Publications

March 2012
Background Note

Managing the Layoff Process: The United States

By: Sandra J. Sucher

This note is an overview of the context for managing layoffs in the United States. It describes the legal responsibilities of managers in conducting layoffs, recent unemployment trends, and the financial, health, training, job placement, and other benefits that... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Resignation and Termination; Compensation and Benefits; Ethics; Management; Employees; Governance Compliance; United States

March 1990 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Turner Construction Company: Project Management Control Systems

By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston

After providing a brief overview of Turner Construction Co.'s structure and project work, the case gives a detailed description of its project management control system, the IOR system. In addition to explaining the mechanics of the IOR system, the case identifies the... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Cost Management; Performance Evaluation; Risk Management; Strategic Planning; Planning; Management Systems; Management Teams; Construction Industry

June 1997 (Revised January 1999)
Background Note

Understanding Costs for Management Decisions

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

Defines types of costs--current, sunk, opportunity, relevant, differential--and their use in management and management decision making. Contrasts single-period and multiple-period cost analysis. View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Decision Making

October 2006 (Revised July 2007)
Case

China Resources Corporation (A): 6S Management

By: Dennis Campbell and David Lane

In 2006, Jiang Wei, CFO of China Resources Corporation, was seeking to implement a variety of new management control systems in a complex diversified corporation during a period of rapid economic expansion in mainland China. Instilling efficiency, productivity,... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Business Conglomerates; Governance Controls; Balanced Scorecard; Management Systems; Performance Improvement; Business Strategy; China

21 Feb 2005
Op-Ed

Is Business Management a Profession?

the benefits of managerial expertise may be offered for purely private gain and that this is equivalent to advancing societal interests. Having given rise to the notion of making managers "think and... View Details

Keywords: by Rakesh Khurana, Nitin Nohria & Daniel Penrice

April 2008
Case

Campbell and Bailyn's Boston Office: Managing the Reorganization

By: Anne Donnellon and Dun Gifford Jr

Ken Winston, the regional sales manager at a securities brokerage firm, has reorganized his generalist salespeople into Key Account Teams (KAT) to increase sales of specialized, higher-margin fixed income products. Winston is also implementing a new corporate... View Details

2006
Other Unpublished Work

Does Banks' Corporate Control Benefit Firms? Evidence from US Banks' Control over Firms' Voting Rights

By: Joao A.C. Santos and Kristin Wilson

In this paper we examine the importance of banks' corporate control over their borrowers by investigating the loan pricing effect of banks' voting stakes in borrowers. We exploit the fact that banks may hold shares of firms in a fiduciary capacity to identify a clean... View Details

Keywords: Voting; Corporate Governance; Commercial Banking; Banking Industry; United States

SSRN

September 2021
Case

Brown Capital Management

By: Luis M. Viceira, Emily R. McComb and Sarah Mehta

Set in July 2021, this case looks at several growth strategies under consideration at Brown Capital, the second-oldest Black-owned asset management firm in the U.S. Since its 1983 founding, Baltimore-based Brown Capital has specialized in small company growth... View Details

June 2001 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Spir-It, Inc. (B): Managing People

When Jack Sindler founded Spir-it, Inc. in 1934, he was the company's sole employee. By 1999, Sindler's firm more than survived its first 55 years. Employment was up to nearly 200, with facilities in two states and work done in three shifts. The product line--which had... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Production; Business Growth and Maturation; Interpersonal Communication; Logistics; Human Resources; Diversity Characteristics; Manufacturing Industry

13 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Unconventional Insights for Managing Stakeholder Trust

Keywords: by Michael Pirson & Deepak Malhotra

April 2009
Case

Merck: Managing Vioxx (A)

By: Robert L. Simons, Kathryn Rosenberg and Natalie Kindred

This two-class case series allows students to stand in the shoes of CEO Ray Gilmartin during the unfolding stages of a reputational crisis. Merck's mission statement claims to "put patients first," but the company is widely criticized for putting profit before patient... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Crisis Management; Reputation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Customers; Business or Company Management; Cost vs Benefits; Corporate Accountability; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Customer Focus and Relationships; Pharmaceutical Industry

02 Apr 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Making the Move to General Manager

People achieve success in the early years of their career by specializing and becoming functional experts—in essence, they succeed by knowing more and more about less and less, says Benjamin C. Esty, chair of the General Management... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2013
Book

Managing Startups: Best Blog Posts

By: Tom Eisenmann

Harvard Business School Professor Tom Eisenmann annually compiles the best posts from many blogs on technology startup management, primarily for the benefit of his students. This book makes his latest collection available to the broader entrepreneur community. Divided... View Details

Keywords: Lean Startup; Startup; Prototyping; MVP; Minimum Viable Product; Freemium; SaaS; A/B Testing; Business Model

2014
Working Paper

The Effect of Management Control Elements on Coordination

By: Sara Bormann, Jan Bouwens and Christian Hofmann

This study examines how control elements of a firm affect coordination among profit centers. The firm operates a network of 59 profit centers. It uses a transfer-pricing system designed to account for interdependencies between profit centers and to induce coordination.... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Organizational Structure; Performance

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Article

Quantifying the Benefits from a Care Coordination Program for Tracheostomy Placement in Neonates

By: Christen Caloway, Alisa Yamasaki, Kevin M. Callans, Mahek Shah, Robert S. Kaplan and Christopher Hartnick

Value-based care models are becoming instrumental in structuring clinical care delivery in our healthcare climate. Our objective was to determine the value associated with implementation of a Family-Centered Care Coordination (FCCC) program for neonates undergoing... View Details

Keywords: Family-centered Care; Value-based Healthcare; Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Health Care and Treatment; Value; Activity Based Costing and Management

Read Now

February 2019 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Sales Force Management at Nobel Ilac

By: Doug J. Chung and Gamze Yucaoglu

Nobel Ilac was a Turkish generic pharmaceutical company marketing more than 100 drugs in 20 countries and, as of 2017, had over 2,500 employees worldwide. Nobel had implemented a transformation strategy—more specifically, a customer segmentation plan—whereby the sales... View Details

Keywords: Sales Strategy; Compensation; Employee Retention; Recruiting; Pharmaceuticals; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Organizational Design; Human Resources; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Retention; Recruitment; Pharmaceutical Industry; Turkey

2010
Simulation

Marketing Simulation: Managing Segments and Customers

By: Das Narayandas

In this single-player simulation, students assume the position of CEO of a medical motor manufacturer and are tasked with executing a successful business-to-business marketing strategy over a period of twelve fiscal quarters. Students determine all aspects of the... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Salesforce Management; Distribution Channels; Price; Product Positioning; Customer Relationship Management; Profit; Revenue; Cost vs Benefits; Policy; Manufacturing Industry