Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,144)
- Faculty Publications (87)
- August 2005 (Revised April 2006)
- Case
Kemps LLC: Introducing Time-Driven ABC
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Kemps is making a strategy shift: from being focused on fulfilling customer requests to becoming the best cost dairy producer in the industry. Its existing manufacturing cost system, however, fails to capture the costs associated with handling special flavors, small... View Details
- 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
- April 2004 (Revised September 2007)
- Case
Accounting Fraud at WorldCom
By: Robert S. Kaplan and David Kiron
The principal players in WorldCom's accounting fraud included CFO Scott Sullivan, the General Accounting and Internal Audit departments, external auditor Arthur Andersen, and the board of directors. The case provides sufficient detail to allow for a full discussion of... View Details
- March 2004 (Revised April 2005)
- Case
Midwest Office Products
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Presents an easy introduction to time-driven activity-based costing (ABC) that allows students to build a simple ABC model of order profitability. Midwest's time-driven ABC approach is based on two categories of parameter estimates. The first is the cost per hour of... View Details
- April 2003 (Revised March 2009)
- Case
Operational Execution at Arrow Electronics
By: Ananth Raman and Zeynep Ton
Distribution center operations (from order taking to order fulfillment) and the importance of attending to process details at Arrow Electronics, a large distributor of electronic components and computer products are described. The case also details the actions the... View Details
- August 2001 (Revised February 2005)
- Case
Dakota Office Products
By: Robert S. Kaplan
The senior management team of Dakota, an office products distributor, is concerned about the company's first loss in history. Explores the role for activity based costing and customer profitability measurement in a distribution company. Dakota's customers are... View Details
- February 2001 (Revised November 2019)
- Case
Delivery Problems at Arrow Electronics, Inc. (A)
By: Andrew P. McAfee, Frances X. Frei and Kerry Herman
Describes a dramatic decrease in service levels (on-time shipments) from the warehouse network of a large electronics distributor. Students need to analyze the root cause of the problem and propose actions. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details
- February 2001 (Revised November 2019)
- Supplement
Delivery Problems at Arrow Electronics, Inc. (B)
By: Andrew P. McAfee, Frances X. Frei and Kerry Herman
Supplements the (A) case. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details
- January 2001 (Revised March 2001)
- Case
Range, The (A)
By: Kathleen L. McGinn, Tracy Thompson and Michael Smith
Reveals the potential benefits and pitfalls of reorganization into teams in order to respond to environmental change. Takes place in the newsroom of a metropolitan daily newspaper. Both management and employees struggle to find new balance after a major restructuring... View Details
- October 1996 (Revised December 1996)
- Case
United Electric Controls
By: H. Kent Bowen, Jody H. Gittell and Sylvie Ryckebusch
United Electric Controls (UE) was a small, traditional family-owned manufacturing company when Dave Reis, the youngest member of the Reis family, took over the business. This case describes Reis's efforts to change UE's traditional work practices in order to make the... View Details
- January 1996
- Case
Biogen, Inc.: rBeta Interferon Manufacturing Process Development
Biogen, Inc., a Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company, is wrapping up a project to develop a new manufacturing process for a new drug product that will reposition the company from a purely research-oriented company to a fully integrated pharmaceutical manufacturing... View Details
- November 1995 (Revised March 2004)
- Case
Massachusetts General Hospital: CABG Surgery (A)
By: Steven C. Wheelwright and James Weber
A cross-functional team at Massachusetts General Hospital tries to reengineer the service delivery process (the "care path") for heart bypass surgery (CABG) in order to shorten hospital stays (and lower costs) while maintaining/enhancing the quality of care provided. View Details
Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Business Processes; Mission and Purpose; Product Positioning; Product Marketing; Management Practices and Processes; Customer Satisfaction; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Fair Value Accounting; Ethics; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; Massachusetts
- August 1994 (Revised May 2001)
- Case
ITT Automotive: Global Manufacturing Strategy (1994)
By: Gary P. Pisano and Sharon L. Rossi
ITT Automotive is in the process of developing a new-generation antilock brake system (ABS), designated the MK-20. The case focuses on the level of automation to be used in the production of this new system, and whether all plants should use the same process... View Details
- March 1990 (Revised July 1991)
- Case
Digital Equipment Corp.: Complex Order Management
Describes the proposed creation of a low end 3000 configuration workstation using Digital's competitive advantage of offering a la carte configuration capability and ability to build different options for customers. Disadvantages of this 3000 configuration workstation... View Details
- January 1985 (Revised June 1993)
- Case
Turner Construction Co.
In June, 1984, a vice president at Turner Construction Co. must decide whether to approve a construction project being considered by one of Turner's territorial offices and how to manage that territory general manager's apparent reluctance to pursue another account... View Details
- January 1983 (Revised September 1983)
- Case
E.T. Phone Home, Inc.: Forecasting Business Demand
By: John F. Cady and Frank V. Cespedes
Describes a process for forecasting market demand for an emerging technology--cellular radio. The student must critically evaluate the demand model and the market estimates, and modify them as appropriate in order to develop a marketing plan and budget. View Details
- November 1982 (Revised February 1985)
- Case
Ruth M. Owades
By: Howard H. Stevenson, Richard O. von Werssowetz and Robert W. Kent
Ruth Owades developed a concept for a new mail order venture offering gardening products. Her current employer turned down the idea, so with permission to try it independently, she has begun the process of raising funds and preparing for a separate operation. She still... View Details
- Research Summary
American Secretaries of State Project: Negotiation, Diplomacy, and Statecraft
With Nicholas Burns and Robert Mnookin, I co-lead a project to do background research on all living former American Secretaries of State, interview them extensively on video at Harvard (if possible) about their most challenging negotiations, and analyze this... View Details
- Research Summary
Corporate Restructuring and Business Insolvency: Economic Impact and Best Practices
By: Stuart C. Gilson
Stuart C. Gilson is studying how severe financial distress impacts corporate policies and economic resource allocation. He is also studying how managers can best respond to financial distress in order to preserve and grow value. He is undertaking this research... View Details
- Research Summary
Current Research
By: Thomas J. DeLong
I'm currently studying how global organizations organize talent management systems in order to maintain and enhance the performance of professionals. I'm also interested in the socialization process of organizations based on size and focus of the... View Details