Publications

November 1995
Background Note

Reengineering a Business Process

By: Richard L. Nolan and Thomas H. Davenport

Describes the six steps included in most reengineering initiatives: selecting the processes for reengineering; identifying change enablers; developing a business vision of process objectives; understanding and measuring existing processes; designing and prototyping the... View Details

Keywords: Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Change Management; Measurement and Metrics

2020
Article

Mutual Funds: Skill and Performance

By: Jonathan B. Berk, Jules van Binsbergen and Max Miller

The authors summarize the recent literature on mutual fund manager skill and performance. They discuss the latest contributions in the field and reinterpret them through the lens of the rational expectations framework (efficient market hypothesis). They further discuss... View Details

Keywords: Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Financial Management; Performance Evaluation; Measurement and Metrics

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I received my first degree in Economics in 1990 from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina and a D.Phil in Economics from Oxford University in 1996. After a short stay in Argentina I joined Harvard Business School in July 1997, where I... View Details

Keywords: broadcasting; state government

2023
Working Paper

Accounting for Carbon Offsets – Establishing the Foundation for Carbon-Trading Markets

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Karthik Ramanna and Marc Roston

Tackling climate change requires reductions in current and future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as the removal of existing GHG from the atmosphere. Carbon-offset producers purport to provide such removals. But poor measurement practices and inadequate controls... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Offsetting; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Corporate Accountability

SSRN

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13 Feb 2018
Working Paper Summaries

In Search of Organizational Alignment Using a 360° Assessment System: Evidence from a Retail Chain

Keywords: by Carolyn Deller, Susanna Gallani, and Tatiana Sandino; Retail

September 2011
Article

How to Solve the Cost Crisis in Health Care

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Michael E. Porter

Existing health care costing systems have serious flaws that make it impossible to measure costs accurately at the individual patient and medical condition level. This gap has severely limited meaningful cost reduction throughout the system. The paper describes a new... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Health Care and Treatment; Measurement and Metrics; Service Delivery; Outcome or Result; Quality; Health Industry

November 1983 (Revised June 1994)
Case

Controls at the Sands Hotel and Casino

Describes the controls used in the casino over the blackjack game and cash stocks, and movements of cash. Also describes the results measures available in the casino and their limitations for control purposes. View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Accounting; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

07 May 2015
News

How Crowdfunding Kickstarts the Arts

02 Jul 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: The Role of Social Entrepreneurship in Transforming American Public Education

like lack of political will to drive change. Yet amid these formidable barriers, a set of passionate social entrepreneurs are disrupting the status quo in education with innovative and effective approaches that are producing measurable... View Details

Keywords: Education

September 2003 (Revised September 2004)
Case

Hearthside Homes

By: Jason R. Barro, Brian J. Hall and Aaron Zimmerman

Investigates the "controllability problem" inherent in bonus systems. Ideally, an incentive system accurately measures performance in areas that the individual can control. But most measures are either too broad, including factors outside the influence of the employee,... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Housing; Performance Evaluation; Construction Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Real Estate Industry

November 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Balancing Impact: Modeling the Future at British International Investment

By: Shawn Cole and Jonah Zahnd

In 2022, British International Investment (BII), the £8.1 billion development finance arm of the British government, implemented a new impact measurement system called the Impact Score to align its financial and impact objectives systematically. The tool was designed... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Alignment; United Kingdom

Article

Why Compliance Programs Fail: And How to Fix Them

By: Hui Chen and Eugene Soltes

Firms spend millions of dollars annually on whistle-blower hotlines, training, and other efforts to ensure adherence to laws, regulations, and company policies. Yet malfeasance remains entrenched in the corporate world. Why? Too many firms treat compliance as a... View Details

Keywords: Governance Compliance; Programs; Employees; Training; Performance Effectiveness; Measurement and Metrics

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01 Mar 2012
News

The Incentive Bubble

October 2023
Article

Product Variety, the Cost of Living, and Welfare Across Countries

By: Alberto Cavallo, Robert C. Feenstra and Robert Inklaar

We use the structure of the Melitz (2003) model to compute the cost of living and welfare across 47 countries, and compare these to conventional measures of prices and real consumption from the International Comparisons Project (ICP). The cost of living is inferred... View Details

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Trade

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2022
Article

Climate Change Vulnerability and Currency Returns

By: Alex Cheema-Fox, George Serafeim and Hui (Stacie) Wang

Using measures of physical risk from climate change, we develop a methodology to allocate currency pairs according to a country’s vulnerability and construct portfolios with decreasing vulnerability to physical risk. We show that non-G10 currencies are more vulnerable... View Details

Keywords: Climate Finance; Vulnerabilities; Currencies; Foreign Exchange; Climate Change; Currency; Natural Disasters

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24 Apr 2019
HBS Seminar

Dimitris Papanikolaou, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

Research Summary

Deep Indicators of Business Model Success

By: James L. Heskett

The purpose of this study is to develop ways of helping practitioners identify and measure deep indicators of success in the business models being pursued by their organizations. The hypothesis is that success is dependent on these deep indicators. The indicators are... View Details

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Aiyesha Dey

Financial Reporting and Control
Throughout their careers, business leaders are required to measure and evaluate their organization's economic performance, improve resource allocation and strategy implementation within their organizations, and build accountability... View Details

November 2010 (Revised May 2012)
Background Note

Assessing a Company's Future Financial Health

By: Thomas R. Piper

The case provides students with (1) an understanding of the essence of long-term financial health; (2) familiarity with the calculation and meaning of various financial ratios; and (3) an understanding of the influence of a company's operating and competitive... View Details

Keywords: Financial Condition; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment Return; Operations; Competitive Strategy