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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(5,751)
- People (8)
- News (1,089)
- Research (3,969)
- Events (32)
- Multimedia (15)
- Faculty Publications (2,392)
- March 2014
- Article
Choosing the Right Customer
By: Robert Simons
Companies that win in competitive markets identify a primary customer and dedicate maximum resources to meeting that customer's needs. This article will show you how to identify the best primary customer for your business by analyzing perspective, capabilities, and... View Details
Keywords: Strategy Execution; Customer Focus; Organization Design; Accountability; Management Control Systems; Customer Relationship Management; Organizational Design
Simons, Robert. "Choosing the Right Customer." Harvard Business Review 92, no. 3 (March 2014): 48–55.
- September 1994 (Revised June 2017)
- Case
Chemalite, Inc. (B): Cash Flow Analysis
By: Robert Simons and Antonio Davila
Students are asked to use actual and pro forma financial statements to prepare a statement of cash flows under both the direct and indirect method. View Details
Keywords: Cash Flow Analysis; Strategy Execution; Management Control Systems; Analysis; Cash Flow; Financial Statements
Simons, Robert, and Antonio Davila. "Chemalite, Inc. (B): Cash Flow Analysis." Harvard Business School Case 195-130, September 1994. (Revised June 2017.)
- 12 Oct 1999
- Research & Ideas
Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System
study of the system in more than 40 plants, the authors came to understand that at Toyota it's the very rigidity of the operations that makes the flexibility possible. That's... View Details
- Article
Manage the Suppliers That Could Harm Your Brand: Know When to Avoid, Engage, or Drop Them
By: Jodi L Short and Michael W. Toffel
The pandemic has placed a new spotlight on working conditions in factories that supply global companies. To avert problems, firms often impose codes of conduct on their suppliers and perform audits to assess compliance. Do these measures help identify unethical... View Details
Keywords: Auditing; Agency Cost; Quality And Safety; Quality Management System; Quality Management; Unions; Environmental Management; Globalization; Goods and Commodities; Governance; Labor; Labor Unions; Wages; Working Conditions; Operations; Supply Chain; Safety; Quality; China; Bangladesh; Asia; Pakistan
Short, Jodi L., and Michael W. Toffel. "Manage the Suppliers That Could Harm Your Brand: Know When to Avoid, Engage, or Drop Them." Harvard Business Review 99, no. 2 (March–April 2021).
- 2019
- Working Paper
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 16 Capturing Value by Controlling Bottlenecks in Open Platform Systems
The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the means by which firms capture value in open platform systems. I begin by arguing that the surplus value created by complementarities within a technical system will be split among the owners of the unique and essential... View Details
Keywords: Open Platforms; Bottlenecks; Flow Production; Value Capture; Disintermediation; Production; Management; Digital Platforms
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 16 Capturing Value by Controlling Bottlenecks in Open Platform Systems." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-054, November 2019.
- June 2014 (Revised February 2017)
- Teaching Note
Atlanta Schools: Measures to Improve Performance
By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred
This is the teaching note for Atlanta Schools: Measures to Improve Performance (HBS No. 114-001) View Details
- June 1991 (Revised June 1993)
- Case
Railroads and the Beginnings of Modern Management (Abridged)
By: Thomas K. McCraw
Consists of three selections by the most innovative of the early American railroad managers describing the organizational structures and control systems they created. Questions to be asked are: why and how such managerial techniques were created, how well they worked,... View Details
Keywords: Business History; Rail Transportation; Organizational Structure; Management Systems; Rail Industry; United States
McCraw, Thomas K. "Railroads and the Beginnings of Modern Management (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 391-131, June 1991. (Revised June 1993.)
- November 2007 (Revised January 2010)
- Case
ThedaCare: System Strategy
By: Michael E. Porter and Sachin H. Jain
Over the 1980s and 1990s, America's changing health care payer environment resulted in mergers of numerous community hospitals into hospital systems. Based in Appleton, Wisconsin, ThedaCare stood out among community hospital systems in its pursuit of service... View Details
Keywords: Value Creation; Health Care and Treatment; Problems and Challenges; Innovation and Invention; Health Industry; Wisconsin
Porter, Michael E., and Sachin H. Jain. "ThedaCare: System Strategy." Harvard Business School Case 708-424, November 2007. (Revised January 2010.)
- 2008
- Working Paper
Performance and Control across Multiple Markets
By: Tatiana Sandino, Dennis Campbell and Shelby Yu
Chain organizations typically operate units across different types of markets, with significantly diverging customer bases. Such market-type dispersion potentially influences performance through two channels: it makes performance a noisier indicator of store manager... View Details
Keywords: Governance Controls; Organizational Design; Markets; Franchise Ownership; Performance; Retail Industry
Sandino, Tatiana, Dennis Campbell, and Shelby Yu. "Performance and Control across Multiple Markets." American Accounting Association Financial Accounting and Reporting Section Paper, January 2008.
