Publications

January 2018
Case

Under Armour

By: Rory McDonald, Clayton M. Christensen, Daniel West and Jonathan E. Palmer

After 20 years of growth unprecedented in the sports apparel industry, Under Armour finds itself with a new record to beat: making the leap from $5 to $10 billion in sales—a feat only accomplished to date by competitors Nike and Adidas. At the heart of this challenge... View Details

08 Sep 2008
HBS Case

The Value of Environmental Activists

There are many methods, most financial, to measure the success of companies in meeting goals. But the question becomes a lot harder at Harvard Business School when MBAs are challenged to measure the efforts of environmental organizations like Greenpeace and the World... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

May 2016
Article

Transformation of Health Care—Perspectives of Opinion Leaders

By: Joanne Disch, Thomas W. Feeley, Diana J. Mason, Richard L. Schilsky, Ellen L. Stovall and Shelley Fuld Nasso

"What Health System Transformations Do You Believe Are Necessary for the Future of Health Care?" We need to transform to a true value-based health care delivery system. That means organizing care around medical conditions, not simply around hospitals and doctors. We... View Details

Keywords: Perspective; Health Disorders; Performance Improvement; Health Care and Treatment; Transformation; Health Industry

June 2004
Article

A Catering Theory of Dividends

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler

We propose that the decision to pay dividends is driven by prevailing investor demand for dividend payers. Managers cater to investors by paying dividends when investors put a stock price premium on payers, and by not paying when investors prefer nonpayers. To test... View Details

Keywords: Dividends; Catering; Financial Instruments; Investment Return; Business and Shareholder Relations

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November 2018
Case

Komatsu Komtrax: Asset Tracking Meets Demand Forecasting

By: Willy Shih, Paul Hong and YoungWon Park

Komatsu's Komtrax system started as a way of remotely monitoring and tracking equipment for the purpose of improving operational efficiency. This case follows its evolution towards other uses including demand forecasting for its sales, marketing, and production... View Details

Keywords: Big Data; Manufacturing; Manufacturing Industry; Data Strategy; Internet Of Things; Construction; Production; Analytics and Data Science; Strategy; Performance Efficiency; Forecasting and Prediction; Industrial Products Industry; Construction Industry; Japan

2014
Working Paper

The NTU-Value of Stochastic Games

By: Elon Kohlberg and Abraham Neyman

Since the seminal paper of Shapley, the theory of stochastic games has been developed in many different directions. However, there has been practically no work on the interplay between stochastic games and cooperative game theory. Our purpose here is to make a first... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Game Theory

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Research Summary

Social Determinants of Health

By: Susanna Gallani

Healthcare provider organizations are becoming progressively more involved in ways to improve health equity and address social determinants of health (SDOH). In this line of work, Prof. Gallani studies organizational factors interacting with the implementation of SODH... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare Organizations; Performance Management; Accountability; Health Industry

Research Summary

Overview

The Information Age has introduced well-received opportunities to track performance. Fitbits and Fuelbands allow individuals to track their own performance; companies like Uber and leading hospitals help you choose a driver or a doctor based on how others rated... View Details

Keywords: Management Accounting; Disclosure; Performance Measurement; Incentives; Control; Education; Education Industry; Health Industry; Transportation Industry; Energy Industry; Auto Industry; United States; Japan; India

06 Dec 2021
News

Turning Point: Makeover

Vicky Tsai (MBA 2006) (Illustration by Gisela Goppel) Vicky Tsai (MBA 2006) (Illustration by Gisela Goppel) My first job was as a derivatives trader. The markets fascinated me; the testosterone-driven culture of the trading floor did not.... View Details

Keywords: entrepreneurship; leadership; purpose; Asian American; beauty industry; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Manufacturing

08 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Colloquium: The Future of Social Enterprise

changing the way that funders, practitioners, scholars, and organizations measure performance. Our paper traces a growing pool of potential funding sources to solve social problems, much View Details

Keywords: Re: V. Kasturi Rangan & Dutch Leonard

20 Oct 2015
HBS Seminar

Elizabeth Pontikes, University of Chicago Booth School of Business

March 1988 (Revised June 1993)
Background Note

Leveraged Betas and the Cost of Equity

The objective is to delineate on methodology for measuring the risk associated with financial leverage and estimating its impact on the cost of equity capital. View Details

Keywords: Cost of Capital; Capital Structure; Equity

Teaching

Overview

By: Nancy F. Koehn

My teaching and research focus on crisis leadership and how men and women use crises to make themselves better leaders. I currently teach a module in the Advanced Management Program and an HBS Online LIVE course on Courageous Leadership. The purpose of each course is... View Details

September 2023 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Forecasting Climate Risks: Aviva’s Climate Calculus

By: Mark Egan and Peter Tufano

In late 2021, Ben Carr, Director of Analytics and Capital Modeling at Aviva Plc (Aviva)—a leading insurer with core operations in the UK, Ireland and Canada,—was preparing for an upcoming presentation before the company's board which included its CEO, Amanda Blanc,... View Details

Keywords: Climate Risk; Climate Finance; Forecasting; Insurance; Risk Measurement; Climate Change; Risk Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Insurance Industry; United States

28 Nov 2018
HBS Seminar

Paul Niehaus, University of California San Diego, Department of Economics

10 Mar 2016
News

Obama’s legacy of tech innovation

October 1979 (Revised March 1995)
Background Note

Note on the Management of Queues

Contains four sections: 1) measuring the performance of queuing systems; 2) types of queuing systems; 3) the behavior of simple systems (elementary queuing theory); and 4) the management of queues (including a discussion of their psychology). View Details

Keywords: Mathematical Methods

01 Apr 2024
In Practice

Navigating the Mood of Customers Weary of Price Hikes

price hikes than others. What does this mean in practice? Even if inflation is slowing down, depending on where you live and what you buy, you may not experience this slowing down to the same degree as the official measures suggest. Let’s... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Retail; Consumer Products

2023
Book

Deeply Responsible Business.: A Global History of Values-Driven Leadership

By: Geoffrey Jones

Corporate social responsibility has entered the mainstream, but what does it take to run a successful purpose-driven business? This book examines leaders who put values alongside profits to showcase the challenges and upside of deeply responsible business. Should... View Details