Publications

March 1989 (Revised March 1999)
Case

Metabo GmbH & Co. KG

By: Robert S. Kaplan

A privately owned German power tool company was dissatisfied with its existing cost system. The system could not produce timely accurate reports on cost center operations, and newly purchased automated machines were attracting large overhead costs. A new, highly... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Cost; Budgets and Budgeting; Capital Budgeting; Cost Management; Reports; Private Ownership; Business or Company Management; Consumer Products Industry; Germany

January 1989 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Du Pont Freon Products Division (A)

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Forest L. Reinhardt

In 1988, the Du Pont Co. is abruptly confronted with solid scientific evidence that chlorofluorocarbons are destroying the earth's ozone shield. Du Pont, with its Freon brand product line serving markets for foam insulation, electronics solvents, and especially... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Policy; Management; Brands and Branding; Production; Service Operations; Natural Environment; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Environmental Sustainability

October 1988 (Revised December 1994)
Case

Maytag in 1984

By: David J. Collis and Nancy Donohue

Highlights Maytag's unique position in the industry in 1984. Maytag, a much smaller player than its competitors has prior to 1984 been successful in producing high quality merchandise and charging a premium for it. By 1984 Maytag is also attempting expansion.... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business or Company Management; Production; Quality; Rank and Position; Competition; Expansion; Electronics Industry

May 1988 (Revised November 1990)
Case

Airbus vs. Boeing (B): The Storm Intensifies

By: Malcolm S. Salter

Discusses the growing competition faced by U.S. producers of civil aircraft due to the success and expanding product line of Airbus Industries. Designed to foster discussion of international trade policy as it affects producers in the industry and to encourage firm... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Policy; Negotiation; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Aerospace Industry; United States

February 1987 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Polysar Limited

By: Robert L. Simons

Canada's largest chemical company produces and markets butyl rubber in two divisions, each treated as a profit center. The new plant in the North American Division operates below capacity resulting in a significant volume variance and an operating loss. The European... View Details

Keywords: Loss; Profit; Financial Management; Volume; Performance Capacity; Financial Statements; For-Profit Firms; Market Participation; Chemical Industry; Rubber Industry; Canada

September 1986 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Solagen: Process Improvement in the Manufacture of Gelatin at Kodak

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Brian DeLacey

Kodak must decide whether to make a major investment in a production facility designed around a new technique for producing the gelatin critical to so many film and paper products. Currently, gelatin making is an arcane art, unchanged in 150 years and heavily dependent... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Buildings and Facilities; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Experience and Expertise; Engineering; Investment; Time Management; Production; Research and Development; Semiconductor Industry

1986
Book

Making Strategy Work: How Senior Managers Produce Results

By: Richard G. Hamermesh

Keywords: Management Teams; Strategy

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January 1986 (Revised March 1997)
Case

Horizon Group

By: William A. Sahlman

Contains a description of a situation confronting the co-founder of a company planning to produce software for microcomputers. The company has just completed raising money from some wealthy investors by forming an R&D Limited Partnership. Development of the program (an... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Venture Capital; Partners and Partnerships; Business Plan; Outcome or Result; Research and Development; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Information Technology Industry

March 1982 (Revised September 1985)
Case

Sealed Air Corporation

By: Robert J. Dolan

Market leadership and technological innovation have marked Sealed Air's participation in the U.S. protective packaging market. Several small regional producers have introduced products which are less effective than Sealed Air's but similar in appearance and cheaper.... View Details

Keywords: Product Marketing; Product; Technological Innovation; Supply and Industry; Competitive Advantage; Consumer Products Industry; United States

March 1974 (Revised June 1996)
Case

First National City Bank Operating Group (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Growth in the banking field has produced new demands on the "back office." Traditional management practices in check processing and paper handling operations have resulted in ten years of cost increases and quality loss. New manager of the operating group faces an... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transition; Banks and Banking; Management Practices and Processes; Managerial Roles; Production; Banking Industry

Research Summary

Financial Risk Management

By: Richard F. Meyer

Richard F. Meyer is exploring the theory and practice of financial risk management in corporations worldwide. Three primary objectives of his research are: to understand the underlying sources of risk and corporations' exposure to them; to identify appropriate,... View Details

Research Summary

Management Control Systems in Multiunit Companies

By: Tatiana Sandino

Professor Sandino conducts research on early-stage multiunit companies that introduce management control systems to help maintain operations, as well as company culture, as they grow, but also to enable adaptation to the different markets that they serve. Building... View Details

Teaching Interest

Managing Human Capital

By: Ethan S. Bernstein

The Managing Human Capital course has been specifically designed to teach practical skills for the future general manager (not just the human resource practitioner) who seeks to manage both other people and her or his own career with optimal... View Details

Research Summary

Research Questions

By: Anita Elberse

One overarching question drives my research: What are effective marketing strategies for managers in creative industries?

I focus on three sub-questions:

How can managers in creative industries effectively manage products and product... View Details

Teaching Interest

Supply Chain Management

By: Kris Johnson Ferreira

The Supply Chain Management (SCM) course builds on aspects of the first-year Technology and Operations Management (RC TOM) course. However, whereas RC TOM focuses primarily on developing and producing products and services, SCM emphasizes managing... View Details

Teaching Interest

The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports (Executive Education)

By: Anita Elberse

In the business of entertainment, digital technologies are dramatically disrupting the way products are developed, marketed, and distributed. As a result of this paradigm shift, entertainment executives and content producers are challenged to effectively allocate... View Details

Forthcoming
Article

The Institutional Sources of Economic Transformation: Explaining Variation in Energy Transitions

By: Jared Finnegan, Phillip Lipscy, Jonas Meckling and Florence Metz

Why are some governments more effective in promoting economic change than others? We develop a theory of the institutional sources of economic transformation. Institutions can facilitate transformation through two central mechanisms: insulation and compensation.... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Business and Government Relations; Supply and Industry; Demand and Consumers; Transformation; Economic Systems; Climate Change

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