Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,960)
- Faculty Publications (389)
- March 1991 (Revised May 1991)
- Case
New York Life Insurance Co.: Pension Department
By: Robert J. Dolan
Analyzes competition in the pension fund industry. In particular, New York Life must decide whether to compete head-to-head with mutual fund giants by offering record-keeping services or to just continue to focus on selling investment products. Presents the results of... View Details
- February 1991 (Revised November 2010)
- Case
Tennessee Controls: The Strategic Ranking Problem
By: Robert L. Simons and Dale Geiger
Tennessee Controls has instituted a new formal asset acquisition process to rank competing proposals. Judy Starnes, the new division manager, is asked to rank three proposals by using techniques to quantify economic returns, risk, as well as the credibility of the... View Details
- January 1991 (Revised March 2010)
- Case
Westchester Distributing, Inc. (A)
By: Robert L. Simons and Robert Boxwell
Focuses on the three-way interaction among internal controls, employee behavior, and incentives. Salesmen are illegally providing kickbacks to customers of this beer-distribution firm. In turn, salesmen are reimbursing themselves by filing fraudulent expense reports.... View Details
- January 1991 (Revised March 2010)
- Supplement
Westchester Distributing, Inc. (B)
By: Robert L. Simons and Robert Boxwell
Describes the actions taken by the owner/president to resolve the dilemma. View Details
- January 1991 (Revised March 1992)
- Case
USA Today
By: Robert L. Simons
USA Today is a national newspaper struggling to achieve profitability. This case focuses on the use of management control systems to identify emerging opportunities and the formulation of new strategies. The interactive system used by top managers--the Friday... View Details
Keywords: Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Managerial Roles; Forecasting and Prediction; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Labor and Management Relations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Journalism and News Industry; United States
- October 1990
- Case
Manufacturers Hanover Corp.: Customer Profitability Report
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Banking company noting declining profitability from its traditional lending activities has started to measure the total profitability of its lending relationships. A loan pricing model estimates the profit and return-on-equity from commercial loans. Additional work was... View Details
- July 1990 (Revised October 1999)
- Case
Nordstrom: Dissension in the Ranks? (A)
By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston
In 1989, the performance measurement systems and compensation policies of Nordstrom Department Stores unexpectedly came under attack by employees, unions, and government regulators. The case describes the "sales-per-hour" monitoring and compensation system that many... View Details
- July 1990 (Revised October 1997)
- Case
Siemens Electric Motor Works (A) (Abridged)
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Explores how a cost system can help support a firm's decision to change strategies. In the process, the students are introduced to a simple activity-based cost system. Siemens Electric Motor Works found itself facing an increasingly competitive environment and so made... View Details
- May 1990
- Background Note
Conjoint Analysis: A Manager's Guide
By: Robert J. Dolan
Presents a non-technical description of the conjoint analysis methodology. Discusses the process by which such a study is done and cites areas of application. View Details
- March 1990 (Revised October 1999)
- Case
Mary Kay Cosmetics: Sales Force Incentives (A)
By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston
Describes the incentive system by which Mary Kay Cosmetics motivates the sales force of 200,000 independent agents who comprise the firm's only distribution channel. Illustrates the powerful effect on sales-force behavior that results when creative types of employee... View Details
- January 1990 (Revised March 1991)
- Case
American Red Cross Blood Services: Northeast Region
By: Robert L. Simons
Recounts the financial difficulties and management changes experienced by American Red Cross Blood Services: Northeast Region (NER) during the 1980s. After summarizing industry-wide changes in the collection, testing, and distribution of blood and blood products, the... View Details
Keywords: Change Management; Budgets and Budgeting; Financial Management; Restructuring; Health; SWOT Analysis; Social Enterprise; Marketplace Matching; Management Style; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry; North and Central America
- July 1989 (Revised August 1993)
- Supplement
Kanthal (B)
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Describes actions taken by senior management of Kanthal after seeing the results of the newly installed account management system. Designed as a class handout. A rewritten version of an earlier case by the same author. View Details
- winter 1988
- Article
Management Buyouts and Managerial Efforts
By: Robert F. Bruner and Lynn S. Paine
Management buyouts, which have played an important role in the recent wave of corporate restructurings, have been criticized from several directions. This article addresses the problems created by management's conflict of interest. As members of the buyout team,... View Details
- summer 1988
- Article
Simultaneous Signaling to the Capital and Product Markets
By: David S. Scharfstein, Robert Gertner and Robert Gibbons
- June 1987 (Revised May 1990)
- Case
John Deere Component Works (B)
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Having installed an activity-based system, the division is now exploring the insight provided by that system. In particular, it is studying the economics of lot-size process planning and product mix management. View Details
- September 1984 (Revised March 1993)
- Background Note
Marketing Planning and Organization
By: Robert J. Dolan
Presents guidelines for effective marketing planning. Provides a general outline of the contents of a typical marketing plan, the process by which the plan is developed, and considers the benefits successful firms reap from their planning efforts and the problems that... View Details
- June 1984 (Revised July 1999)
- Background Note
Securities Law and Private Financing
By: Howard H. Stevenson and Michael J. Roberts
Describes the issues an entrepreneur faces in the process of raising private funds, and the securities laws which impact the process. Based in part on a note by R.E. Floor of the law firm of Goodwin, Procter & Hoar. View Details
- February 1984 (Revised February 1986)
- Case
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.: Titanium Dioxide
By: W. Carl Kester, Robert R. Glauber, David W. Mullins Jr. and Stacy S. Dick
Disequilibrium in the $350 million TiO2 market has prompted Du Pont's Pigments Department to develop two strategies for competing in this market in the future. The growth strategy has a smaller internal rate of return than the alternative strategy due to large capital... View Details