Publications

August 1999 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Cisco Systems, Inc.: Acquisition Integration for Manufacturing (A)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright, Charles A. Holloway, Nicole Tempest and Christian G. Kasper

Describes the procedures and processes used by Cisco Systems in its acquisition of high-technology firms. Its goal is to retain key engineering talent and to leverage existing product development efforts, but to quickly merge acquired companies its own systems and... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Leveraged Buyouts; Acquisition; Integration; Mergers and Acquisitions; Production; Activity Based Costing and Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Talent and Talent Management; Human Resources; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; England

2025
Article

Statistical Inference for Heterogeneous Treatment Effects Discovered by Generic Machine Learning in Randomized Experiments

By: Kosuke Imai and Michael Lingzhi Li

Researchers are increasingly turning to machine learning (ML) algorithms to investigate causal heterogeneity in randomized experiments. Despite their promise, ML algorithms may fail to accurately ascertain heterogeneous treatment effects under practical settings with... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Mathematical Methods; Analytics and Data Science

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13 May 2002
Op-Ed

A Cure for Enron-Style Audit Failures

general, existing law is adequate. The main problem lies in the failure by boards to follow procedures that would hold managements accountable for company performance. This could be improved by focusing on... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Lorsch; Accounting

April 2016 (Revised May 2016)
Case

Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais, Partners In Health in Haiti

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Bipin Mistry and Karla Bertrand

The case describes the application of Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing (TDABC) at a new tertiary hospital, operated by Partners in Health in Mirebelais, Haiti. A project team mapped the clinical processes for use in estimating the direct costs of personnel,... View Details

Keywords: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Activity Based Costing and Management; Cost Accounting; Developing Countries and Economies; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; Haiti

September 2022
Article

Cost of Cardiac Stereotactic Body Radioablation Therapy versus Catheter Ablation for Treatment of Ventricular Tachycardia

By: Chen Wei, Michelle Boeck, Pierre C. Qian, Todd Vivenzio, Zoe Elizee, Jeremy S. Bredfeldt, Robert S. Kaplan, Usha Tedrow, Raymond Mak and Paul C. Zei

Cardiac SBRT is a novel way of treating refractory ventricular tachycardia (VT) that may be less costly than catheter ablation, owing to its noninvasive, outpatient nature. We applied time-driven activity-based costing to both procedures. The direct and total... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Activity Based Costing and Management; Cost; Health Industry

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October 2021 (Revised November 2021)
Case

Bodega Aurrera: eCommerce at the Base of the Pyramid

By: Michael Chu, Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui, Carla Larangeira and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago

Bodega Aurrera, serving the base of the pyramid and Walmart’s main Mexican format, is considering launching a full eCommerce channel as Covid-19 has erupted in the country. In 2019, Bodega Aurrera accounted for 45% of revenues and 2,748 of Walmex’s 3,416 stores. Having... View Details

Keywords: Ecommerce; Bottom Of The Pyramid; Digitalization; Omnichannel; Walmart; Business Model; Internet and the Web; Marketing Channels; Technology Adoption; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Latin America; Mexico

08 Nov 2016
First Look

November 8, 2016

reduce risk, though the effectiveness depends upon the role of capital structure in volatility. To address this question, we build a statistical model of equity volatility that accounts for leverage. Our approach blends Merton’s insights... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 1992 (Revised March 1997)
Case

Peoria Engine Plant (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Amy P. Hutton

Describes the cost control system used at an automobile engine plant for labor and overhead costs. The finance staff prepares daily, weekly, and monthly variance reports against budgets. Department supervisors, finance staff, and the plant manager discuss the use and... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Cost Accounting; Budgets and Budgeting; Earnings Management; Reports; Financial Reporting; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Performance Improvement; Performance Productivity; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Auto Industry

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February 1996 (Revised November 2003)
Case

Indianapolis: Activity-Based Costing of City Services (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

A new administration in the City of Indianapolis is initially determined to privatize many municipal services. Before taking this action, however, the city managers want to know the current cost of performing these services with the municipal workers. Existing... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Public Sector; Activity Based Costing and Management; Service Delivery; Privatization; City; Indianapolis

January 2021
Case

Aster DM Healthcare: Budgeting for a Crisis

By: V.G. Narayanan and Amy Klopfenstein

In April 2020, Alisha Moopen, Deputy Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare, a network of clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies in the Middle East and India, must create her company’s budget for the 2021 fiscal year in light of the onset of Covid-19. The pandemic had... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Decisions; Forecasting and Prediction; Judgments; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cost vs Benefits; Budgets and Budgeting; Health Pandemics; Health Industry; Asia; India; United Arab Emirates; Dubai

14 Aug 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 14, 2018

and healthy innovation. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54851 in press Management Science Procedural Justice and the Risks of Consumer Voting By: Kim, Tami, Leslie John, Todd Rogers, and Michael I. Norton... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

05 Jul 2006
Op-Ed

Corporate Governance Activists are Headed in the Wrong Direction

votes cast in order to be elected. Contrast that, these activists warn, with the prevailing procedure that puts a candidate on a board with just a plurality of votes. They claim that under these conditions, directors can be elected with... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Hinsey

January 2021
Supplement

Aster DM Healthcare: Budget Exercise

By: V.G. Narayanan and Amy Klopfenstein

In April 2020, Alisha Moopen, Deputy Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare, a network of clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies in the Middle East and India, must create her company’s budget for the 2021 fiscal year in light of the onset of Covid-19. The pandemic had... View Details

10 Oct 2007
First Look

First Look: First Look: October 10

announcement, served as a credible commitment to the government's privatization agenda. Download the paper from SSRN ($5): http://papers.nber.org/papers/w13427 Mental Accounting and Small Windfalls: Evidence from an Online Grocer... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Article

Time-driven Activity-based Costing of Multivessel Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting across National Boundaries to Identify Improvement Opportunities: Study Protocol

By: F. Erhun, B. Mistry, T. Platcheck, A. Milstein, V.G. Narayanan and R. S. Kaplan

Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is a common treatment for coronary artery disease—a disease that affects over 10% of US adults and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. In 2005, the mean cost for a CABG procedure among Medicare beneficiaries in the... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; United States; India