Publications

June 2020
Teaching Note

Catalant's Operating System for the Future of Work

By: Christopher Stanton, William R. Kerr, James Palano and Kendall Smith

This case touches on the topics of project-based work, agile methodology, and skill and talent management through Catalant's evolution as a company. Catalant’s journey to becoming a software platform and talent marketplace provides context for students to explore new... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Transformation; Business Startups

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

Keywords: by H. Kent Bowen & Steven Spear; Manufacturing; Transportation; Auto

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

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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

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February 2020 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Catalant's Operating System for the Future of Work

By: Christopher Stanton, William R. Kerr, James Palano and Kendall Smith

This case touches on the topics of project-based work, agile methodology, and skill and talent management through Catalant's evolution as a company. Catalant’s journey to becoming a software platform and talent marketplace provides context for students to explore new... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Talent and Talent Management; Business Model; Transformation

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

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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

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

May 1996 (Revised October 2001)
Case

BAE Automated Systems (B): Implementing the Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System

By: Lynda M. Applegate, H. James Nelson, Ramiro Montealegre and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Describes the negotiations between the City of Denver officials, airlines, consulting companies, and BAE for the construction of a backup baggage system to enable the Denver International Airport (DIA) to open. When DIA finally opens in February 1995, 16 months behind... View Details

Keywords: Performance Effectiveness; Management Practices and Processes; Projects; Negotiation; Outcome or Result; Problems and Challenges; Air Transportation Industry; Construction Industry; Colorado

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

September 1994
Case

American Airlines: Object Oriented Flight Dispatching Systems

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Espen Andersen

American Airlines Describes has organized and developed their Systems Operation Control (SOC) center in Dallas, from which the day-to-day running of the airline takes place. This case details the decision support system used by the flight dispatchers, and the... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Product Development; Programs; Complexity; Technology Adoption; Air Transportation; Air Transportation Industry; United States

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December 2023
Article

Association of Hospital System Affiliation with COVID-19 Capacity Burden

By: Zachary Levin, Pinar Karaca-Mandic, Richard J. Boxer and Regina E. Herzlinger

What is the message? The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the highly variable and uncoordinated responses by hospitals. The authors found that while the non-top ten system affiliated hospitals had a larger COVID-19 share index relative to independent hospitals, top-ten system... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Resource Allocation; Health Pandemics; Demographics; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

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May 2017 (Revised June 2017)
Teaching Note

ATH Technologies Case Series

By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 117-012, 117-013, 117-014, 117-015, 117-016, and 117-017. View Details

Keywords: Balancing Innovation And Control; Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Performance Management

March 2000
Case

Aspect Medical Systems

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Naomi Atkins

Entrepreneur Nassib Chamoun has created an innovative anesthesiology device that monitors patients' consciousness levels during surgery. This case tracks how Chamoun and his executive team built the infrastructure of the company and actively managed the adoption... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Independent Innovation and Invention; Infrastructure; Product Design; Product Development; Problems and Challenges; Adoption; Competitive Strategy; Technology Industry

18 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Who Controls Water?

water management technologies because they were aware of its weaknesses. "The basic problem from the farmers' point of view is that the water is in the wrong place at the... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Agriculture & Agribusiness

June 1995
Case

Polaroid Corporation: European Distribution System

By: Janice H. Hammond and Afroze A Mohammed

Describes distribution operations in Polaroid Europe. In the late 1980s, Polaroid senior management in the United States proposed moving from a system of 12 decentralized warehouses to a centralized distribution system in which all inventory for European retailers... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Operations; Risk Management; Distribution Channels; Logistics; Transition; Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Industry Structures; Consumer Products Industry; Europe; European Union; United States

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

January 2017 (Revised April 2018)
Background Note

Introduction to Incentive-based Sales Compensation Systems

By: Willy Shih

This background note explains the structure of incentive-based sales compensation systems. View Details

Keywords: Sales Compensation; Sales Force Compensation; Sales Force Management; Sales; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Industrial Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry; United States

July 1997 (Revised February 1998)
Case

Aladdin Knowledge Systems

By: John A. Quelch

The founder, president, and CEO of a leading software security company has just announced the $5.1 million cash acquisition of a key competitor. As a result, his company becomes the market share leader in Europe and number two in the United States. But now, he and the... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Marketing; Applications and Software; Globalization; Acquisition; Sales; Information Technology Industry; United States; Europe