Publications

March 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Midwest Office Products

Presents an easy introduction to time-driven activity-based costing (ABC) that allows students to build a simple ABC model of order profitability. Midwest's time-driven ABC approach is based on two categories of parameter estimates. The first is the cost per hour of... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Price; Activity Based Costing and Management; Time Management; Financial Reporting; Profit; Performance Improvement; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Performance Evaluation

February 1997 (Revised July 2001)
Background Note

Introduction to Activity-Based Costing

Introduces the fundamental notions of activity-based costing (ABC). Motivates ABC by means of a simple example, a single and a diversified pen factory. Proceeds to show how ABC assigns costs more accurately to products and customers by: 1) identifying the activities... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management

2010
Working Paper

Conceptual Foundations of the Balanced Scorecard

David Norton and I introduced the Balanced Scorecard in a 1992 Harvard Business Review article (Kaplan & Norton, 1992). The article was based on a multi-company research project to study performance measurement in companies whose intangible assets played a central role... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Balanced Scorecard; Management Systems; Performance Improvement; Strategy

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June 2005
Teaching Note

Accounting Fraud at WorldCom (TN)

Teaching Note to (9-104-071). View Details

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Accounting; Crime and Corruption; Governing and Advisory Boards; Telecommunications Industry

March 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Background Note

Activity-Based Costing and Capacity

Discusses the use of budgeted rather than historical data in an activity-based costing (ABC) model and argues for calculating rates using practical capacity, not actual utilization. An ABC model need not be limited to analysis of historical data. When cost driver rates... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Accounting Industry

07 Apr 2020
News

Crisis Management for Leaders: Recognizing and Managing Novel Risks in Your Supply Chain

1974
Chapter

Management Accounting in Hospitals: A Case Study

Keywords: Accounting; Health Industry

Find at Harvard

Article

Measuring and Managing Customer Profitability

By: Robert S. Kaplan and V.G. Narayanan

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Management; Customers; Profit

Find at Harvard

Web

Finance Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Greg Saldutte (HBS Case 218-095). Victoria Ivashina : Received the Robert F. Greenhill Award for Outstanding Service to the HBS Community in 2023. Ishita Sen : Winner of the 2023 E-Axes Forum Best Paper Prize in Macroeconomic Policies and... View Details

Web

General Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Received the 2022 Pioneer Award in Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center. Gerald C. Chertavian : Named one of 20 Linkedin Top Voices in Social Impact in 2022. Regina E. Herzlinger : Received the View Details

Web

AASU50 - Alumni

Kimberly A. Kispert, MBA 1981 George L. Van Amson, MBA 1982 Kym M. Nelson, MBA 1983 George Ellis, MBA 1984 Gail S. Morales, MBA 1985 Robert R. Davenport III, MBA 1986 Stuart A. Taylor, II, MBA 1987 Arnold J. Lewis, MBA 1988 Belinda C.... View Details

30 Jul 2001
What Do You Think?

What’s the Future of Corporate Governance?

leadership for an organization. Robert Kaplan and David Norton, in their books, The Balanced Scorecard and The Strategy-Focused Organization, have argued for performance measures and reward practices that... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

February 2006 (Revised September 2006)
Case

Sippican Corporation (A)

Presents a time-driven version of the Wilkerson Co. activity-based costing case (101092). Faced with declining profits, Sippican Corp. is struggling to understand why it is encountering severe price competition on one product line. The controller collects data that... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Model; Strategic Planning; Cost Accounting; Motivation and Incentives; Resource Allocation; Activity Based Costing and Management; Profit; Business Strategy; Budgets and Budgeting

June 1998 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Wells Fargo Online Financial Services (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Nicole Tempest

Wells Fargo, the industry leader in electronic banking, has implemented a Balanced Scorecard in its online financial services group (OFS) to track and measure performance. The OFS group develops and supports services that allow existing and future banking customers to... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Internet and the Web; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Finance; Change; Situation or Environment; Measurement and Metrics; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

Web

Harvard Business School

Crockett Post-Doctoral Fellow, Lecturer 2000 - 2002 Erika Hayes James Visiting Associate Professor 2008 - 2009 Michael D. Kimbrough Assistant, Associate Professor 2002 - 2010 Tsedal Neeley Associate Professor 2007 - present Laura Morgan View Details

February 2010 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Anette Mikes

The case, in a non-profit project-oriented setting, introduces fundamental risk management principles and processes that are easily applicable to private sector settings. Gentry Lee, senior systems engineer and de-facto chief risk officer, is applying a new... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Governance; Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Management Systems; Risk Management; Projects; Aerospace Industry; United States