Publications

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31 Jul 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Learning from Double-Digit Growth Experiences

Keywords: by Eric D. Werker

July 1996 (Revised December 2001)
Case

Becton Dickinson--Designing the New Strategic, Operational, and Financial Planning Process

By: Robert L. Simons, Antonio Davila and Afroze A Mohammed

Describes management's attempts to design and install a sophisticated planning and control system in an international company as it changes its strategy. Issues of strategy implementation, accountability, and performance measurement are at the core of the analysis, as... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Business or Company Management; Corporate Accountability; Governance Controls; System; Performance Evaluation

27 Sep 2010
Research & Ideas

Customer Experts Lose Influence When Teams are Pressured

Effects of Performance Pressure on Teams' Knowledge Use and Performance". Her research on more than seventy audit and consulting teams—combining survey data, hundreds of interviews, and direct observation at meetings—reveals insights into... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

26 Jul 2011
First Look

First Look: July 26

Case 111-120 In 2011, the European Commission was deciding on how to best modify the existing European Union policy on corporate disclosure of environmental, social, and View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2004
Case

Bob Holgrom and the Buyout of the Carlson Division

By: Thomas R. Piper

The head of the Carlson Division stands to benefit substantially in financial terms if a private equity firm wins the bid for the division. The division is in the early stages of a performance turnaround, with only three quarters of profit improvement and no audited... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Corporate Disclosure; Ethics; Financial Reporting; Laws and Statutes; Performance Improvement

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Research Summary

Overview

By: Ryan W. Buell

From creating flight itineraries online, to interacting with tellers to complete complex banking transactions, to engaging with the government to address civic problems, customers are playing an increasingly vital role in the performance of operations in a broadening... View Details

October 1993 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Measure of Delight: The Pursuit of Quality at AT&T Universal Card Services (A)

By: Roy D. Shapiro and Michael D. Watkins

AT&T's Universal Card Services (UCS) has been extremely successful during its short lifetime. Dedicated to improving service quality and customer satisfaction, chief quality officer Rob Davis and his quality team have designed and put into place an unusual measurement... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Policy; Compensation and Benefits; Performance Evaluation; Quality; System; Telecommunications Industry

2019
Working Paper

Fiscal Rules and Sovereign Default

By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk

Recurrent concerns over debt sustainability in emerging and developed nations have prompted renewed debate on the role of fiscal rules. Their optimality, however, remains unclear. We provide a quantitative analysis of fiscal rules in a standard model of sovereign debt... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Debt; Hyperbolic Discounting; Fiscal Rules; Sovereign Finance

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November 2008
Case

Syngenta International AG: Tropical Sugar Beet

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Alwin R. Kopse

Syngenta has developed a new sugar beet crop especially useful to tropical climates that enable double cropping to take place and provide both food and energy from the soil. Thus both the governments of Colombia and India are enthused about the new technological... View Details

Keywords: Food; Government and Politics; Technological Innovation; Performance Improvement; Performance Productivity; Research and Development; Environmental Sustainability; Technology Adoption; India; Colombia

June 2003 (Revised September 2003)
Case

Peabody Elementary School (B)

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Kevin Morris

After six months as principal of the school, Marty Pettigrew has commenced a series of reform initiatives to improve its academic performance and culture. As the school year ends, he must assess his progress and decide on his strategies for the following year. He... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Performance Improvement; Middle School Education; Personal Development and Career; Strategy; Education Industry

11 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 11

Strategies By: Pomeranz, Dina, Cristobal Marshall, and Pamela Castellon Abstract—Reducing tax evasion is a key challenge for governments around the world, particularly in developing countries. This paper presents a methodology to generate... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Research Summary

The Toyota Production System: Rules for Activity, Connection, and Pathway Design and Improvement

Researchers have established that Toyota enjoys advantages in cost, quality, lead time, and flexibility when compared to its competitors in automobile assembly. Differences in generating value have been attributed to differences between the Toyota Production System... View Details

Article

Renegotiation and the Form of Efficient Contracts

By: Jerry R. Green and J. J. Laffont

Two parties may agree to a mutually binding contract that will govern their behavior after an uncertain event becomes known. As there is no agent who can both observe this uncertain outcome and enforce the contract, contingent agreements are precluded. However, the... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Contracts

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24 Sep 2019
Working Paper Summaries

The Impact of Regulation on Strategic Positioning: Self-Regulation in the RTE Cereal Industry

Keywords: by Young Hou and Dennis Yao; Food & Beverage

2012
Chapter

Pursuing Public Value: Frameworks for Strategic Analysis and Action

By: Herman B. Leonard and Mark H. Moore

Features Harvard Kennedy School scholars who focus diverse conceptual lenses on a single high-stakes management task—enhancing port security across the United States. This title considers the challenge of driving change in a complex system involving hundreds of private... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; National Security; Complexity; Performance Improvement; United States

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November 1999
Case

Long-Term Capital Management, L.P. (A)

By: Andre F. Perold

Long-Term Capital Management, L.P. (LTCM) was in the business of engaging in trading strategies to exploit market pricing discrepancies. Because the firm employed strategies designed to make money over long horizons--from six months to two years or more--it adopted a... View Details

Keywords: Fluctuation; Capital; Financial Liquidity; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Management; Risk Management; Marketing; Motivation and Incentives; Financial Services Industry

26 Apr 2016
First Look

April 26

giant IBM? Purchase this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/316143-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 416-019 Gap Inc.: Refashioning Performance Management In 2014, clothing retailer Gap Inc. rolled out a new View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2023
Case

Success Academy Charter Schools

By: Robin Greenwood, Joshua D. Coval, Denise Han, Ruth Page and Dave Habeeb

This stand-alone multimedia case follows the story of Eva Moskowitz and Success Academy, a network of high-performing charter schools in New York City. As a New York City councilor between 1999 and 2006, Moskowitz became frustrated over the inertia and dysfunction in... View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Performance Effectiveness; Equality and Inequality; Private Sector; Education Industry; New York (city, NY)