Publications

August 2016 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Accenture Human Capital Strategy

By: Paula A. Price, V.G. Narayanan and James Weber

Accenture is a leading global consulting, technology, and outsourcing company. It has clients and its own operations throughout the world. This case describes the human resources and related activities necessary to deliver its services to clients. It allows students to... View Details

Keywords: Management Consulting; Technology Consulting; Outsourcing; Human Resources; Activity Based Costing and Management; Management Practices and Processes

November 2000 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Activity-Based Management at W.S. Industries (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Sanjay Pothen

W.S. Industries undertakes the design and implementation of an activity based costing (ABC) system, and the ABC information empowers workers to make process improvement decisions. Workers' incentive pay is tied to cost savings from process improvements. View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Evaluation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Knowledge Management; Energy Industry; India

August 1997
Background Note

Accounting for Manufacturing Companies

By: Srikant M. Datar

The accounting for a manufacturing company is examined, including the flow of costs from raw materials to work in process to finished goods and the distribution between an inventoriable or product cost and a noninventoriable or period cost. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Product; Cost; Distribution; Accrual Accounting; Accounting; Manufacturing Industry

Article

Better Accounting Transforms Health Care Delivery

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Mary L. Witkowski

The paper describes the theory and preliminary results for an action research program that explores the implications from better measurements of health care outcomes and costs. After summarizing Porter's outcome taxonomy (Porter 2010), we illustrate how to use process... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Research; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

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02 Oct 2019
News

How Dishonesty Drains You

February 2005 (Revised March 2005)
Case

Tots R Us

By: Thomas D. Fields and Susan L. Kulp

Presents an overview of many issues associated with cost accounting and control. View Details

Keywords: Management; Cost Accounting

March 1975 (Revised April 1988)
Case

Industrial Grinders N.V.

Focuses on a relevant cost decision. Which costs are relevant for the decision? How should they be taken into account? View Details

Keywords: Cost; Decision Choices and Conditions

June 2002
Background Note

Note on the Equivalency of Methods for Discounting Cash Flows

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Uses a numerical example to demonstrate that when you discount the cash flows to capital from a project at the weighted average cost of capital, you get same net present value result as you obtain when discounting the cash flows to equity at the cost of equity. Also... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Cost of Capital; Equity; Valuation

October 10, 2019
Article

The Case for the Public Option Over Medicare for All

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Richard Boxer

How can the United States better control its health care costs and quality and still achieve universal coverage? The strongest choice is not Medicare for All, which would eliminate private insurance; it’s the public option, which would allow people to choose from... View Details

Keywords: Universal Health Coverage; Public Option; Medicare; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Cost Management; Quality; United States

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August 1975 (Revised June 1983)
Case

Frank Mason (A)

By: John J. Gabarro

Raises the following issues: understanding another person from his/her point of view, understanding how two people can view the same situation differently, and understanding how an individual's behavior can have secondary consequences of which he/she may not be aware. View Details

Keywords: Outcome or Result; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking; Perspective

August 2005 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Kemps LLC: Introducing Time-Driven ABC

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Kemps is making a strategy shift: from being focused on fulfilling customer requests to becoming the best cost dairy producer in the industry. Its existing manufacturing cost system, however, fails to capture the costs associated with handling special flavors, small... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Customer Relationship Management; Cost Accounting; Managerial Roles; Cost Management; Earnings Management; Business Strategy; Time Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Decisions; Food and Beverage Industry

April 2003
Tutorial

ABC Pen Factory Tutorial

By: Robert S. Kaplan

To preview this online product, Authorized Faculty can call our customer service department at 1-800-545-7685 or 617-783-7600. Illustrates, via a guided audio tour accompanied by dynamically changing spreadsheets, the role for activity-based cost systems. The numerical... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants

16 Jul 2008
Op-Ed

What Should Employers Do about Health Care?

In the United States, employers have often treated health benefits as a necessary evil. They have focused on the rising cost of providing health insurance benefits and taken aggressive steps to bring View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter, Elizabeth O. Teisberg & Scott Wallace; Health

April 1997
Case

Peoria Engine Plant (A): (Abridged)

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Amy P. Hutton

Describes the cost control system used at an automobile engine plant for labor and overhead costs. The finance staff prepares daily, weekly, and monthly variance reports against budgets. Department supervisors, finance staff, and the plant manager discuss the use and... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Cost Management; Financial Reporting; Performance Improvement; Budgets and Budgeting; Auto Industry

April 1993 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, India: In Service for Sight, The

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Starting as a modest 20-bed hospital, Aravind had grown into a 1,400-bed hospital complex by 1992. It had by then screened 3.65 million patients and performed 335,000 cataract surgeries, nearly 70% of them free of cost for the poorest of India's blind population.... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Social Marketing; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Welfare; Expansion; Health Industry; India

2012
Report

Better Outcomes, Lower Costs: A Conversation with Dr. Atul Gawande

By: Mark R. Kramer

In the face of increasing health care costs and uncertainty about health care quality in the United States, community-based collective impact initiatives driven by regional funders offers a new way to improve patient outcomes at the local level. Collectively,... View Details

Keywords: Community Foundations; Health Outcomes; Health Care and Treatment; Quality; Cost Management; United States

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08 Sep 2014
News

What You Don’t Know About Sales Can Hurt Your Strategy

2017
Book

Democracy: A Case Study

By: David Moss

Democracy: A Case Study invites readers to experience American history anew and come away with a deeper understanding of the greatest strengths and vulnerabilities of the nation’s democracy as well as its resilience over time. The book adapts the case method to... View Details

Keywords: Democracy; Political Economy; Constitution; Productive Tension; Culture Of Democracy; E Pluribus Unum; United States; History; Government and Politics; Governance; Economic Systems; United States

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