Publications

November 1998 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Asea Brown Boveri (Condensed)

By: Robert L. Simons

The merger of Asea AB and BBC Brown Boveri required a restructuring of operations and a change in organizational cultures. Competitive success also necessitated the benefits of scale while remaining "local" for political and customer-responsiveness reasons. The case... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Cost vs Benefits; Competitive Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth and Development; Performance Effectiveness; Consumer Products Industry

April 1991 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A)

By: David J. Collis

Describes the pet food industry in the mid-eighties prior to the breakout of a major competitive battle as manufacturers fight for share. Illustrates how when there are benefits to play in multiple markets, competitors will take action in one market to preserve their... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Markets; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Ownership Stake; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry

December 2000 (Revised January 2002)
Background Note

Incentives and Controllability: A Note and Exercise

By: Brian J. Hall

Describes three performance measures for "plants" or businesses: cost centers, revenue centers, and profit centers. Discusses what should be done if a function outside of the "controllability" of the manager affects the performance measure and therefore compensation. View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Cost; Profit; Revenue; Compensation and Benefits; Managerial Roles; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives

05 Apr 2016
First Look

April 5, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50854 Knowing When to Ask: The Cost of Leaning-in By: Exley, Christine L., Muriel Niederle, and Lise Vesterlund Abstract—Gender differences in the propensity to negotiate are often used to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthlorne

March 2010
Article

In Favor of Clear Thinking: Incorporating Moral Rules into a Wise Cost-benefit Analysis

By: Max Bazerman and Joshua D. Greene

Bennis, Medin, and Bartels (2009) have contributed an interesting paper on the comparative benefit of moral rules versus cost-benefit analysis (CBA). Many of their specific comments are accurate, useful, and insightful. At the same time, we believe they have... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Moral Sensibility; Adoption; Performance Effectiveness; Decision Making; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

22 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 22

benefitted from the change in ownership. This paper presents data and evidence that supports only the first of those assertions, and only to a limited extent: the companies devised political strategies that maneuvered Roosevelt into... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 1980 (Revised February 1987)
Case

Sweco, Inc. (A)

By: Michael E. Porter and George S. Yip

Describes Sweco's decision about whether to enter the mud-processing equipment industry (used in oil well drilling). This is an internal entry decision, and the case describes Sweco's existing businesses as well as the mud-processing industry and competitors. The case... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Decisions; Forecasting and Prediction; Cost; Analytics and Data Science; Market Entry and Exit; Competition

2024
Working Paper

Modest Victims: Victims Who Decline to Broadcast Their Victimization Are Seen As Morally Virtuous

By: Nathan Dhaliwal, Jillian J. Jordan and Pat Barclay

What do people think of victims who conceal their victimhood? We propose that the decision to not broadcast that one has been victimized serves as a costly act of modesty—in doing so, one is potentially forgoing social support and compensation from one’s community. We... View Details

Keywords: Public Opinion; Mathematical Methods; Communication; Perception; Reputation

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December 7, 2022
Article

Why Decentralized Crypto Platforms Are Weathering the Crash

By: Shai Bernstein and Scott Duke Kominers

In the past year, crypto markets dropped from $2.9 trillion in value to around $800 billion. In the wake of the collapse, crypto lenders and exchanges have been accused of fraud and other wrongdoing. What went wrong? One factor is competition. In theory, competition... View Details

Keywords: Crypto Economy; Cryptocurrency; Financial Complexity; Financial Crisis; Decentralization; Decentralized Markets; Decentralized Autonomous Organizations; Finance; Market Design; Financial Services Industry

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September–October 2013
Article

The Role of Organizational Scope and Governance in Strengthening Private Monitoring

By: Lamar Pierce and Michael W. Toffel

Governments and other organizations often outsource activities to achieve cost savings from market competition. Yet such benefits are often accompanied by poor quality resulting from moral hazard, which can be particularly onerous when outsourcing the monitoring and... View Details

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November 2011
Article

Social Strategies That Work

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

Although most companies have collected lots of friends and followers on social platforms such as Facebook, few have succeeded in generating profits there. That's because they merely port their digital strategies into social environments by broadcasting their commercial... View Details

Keywords: Social Platforms; Social Strategies; Social and Collaborative Networks; Customers; Relationships; Business Strategy; Profit

06 Oct 2016
HBS Seminar

John Van Reenen, MIT Sloan School of Management

Research Summary

The Panama Canal

The Big Ditch is the first quantitative economic history of the Panama Canal and its effect on Panama, the United States, and the world economy. It makes three general arguments. First, that the Panama Canal was very important to... View Details

September 1993 (Revised December 1993)
Case

Cott Corp.: Private Label in the 1990s

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Robert S. Kaplan

Private label cola, Cott, gets 30% of the market in Canada. How does it move into the U.S. market? How do retailers evaluate its benefit costs? Does Cott use an existing structure or build new ones? Does Cott diversify from drink to snack foods? View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Cost Management; Labels; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Industry Structures; Diversification; Food and Beverage Industry

23 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

It’s Called ‘Price Coherence,’ and It’s Surprisingly Bad for Consumers

customers, not to mention the convenience of keeping customer information on file. While the intermediary charges a fee for its service, buyers widely perceive that the costs are borne by others, namely sellers. Sellers in turn pay the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail; Air Transportation; Food & Beverage; Entertainment & Recreation

19 Nov 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Do Bonuses Enhance Sales Productivity? A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Bonus-Based Compensation Plans

Keywords: by Doug J. Chung, Thomas Steenburgh & K. Sudhir

29 Apr 2019
Research & Ideas

Is the Digital Age Making Us Petty?

to remember that in fact there’s a lot to be gained by moving in the opposite direction, which is keeping less track of things, especially interpersonally,” Zhang says. “We benefit when we treat our friends in a communal way, rather than... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

September 1990 (Revised June 1994)
Case

Catawba Industrial Co.

By: Francis Aguilar

A department general manager has to decide whether or not to add a lightweight compressor to the line, what price to charge, and what volume to produce. The analysis requires maximizing contribution in a situation where one factor is constrained. As such, it takes into... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Capital Budgeting; Business Earnings; Cost Accounting; Cost Management; Asset Pricing