Publications

July 2010 (Revised December 2011)
Background Note

Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Pricing and Profitability Analysis

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery

Pricing is one of the most difficult decisions marketers make and the one with the most direct and immediate impact on the firm's financial position. This toolkit will introduce the fundamental terminology and calculations associated with pricing and profitability... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Price; Profit; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Measurement and Metrics; Strategic Planning; Mathematical Methods; Retail Industry

November 1999 (Revised July 2003)
Case

Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.

By: Paul M. Healy and Jacob Cohen

Pre-Paid Legal Services' business model reveals two key issues--managing the sales force and sales growth and managing claims. Students analyze the economics of the business and consider how to measure firm performance, how to evaluate and reward the sales force, and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Salesforce Management; Marketing Strategy; Accrual Accounting; Business Cycles; Forecasting and Prediction; Insurance; Business Growth and Maturation; Insurance Industry

26 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 26, 2010

in payout taxes, we show that this prediction holds well. Payout taxes have a large impact on the dynamics of corporate investment and growth. Investment is "locked in" to profitable firms when payout is heavily taxed. Thus,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2023 (Revised December 2023)
Case

TetraScience: Noise and Signal

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn

In 2019, TetraScience CEO “Spin” Wang needed advice. Five years earlier, he had cofounded a startup that saw early success with a hardware product designed to help laboratory scientists in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical spaces more easily collect data from... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Organization; Restructuring; Forecasting and Prediction; Digital Platforms; Analytics and Data Science; AI and Machine Learning; Organizational Structure; Network Effects; Competitive Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Boston

06 Oct 2022
News

On the Road to Recovery

prosper,” Moreno recalls. He was right, but Moreno, who became part owner and CEO of Nightingale Nurses, could not have predicted the dramatic ups and downs of the industry, from the 2008 economic crisis to the passage of the Affordable... View Details

Keywords: Hospitals; Health, Social Assistance; Nursing and Residential Care Facilities; Health, Social Assistance

01 Dec 2020
News

Steady as She Goes

for the community was a profitable strategy: The company saw a 7.1 percent year-over-year increase in retail profits for the fiscal year that ended in June. Weckert isn’t going to predict that the coming year will bring the stability she... View Details

Keywords: April White; COVID-19; change management; leadership; women; grocery stores; Food and Beverage Stores; Retail Trade

01 Oct 2001
News

Calling the Tune: Negotiation as an Improvisational Dance

parties to improvise as they go along, reacting to each other's responses and actions. "The way the negotiation starts will drive the interaction throughout," she said. "If the parties are in sync with one another, the interaction evolves in a View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

12 Jul 2011
First Look

First Look: July 12

standard, the FASB predicted managers will, on average, use the fair value estimates to convey private information on future cash flows. The current fair value of goodwill is unverifiable because it depends in part on management's future... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

16 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 16

economic theory of GAAP under the assumption that GAAP's objective is to facilitate efficient capital allocation within an economy. The theory predicts that GAAP, as shaped by the economic forces of demand for and supply of financial... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Dec 2020
News

AI Enhances Diagnostic Care

human intelligence rather than replaces it. AI—and its subsets of machine learning and deep learning—has been transformative in the field of radiology, propelling it light years beyond Röntgen’s first X-ray image of his wife’s hand. It enables pattern recognition, data... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

12 Feb 2025
Blog Post

How risk can be the key to a sustainable future with Sophie Levin (MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences 2022

excited about? Having lived in many cities, I find myself drawn to the built environment. Not only are we upgrading our current cities, but we’re building new cities to accommodate a changing global population. The UN predicts the world's... View Details

27 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 27, 2007

various mechanisms that are discussed in the theoretical literature on collective action. We argue that several of these intuitive theoretical arguments rely on special additional assumptions that are often not made clear. We then review the empirical work based on the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2011 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Caterpillar, Inc. (A)

By: David F. Hawkins

2010 Healthcare Reform Act eliminates Medicare Part D subsidy and Caterpillar recognizes a $100 million change. View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Employment; Cost vs Benefits; Forecasting and Prediction; Change Management; Asset Management; Financial Strategy; Activity Based Costing and Management; Business or Company Management; Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

05 Jan 2011
Op-Ed

Funding Unpredictability Around Stem-Cell Research Inflicts Heavy Cost on Scientific Progress

promising projects. Great people will leave basic research and move to more predictable pastures. And some great young people will decide not to go into research careers at all. The precipitous shift in the legal and regulatory... View Details

Keywords: by William Sahlman; Biotechnology; Health; Pharmaceutical

01 Jan 2008
News

Meg Whitman, MBA 1979

March she handed the reigns to former Bain colleague John Donahoe. Still involved as an eBay board member, Whitman is now focused on philanthropic and political endeavors. While not ready to predict her future, since May she has served as... View Details

December 1993 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Medical Products Co.

By: Robert H. Hayes

In early 1990, the company is contemplating changes in its European plant network for producing hypodermic products, including the total production capacity to be provided, the number and location of plants over which to spread this capacity, and which products should... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Decision Making; Forecasting and Prediction; Cost; Production; Performance Capacity; Performance Effectiveness; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Europe