Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,906)
- Faculty Publications (421)
- February 1997 (Revised July 2001)
- Background Note
Introduction to Activity-Based Costing
By: Robert S. Kaplan
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
- November 1996 (Revised March 2001)
- Case
Sime Darby Berhad (A): 1995
By: Tarun Khanna, Michael Y. Yoshino and Danielle J. Melito
Sime Darby is one of South Asia's largest regional conglomerates. In 1995, it is contemplating entry into the fast-growing financial services sector in Malaysia through the acquisition of a Malaysian bank. This is in keeping with its activities mirroring those of the... View Details
- June 1996 (Revised November 1996)
- Background Note
Economic Gains from Trade: Comparative Advantage
By: Robert E. Kennedy and Nancy F. Koehn
How nations trade and whether they benefit from it are two of the oldest and most important questions in political economy. In the 170 years since David Ricardo formally developed the theory of comparative advantage, it has become one of the principles most widely... View Details
- February 1996 (Revised November 1996)
- Case
Viacom, Inc.: Carpe Diem
By: Joseph L. Bower and Thomas R. Eisenmann
Viacom has reached a powerful position in the global entertainment industry through skillful and very bold acquisitions. Now its further expansion is challenged by the moves of Rupert Murdock's News Corp. Different businesses within Viacom have contradictory positions... View Details
- October 1995 (Revised May 2006)
- Case
Andersen Consulting - EMEAI: Reorganization for Revitalization
By: Ashish Nanda and Michael Y. Yoshino
Vernon Ellis, managing partner of Andersen Consulting -- Europe, Middle East, Africa, and India (AC -- EMEAI), is considering how best to reorganize. AC -- EMEAI has grown rapidly over the past five years to become Europe's largest consulting operation. However, Ellis... View Details
- August 1995 (Revised August 1995)
- Case
CIGNA Property and Casualty Reengineering (A)
By: Richard L. Nolan, Donna B. Stoddard, Chiara Francalanci and Elise C Martin
Reengineering was introduced at CIGNA Corp. in 1988. CIGNA entered a second wave reengineering effort through a major project at CIGNA P&C, one of CIGNA's larger businesses. P&C was in financial crisis and as a result brought in a new executive team in 1991 to head the... View Details
- February 1995 (Revised August 1995)
- Case
Microsoft in the People's Republic of China, 1993
By: Tarun Khanna
Explores some of the economic and political tradeoffs that need to be negotiated by a firm seeking to influence industry structure. The setting is the nascent personal computer software industry in the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1993. Microsoft has to localize... View Details
- June 1994 (Revised March 1995)
- Case
Swissair's Alliances (A)
By: David B. Yoffie
Swissair established two alliance networks in 1989 in order to improve its competitiveness. In order to evaluate the benefits of the alliances, Swissair's history, products, and cost structure are described, as is the international airline industry and the major... View Details
- May 1994
- Background Note
Designing Channels of Distribution
Presents a framework and a method for addressing the new product channel choice decision. Offers a six-step method that involves: 1) disaggregating and prioritizing a distribution channel by customers' channel function requirements; 2) obtaining and combining... View Details
- March 1994 (Revised April 1994)
- Case
Eli Lilly and Co.: The Flexible Facility Decision--1993
By: Gary P. Pisano
In 1993, Eli Lilly is preparing to build manufacturing capacity for three new pharmaceutical products that it expects to launch in 1996. Management wrestles with a decision of whether to add specialized manufacturing capacity or flexible capacity. This question touches... View Details
- 1994
- Other Unpublished Work
The Value Choices in State and Local Spending: A Workbook
By: Dutch Leonard and Monica Friar
- November 1993 (Revised April 2007)
- Case
Continental Airlines--1992 (Abridged)
By: Stuart C. Gilson
The CEO is preparing a recommendation to the board regarding several potential outside investments in the company, which is currently operating in bankruptcy. In making his decision, the CEO has to consider various financial and strategic factors, including possible... View Details
- October 1993 (Revised March 2023)
- Case
Conflict on a Trading Floor (A)
By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Jerry Useem
A junior salesperson on FirstAmerica Bank's trading floor is assisting a top salesperson, Linda, on a deal to finance the construction of a new cruise ship for Poseidon Cruise Lines. While the terms of the deal are being worked out, he realizes Linda has taken... View Details
- October 1993 (Revised July 1994)
- Case
A Brush with AIDS (A)
By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Jerry Useem
A product manager at a health products company is responsible for marketing sharps containers, which hospitals use to store used needles in order to protect medical workers from being pricked with AIDS-contaminated needles. After hospitals report repeated instances of... View Details
- September 1993 (Revised December 1993)
- Case
Cott Corp.: Private Label in the 1990s
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Robert S. Kaplan
Private label cola, Cott, gets 30% of the market in Canada. How does it move into the U.S. market? How do retailers evaluate its benefit costs? Does Cott use an existing structure or build new ones? Does Cott diversify from drink to snack foods? View Details
- November 1992 (Revised December 1992)
- Case
Deere & Co. (A): The Computer Aided Manufacturing Services Division - A Window to the World (Abridged)
By: Robert H. Hayes
The Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) Services Division of John Deere has just received approval to sell their software and computer systems to external customers. These tools, initially developed for internal use, have been widely used throughout Deere. Still,... View Details
- September 1992 (Revised October 1992)
- Case
Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (B)
In addition to the issues of expected cost minimization elucidated in Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (A), problems involving regulatory uncertainty are critical to the firm's Clean Air Act compliance strategy. The regulatory uncertainty affects, and is affected by, the... View Details
- February 1992 (Revised April 1993)
- Case
Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (A)
The Southern Co., an electric utility, is planning its compliance with the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act. The Act established a system of tradeable permits for sulfur dioxide emissions. The company must decide whether to install pollution control equipment and... View Details
- December 1991 (Revised October 1998)
- Case
Eli Lilly and Co.: Manufacturing Process Technology Strategy--1991
By: Gary P. Pisano, Steven C. Wheelwright and Jonathan West
Outlines the evolution of Lilly's corporate manufacturing strategy over the past decade. The corporate vice president of manufacturing must decide on the next phase of Lilly's strategy for the early 1990s, as well as to what extent and what role process development... View Details
- November 1991 (Revised December 1996)
- Case
Pressco, Inc.--1985
A capital budgeting problem is viewed from the context of a marketing representative attempting to make a sale of energy saving heavy industrial equipment. Tax law changes promise to have a significant impact on the customer's decision process. Teaching purpose: To... View Details