Publications

June 2024
Article

Going Digital: Implications for Firm Value and Performance

By: Wilbur Chen and Suraj Srinivasan

We examine firm value and performance implications of the growing trend of non-technology companies engaging in digital transformation. We measure digital activities in firms based on the disclosure of digital words in the business description section of 10-Ks. Digital... View Details

Keywords: Digital Technologies; Valuation; Return Predictability; Financial Statement Analysis; Performance; Value; Information Technology

November – December 1996
Article

What Is Strategy?

By: M. E. Porter

Today's dynamic markets and technologies have called into question the sustainability of competitive advantage. Under pressure to improve productivity, quality, and speed, managers have embraced tools such as TQM, benchmarking, and reengineering. Dramatic operational... View Details

Keywords: Strategy

September 1984 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Higgins v. Commissioner

By: Henry B. Reiling

Discusses the issue of whether an activity is a trade or business. The Court held that the taxpayer's very substantial stock and bond portfolio management activities were not a trade or business, whereas the taxpayer's real estate activities did constitute a trade or... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Courts and Trials; Investment Portfolio; Property; United States

April 2006 (Revised April 2012)
Background Note

The Role of Private Equity Firms in Merger and Acquisition Transactions

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Explores the importance of private equity firms in merger and acquisitions activity around the globe. In many countries, these firms now account for one quarter of the total merger and acquisition activity of all firms. The larger private equity firms generate fees for... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Value Creation

March 1994 (Revised September 1994)
Background Note

Note on Competitive Positioning

Emphasizes the connection between a firm's activities and its prices, costs, and volumes. A firm obtains a competitive advantage when it adopts a system of interrelated activities that generate superior profitabiltiy. Briefly describes differentiation and low-cost... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage

May–June 2019
Article

Cross-Silo Leadership

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Tiziana Casciaro and Sujin Jang

Today the most promising innovation and business opportunities require collaboration among functions, offices, and organizations. To realize them, companies must break down silos and get people working together across boundaries. But that’s a challenge for many... View Details

Keywords: Cross-functional Management; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation Leadership; Groups and Teams; Employees; Attitudes

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October 1991 (Revised September 1998)
Case

Maxwell Appliance Controls

By: Robert S. Kaplan

A profitable manufacturing division of a large company is looking for new ways to identify sources of productivity improvements. Led by its senior finance officer, an activity-based cost system is developed to identify activities performed for its highly varied product... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Management Teams; Quality; Performance Improvement; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Production; Manufacturing Industry

Article

Total Cost Control in Project Management via Satisficing

By: Joel Goh and Nicholas G. Hall

We consider projects with uncertain activity times and the possibility of expediting, or crashing, them. Activity times come from a partially specified distribution within a family of distributions. This family is described by one or more of the following details about... View Details

Keywords: Project Management; Time And Cost Control; Robust Optimization; Satisficing; Linear Decision Rule; PERT; Management; Cost Management; Projects

03 Aug 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Tax Policy and the Efficiency of US Direct Investment Abroad

Keywords: by Mihir A. Desai, C. Fritz Foley & James R. Hines Jr.

30 Oct 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 5 Complementarity

Keywords: by Carliss Y. Baldwin

July 1999 (Revised June 2000)
Case

Edward Jones

By: Michael E. Porter and Gregory C. Bond

Edward Jones is a leading, highly profitable retail brokerage firm with a unique strategy very different from those of its rivals. The case describes Jones's activities and allows a rich discussion of its positioning choices, supporting activities, and tradeoffs. Jones... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

Article

Impact-Weighted Financial Accounts: A Paradigm Shift

By: Ethan Rouen and George Serafeim

The last decade has seen an exponential increase in corporate sustainability activities and efforts by investors to use these activities in their portfolio formation, valuation, and stewardship activities. This paper explains the need for a uniform strategy to measure... View Details

Keywords: Impact-Weighted Accounts; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Measurement and Metrics; Standards

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02 Feb 2021
Working Paper Summaries

Nonprofits in Good Times and Bad Times

Keywords: by Christine L. Exley, Nils H. Lehr, and Stephen J. Terry

August 1991 (Revised December 1994)
Supplement

Marks and Spencer Ltd. (C)

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery

Describes post-acquisition activity in Brooks Brothers and Kings Supermarkets from 1988 to 1991. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

Research Summary

Works in Progress

"Hunkering Down and Venturing Out: Network Activation in Response to the Uncertainty of Organizational Restructuring." Under Review. Awarded Best Paper in Organizational Behavior: 2011 Trans-Atlantic... View Details

December 2001 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Borealis

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Bjorn N. Jorgensen

When Borealis, a European producer of plastics, used a traditional, time-consuming budgeting process, the budget was quickly out of date in a competitive environment characterized by continually changing input and output prices and dynamic market conditions. This case... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Budgets and Budgeting; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment; Governance Controls; Balanced Scorecard; Management Systems; Manufacturing Industry; Europe

2023
Working Paper

How Wicked Problems Drive Business Performance: A Review of the Academic Literature

By: Caroline Adelson, Charlotte Kuller, Cate Tompkins, Ellora Sarkar, Samantha Price and Marco Iansiti

Recent years have seen a rise in the number of businesses engaged in the pursuit of “purposeful” activities – that is, activities that engage with the broader community in ways that expand beyond the pursuit of shareholder value. Many of these activities involve... View Details

Keywords: Wicked Problems; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Issues; Performance