Publications

Educators

October 2016 (Revised March 2022)
Background Note

Cost Variance Analysis

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Susanna Gallani

This note was written to provide students with fundamental concepts and methods for the analysis of cost variances. It focuses on the decomposition of cost variances into price, quantity, and mix variance components, an approach that allows students to identify the... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting

Educators

2020
Working Paper

Transaction Cost Economics in the Digital Economy: A Research Agenda

By: Frank Nagle, Robert Seamans and Steve Tadelis

Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) theory has played an important role in understanding when it is more efficient for a transaction between two parties to occur within the market or within an organization. However, as more transactions occur in a digitally-mediated... View Details

Keywords: Transaction Cost Economics; Digital Economy; Economics; Cost; Markets; Research; Digital Transformation

SSRN

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November 1991 (Revised August 1994)
Background Note

Relevant Costs and Revenues

By: Arthur Schleifer Jr.

Develops the idea that the relevance of costs and revenues depends on what decisions are under consideration. Revenues and costs are relevant if they would be different under one decision choice than under the other. Teaching purpose: Basic background material for... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Cost; Revenue; Framework; Managerial Roles; Risk and Uncertainty

Educators

19 Jun 2019
News

Connecting Patients and Providers

make global specialized healthcare accessible to anyone, anywhere. Trustedoctor “focuses on the first half mile of the patient and provider journey, before customers become in-patients of a provider” explains Jarzabek, who remembers well... View Details

Keywords: April White

September 2004 (Revised January 2006)
Tutorial

Introduction to Cost Accounting Systems

By: David F. Hawkins, V.G. Narayanan, Jacob Cohen and Michele Jurgens

Covers the basics of cost system design, demonstrating in a clear, step-by-step fashion how costs are assigned to cost objects. Key concepts include direct and indirect costs, two-stage allocation, cost pools, and cost drivers. Also provides a brief review of several... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Cost; System

24 Sep 2019
News

Connecting Patients and Providers

10 months with her family. And it inspired Jarzabek to create Trustedoctor. The digital healthcare startup “focuses on the first half mile of the patient and provider journey,” explains Jarzabek. Through his mother’s treatment, he saw... View Details

25 Oct 2019
News

Can Big-Box Retailers Provide Local Health Care?

Article

Managing Healthcare Costs and Value

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Michael E. Porter and Mark L. Frigo

Rising health care costs are a major global challenge. A number of factors contribute to this trend, including aging populations and medical technology. But an underlying and misunderstood source of health care’s escalating costs has been the inability of health care... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Cost Management; Cost Accounting; Health Industry

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24 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Rethinking Activity-Based Costing

and customers. At the same time, the new approach provides more accurate cost-driver rates by allowing unit times to be estimated even for complex, specialized transactions. Estimating the cost per time unit... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & Steven R. Anderson

01 Jan 2017
News

Managing Healthcare Costs and Value

Article

Total Cost Control in Project Management via Satisficing

By: Joel Goh and Nicholas G. Hall

We consider projects with uncertain activity times and the possibility of expediting, or crashing, them. Activity times come from a partially specified distribution within a family of distributions. This family is described by one or more of the following details about... View Details

Keywords: Project Management; Time And Cost Control; Robust Optimization; Satisficing; Linear Decision Rule; PERT; Management; Cost Management; Projects

01 Mar 2010
News

Rwanda Provides Students with Hands-On Learning

students worked with seven NGOs, small businesses, and a government agency, variously focused on issues of social enterprise and business development. Student teams tackled projects with the goal of providing concrete solutions to... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

11 Oct 2011
News

Solving the Health Care Cost Crisis

December 2013
Article

Measuring the Value of Process Improvement Initiatives in a Preoperative Assessment Center using Time-driven Activity-based Costing

By: Katy E. French, Heidi W. Albright, John C. Frenzel, James R. Incalcaterra, Augustin C. Rubio, Jessica F. Jones and Thomas W. Feeley

Background: The value and impact of process improvement initiatives are difficult to quantify. We describe the use of time-driven activity-based costing(TDABC)in a clinical setting to quantify the value of process improvements in terms of cost, time and personnel... View Details

Keywords: Quality Improvement; Value Agenda; Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Accounting; Health; Measurement and Metrics; Value; Health Industry; North and Central America

16 Aug 2022
News

HBS to Provide Full-Tuition Scholarships for Students with Greatest Financial Need

January 2020
Article

Using Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing to Demonstrate Value in Perioperative Care: Recommendations and Review from the Society for Perioperative Assessment and Quality Improvement

By: O. Allin, R. D. Urman, A. F. Edwards, J. D. Blitz, K. J. Pfeifer, T. W. Feeley and A. M. Bader

A shift in health care payment models from volume toward value-based incentives will require deliberate input into systems development from both perioperative clinicians and administrators to ensure appropriate recognition of the value of all services... View Details

Keywords: Value-based Health Care; Outcomes; Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Value; Activity Based Costing and Management

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11 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Adding Time to Activity-Based Costing

with an accurate model of the cost and profitability of producing and delivering their products and services, and managing their customer relationships. TDABC provides companies with vital View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

September 2016
Article

Value Based Care and Bundled Payments: Anesthesia Care Costs for Outpatient Oncology Surgery Using Time-driven Activity-based Costing

By: Katy E. French, Alexis B. Guzman, Augustin C. Rubio, John C. Frenzel and Thomas Feeley

Background: With the movement towards bundled payments, stakeholders should know the true cost of the care they deliver. Time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) can be used to estimate costs for each episode of care. In this analysis, TDABC is used to both... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance Industry; Health Industry