Publications

25 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

China’s Economic System has Difficult Road Overcoming its Political System

at all. In many cases, in fact, the state actually hurts innovation in order to benefit the Party. Take the case of Grace Vineyard, a private winery that makes the best wine in China. "And yet, it has to compete with state-owned... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

September 2022
Article

Tone at the Bottom: Measuring Corporate Misconduct Risk from the Text of Employee Reviews

By: Dennis W. Campbell and Ruidi Shang

This paper examines whether information extracted via text-based statistical methods applied to employee reviews left on the website Glassdoor.com can be used to develop indicators of corporate misconduct risk. We argue that inside information on the incidence of... View Details

Keywords: Management Accounting; Management Control; Corporate Culture; Corporate Misconduct; Risk Measurement; Organizational Culture; Crime and Corruption; Risk and Uncertainty; Measurement and Metrics

June 2001 (Revised February 2005)
Background Note

Creative Destruction of Industrial Age Management Principles and Creative Construction of Information Age Management Principles

By: Richard L. Nolan

Traces the creative destruction of industrial age management principles and creative construction of new management principles more appropriate for the information age. Includes self-administered questionnaire to permit managers to assess the status of the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Disruptive Innovation; Goals and Objectives; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Personal Development and Career; System; Information Technology

May 2020
Teaching Note

Danone: Changing the Food System

By: David E. Bell, Federica Gabrieli, Daniela Beyersdorfer, Amy Klopfenstein and Aldo Sesia

Teaching Note for HBS No. 520-053.
This is a teaching note for the case “Danone: Changing the Food System?” The case examines the efforts of one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies to resolve the social, environmental, and economic issues within... View Details

Keywords: Food; Goods and Commodities; Agribusiness; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Environmental Management; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; France; Paris

June 2018
Teaching Note

Meridian Systems (Brief Case)

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Michael J. Roberts

Teaching Note for HBS No. 918-533. The key issues discussed in the Meridian teaching note concern sales force deployment: decisions about how to focus sales efforts with respect to territories, customers, and products. The teaching note explains the strengths and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Sales; Strategy; Salesforce Management; Organizational Structure; Technological Innovation; Marketing Strategy

February 2010
Article

Managing Know-How

By: Deishin Lee and Eric J. Van den Steen

We study how firms can use a knowledge management system to optimally leverage employee-generated know-how. In particular, we consider the following practical strategic questions for the manager of a knowledge-intensive firm: should her firm develop a formal knowledge... View Details

Keywords: Change; Employees; Information; Knowledge Management; Outcome or Result; Practice; Problems and Challenges; Motivation and Incentives; System; Value

Read Now

January 2013 (Revised March 2017)
Teaching Note

Luotang Power: Variances Explained (Brief Case)

By: Robert Simons and Craig Chapman

The primary objective is to explore the concepts of variance analysis in performance from one year to the next and the predictability of contracting counterparts to extract value from contract positions where they can. The general manager of a coal-fired power plant... View Details

Keywords: Variance Analysis; Strategy And Execution; Profitability Analysis; Management Control Systems; Contracts; Valuation; Energy Generation; Accounting; Performance Evaluation; China

February 1993 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Hewlett-Packard Imaging Systems Division: Sonos 100 C/F Introduction

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Marie Bell

The marketing manager for the Imaging Systems business unit (ISY) at Hewlett-Packard Medical Products Group is considering channel strategy and channel management issues raised by the upcoming introduction of a new cardiac imaging product. Product marketing's plans... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Channels; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Distribution Channels; Sales; Competitive Strategy

25 Sep 2024
HBS Seminar

Nan Clement, MIT Sloan School of Management

01 Sep 2003
News

From Control to the Uncontrollable: Faculty Research Symposium Offers Range of Ideas

capital within the School, strengthen the intellectual community, and celebrate the faculty’s research accomplishments. This year’s symposium featured thirteen faculty members presenting research on topics ranging from managing multisite... View Details

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

2011
Teaching Note

UFIDA (C) (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donglin Xia and E. Chen

This case documents the evolution of UFIDA's management control system over a decade as it grew five-fold from a 325 million RMB to a 1.66 billion RMB company, while its staff grew by more than three-fold. View Details

Keywords: Budgeting; Computer Software; Emerging Markets; Management Controls; Performance Management; Planning; China; Applications and Software; China

Research Summary

Risk Management

The recent proliferation of risk management, as a management control system, and the continuing failures in risk oversight suggest that risk practices warrant further research and understanding.

My mission, ambition, and indeed passion is to document,... View Details

Organizational Design and Control Across Multiple Markets: The Case of Franchising in the Convenience Store Industry

Many companies operate units that are dispersed across different types of markets, serving significantly diverging customer bases. Such dispersion is likely to compromise headquarters' ability to control local managers' behavior and satisfy the needs of different... View Details

July 1989 (Revised April 1996)
Case

AUCNET: TV Auction Network System

The AUCNET system links buyers and sellers in the wholesale used car market in Japan. Video images delivered via videodisk or satellite along with an inspector's opinion and objective character based data are used to conduct a realtime auction over computers and... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Auctions; Service Industry; Japan; United States

July 2011
Article

Unexploited Efficiencies in Higher Education

By: Henry C. Eyring

In "Unexploited Efficiencies in Higher Education," Henry C. Eyring argues that one way that the U.S. can compete globally in college attainment is to decrease cost-per-graduate. He explains how many stakeholders in higher education stand to benefit from unexploited... View Details

Keywords: Performance Measurement; Innovation; Control Systems; Education; Performance Evaluation; Innovation and Invention; Education Industry; United States

Read Now

July 2012
Case

New Century Financial Corporation (Abridged)

By: Krishna G. Palepu, Suraj Srinivasan and Ian Cornell

After years of rapid growth and stock price appreciation, New Century Financial Corporation, one of the largest subprime loan originators in the U.S., reported accounting problems in early 2007. The resulting liquidity crisis forced the company to file for Chapter 11... View Details

Keywords: Audit Committees; Financial Management; Control Systems; Securities; Loan Evaluation; Accounting; Value; Financial Services Industry; United States

April 2013
Case

Managing with Analytics at Procter & Gamble

By: Thomas H. Davenport, Marco Iansiti and Alain Serels

Senior management at P&G has put a strong emphasis on using data to make "better, smarter, real-time business decisions." The Global Business Services (GBS) organization has developed tools, systems and processes to provide managers throughout P&G with direct access to... View Details

Keywords: Analytics; Data Management; Forecasting; Shared Services; Procter ＆ Gamble; Laundry Detergent; Information Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Information Technology; Mathematical Methods; Consumer Products Industry; North America

January 2014
Case

Social Strategy at Cisco Systems

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Daniel Malter and Aaron Smith

In April 2013, Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn, vice president and general manager for Learning@Cisco Systems, was planning the future of the Cisco Learning Network, an online platform hosted at Cisco.com. Since its launch in 2008, the Cisco Learning Network provided content to... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Competency and Skills; Learning; Web Services Industry