Publications

15 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

This Workplace Certification Made Already Safe Companies Even Safer

New research finds that companies that took steps to meet an international safety standard further improved their working conditions after adoption, logging 20 percent fewer cases of illness and injury than non-certified firms. The standard also drew companies that... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

March 2008
Case

Shangri-La Hotels

By: Dennis Campbell and Brent Kazan

In November 2006, Symon Bridle, the newly appointed chief operating officer of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, was thinking about a number of organizational issues that presented challenges to Shangri-La's rapid expansion strategy. There were three major issues at hand:... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Growth and Development Strategy; Standards; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Accommodations Industry; China; Europe; North America

May 2009
Exercise

Mapping Your Network

By: David A. Thomas

This exercise is designed to help students and professionals map their professional networks and identify areas of strength and weakness in their networks. "Network" refers to the set of relationships that is critical to someone's ability to learn new skills and... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Strength and Weakness; Personal Development and Career; Groups and Teams; Social and Collaborative Networks

31 Jan 2007
HBS Case

When Good Teams Go Bad

people trying to do the perfect golf swing at the same time, all together, 200 times in a row." Like most of his peers, Coach P used a variety of quantifiable metrics for each rower to determine who would sit in the varsity boat.... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

September 2010 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Accounting for the iPhone at Apple Inc.

By: Francois Brochet, Krishna G. Palepu and Lauren Barley

Apple initially recognized revenue associated with its iPhone product using subscription accounting. However, in 2008, the company started providing non-GAAP supplemental numbers where substantially all of the revenue was recognized upfront. Market participants'... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Revenue Recognition; Standards; Technology Industry; United States

October 2023
Case

Prime Coalition: Estimating Climate Impact

By: Natalia Rigol, Benjamin N. Roth, Brian Trelstad and Amram Migdal

A case on CRANE, a tool to help investors and green technology companies estimate the future climate impact of new technologies and products, called emissions reduction potential (ERP). The case includes material on CRANE’s methodology for estimating future carbon... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Environmental Accounting; Analysis; Climate Change; Green Technology; Innovation and Invention; Measurement and Metrics; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Risk and Uncertainty; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Enterprise

January – February 2008
Article

Managing the Impact of Employee Turnover on Performance: The Role of Process Conformance

By: Zeynep Ton and Robert S. Huckman

We examine the impact of employee turnover on operating performance in settings that require high levels of knowledge exploitation. Using 48 months of turnover data from U.S. stores of a major retail chain, we find that, on average, employee turnover is associated with... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Governance Compliance; Retention; Standards; Service Operations; Business Processes; Retail Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

Read Now

Web

HBS - Financials | Supplemental Financial Information

2022 Annual Report From The Dean Key Metrics Financials PDF Downloads Financials From the CFO Financial Highlights Statement of Activity & Cash Flows Consolidated Balance Sheet Supplemental Financial Information Financials From the CFO... View Details

November 2020 (Revised September 2021)
Case

KhataBook

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Allison H. Mnookin and James Barnett

In January 2020, India-based KhataBook, a digital ledger app for small businesses, is led by CEO Ravish Naresh, as his team faces a series of dilemmas regarding where to focus next. View Details

Keywords: Monetization; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Marketing; Measurement and Metrics; Technology Industry; India; Bangalore; Mumbai; Southeast Asia

January 2018 (Revised January 2021)
Background Note

Customer Lifetime Social Value (CLSV)

By: Elie Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

One of the hallmarks of the digital revolution is the rise of the socially connected consumer. Concomitantly, the ability of companies to affect and measure the social interactions among customers has grown tremendously. Consequently, in assessing the full value of... View Details

Keywords: Customer Lifetime Value; Customer Management; Social Contagion; Word Of Mouth; Customer Engagement; Customer Value and Value Chain; Measurement and Metrics; Customer Relationship Management

14 Apr 2022
Op-Ed

Let’s Move Forward from COVID—Without Forgetting What We’ve Learned

innovation. Organizations consistently applied new metrics to measure performance but used activity and time logged into systems to proxy for the actual value. Forging a new, better workplace Businesses are only as good as their people,... View Details

Keywords: by Hise O. Gibson and MaShon Wilson

January 2018 (Revised January 2020)
Case

People Analytics at McKinsey

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer and Olivia Hull

A private equity–backed fast food chain has hired McKinsey’s new People Analytics group to help it improve performance. As the final client workshop approaches, Associate Partner Alex DiLeonardo ponders the best way to present the team’s findings, especially those that... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Customer Relationship Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Cost Management; Human Resources; Employees; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Measurement and Metrics; Performance; Performance Capacity; Performance Efficiency; Performance Evaluation; Performance Improvement; Consulting Industry; Service Industry

07 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

The Better Way to Forecast the Future

Whether it’s booking a hotel, renting a movie, or buying a car, many of us consult multiple reviews before deciding. It’s called aggregating opinions, and we do it without even thinking about it. Crowdsourcing works so well, in fact, says Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Air Transportation; Transportation

31 Aug 2020
What Do You Think?

Why Don’t More Organizations Understand the Power of Diversity and Inclusion?

varied. “While diversity is easier to measure quantitatively,” Laurie pointed out, “inclusion metrics are currently qualitative and inconsistent.” Bob put it in personal terms: “I was able to hold myself accountable for diversity results,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Article

Transforming the Balanced Scorecard from Performance Measurement to Strategic Management: Part I

By: Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Transformation; Performance; Measurement and Metrics; Strategy; Management

Find at Harvard

December 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Four Seasons Goes to Paris: '53 Properties, 24 Countries, 1 Philosophy'

By: Roger H. Hallowell, David Bowen and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Illustrates how Four Seasons manages hotels in countries with strong and distinct national cultures. Focuses on how the chain meets its exacting service standards in a variety of settings worldwide, with special attention on France. View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Global Range; Global Strategy; Standards; Accommodations Industry; Paris

18 Sep 2019
Op-Ed

WeWork—The IPO That Shouldn’t?

This metric incorporates the benefit of free rent and other concessions they receive from landlords on the front-end without disclosing the future costs the company will incur when these concessions burn off. Among several items detailed... View Details

Keywords: by Nori Gerardo Lietz; Financial Services; Real Estate

September–October 1988
Article

Measure Costs Right: Make the Right Decisions

By: Robin Cooper and Robert S. Kaplan

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Cost; Decision Making