Publications

July 2008 (Revised August 2008)
Case

In-Vitro Fertilization: Outcomes Measurement

By: Michael E. Porter, Saquib Rahim and Benjamin Chung-Shi Tsai

As of 2007, there were very few examples of widespread measurement and reporting of health outcomes, a critical quality measure. In-vitro fertilization clinics have been required to report their patient's health outcomes since 1995. The protagonist of the case, Dr.... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Measurement and Metrics; Operations; Outcome or Result; Health Industry; Cleveland

2008
Working Paper

Unraveling Yields Inefficient Matchings: Evidence from Post-season College Football Bowls

By: Guillaume R. Frechette, Alvin E. Roth and M. Utku Unver

Many markets have "unraveled" and experienced inefficient, early, dispersed transactions, and subsequently developed institutions to delay transaction timing. However, it has previously proved difficult to measure and identify the resulting efficiency gains. Prior to... View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Television Entertainment; Market Timing; Market Transactions; Marketplace Matching; Sports Industry

2008
Working Paper

The Future of Social Enterprise

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Herman B. Leonard and Susan McDonald

The Future of Social Enterprise considers the confluence of forces that is shaping the field of social enterprise, changing the way that funders, practitioners, scholars, and organizations measure performance. We trace a growing pool of potential funding sources to... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Investment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Performance Effectiveness; Social Enterprise; Consolidation; Value

June 2007
Article

Efficient Kidney Exchange: Coincidence of Wants in a Structured Market

By: A. E. Roth, Tayfun Sonmez and M. Utku Unver

Patients needing kidney transplants may have donors who cannot donate to them because of blood or tissue incompatibility. Incompatible patient-donor pairs can exchange donor kidneys with other pairs only when there is a "double coincidence of wants." Developing... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Size; Emotions; Human Needs; Health Care and Treatment; Health Testing and Trials; Infrastructure; Supply Chain Management; Fairness; Performance Improvement; Health Industry

November 2005
Case

Playgrounds and Performance: Results Management at KaBOOM! (A)

By: Herman B. Leonard, Marc J. Epstein and Laura Winig

KaBOOM!, a successful playground-building social enterprise funded through corporate partnerships, wants to develop a performance measurement system that will enable the organization to expand its impact substantially. The board of directors and management are trying... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Enterprise; Performance Evaluation; Management Systems; Design; Construction Industry

May 2004 (Revised July 2004)
Case

Clarence Saunders: The Comeback King

By: Nitin Nohria and Bridget Gurtler

Follows the rise and fall of the founder of the modern supermarket, Clarence Saunders. Prior to 1915, all staple shopping took place in the market or general store, where a clerk behind a counter pulled items from shelves for customers , measured them from a barrel, or... View Details

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Mission and Purpose; Business Processes; Leadership; Consumer Behavior; Leadership Style; Advertising; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Order Taking and Fulfillment

April 2002
Article

Limited Arbitrage in Mergers and Acquisitions

By: Malcolm Baker and Serkan Savasoglu

A diversified portfolio of risk arbitrage positions produces an abnormal return of 0.6-0.9% per month over the period from 1981 to 1996. We trace these profits to practical limits on risk arbitrage. In our model of risk arbitrage, arbitrageurs' risk-bearing capacity... View Details

Keywords: Arbitrage; Market Efficiency; Mergers and Acquisitions; Profit; Risk and Uncertainty; Corporate Strategy; Capital; Banking Industry

January 2002 (Revised February 2002)
Case

Postgirot Bank and Provment AB: Managing the Cost of IT Operations

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Nancy Bartlett

Describes a specific approach for measuring the efficiency of the groups of computers inside an organization and suggests ways this tool may be used to reduce the company's computing investment while maintaining service. It is a software-enabled industrial engineering... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Investment; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Style; Information Technology; Applications and Software

2000
Other Unpublished Work

Career Concerns and Staged Investment: Evidence from the Venture Capital Industry

By: Malcolm Baker

I develop a model in which career concerns lead to inefficient reinvestment decisions. Managers have incentives to inflate interim returns by continuing bad projects and delaying write-offs. In the venture capital industry, the syndication of follow-on investments can... View Details

Keywords: Performance Efficiency; Valuation; Venture Capital; Investment; Decisions; Motivation and Incentives; Quality

August 1999
Article

Measuring the Efficiency of Service Delivery Processes: With Application to Retail Banking

By: F. Frei and P. Harker

Keywords: Business Processes; Measurement and Metrics; Banking Industry

August 1993
Case

Applichem (A) (Abridged)

By: Janice H. Hammond and Gary P. Pisano

Applichem manufactures the same chemical product in four plants, each of which is located in a different country. The company has completed a major study comparing the productivity and performance of these plants. Using the data from the study, students must decide... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Productivity; Performance Efficiency; Performance Evaluation; Strategy; Judgments; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Exit or Shutdown; Chemical Industry

Research Summary

Incommensurable Values and Rational Decision Making

By: Nien-he Hsieh

Rational decision making is widely thought to require comparing alternatives with respect to a single measure of value. Accordingly, asking managers to consider values in addition to economic efficiency has been criticized on the grounds that doing so violates the... View Details

2015
Other Teaching and Training Material

Marketing Reading: Digital Marketing

By: Sunil Gupta and Joseph Davin

Digital technology has changed how consumers search for information, interact with each other, and buy products. The popularization of these technologies has made it possible for companies to have a better understanding of their customers' decision journey and... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Buzz Marketing; Internet Marketing; Marketing; Marketing Management; Social Media; Social Networks; Viral Marketing; Word-of-mouth Marketing; Digital; Internet; Marketing Channels; Marketing Reference Programs; Online Advertising; Advertising Industry