Cost Efficiency - Publications - Faculty & Research

23 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

Creative Entrepreneurship in a Downturn

how to win? A: My advice here is simple: Think business model. Most managers tend to focus on cost management and operational efficiencies when they strategize during a downturn. While there is nothing wrong... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

22 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 22, 2007

competencies required for achieving top-line growth through global partners are different than the competencies required to be successful in reducing costs via outsourcing. Yet, many companies continue to manage global collaboration... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Unilever—A Case Study

like knowledge and information can often be transferred more efficiently and effectively within a firm than between independent firms. There are several reasons for this, including the fact that much knowledge is tacit. Indeed, it is well... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage; Manufacturing; Retail

16 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restaurant Revolution: How the Industry Is Fighting to Stay Alive

consumers in the dining area. On average, restaurants spend 30 percent of their revenue on labor. With increasing focus on fair wages and legislated wage increases, restaurants may easily exceed that average. Moreover, restaurants spend roughly equivalently for View Details

Keywords: by Michael S. Kaufman, Lena G. Goldberg, and Jill Avery; Food & Beverage

22 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

“Too Big To Fail”: Reining In Large Financial Firms

fall, there's also an implicit guarantee of government rescue for any firm that in the future may be identified as too big to fail. "What's worse, these firms impose costs on society by creating systemic risks that they don't have to bear... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Banking; Financial Services

25 Aug 2014
HBS Case

Starbucks Reinvented

it, he bemoaned decisions (for which he accepted responsibility) that improved efficiency and increased economies of scale but robbed stores of some of their essential magic, such as the smell of roasting coffee and the sights and sounds... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Food & Beverage

15 Sep 2015
First Look

September 15, 2015

price of competing products, pose new challenges on translating the demand forecasts into a pricing policy. We develop an algorithm to efficiently solve the subsequent multi-product price optimization that incorporates reference price... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Oct 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Systemic Risk and the Refinancing Ratchet Effect

Keywords: by Amir E. Khandani, Andrew W. Lo & Robert C. Merton; Construction; Real Estate

09 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

When Benchmarks Don’t Work

strategies. The strategy map for a support unit typically includes a financial objective to improve its efficiency in supplying services to the enterprise. This objective is usually measured by the cost of... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan; Service

23 Apr 2024
In Practice

Getting to Net Zero: The Climate Standards and Ecosystem the World Needs Now

With each month clocking record-breaking temperatures across the planet, this Earth Day reflected the renewed urgency of regulators and businesses to find climate-change solutions. The US Securities and Exchange Commission recently adopted new rules that will mandate... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

30 May 2023
Research & Ideas

Can AI Predict Whether Shoppers Would Pick Crest or Colgate?

to pay $3.27 for fluoride in their toothpaste, and the GPT study results were “quite similar,” with one estimate coming in at $3.40, according to the working paper. Consumer studies like these generally cost upwards of $20,000 and take... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

14 Jun 2016
First Look

June 14, 2016

data to recover parameters including the depreciation rate and adjustment costs of managerial capital (both found to be larger than for tangible non-managerial capital). Our model also predicts (i) a positive effect of management on firm... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Nov 2009
What Do You Think?

What is the Role of Government Vis-à-Vis Capitalism?

conditions for capitalism, practiced fairly and responsibly, to flourish. And to make the punishments for not doing so appropriately threatening and onerous for those who don't." Others were less definitive in their comments. As Philippe Gouamba put it,... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

17 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

Amazon, Whole Foods Deal a Big Win for Consumers

Source: 400tmax Editor's Note. Online retailing behemoth Amazon announced June 16 that it would acquire upscale grocery chain Whole Foods Market in a deal valued at more than $13 billion. Though the company has dabbled with the idea of a brick-and-mortar footprint in... View Details

Keywords: by Jose Alvarez and Len Schlesinger; Retail

03 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

The Truck Driver Who Reinvented Shipping

efficient way to transport cargo, and his thoughts returned to the shipping vessels that ran along the U.S. coastline. He believed "that ships would be a cost effective way around shoreside weight... View Details

Keywords: by Anthony J. Mayo & Nitin Nohria; Manufacturing; Transportation; Aerospace

January 2018 (Revised January 2020)
Case

People Analytics at McKinsey

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer and Olivia Hull

A private equity–backed fast food chain has hired McKinsey’s new People Analytics group to help it improve performance. As the final client workshop approaches, Associate Partner Alex DiLeonardo ponders the best way to present the team’s findings, especially those that... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Customer Relationship Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Cost Management; Human Resources; Employees; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Measurement and Metrics; Performance; Performance Capacity; Performance Efficiency; Performance Evaluation; Performance Improvement; Consulting Industry; Service Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

09 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Leadership Lessons of the Great Recession: Options for Economic Downturns

future hiring and M&A activity. When the Great Recession hit in late 2008, Honeywell, like all diversified manufacturers, experienced a drop off in new orders. Yet after six years of improving operating efficiency, there was little room left to cut View Details

Keywords: by Sandra Sucher & Susan Winterberg; Aerospace; Electronics

31 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

Can a ‘Basic Bundle’ of Health Insurance Cure Coverage Gaps and Spur Innovation?

Professor of Public Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, conducted the research with Katherine Baicker of the University of Chicago and Mark Shepard, associate professor of public policy at the Kennedy School. Addressing the high View Details

Keywords: by Kasandra Brabaw; Insurance; Health

September 2012 (Revised May 2015)
Case

Philips-Visicu

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Natalie Kindred and Sara M. McKinley

Would the advent of global payment models and ACOs create sufficient demand for a telemedicine offering covering the care continuum, from hospitals to the home? This was the decision facing Royal Philips Electronics (Philips), the Netherlands-based producer of... View Details