Publications

March 2024
Supplement

Madrigal: Conducting a Customer-Base Audit

By: Eva Ascarza, Peter Fader, Bruce G.S. Hardie and Michael Ross

This case presents a scenario where Madrigal, a U.S. retailer with a rich 20-year history and a solid loyalty program, faces a turning point with the arrival of a new CEO. This leadership change reveals a critical gap in understanding the customer base, prompting an... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; United States

March 2024
Teaching Note

Madrigal: Conducting a Customer-Base Audit

By: Eva Ascarza, Peter S. Fader, Bruce Hardie and Michael Ross

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 524-046. This case presents a scenario where Madrigal, a U.S. retailer with a rich 20-year history and a solid loyalty program, faces a turning point with the arrival of a new CEO. This leadership change reveals a critical gap in... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; United States

March 2024
Supplement

Madrigal: Conducting a Customer-Base Audit

By: Eva Ascarza, Bruce Hardie, Peter S. Fader and Michael Ross

This case presents a scenario where Madrigal, a U.S. retailer with a rich 20-year history and a solid loyalty program, faces a turning point with the arrival of a new CEO. This leadership change reveals a critical gap in understanding the customer base, prompting an... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; United States

March 2024
Case

Madrigal: Conducting a Customer-Base Audit

By: Eva Ascarza, Bruce Hardie, Michael Ross and Peter S. Fader

This case presents a scenario where Madrigal, a U.S. retailer with a rich 20-year history and a solid loyalty program, faces a turning point with the arrival of a new CEO. This leadership change reveals a critical gap in understanding the customer base, prompting an... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; United States

March 2024
Supplement

Madrigal: Conducting a Customer-Base Audit

By: Eva Ascarza, Bruce Hardie, Peter S. Fader and Michael Ross

This case presents a scenario where Madrigal, a U.S. retailer with a rich 20-year history and a solid loyalty program, faces a turning point with the arrival of a new CEO. This leadership change reveals a critical gap in understanding the customer base, prompting an... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; United States

2022
Working Paper

The Evolution of ESG Reports and the Role of Voluntary Standards

By: Ethan Rouen, Kunal Sachdeva and Aaron Yoon

We examine the evolution of ESG reports of S&P 500 firms from 2010 to 2021. The percentage of firms releasing these voluntary disclosures increased from 35% to 86% during this period, although the length of these documents experienced more modest growth. Using a... View Details

Keywords: Voluntary Disclosure; Textual Analysis; Modeling And Analysis; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; AI and Machine Learning; Accounting

SSRN

The University of Chicago Press November 2015.

Prudent, verifiable, and timely corporate accounting is a bedrock of our modern capitalist system. In recent years, however, the rules that govern corporate accounting have been subtly changed in... View Details

Item

Standardized Tests

As you prepare for your PhD application, watch this video to learn more about what standardized tests are required for admission. Topics covered include the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT),... View Details

October 2015
Article

Hormones and Ethics: Understanding the Biological Basis of Unethical Conduct

By: Jooa Julie Lee, Francesca Gino, Ellie Shuo Jin, Leslie K. Rice and Robert A. Josephs

Globally, fraud has been rising sharply over the last decade, with current estimates placing financial losses at greater than $3.7 trillion dollars annually. Unfortunately, fraud prevention has been stymied by lack of a clear and comprehensive understanding of its... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Ethics; Science

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12 Feb 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Auditor Lobbying on Accounting Standards

Keywords: by Abigail M. Allen, Karthik Ramanna & Sugata Roychowdhury; Accounting

July 1999
Background Note

Comments on Standard Times and the Division of Labor

By: Roy D. Shapiro

A brief note on the origins and uses of standard times in production process flow diagrams and on the benefits and drawbacks of division of labor. A rewritten version of two earlier notes. View Details

Keywords: Labor; Management Practices and Processes; Standards; Production

May 2014 (Revised January 2015)
Case

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board

By: Julie Battilana and Michael Norris

In 2014, as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) has just brought former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on as chairman of the board, Jean Rogers, founder and CEO struggles with how best to ensure the nonprofit's financial sustainability while... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainability Reporting; Reporting; Environmental Sustainability; Accounting; Accounting Industry; United States

November 1984 (Revised October 1989)
Case

Dow Corning Corp.: Business Conduct and Global Values (A)

Describes the development and ongoing operation of the Business Conduct Committee of Dow Corning Corp. as an example of managing corporate values in a multinational enterprise. View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Values and Beliefs; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

March 2024
Module Note

Accounting Standards for the 21st Century

By: Jonas Heese

Over the past two decades, accounting standards have evolved to meet the demands of a rapidly changing business environment. This module note focuses on understanding the impact of these standards on measuring firm performance and financial position in the context of a... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Standards; Performance Evaluation; Change Management

May 1989 (Revised October 1989)
Supplement

Dow Corning Corp.: Business Conduct and Global Values (B)

Assumes that the reader has also read Dow Corning Corp. (A). Presents two difficult decisions faced by Dow Corning's Business Conduct Committee. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Decision Making

July–August 2019
Article

Coupling Labor Codes of Conduct and Supplier Labor Practices: The Role of Internal Structural Conditions

By: Yanhua Bird, Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel

Exploitive working conditions have spurred companies to pressure their suppliers to adopt labor codes of conduct and to conform their labor practices to the standards set forth in those codes. Yet little is known about whether organizational structures such as codes... View Details

Keywords: Organization Theory; Economic Sociology; Social Responsibility; Sustainability; Auditing; Process Improvement; Organizational Structure; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Supply Chain; Labor; Working Conditions

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December 2011 (Revised December 2011)
Case

Cancer Treatment Centers of America: Scaling the Mother Standard of Care

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Matthew Bird

The CEO of a private and growing national network of specialty care hospitals focusing on advanced-stage and complex cancer treatments reflected on the firm's past phase of growth before meeting with the company's Chairman and founder to discuss how to further scale... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Business Growth and Maturation; Medical Specialties; Service Delivery; Innovation and Invention; Health Industry

September 2022
Article

The Power and Limits of Expertise: Swiss–Swedish Linking of Vehicle Emission Standards in the 1970s and 1980s

By: Mattias Näsman and Sabine Pitteloud

Recent decades have witnessed increased public concern about vehicle emissions and growing frustration with political inaction and business preferences for the status quo. This article provides historical perspective on such regulatory dynamics by analyzing the Swiss... View Details

Keywords: Business And The Environment; Business And Society; Emission Reduction; Automobiles; Standard Setting; Norm-enforcement; Regulation; Expertise; Experts; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Regulation; Standards; Auto Industry; Switzerland; Sweden

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January 1996
Background Note

Standard Costs and Variance Analysis

In an introduction to standard costs and cost variances, discussion, formulae, and examples explore the idea of comparing actual costs to those that were expected. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting