Leadership in Vietnam

By: Christopher Marquis, Vinay Ganti, Kevin Smith and Doug Guthrie

Mekong Capital, a private equity firm specializing in investing in Vietnam, had grown dramatically since its inception in 2002 and faced numerous organizational issues in 2007. There was a shortage of qualified middle managers, an overall lack of leadership, and a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Performance Improvement; Groups and Teams; Alignment; Financial Services Industry

Robert Simons is a Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School. For over 35 years, Simons has taught accounting, management control, and strategy execution courses in both the Harvard MBA and Executive Education Programs. For 2023/24, he is... View Details

August 2002
Case

Siebel Systems: Anatomy of a Sale, Part 3

By: John A. Deighton and Das Narayandas

How does a $2 million software sale happen? This case traces efforts by Siebel Systems to sell lead management software to discount broker Quick & Reilly. The buying process is mapped out over four years. Covers in detail the last six months--from Siebel's initial... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Decision Choices and Conditions; Competitive Strategy; Customer Relationship Management; Product Marketing; Information Technology Industry

September 2005 (Revised May 2006)
Case

iMergent (A)

iMergent's core business consists of proprietary virtual storefront software aimed at small businesses and entrepreneurs. For idea-rich entrepreneurs who lack technological skills, iMergent provides an all-inclusive program that covers all needs from order processing... View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Financial Statements