Publications

January 1998
Article

Risk Management, Capital Budgeting and Capital Structure Policy for Financial Institutions: An Integrated Approach

By: K. A. Froot and J. Stein

Keywords: Catastrophe Risk; Corporate Finance; Cost Of Capital; Banking And Insurance; Asset Pricing; Hedging; Banking; Decision Choice And Uncertainty; Financial Markets; Insurance; Policy; Risk Management; Natural Disasters; Insurance Industry

September 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

John Rogers and Ariel Investments

By: Steven Rogers and Greg White

The strong, public advocacy of a highly successful African American CEO has the potential to negatively impact his company. The CEO is deciding if he should listen to the advice of others who are urging him to “tone it down”. View Details

Keywords: Advocacy; Diversity; Investment Management; Affirmative Action; Disruption; Cost vs Benefits; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Accountability; Leading Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Problems and Challenges; Financial Services Industry; Chicago

01 Apr 2002
News

Professorship Brings Brierley's HBS Connection Full Circle

Harold M. Brierley (MBA '68), chairman and CEO of Brierley & Partners, describes himself as "an accidental entrepreneur," having entered HBS as a chemical engineer planning to pursue a management career in the oil industry. "HBS... View Details

Keywords: Charles M. Williams; Epsilon Data Management; Computer Systems Design and Related Services; Professional Services

24 Jan 2024
Op-Ed

Why Boeing’s Problems with the 737 MAX Began More Than 25 Years Ago

minimized short-term cost to maximize short-term earnings. In my experience with advanced technology products, quick fixes often lead to design compromises that create more problems. This happened with the 737 MAX in 2015 when it... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Air Transportation; Transportation; Aerospace

October 2022 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Masdar City: Aiming for Sustainable and Profitable Real Estate

By: Boris Vallee and Fares Khrais

Masdar City broke ground in 2008 and was conceived by the Abu Dhabi government to be an international beacon of innovation in sustainable energy and real estate. It was also to be a profitable investment for the government. At first glance, the two goals pulled in... View Details

Article

The Market for Catastrophe Risk: A Clinical Examination

By: K. A. Froot

Keywords: Catastrophe Risk; Corporate Finance; Cost Of Capital; Banking And Insurance; Asset Pricing; Hedging; Banking; Insurance; Decision Choice And Uncertainty; Financial Markets; Policy; Risk Management; Natural Disasters; Insurance Industry

July 2010
Supplement

Post-Crisis Compensation at Credit Suisse (B)

By: Clayton S. Rose and Aldo Sesia

The (B) case describes how Credit Suisse management allocated the cost of the 25% U.K. banker's tax among shareholders, U.K. managing directors, and the other employees globally. View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Cost; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Taxation; Compensation and Benefits; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Switzerland; United Kingdom

December 1989 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Destin Brass Products Co.

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

A specialized manufacturer of brass valves, pumps, and flow controllers is troubled by competitive pricing in pumps and higher than expected margins for flow controllers. Managers suspect that cost accounting and cost allocations to products may be to blame. Two... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Activity Based Costing and Management; Five Forces Framework; Customer Value and Value Chain; Competition; Business Strategy; Design; Inflation and Deflation; Asset Pricing; Governance Controls; Manufacturing Industry

January 2020 (Revised April 2020)
Teaching Note

Brandless: Disrupting Consumer Packaged Goods

By: Jill Avery

Brandless, an online direct-to-consumer seller of upscale private-label consumer packaged goods (CPG), offered consumers a limited assortment of values-conscious products delivered directly to their homes with the simplicity of one fixed $3.00 price point that promised... View Details

Keywords: Brand; Brand Management; DTC; Private Label; Groceries; Packaged Food; Personal Care; Startups; Retailing; Amazon; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Business Startups; Disruption; E-commerce; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry; United States

03 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Layoffs Can Be Bad Business: 5 Strategies to Consider Before Cutting Staff

have to be this way. “If companies I know and admire are doing this, it can’t be that bad, or else they wouldn’t do it.” Layoffs are an example of “hope triumphing over science,” says Sandra Sucher, the MBA Class of 1966 Professor of View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Telecommunications; Technology; Financial Services; Manufacturing

16 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Can Decades of Military Overspending be Fixed?

management problems in the world. Controlling and reducing costs is difficult in any industry, but even more so in larger and more complex engineering development and production programs. View Details

Keywords: by J. Ronald Fox; Service

December 2016
Case

Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley

By: William C. Kirby and Joycelyn W. Eby

UC Berkley, long known as one of the leading public universities in both the U.S. and the world, has seen turbulent times recently. While student enrollment and costs have increased steadily in recent years, the school, which has been fiercely proud of its public... View Details

December 1994
Case

AB SKA (Sweden)

By: David F. Hawkins, V.G. Narayanan and Robert L. Simons

A senior manager faces three accounting and control decisions related to a new R&D project: to expense or capitalize, how to implement management control over the R&D function, and how to use activity-based cost drivers for product costing. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Management Practices and Processes; Cost Management; Activity Based Costing and Management; Research and Development; Sweden

2024
Working Paper

Second- versus Third-party Audit Quality: Evidence from Global Supply Chain Monitoring

By: Maria R. Ibanez, Ashley Palmarozzo, Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel

Capitalizing on the superior credibility and flexibility and potential lower cost of external assessments, many global buyers are relying less on their own employee (“second-party”) auditors and more on third-party auditors to monitor and prevent environmental and... View Details

Keywords: Auditing; Audit Quality; Working Conditions; Sustainability; Empirical Operations; Empirical Service Operations; Sustainability Management; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Supply Chain Management

SSRN

Read Now

February 1997 (Revised June 1999)
Background Note

Committed and Flexible Resources

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Stresses the difference between costs committed in advance of knowing actual demand (committed costs) and cost incurred proportional to demand. Committed costs appear fixed since their supply is independent of the amount actually used. Flexible resources are supplied... View Details

Keywords: Cost

October 1990
Case

Beauregard Textile Co.

By: Francis Aguilar

The sales manager and controller have to decide on a price for a textile that lost significant market share as a result of a recent price increase. Information on manufacturing costs and on the pricing behavior of Beauregard and its only competitor are available for... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Cost Accounting; Cost Management; Price; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Inflation and Deflation; Consumer Behavior; Apparel and Accessories Industry

August 2001 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Dakota Office Products

By: Robert S. Kaplan

The senior management team of Dakota, an office products distributor, is concerned about the company's first loss in history. Explores the role for activity based costing and customer profitability measurement in a distribution company. Dakota's customers are... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Profit; Distribution; Customers; Distribution Industry

February 1985 (Revised July 1986)
Case

Applichem (A)

Applichem has six plants in different countries making the same chemical product. The purpose of this case is to allow students to think about what costs are relevant to management in this process industry environment, about how to define a comparison of costs and... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Performance Productivity; Operations; Performance Improvement; Chemical Industry