Publications

December 2023
Article

What Can Stockouts Tell Us About Inflation? Evidence from Online Micro Data

By: Alberto Cavallo and Oleksiy Kryvtsov

We use a detailed micro dataset on product availability and stockouts to construct a direct high-frequency measure of consumer product shortages during the 2020-2022 pandemic. We document a widespread multi-fold rise in stockouts in nearly all sectors early in the... View Details

Keywords: Prices; Stockouts; Inventories; Supply Disruptions; COVID-19 Pandemic; Supply Chain; Product; Demand and Consumers

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April 1981 (Revised January 1987)
Case

Atlantic Aviation Corp.: Westwind Division

Raises issues on monitoring and controlling flight demonstration costs for the Westwind business jet. Atlantic's marketing vice president is concerned about rising demonstration costs, but doesn't wish to deny solid prospects an evaluation ride. He asks the general... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Product Marketing; Air Transportation Industry

February 2010 (Revised March 2012)
Case

U.S. Healthcare Reform: International Perspectives

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich and Elia Cameron

The national economic implications of rising healthcare costs were poorly understood, even as the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom instituted reforms in early 2010. Presenting opportunities for cross-national policy learning, this case describes the... View Details

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Insurance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Care and Treatment; Laws and Statutes; Business and Government Relations; Health Industry; Public Administration Industry; Germany; United Kingdom; United States

Article

Assessing the Impact of Health System Organizational Structure on Hospital Electronic Data Sharing

By: A Jay Holmgren and Eric Ford

Horizontal consolidation in the hospital industry has gained momentum in the United States despite concerns over rising costs and lower quality. Hospital systems frequently point to potential gains in interoperability and electronic exchange of patient information as... View Details

Keywords: Hospitals; Health Information Technology; Health Care; Health Care and Treatment; Data and Data Sets; Information Technology; Consolidation; Knowledge Sharing; Health Industry

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April 2014 (Revised January 2015)
Background Note

Note on Mobile Healthcare

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

Delivering health care to the global population was a challenge. Health care costs accounted for ten percent of world GDP by 2013. In the U.S., health care costs were expected to top $3.1 trillion in 2014. New technologies, shortages of trained personnel and... View Details

February 1998 (Revised August 2006)
Case

House of Tata, 1995: The Next Generation (A)

By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Danielle Melito Wu

The Tata Group began the 1990s as a confederation of loosely coupled firms. This case considers the rise to prominence of the new CEO of Tata Group, Ratan Tata, and his attempts to strengthen the inter-relationships among the group companies at a time when critics... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Business Conglomerates; Organizations; Corporate Strategy; Consolidation; Business Strategy; Alignment; Consumer Products Industry; Service Industry

February 2014 (Revised April 2014)
Case

Komatsu in China

By: Krishna Palepu, Akiko Kanno and Nobuo Sato

Komatsu built a very successful business in China over the last two decades. But it is now facing rising competition from lower cost domestic Chinese companies which are themselves trying to become global players. Facing the same situation, Caterpillar is implementing... View Details

Keywords: Leading A Global Business; Building A Business In Emerging Markets; Emerging Markets; Construction Industry; China; Japan

November 2000 (Revised May 2002)
Case

FleetBoston Financial: Online Banking

By: Frances X. Frei and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar

As the ninth largest bank holding company in the United States in 2000, FleetBoston Financial Corp. provided a myriad of financial services, including retail banking, loan origination, and brokerage accounts. This case explores how FleetBoston responded to the Internet... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Borrowing and Debt; Cost Management; Banks and Banking; Consumer Behavior; Service Operations; Competition; Online Technology; Banking Industry; United States

October 2016 (Revised January 2017)
Background Note

The U.S. Health Club Industry, 2005–2016

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In 2015, the U.S. health-club industry generated revenues of $25.8 billion, up from $14.8 billion in 2004. Members of health clubs accounted for 17% of the population, up from 14%. The number of clubs had grown from 26,830 in 2004 to 36,180. In the process, the list of... View Details

07 Jul 2022
HBS Case

How a Multimillion-Dollar Ice Cream Startup Melted Down (and Bounced Back)

Hills was running out of money and may not make it through the lean winter months, Smith and Cuscuna were surprised. Sales had been brisk. “They built a giant factory costing almost $7 million that required sales that were beyond their... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

December 2007 (Revised July 2008)
Case

General Mills (A)

By: Raymond V. Gilmartin, Marco Iansiti and Bianca Buccitelli

General Mills is an 80-year-old company that specializes in consumer foods such as cereal, snacks, baking, and dinner products. Although General Mills is, on the whole, a very successful company, they have, in the recent past, had to face challenges as a result the... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Change Management; Cost Management; Problems and Challenges; Inflation and Deflation; Price; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry

24 Oct 2023
Research & Ideas

When Tech Platforms Identify Black-Owned Businesses, White Customers Buy

“The asymmetry of the reduced search costs makes it easy for people who want to support Black-owned businesses, while leaving the process largely unchanged for customers who don’t want to engage with the program.” You Might Also Like:... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Food & Beverage

June 4, 2025
Editorial

Employee Stress Is a Business Risk—Not an HR Problem

By: Marion Chomse, Lydia Roos, Reeva Misra and Ashley Whillans

Workplace stress, on the rise for decades, has been treated by many organizations as a personal issue instead of a business-critical risk that merits executive oversight. This is likely due in part to the fact that companies have not effectively quantified and tracked... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Well-being; Risk Management; Competitive Advantage

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June 2016 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Global Wine War 2015: New World Versus Old

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Sarah McAra

This case contrasts the tradition-bound Old World wine industry with the market-oriented New World producers in the battle for the Chinese wine market in 2015. China’s wine consumption growth presented a large and fast-growing export target that was extremely... View Details

April 2021 (Revised August 2024)
Case

The Turnaround at Ford Motor Company

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Olivia Jung

This case describes the corporate turnaround of the Ford Motor Company under the charismatic leadership of Alan Mulally. Ford was in deep trouble in the early 2000s as its prices and debt ratings plummeted and employee morale suffered. In 2006, the company anticipated... View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Transformation; Restructuring; Organizational Culture; Leading Change; Performance Improvement; Auto Industry; North America

09 Jun 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Agency Costs, Mispricing, and Ownership Structure

Keywords: by Sergey Chernenko, C. Fritz Foley & Robin Greenwood

18 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Industrial Decarbonization: Confronting the Hard Challenges of Cement

Cities like Cairo; Chongqing, China; Delhi; and Kinshasa, Congo are experiencing population explosions accompanied by unprecedented demand for homes, offices, factories, and infrastructure. In the United States, the Biden Administration’s policy-driven infrastructure... View Details

Keywords: by by Janelle Conaway; Green Technology; Energy; Industrial Products; Manufacturing

06 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Technology Re-Emergence: Creating New Value for Old Innovations

Out with the old, in with the new! That's the natural path of innovation. PCs killed typewriters, for instance. Smartphones superseded telephones, pocket calculators, and point-and-shoot cameras. Every once in a while, though, an old technology View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Apparel & Accessories; Technology; Consumer Products

2016
Working Paper

College Tuition, Public Finance and New Business Starts

By: Gareth Olds

A growing public discourse cites the rising cost of education and student debt overhang as a contributor to slow economic growth. A parallel discussion explores the causes of the secular decline in business dynamism and entrepreneurship rates in the United States over... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Higher Education; Entrepreneurship