Profitability - Publications - Faculty & Research

30 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

Tuning Jobs to Fit Your Company

in trying to improve the measured dimensions of performance and so has a narrow span of accountability. By contrast, a manager responsible for market share or business profit can make many trade-offs and thus has a relatively wide span of... View Details

Keywords: by Robert Simons

Leon Hess

Starting with his father’s little, struggling fuel firm, Hess created a $10 billion oil refinery company, the worlds 13th largest, Amerada Hess. During the Arab oil embargo in 1973, with 68 million barrels of mainland storage capacity, Hess was among the few operators... View Details

Keywords: Utilities & Energy

June 1998 (Revised April 1999)
Case

Wiegandt GmbH Cologne

By: Dwight B. Crane and Mathew M Millett

The credit department of Wiegandt, a furniture manufacturer, is evaluating the financial condition of two stores that retail the company's furniture. View Details

Keywords: Financial Condition; Credit; Financial Management; Distribution Channels; Profit; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Financial Strategy; Manufacturing Industry

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30 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Tracks of My Tears: Reconstructing Digital Music

At the dawn of the digital music era, record labels went along with a pricing scheme devised by Apple that they are still paying for today. The idea to "unbundle" albums into separate tracks sold for 99 cents each suddenly allowed consumers to bypass higher... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Music

Raymond A. Kroc

Kroc capitalized on America’s “eat on the run” society. Believing in the real profits of fast food, he bought out the McDonald brothers and developed a restaurant empire. By the 1960s, he had 228 restaurants with annual sales totaling $37... View Details

Keywords: Restaurants & Lodging

01 Mar 2008
News

Class of 2007 Fellowship Awarded

development. Kim focused on developing a sustainable model for delivering health care to rural India. “If you create a profitable solution, it can be scalable,” he explains. Upon earning his MBA, Kim is committed to helping people in... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Sep 2015
News

3-Minute Briefing: Fred Newman (MBA 1978)

audience shifted in their seats and went “Ooohhh!” Wails of laughter. It had hurt good. The best lesson I learned at HBS: The big progressive companies spent 20 percent of their profit on R&D. Twenty percent of my time—one day a week—I do... View Details

Keywords: April White

12 Jan 2004
Research & Ideas

Does Your HQ Operation Fit With Corporate Strategy?

size of a company's headquarters—it could be that profitable companies waste their money on large headquarters—but it does suggest that companies should not necessarily be looking to minimize the size of their headquarters. Q: The lean... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

January 2011 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Elizabeth Jacobs: Price-Earnings Ratios and Employee Stock Option Grants

By: David F. Hawkins

Analyst questions the value of accounting measurement of earnings per share and stock option costs for equity valuation purposes. View Details

Keywords: Earnings Management; Business Earnings; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Stock Shares; Employee Ownership; Stock Options; Equity; Accounting Audits; Valuation; Profit Sharing; Accounting Industry

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Zach Komes Archives | Social Enterprise

Impact Measurement Inclusive Finance International Development K-12 Education Leadership Fellows Leadership in Challenging Times MBA Programs Microfinance Non Profit Management Nonprofit Supportive Services Public Sector Public-Private... View Details

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Robert Abare Archives | Social Enterprise

Impact Measurement Inclusive Finance International Development K-12 Education Leadership Fellows Leadership in Challenging Times MBA Programs Microfinance Non Profit Management Nonprofit Supportive Services Public Sector Public-Private... View Details

09 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 9, 2010

weakening connections between business growth and job creation. The industrial economy of the 20th century ensured that growing firms would need to add workers, but the increasingly globalized and information-based economy of the early 21st century makes it possible... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Jan 2017
Blog Post

Crossing the River: The HBS/HKS Joint Degree Program

public sector is dynamic, generating possibilities that neither sector alone could create. Reconciling social equity and economic justice with the profit motive continues to be one of our world’s greatest challenges, and my studies helped... View Details

03 Nov 2022
Blog Post

Introducing the Creating Emerging Markets Sustainability Series

inter-related and pressing challenges of climate change, income/educational inequality, and poor health systems. While building highly successful businesses, they have not been satisfied with Milton Friedman’s dogma stating that the sole purpose of business is to... View Details

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IFC: Cape Town; Africa Rising - Course Catalog

opportunity for both impact and profit are underappreciated. The Africa IFC will highlight the many opportunities and potential challenges for students interested in business on the continent. Students will visit and work with companies... View Details

27 Mar 2023
News

A Sporting Chance

required him to call on the soft skills he learned at HBS. "The people there are not profit driven or bonus driven; they are in life to help people and give back to society," he says. His goals for the foundation are to grow it to the... View Details

Keywords: Ralph Ranalli

01 Feb 2002
News

Telling the Electronic Century's Unfinished Story

capabilities and learning in areas such as marketing, production, and distribution. This is what I call a "virtuous strategy," which basically means that the learning and profits from an early innovation are then applied to the next one.... View Details

Keywords: Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution; Utilities

24 Oct 2024
Blog Post

Trailblazing Success with Global Reach and Impact: Scott Wallinger (AMP 82, 1979)

forestry operations across the company. In 1974, at the age of 33, I was promoted to Division Manager of the Timberlands Division, overseeing 1.2 million acres of forest land across six southeastern states. The division was a profit... View Details

William T. Kerr

Kerr expanded Meredith Corporation by focusing on its core business and directly managing its financial performance. Over the last few years, the company compounded its earnings per share at 33% per year and tripled its profit margin to... View Details

Keywords: Publishing & Print Media

05 May 2003
What Do You Think?

Is This a Golden Era for Marketing Productivity?

proportion of a firm's customers that account for nearly all of its profits may not exceed 10 percent when one takes into account the significant impact of so-called "apostle/owners" on a business. These are customers who are... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

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