Publications

spring 2008
Article

Cost Reductions, Cost Padding and Stock Market Prices: The Chilean Experience with Price Cap Regulation

By: Rafael Di Tella and Alexander Dyck

Keywords: Cost; Price; Stocks; Markets; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Chile

12 May 2015
News

Nail Salons And The High Cost Of Conspicuous Consumption

December 2017
Article

Overall Cost Comparison of Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Procedures with Endoscopist- or Anesthesia-Supported Sedation by Activity-Based Costing Techniques

By: Richard A. Helmers, James A. Dilling, Christopher R. Chaffee, Mark V. Larson, Bradly J. Narr, Derek A. Haas and Robert S. Kaplan

Endoscopic/Colonoscopic procedures are done either with gastroenterologist-administered conscious sedation or with anesthesia-administered sedation with propofol. Anesthesia-administered sedation has medical and patient benefits but is more expensive to administer. We... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Activity Based Costing and Management

August 1988 (Revised November 1988)
Case

Texas Instruments: Cost of Quality (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Texas Instruments implements a Cost of Quality (COQ) system as part of a company-wide "Total Quality Thrust." After several years of operation, group management questions whether or not the COQ system should be updated to make it more useful in identifying areas for... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Performance Improvement

2020
Working Paper

The Cost of Anonymous Lemons

By: Amar Bhidé

Rules that restrict information required in negotiated private transactions have spurred a vast increase in the scope of anonymous financial markets, particularly in the US. The subtle costs of the information restricting rules raise questions about the social value of... View Details

Keywords: Information Asymmetry; Securities; Securitization; Regulation; Liquidity; Information; Financial Markets; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Liquidity

Summer 2021
Article

The Cost and Evolution of Quality at Cipla Ltd, 1935–2016

By: Muhammad H. Zaman and Tarun Khanna

This article examines the evolution of Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer Cipla towards producing drugs that met the quality standards of European and U.S. regulators. It employs new research in Cipla’s corporate archives, the Creating Emerging Markets database, and... View Details

Keywords: Cipla; Pharmaceuticals; Drug Quality; Generics; Quality; Standards; Information Technology; Cost; Organizational Culture; Business History; Pharmaceutical Industry; India

March 1990 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Turner Construction Company: Project Management Control Systems

By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston

After providing a brief overview of Turner Construction Co.'s structure and project work, the case gives a detailed description of its project management control system, the IOR system. In addition to explaining the mechanics of the IOR system, the case identifies the... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Cost Management; Performance Evaluation; Risk Management; Strategic Planning; Planning; Management Systems; Management Teams; Construction Industry

09 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

It’s Time to Reset Decision-Making in Your Organization

sources and gather new perspectives." Bennett and Lemoine recommend reaching out “to partners, customers, researchers, trade groups, and perhaps even competitors” in View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

2016
Working Paper

Controlling Versus Enabling — Online Appendix

By: Andrei Hagiu and Julian Wright

Section 1 of this online appendix contains the proof of the technical Lemma (Lemma 2) used in the Proof of Lemma 1 in the main paper, which states that Ω* (.) is continuous and differentiable at R*. Section 2 provides the linear example with cost differences between... View Details

SSRN

March 2011
Article

Institutional Demand Pressure and the Cost of Corporate Loans

By: Victoria Ivashina and Zheng Sun

Between 2001 and 2007, annual institutional funding in highly leveraged loans went up from $32 billion to $426 billion, accounting for nearly 70% of the jump in total syndicated loan issuance over the same period. Did the inflow of institutional funding in the... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Financial Crisis; Credit; Debt Securities; Financing and Loans; Interest Rates; Investment

SSRN

September 2012
Article

The Relationship Between Economic Preferences and Psychological Personality Measures

By: Anke Becker, Thomas Deckers, Thomas Dohmen, Armin Falk and Fabian Kosse

Although both economists and psychologists seek to identify determinants of heterogeneity in behavior, they use different concepts to capture them. In this review, we first analyze the extent to which economic preferences and psychological concepts of personality, such... View Details

Keywords: Risk Preference; Time Preference; Social Preferences; Locus Of Control; Big Five; Economics; Behavior; Personal Characteristics

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25 Sep 2019
Research & Ideas

The Economic Cost of Physician Burnout

or leave their jobs due to burnout. They then correlated those numbers with the percentage of burnout experienced by doctors in different age groups and medical disciplines in order to estimate the overall effects of burnout on staffing... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

Blog

Take Control of Your Personal Brand

branding is all about. We all want to be well thought of in the minds of others who are important to our happiness and to the achievement of our goals. We all have a personal brand, whether we like it or not. In View Details

19 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

A Brand Manager’s Guide to Losing Control

will defend you," Avery tells brand managers. "If people start bashing a beloved brand, there is a ready group of organized consumers who swoop in and say, 'Don't beat up our brand!' Treating your communities well during good... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising

October 1991 (Revised November 1993)
Case

Play Time Toy Co.

By: Thomas R. Piper

The president of a toy company is considering the adoption of level production in a business characterized by highly seasonal sales. The issues include balancing the cost savings and the inventory risk, estimating the seasonal financing need, and determining the... View Details

Keywords: Production; Cost Management; Banks and Banking; Sales; Goods and Commodities; Financial Management; Risk Management; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

18 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Who Controls Water?

Act is an interesting piece of legislation," said Reinhardt. "The federal government has to do everything it can to reduce the probability of extinction. It's explicitly prohibited in the statute from balancing costs View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Agriculture & Agribusiness

March 2007 (Revised October 2008)
Case

The New York Times Co.

The Sulzberger family owns 20% of the New York Times Co. (NYT) but controls 70% of the board through a dual-class share structure. At the company's April 2006 annual shareholder meeting, Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) and other investors, holding 28% of... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Investment Activism; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business and Shareholder Relations; Publishing Industry; New York (city, NY)

February 13, 2023
Editorial

The Secret Tax on Women’s Time

By: Lauren C. Howe, Lindsay B. Howe and Ashley V. Whillans

When studies revealed the so-called pink tax, showing in 2015 that personal hygiene products “for her” cost 13% more than similar products for men, it caused outrage and action. The irony that women, despite generally having fewer financial resources than men, are... View Details

Keywords: Gender; Equality and Inequality; Work-Life Balance