Publications

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Course Development

By: Debora L. Spar

Managing International Trade and Investment

Despite the ease with which it is often conducted, doing business across borders is not the same as doing it at home. Rather, it entails a whole new set of managerial challenges: re-assessing competitive... View Details

July 1991 (Revised May 1993)
Case

Fairfield Inn (B)

By: James L. Heskett

The manager of a Fairfield Inn located near a family entertainment center is requesting special consideration for a falling quality rating caused, in his opinion, by unusually high occupancy rates at his unit. The case raises questions about quality measurement,... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Measurement and Metrics; Performance Consistency; Quality; Strategy; Accommodations Industry

September 7, 2020
Article

Where ESG Ratings Fail: The Case for New Metrics

By: Mark R. Kramer, Nina Jais, Erin E. Sullivan, Carina Wendell, Kerry Rodriguez, Carlo Papa, Carlo Napoli and Filippo Forti

One agency’s A+ is another’s “laggard” — and neither links to financial performance. Hybrid metrics will change everything, argue Harvard Business School’s Mark Kramer and leaders in the shared-value movement. View Details

Keywords: ESG Ratings; Shared Value; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Performance; Measurement and Metrics

Read Now

March 2011
Case

Insight Communications

By: Rajiv Lal and Natalie Kindred

After undertaking a multi-year, metrics-driven operational and cultural overhaul, in April 2010 Insight Communications was planning the next phase of its development. Insight was a New York-based provider of cable, landline phone, and high-speed Internet service to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Competitive Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Improvement; Growth Management; Management Systems; Business Processes; Measurement and Metrics; Employees; Telecommunications Industry; New York (state, US)

11 Oct 2004
Research & Ideas

Four Ways to Create Lasting Change

systems and processes. Moreover, the firm had experienced a slight decline in performance and increasing competition from major rivals prior to his arrival. We were intrigued... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

27 Sep 2016
First Look

September 27, 2016

plans and performance measurement systems to implement their strategy and explores the five organizational... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 1998
Case

Grupo Industrial Bimbo S.A. (1998)

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Srinivas Sunder

A leading Mexican agribusiness firm wants to expand in the United States and other locations. How to do so in a manner that utilizes the strengths of the company? View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Food; Global Strategy; Strength and Weakness; Expansion; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States; Mexico

14 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

Keeping Your Balance With Customers

A successful CM strategy must address each of the following processes. (Typical objectives and measures for customer management are shown in Figure 1.) 1. Customer selection.... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton

21 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

Racial Diversity Pays Off

the benefit of racial diversity alone, done right, pays off not just in a better company, but a more productive one. In new research that focuses specifically on racial diversity, Ely said they found measurable View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

18 Jun 2012
Research & Ideas

Better by the Bunch: Evaluating Job Candidates in Groups

people are evaluated jointly rather than separately regarding their future performance. These findings are presented in the working paper When Performance Trumps Gender Bias: Joint versus Separate Evaluation, coauthored by HKS Professor... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

16 Aug 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

HBS Introduces Marketing Analysis Tools for Managers

learn to measure market demand and calculate market penetration rates and market share. "Situation Analysis": Before managers can begin to formulate marketing View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

May 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Gap, Inc., 2000

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

From humble beginnings as a Levi jeans store, by 2000 Gap, Inc. had grown to become the world's leading specialist clothing retailer. Its CEO, Millard S. Drexler, the "merchant prince," was credited with transforming Gap into a global empire, leading the company... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Change; Fashion; Risk and Uncertainty; Competition; Performance Consistency; Problems and Challenges; Globalized Firms and Management; Competitive Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

June 1977 (Revised September 1992)
Case

Sorenson Research Co. (Abridged)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Presents the issues facing a high volume, high margin (but lightweight) medical products business. The company is trying to improve its inventory control to reduce inventory investment and improve service. The present multi-site inventory system is described and major... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Investment; Volume; Service Delivery; Supply Chain; Performance Improvement; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

24 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

Managing Alignment as a Process

outsourcers, and alliance partners are reflected in business unit strategies. Corporate support: The strategies of the local business support units reflect the priorities of the corporate support unit. Using... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Consumer Products; Retail

September 2017
Teaching Note

The Productivity Decline: Demographics, Robots, or Globalization?

By: Laura Alfaro and Hayley Pallan

In the early 21st century, there was a noticeable trend of declining productivity growth. Despite the persistent decline in productivity growth, a consensus on its explanation had not been reached. Some of the debate focused on the technicalities of productivity... View Details

Keywords: Performance Productivity; Measurement and Metrics; Technological Innovation; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Globalization; Business and Government Relations