Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(3,865)
- Faculty Publications (306)
- September 1997
- Case
Information at the World Bank: In Search of a Technology Solution (A)
By: W. Earl Sasser, Josep Valor and Carin-Isabel Knoop
Information Technology Services Director Mohamed Muhsin planned to restructure the World Bank's information technology in response to President Jim Wolfensohn's call to build a knowledge bank. Several reorganization efforts taken by the bank in the 1980s led to a... View Details
- December 1996 (Revised July 2002)
- Background Note
Note on Marketing and the Internet
By: John A. Deighton, Alison Berkley and John Barabino
The World Wide Web is new, a comprehensive marketing environment. It is a medium for direct marketing, for retailing and distribution, for the delivery of service and product elements, for marketing research, and even for posting and testing prices. This note explores... View Details
- March 1996 (Revised January 1997)
- Case
America Online: Using Information Technology to Better Serve the Customer
By: James I. Cash Jr. and Judy E. Stahl
Mike Connors, president of AOL Technologies, examines several efforts to correct operational problems inhibiting the company's growth. What will need to be done to support growth and counter competition from Prodigy, Compuserv, and Internet-related services? View Details
- February 1996 (Revised November 2003)
- Case
Indianapolis: Activity-Based Costing of City Services (A)
By: Robert S. Kaplan
A new administration in the City of Indianapolis is initially determined to privatize many municipal services. Before taking this action, however, the city managers want to know the current cost of performing these services with the municipal workers. Existing... View Details
- September 1994 (Revised October 2002)
- Case
Citibank: Launching the Credit Card in Asia Pacific (A)
Consumer Bank pondered the possibilities of launching a credit card in the Asia Pacific region. The bank's New York headquarters, and several of its country managers in the region, were not enthusiastic. But others were supportive because of the opportunity to expand... View Details
- November 1992 (Revised June 1994)
- Case
Packaged Products Company: Handy-Pak Introduction
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Laura Goode
The product manager and the market research director for a new line of snacking nuts are reviewing options concerning the upcoming roll-out of the product. These options include changes in pricing, promotional plans, and salesforce incentives intended to build support... View Details
- October 1992 (Revised September 1996)
- Case
McDonald's Corporation
By: David M. Upton and Joshua D. Margolis
McDonald's has over many years built an operating strategy based on consistency and quality through a limited product range. Competitive forces have drawn the company into a much wider variety of foods and services in order to maintain growth. Now, new competitors... View Details
- July 1991 (Revised September 1995)
- Case
Eastman Kodak Co.: Managing Information Systems Through Strategic Alliances
In January 1988, Colby Chandler, Kodak CEO, created the Corporate Information Systems (CIS) and appointed Katherine Hudson head. She at once became the first head of IT and first woman corporate vice president in the company. Throughout 1989, Hudson inaugurated a... View Details
- Article
Enfranchisement of Service Workers
By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and James Heskett
Enfranchisement is achieved through an integration of empowerment with methods of pay for performance. Evidence from Ito Yokado Group in Japan and Nordstrom in the US demonstrates the positive effects of enfranchisement. Successful efforts to enfranchise employees: 1.... View Details
- November 1990 (Revised February 1991)
- Case
L. William Seidman and the Resolution Trust Corp.
- October 1990 (Revised March 1993)
- Background Note
Note on Cable Television Regulation
Examines the evolution of the U.S. cable television industry since its inception in the early 1950s. Particular emphasis is given to the roles played by technology, consumer demand, and regulation at both the local and federal level. Designed to facilitate a conceptual... View Details
- July 1989 (Revised April 2001)
- Case
Kanthal (A)
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Multinational company needs an improved cost system to determine the profitability of individual customer orders. Its strategy is to have significant sales and profitability growth without adding additional administrative and support people. The new cost system... View Details
- January 1989 (Revised March 1991)
- Case
General Electric Canada: Designing a New Organization
By: Lynda M. Applegate and James I. Cash Jr.
General Electric Canada used sociotechnical design techniques to restructure its financial, administrative, facilities, and information technology service from a decentralized, hierarchical organization to a centralized organization composed of self-managing,... View Details
- May 1987 (Revised February 2000)
- Case
Codman & Shurtleff, Inc.: Planning and Control System
By: Robert L. Simons
Detailed description of the planning and control systems in use at Johnson & Johnson. Focuses on the actions of managers in one subsidiary in revising budget targets. Illustrates intensive strategic planning and financial planning process in a large, decentralized... View Details
- Forthcoming
- Article
Achieving Epilepsy Care for All: Ecosystem-Based Transformation
By: Susanna Gallani, Bernice Martin Lee and Lidia M. V. R. Moura
Epilepsy exemplifies many of the systemic challenges of modern health care— fragmented care delivery, inequitable access, financial strain, and so on. The current “system of systems” (SoS) structure of U.S. health care fosters siloed operations among its member systems... View Details
- Research Summary
Building Small Business Utopia: How Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Can Increase Small Business Success
By: Karen Mills
Small business lending has remained unchanged for decades, laden with frictions and barriers that prevent many small businesses from accessing the capital they need to succeed. Financial technology, or “fintech,” promises to change this trajectory. In 2010, new fintech... View Details
- Forthcoming
- Article
Engaging Customers with AI in Online Chats: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment
By: Shunyuan Zhang and Das Narayandas
We examine how artificial intelligence (AI) affected the productivity of customer service agents and customer sentiment in online interactions. Collaborating with a meal delivery company, we conducted a randomized field experiment that exploited exogenous variation in... View Details
- Forthcoming
- Article
Geographies of Discontent: Public Service Deprivation and the Rise of the Far Right in Italy
By: Simone Cremaschi, Paula Rettl, Marco Cappelluti and Catherine E. De Vries
Electoral support for far-right parties is often linked to geographies of discontent.
We argue that public service deprivation, defined as reduced access to public services
at the local level, plays an important role in explaining these patterns. By exploiting
an... View Details