Publications

July 1996
Article

New Derivative Accounting Standard Proposed

By: David F. Hawkins

Keywords: Accounting; Standards

September – October 2008
Article

Care Platforms: A Basic Building Block for Care Delivery

By: Richard Bohmer and David Lawrence

Without significant operational reform within the nation's health care delivery organizations, new financing models, payment systems, or structures are unlikely to realize their promise. Adapting insights from high-performing companies in other high-risk, high-cost,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management Systems; Standards; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Business Processes; Organizational Design; Customization and Personalization; Health Industry

August 2021
Case

Orchadio's First Two Split Experiments

By: Iavor I. Bojinov, Marco Iansiti and David Lane

Orchadio, a direct-to-consumer grocery business, needs to conduct its first two A/B tests—one to evaluate the effectiveness and functioning of its newly redesigned website, and one to market-test four versions of a new banner for the website. To do so, it will rely on... View Details

Keywords: Information Management; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Resource Allocation; Marketing; Measurement and Metrics; Customization and Personalization; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

October 2004 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Sonoco Products Company (A): Building a World-Class HR Organization

By: David A. Thomas, Boris Groysberg and Cate Reavis

Describes the steps the vice-president of human resources takes in revamping an HR function that was noncooperative and, at times, competitive and introducing the company to the notion of HR as a strategic business partner. Explores changes made to the company's... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Compensation and Benefits; Management Succession; Measurement and Metrics; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy

September 2005
Article

Benchmarking Corporate Centre Staffs

By: David J. Collis and Michael Goold

Keywords: Standards; Employees

31 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

Improving Fairness in Flight Delays

interesting insights." In another line of research, Fearing is working with MIT faculty member Steve Graves, Ph.D. student Jason Acimovic, and Columbia University professor Mark Broadie to develop "Strokes Gained Putting,"... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Entertainment & Recreation; Air Transportation

June 2011
Article

The Paradox of Excellence

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Sara DeLong

Why is it that so many smart, ambitious professionals are less productive and satisfied than they could be? We argue that it's often because they're afraid to demonstrate any sign of weakness. They're reluctant to ask important questions or try new... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Innovation and Invention; Strength and Weakness; Performance Productivity; Risk and Uncertainty; Motivation and Incentives; Satisfaction

2017
Article

Making Transparency Transparent: The Evolution of Observation in Management Theory

By: Ethan Bernstein

Observation is key to management scholarship and practice. Yet a holistic view of its role in management has been elusive, in part due to shifting terminology. The current popularity of the term “transparency” provides the occasion for a thorough review, which finds... View Details

Read Now

11 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Adding Time to Activity-Based Costing

foundations of strategic costing systems. The breakthrough came by combining an idea I had while writing Cost & Effect with an innovation developed by Steve Anderson, an HBS MBA, who was a student in my second-year elective, Cost View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Gerald C. Chertavian

I am currently teaching Social Entrepreneurship and Systems Change (SESC) as a 2nd year Elective Course. The premise of the course is that social entrepreneurs don’t just build organizations, they change systems. The course explores the frameworks, tools, mindsets,... View Details

Keywords: Social Impact; Systems Change; Social Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Housing; Climate Change; Entrepreneurship; Food; Governance; Leadership; Measurement and Metrics; Social Enterprise; System; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; North and Central America; South America

2007
Working Paper

Evidence from Goodwill Non-impairments on the Effects of Unverifiable Fair-Value Accounting

By: Karthik Ramanna and Ross L. Watts

SFAS 142 requires firms to use unverifiable fair-value estimates to determine goodwill impairments. Standard setters suggest managers will use the discretion given by such estimates to convey private information on future cash flows, while agency theory predicts... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Goodwill Accounting; Standards; Agency Theory

SSRN

Read Now

30 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Why Evolutionary Software Development Works

ratings were gathered using a two-round Delphi (in which information from the first round is given to all experts to help them make their final assessment). To assess the resource productivity of each project, the researchers calculated a View Details

Keywords: by Alan MacCormack; Technology

October 9, 2001
Article

New Asset Retirement Obligation Standard Explained

By: David F. Hawkins

Keywords: Assets; Standards

23 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Corporate Sustainability Reporting: It’s Effective

came after several countries began requiring that companies report their metrics on environmental footprint, worker safety, and similar issues in a systematic, uniform way. But does this reporting actually... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

April 2012
Article

The Changing Ecology of Teams: New Directions for Teams Research

By: Ruth Wageman, Heidi K. Gardner and Mark Mortensen

The nature of collaboration has been changing at an accelerating pace, particularly in the last decade. Much of the published work in teams research, however, is still focused on the archetypal team that has well-defined membership, purposes, leadership, and standards... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Research; Change Management; Leadership; Standards; Performance Effectiveness; Theory; Civil Society or Community

2012
Working Paper

The International Politics of IFRS Harmonization

By: Karthik Ramanna

The globalization of accounting standards as seen through the proliferation of IFRS worldwide is one of the most important developments in corporate governance over the last decade. I offer an analysis of some international political dynamics of countries' IFRS... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Standards; Globalization; IASB; IFRS; Politics; Financial Reporting; International Accounting; Global Strategy; Corporate Governance; Policy; Government and Politics; Standards; China; India; Canada

SSRN

December 1999 (Revised April 2012)
Background Note

Earnings Per Share

By: David F. Hawkins

Discusses accounting rules for earnings per share measurement. The U.S. approach is described in detail and non-U.S. practices are briefly covered. A rewritten version of an earlier note. View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Stock Shares; Profit; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Measurement and Metrics; United States

September 2011 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Trucost: Valuing Corporate Environmental Impacts

By: Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

Trucost provided corporate environmental performance data and analysis to institutional investors and corporate managers, but after operating for a decade had yet to achieve profitability. Trucost was struggling to effectively differentiate its high quality products... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Distribution Channels; Investment; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Information; Value; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Services Industry