Publications

September 1989 (Revised December 1989)
Case

Siemens Electric Motor Works (A) and (B) (Combined)

Explores how a cost system can help support a firm's decision to change strategies. In the process, students are exposed to a simple activity-based cost system. Also examines Siemens policy for transferring products between sales and manufacturing divisions. Transfer... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Business Strategy; Technology Industry

July 2001 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Japan: Beyond the Bubble

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Rebecca Evans

By the summer of 2001, Japan's economy had been generally stagnant for nearly 10 years--since the collapse of the bubble economy in 1990-91. The development strategy that drove the nation during earlier decades was fulfilled, and by 1989 Japan's GDP per capita exceeded... View Details

Keywords: History; Strategy; Development Economics; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Macroeconomics; Japan

November 1984 (Revised March 1999)
Case

Mayers Tap, Inc. (C)

Mayers Tap, Inc. has decided to redesign its cost system. In this case it uses three different cost center designs to determine how the new system should be designed. Students are asked to drop unprofitable products under the three scenarios and explain the effects on... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Management Systems

January 1984 (Revised April 1987)
Case

Turning Around Alcan Europe (A): Patrick Rich's First Four Months as CEO-Europe

Faced with large losses in Alcan Aluminum (Europe), Patrick Rich takes the position of area general manager and slashes capital budgets, introduces new financial controls, and sets up mechanisms for increasing cooperation among the national subsidiaries. The focus is... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Manufacturing Industry; Europe

02 Apr 2013
News

How to Not Get Sidetracked

20 Jun 2008
News

Winners of 2008 Harvard Business School Business Plan Contest Ring Opening Bell at New York Stock Exchange

09 Apr 2021
News

Why Most Startups Fail, and How to Avoid a Similar Fate

13 Jan 2019
News

Why Silicon Valley needs more visas

24 Jul 2023
Research & Ideas

Part-Time Employees Want More Hours. Can Companies Tap This ‘Hidden’ Talent Pool?

demographics,” Fuller says. Acknowledge–and embrace–the prevalence female caregivers in the workforce. “Employers need to recognize that this demographic is going to become more important in the workforce of the future,” Fuller says. Future View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

2018
Working Paper

Forecasting Airport Transfer Passenger Flow Using Real-Time Data and Machine Learning

By: Xiaojia Guo, Yael Grushka-Cockayne and Bert De Reyck

Problem definition: In collaboration with Heathrow Airport, we develop a predictive system that generates quantile forecasts of transfer passengers’ connection times. Sampling from the distribution of individual passengers’ connection times, the system also produces... View Details

Keywords: Quantile Forecasts; Regression Tree; Copula; Passenger Flow Management; Data-driven Operations; Forecasting and Prediction; Data and Data Sets

SSRN

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TeachingInterests

Developing Yourself as a Leader

By: Ethan S. Bernstein

This course is an online leadership development program for the next generation of leaders (high-potential emerging leaders with rougly 7-15 years of work experience). Over 12 dynamic, high-impact weeks, a cohort of emerging leaders from around the globe engages... View Details

Research Summary

Statistical Methodology

William Simpson is developing methods of inference to use when assumptions of standard models are not met. He has created a hypothesis test to use for ipsative variables that adjusts for the non-zero correlations among variables expected under the null hypothesis. ... View Details

February 2024 (Revised September 2024)
Case

TimeCredit

By: Emanuele Colonnelli, Raymond Kluender and Shai Benjamin Bernstein

TimeCredit is an artificial intelligence (AI) startup that is developing large language models (LLMs) to generate accounting memos. The case follows Ndonga Sagnia, a Gambian Harvard Business School MBA student with an accounting background, as she decides how much... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; AI and Machine Learning; Entrepreneurial Finance; Identity; Technology Industry

Article

Stability and Competitive Equilibrium in Matching Markets with Transfers

By: John William Hatfield and Scott Duke Kominers

This note surveys recent work in generalized matching theory, focusing on trading networks with transferable utility. In trading networks with a finite set of contractual opportunities, the substitutability of agents’ preferences is essential for the guaranteed... View Details

Keywords: Matching; Networks; Joint Ventures; Stability; Competitive Equilibrium; Core; Efficiency; Economics; Theory

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September 2012
Article

Bringing Science to the Art of Strategy

By: A. G. Lafley, Roger L. Martin, Jan W. Rivkin and Nicolaj Siggelkow

For all its emphasis on data and number crunching, conventional strategic planning is not actually scientific. It lacks the hypothesis generation and testing that's at the heart of the scientific method. To produce novel and successful strategies, teams need to adopt a... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Science

Find at Harvard

January 1993 (Revised September 1993)
Background Note

Managing Information: The IT Architecture

Information is a critical resource in the information economy and Information Technology (IT) enables information to be managed as a strategic resource. However, IT is extremely complex and fast-changing. As a result, the general manager cannot leave IT decisions... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Information Technology

December 2010 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Back to the Future: Redeveloping Unilever House

By: A. Eugene Kohn, Arthur I Segel and Andrew Pierson Terris

Steve Williams, General Counsel of Unilever PIc, has two key decisions to make prior to commencing construction on the redevelopment of Unilever House - the company's London corporate headquarters. The purpose of the redevelopment is to reinvigorate the corporate... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Leasing; Sales; Restructuring; Leading Change; Financing and Loans; Decisions; Business Headquarters; Design; Projects; London

February 2010
Supplement

Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Market Size and Market Share Analysis (CW)

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery

This Excel worksheet contains sample problems, prebuilt Excel models to run market sizing and market share analyses, and charts and graphs which help visualize the results. It is designed to accompany Marketing Analysis Tookit: Market Size and Market Share Analysis.... View Details

Keywords: Mathematical Methods; Marketing Strategy; Decisions; Strategic Planning; Market Participation; Sales; Forecasting and Prediction; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

September 2006
Case

IR at BP: Investor Relations and Information Reconnaissance

By: Gregory S. Miller, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Anders Sjoman

BP's IR director has begun a program to use information regarding external views of BP and the industry as part of the firm's planning and operational activities. This information is generated as a portion of their award winning investor relations program, and had... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Use and Leverage; Operations; Information Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Planning