Publications

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Dennis W. Campbell is currently the Dwight P. Robinson Jr. Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His research and teaching activities focus broadly on how management control systems can be designed to balance short-term strategy execution... View Details

Keywords: financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services; financial services

October 1981 (Revised April 1984)
Case

H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B)

Summarizes the investigation conducted by outside legal and accounting firms under the Heinz audit committee. Improper practices were found at three of the five Heinz domestic divisions and at a number of foreign operations. Presents restated financial data for the... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Accounting Audits; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry

2022
Working Paper

Banking on Transparency for the Poor: Experimental Evidence from India

By: Erica M. Field, Natalia Rigol, Charity M. Troyer Moore, Rohini Pande and Simone G. Schaner

Do information frictions limit the benefits of financial inclusion drives for the rural poor? We evaluate an experimental intervention among recently banked poor Indian women receiving government cash transfers via direct deposit. Treated women were provided automated... View Details

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June 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Signet Jewelers: Assessing Customer Financing Risk

By: Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, Suraj Srinivasan and Monica Baraldi

Marc Cohodes, a renowned short seller, has identified weaknesses in Signet's business strategy, which he argues is heavily reliant on providing loans to customers with subprime credit scores. He believes that the company accounts for its receivables portfolio using... View Details

Keywords: Short Selling; Bad Debt Expense; Accounting; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Finance; Financing and Loans; Valuation; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

Research Summary

Overview

Professor Sherman's research has long focused on financial reporting, performance measurement/management, and financial literacy issues facing corporate management and Boards of Directors in global businesses. He also actively studies methods to improve productivity in... View Details

17 Nov 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Network Effects in Countries’ Adoption of IFRS

Keywords: by Karthik Ramanna & Ewa Sletten

06 Jan 2006
News

Made to Measure Is the Best Fit for Future Pensioners

August 2004 (Revised September 2004)
Background Note

Note on Duration and Convexity

This case explores two measures of price sensitivity: duration and convexity. These measures are normally used to gauge how sensitive a bond's price is to a change in interest-rate levels. However, as concepts, both duration and convexity have wider application:... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Price; Financial Instruments

George Serafeim is the Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He co-leads a Lab, within Harvard's Digital, Data, Design Institute, and serves on the faculty steering committee of Harvard University's Salata Institute. He... View Details

Keywords: asset management; insurance industry; automobiles; industrial goods; fashion; food; green technology

May 1975 (Revised September 1987)
Case

Bio-Tech, Inc.

Financial vice president is expected to prepare a financing plan for Bio-Tech matching the most recent long-range plans of three operating groups. The latter, however, must be adjusted to take account of recommendations to be made on plant investment of one product... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Finance

August 8, 2018
Article

Hospital-based ACOs Face Challenges in Tracking Performance Indicators

By: Christiana Beveridge, Sofia Warner, Greg Leya and Thomas W. Feeley

Given that accountable care organizations (ACOs) have not achieved the degree of cost reductions and quality improvements initially hoped for, we sought to better understand the underlying reasons for their limited success. Our analysis of American Hospital Association... View Details

Keywords: ACOs; Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Performance; Measurement and Metrics

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February 2018
Article

Structural GARCH: The Volatility-Leverage Connection

By: Robert F. Engle and Emil N. Siriwardane

During the financial crisis, financial firm leverage and volatility both rose dramatically. Consequently, institutions are being asked to reduce leverage in order to reduce risk, though the effectiveness depends upon the role of capital structure in volatility. To... View Details

Keywords: Leverage; Credit Risk; Crisis Management; Equity; Volatility; Credit; Risk Management; Financial Crisis

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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

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Profit; Business Growth and Maturation; Analytics and Data Science; Design; Accounting Audits; Growth and Development; Globalized Firms and Management; Complexity; Technology Industry

September 8, 2020
Article

Allocation of COVID-19 Relief Funding to Disproportionately Black Counties

By: Pragya Kakani, Amitabh Chandra and Sendhil Mullainathan

This study describes correlations between the dollar amount of relief funding authorized by the US Congress to fund prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and to reimburse health care entities for lost revenues, and county-level... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Resource Allocation; Demographics; Race

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March 2009 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Tokyo AFM

By: Francois Brochet

This case was written as the financial accounting portion of the final exam for a first-year MBA course at Harvard Business School. The goal was to test students' ability to apply major concepts taught during the course to an industry which they had not covered, but... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Decision Choices and Conditions; Economics; Insurance; Insurance Industry; Japan

August 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Kansas City Zephyrs Baseball Club, Inc. 2006

By: Krishna G. Palepu

This case centers around a dispute between the owners and the players regarding the profitability of professional baseball teams in connection with the negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. The case describes the financial statements of the baseball... View Details

Keywords: Accrual Accounting; Financial Statements; Profit; Labor Unions; Measurement and Metrics; Agreements and Arrangements; Performance; Sports Industry; United States