- 12 Aug 2020
- Video
Community Health Workers on the Front Lines of Disease Control
- April 2004 (Revised November 2004)
- Background Note
Why Complex Systems Fail
Operationally excellent organizations create competitive opportunities for themselves that are not available to their peers. One view of the manager's competitive dilemma is to pick the right position for his organization, differentiating it, for example, as a... View Details
Spear, Steven J., and Bryce LaPierre. "Why Complex Systems Fail." Harvard Business School Background Note 604-083, April 2004. (Revised November 2004.)
- March 1998 (Revised March 2001)
- Case
Concordia Electronic Systems Test
By: Thomas R. Piper
The management of an electronics company must decide whether to use a single hurdle rate for all projects or to move to a system of different hurdle rates for each of its two divisions. The divisions differ substantially in terms of risk and seem to have substantially... View Details
Keywords: Business Model; Risk and Uncertainty; Cost of Capital; Valuation; Business Divisions; Electronics Industry
Piper, Thomas R. "Concordia Electronic Systems Test." Harvard Business School Case 298-115, March 1998. (Revised March 2001.)
- July 2021
- Article
The Effect of Price on Firm Reputation
By: Michael Luca and Oren Reshef
While a business's reputation can affect its pricing, prices can also affect its reputation. To explore the effect of prices on reputation, we investigate daily data on menu prices and online ratings from a large rating and ordering platform. We find that a price... View Details
Keywords: Pricing; Reputation Systems; IT Policy And Management; Economics Of Digital Platforms; Business Ventures; Reputation; Price; Consumer Behavior; Analysis
Luca, Michael, and Oren Reshef. "The Effect of Price on Firm Reputation." Management Science 67, no. 7 (July 2021): 4408–4419.
- November 1983 (Revised June 1994)
- Case
Controls at the Sands Hotel and Casino
Describes the controls used in the casino over the blackjack game and cash stocks, and movements of cash. Also describes the results measures available in the casino and their limitations for control purposes. View Details
Merchant, Kenneth A. "Controls at the Sands Hotel and Casino." Harvard Business School Case 184-048, November 1983. (Revised June 1994.)
- January 1999 (Revised April 2004)
- Case
Infox System GmbH
Apax, a private equity firm, has an opportunity to invest in a travel-related print-materials distribution business in Germany. Infox is typical of many buyout opportunities. One of the founders seeks to exit the business, and recently hired managers will have to... View Details
Keywords: Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Germany
Kuemmerle, Walter, M. Frederick Paul, and Chad S Ellis. "Infox System GmbH." Harvard Business School Case 899-061, January 1999. (Revised April 2004.)
- July 1987 (Revised October 1995)
- Case
Phillips 66: Controlling a Company Through Crisis
The downstream operations subsidiary of a major U.S. petroleum company is faced with major restructuring decisions and responds by developing an Executive Information System (EIS) which allows for increased responsiveness, wider span of control, and higher levels of... View Details
Keywords: Restructuring; Information Management; Governance Controls; Organizational Design; Crisis Management; Communication; Management Teams; Growth Management; Mining Industry; Energy Industry; United States
Applegate, Lynda M. "Phillips 66: Controlling a Company Through Crisis." Harvard Business School Case 189-006, July 1987. (Revised October 1995.)
- December 1986 (Revised February 1993)
- Case
Scandinavian Airlines System
Discusses the fostering of entrepreneurship and innovation in the large corporation. It traces the development and history of Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) from 1946 to the present with particular emphasis on the leadership of Jan Carlzon, CEO from 1981 to the... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Innovation and Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Air Transportation Industry; Scandinavia
Kao, John J. "Scandinavian Airlines System." Harvard Business School Case 487-041, December 1986. (Revised February 1993.)
- November 1992
- Case
Process Control at Polaroid (B)
By: H. Kent Bowen and Steven C. Wheelwright
The plant manager of a film production operation wants to create and implement a new approach to quality within the next 12 months. Issues of personnel (and their roles), production processes (and their control), and quality standards must be addressed. View Details
Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Job Design and Levels; Management Practices and Processes; Production; Quality; Mathematical Methods
Bowen, H. Kent, and Steven C. Wheelwright. "Process Control at Polaroid (B)." Harvard Business School Case 693-048, November 1992.
- March 2005 (Revised July 2007)
- Case
Capital Controls in Chile in the 1990s (A)
By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael M. Di Tella and Ingrid Vogel
In 1991, Chile adopted a framework of capital controls focused on reducing the massive flows of foreign investment coming into the country as international interest rates remained low. Capital inflows threatened the Central Bank's ability to manage the exchange rate... View Details
Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Capital; Governance Controls; Business and Government Relations; Chile
Alfaro, Laura, Rafael M. Di Tella, and Ingrid Vogel. "Capital Controls in Chile in the 1990s (A)." Harvard Business School Case 705-031, March 2005. (Revised July 2007.)
- May 2017
- Supplement
ATH Technologies (B)
By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard
Supplements the (A) case. Designed as an in-class handout. View Details
Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Performance Management; Balancing Innovation And Control; Management Systems; Performance; Health Industry
Simons, Robert, and Jennifer Packard. "ATH Technologies (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 117-014, May 2017.