Publications
Publications
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(2,247)
- Faculty Publications (471)
- May 1994
- Background Note
Reorienting Channels of Distribution
Traditionally, distribution channels have been viewed as vertical marketing systems where responsibility was transferred from one layer to the next, like passing a baton in a relay race. Distribution channels in the future are likely to look more like horizontal... View Details
- May 1993 (Revised October 1995)
- Case
Connor Formed Metal Products
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Donna B. Stoddard and Melinda Conrad
Connor Formed Metal Products was a small, privately owned manufacturer of custom metal springs and stampings. Since becoming president in 1984, Bob Sloss had implemented many changes to the company's organizational structure, management control systems, and information... View Details
- 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
- November 1992 (Revised January 2002)
- Case
Process Control at Polaroid (A)
By: H. Kent Bowen and Steven C. Wheelwright
Describes the initial efforts at a film production plant to shift from a traditional QC inspection mentality to a worker-based process control mentality. Students can prepare SPC charts, propose actions needed, and combine steps into an overall action plan. View Details
- May 1992 (Revised January 2000)
- Case
Asea Brown Boveri: The ABACUS System
By: Robert L. Simons
Describes the computer-based information system (ABACUS) used to monitor and control business operations in a complex, global company. Describes the technical attributes of the database system, financial reporting requirements, target setting and profit calculations on... View Details
- February 1992 (Revised April 1993)
- Case
Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (A)
The Southern Co., an electric utility, is planning its compliance with the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act. The Act established a system of tradeable permits for sulfur dioxide emissions. The company must decide whether to install pollution control equipment and... View Details
- October 1991 (Revised September 1998)
- Case
Maxwell Appliance Controls
By: Robert S. Kaplan
A profitable manufacturing division of a large company is looking for new ways to identify sources of productivity improvements. Led by its senior finance officer, an activity-based cost system is developed to identify activities performed for its highly varied product... View Details
- September 1991 (Revised February 1993)
- Case
Burroughs Wellcome and AZT (A)
Burroughs Wellcome Co., developer of AZT, the first drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), finds itself under siege in September 1989 by AIDS activists and various segments of the U.S.... View Details
- September 1991 (Revised January 2017)
- Teaching Note
Nordstrom: Dissension in the Ranks? (A) and (B)
By: Robert Simons
Teaching Note for Nordstrom: Dissension in the Ranks, Case A (191-002) and Case B (192-027) View Details
- May 1991 (Revised March 2018)
- Teaching Note
Automation Consulting Services
By: Robert Simons
Teaching Note for 190-053 View Details
- May 1991 (Revised January 2017)
- Teaching Note
Turner Construction Co.: Project Management Control Systems
By: Robert Simons
Teaching Note for Turner Construction Company: Project Management Control Systems (190-128) View Details
- April 1991 (Revised March 2017)
- Teaching Note
Westchester Distributing, Inc. (A) and (B)
By: Robert Simons
Teaching Note for (9-191-118) and (9-191-119). View Details
- April 1991 (Revised May 2017)
- Teaching Note
Automatic Data Processing: The EFS Decision
By: Robert Simons
Teaching Note for (9-190-059). View Details
- March 1991 (Revised July 1993)
- Case
Kyocera Corp.
By: John P. Kotter
Examines the three factors critical to this company's remarkable success in the high tech field. The first factor is the founder, Dr. Inamori's powerful leadership. The second is the strong corporate culture or philosophy of the firm. The third element in Kyocera's... View Details
- February 1991
- Case
Burlington Northern: The ARES Decision (A)
By: Julie H. Hertenstein and Robert S. Kaplan
Burlington Northern's decision whether to invest in ARES, an automated train control system, is a ($350 million) strategic investment in information technology. Although set in a service industry (railroad) the issues around this decision arise in many organizations... View Details
- February 1991 (Revised February 1992)
- Case
Appex Corp.
By: Nitin Nohria
1990 Business Week named Appex Corp. the fastest growing high-technology company in the United States. Appex provided management information systems and intercarrier network services to cellular telephone companies. During its rapid growth, the company went through... View Details
Keywords: Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Culture; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Performance Productivity; Problems and Challenges; Management Practices and Processes; Business Divisions; Information Management; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States
- February 1991 (Revised November 2010)
- Case
Tennessee Controls: The Strategic Ranking Problem
By: Robert L. Simons and Dale Geiger
Tennessee Controls has instituted a new formal asset acquisition process to rank competing proposals. Judy Starnes, the new division manager, is asked to rank three proposals by using techniques to quantify economic returns, risk, as well as the credibility of the... View Details
- January 1991 (Revised March 1992)
- Case
USA Today
By: Robert L. Simons
USA Today is a national newspaper struggling to achieve profitability. This case focuses on the use of management control systems to identify emerging opportunities and the formulation of new strategies. The interactive system used by top managers--the Friday... View Details
Keywords: Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Managerial Roles; Forecasting and Prediction; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Labor and Management Relations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Journalism and News Industry; United States