Publications

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25 Apr 2000
Research & Ideas

Adjusting the Fit for Government

The role of government in Africa must be to establish an "investor friendly" environment, according to Obiageli Ezekwesili, a panelist at the Africa Business Conference's debate on "Government and the Enabling... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

June 2004 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Procter & Gamble: Global Business Services

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Warren Brackin, Alex Cabanas, Phil Shellhammer and David L. Ager

Dave Walker, vice-president of business service opportunities and chairman of the governance team at Procter & Gamble, must decide what to do with P&G's 5,700 employee Global Business Services (GBS) group. GBS brought together internal services such as finance,... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Change Management; Decision Making; Globalized Firms and Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Organizational Design

September 2016
Case

Financial Services at Falabella (A)

By: C. Fritz Foley and Agustin M. Hurtado

In 2010, the board and senior management team of Falabella, a leading retailer with operations throughout Latin America, faced choices about what to do with its financial services division. More than 4.5 million customers had CMR credit cards that could be used in... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Credit; Financial Institutions; Personal Finance; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Latin America; Chile; Argentina; Colombia; Peru

01 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Retail Execs Underplay Current Performance to Investors--but Why?

Retail executives aren’t always giving stockholders the straight scoop about the financial standing of their companies in comments around earnings announcements—and some may be providing misleading information, potentially for their own... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services

December 2005 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Pharmacy Service Improvement at CVS (A)

CVS's retail pharmacy operations are functioning poorly and dissatisfying customers. Many customers are defecting as a result. A pharmacy service improvement team has documented the current prescription fulfillment process, its exception rates, and the problems... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Performance Improvement; Business Processes; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States

March 1996 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Singapore's Trade in Services

By: Debora L. Spar

Focuses on the efforts of Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB) to grow the tiny island almost wholly through an expansion of its service economy. Between 1965 and 1990, Singapore achieved a remarkable rate of growth, largely by opening its economy to foreign... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Service Operations; Government and Politics; Developing Countries and Economies; Macroeconomics; Service Industry; Singapore

10 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Winners and Losers in the Retail Revolution

The new book Retail Revolution: Will Your Brick-and-Mortar Store Survive? lays out the thesis that traditional store-front retailing is at an inflection point, under tremendous pressure from ecommerce and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

Forthcoming
Article

You've Got Mail! The Late 19th-Century U.S. Postal Service Expansion, Firm Creation, and Firm Performance

By: Astrid Marinoni and Maria P. Roche

This paper examines the impact of the expansion of the US Postal Service in the late 19th century on firm creation and performance. Utilizing newly digitized archival data on historic business establishments, post office locations, and road networks in California,... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Innovation; Knowledge Exchange; US Postal Service; Firm Performance; Infrastructure; Expansion; Government Administration; Communication; Business History; Entrepreneurship; Public Administration Industry; California

Forthcoming
Article

Geographies of Discontent: Public Service Deprivation and the Rise of the Far Right in Italy

By: Simone Cremaschi, Paula Rettl, Marco Cappelluti and Catherine E. De Vries

Electoral support for far-right parties is often linked to geographies of discontent. We argue that public service deprivation, defined as reduced access to public services at the local level, plays an important role in explaining these patterns. By exploiting an... View Details

Keywords: Election Outcomes; Electoral Behavior; Political Affiliation; Political Culture; Public Service; Political Elections; Policy; Government and Politics; Surveys; Geographic Location; Immigration; Europe; Italy

Read Now

November 2020
Supplement

Improving Access at VA (Update)

By: Ryan W. Buell

In November 2020, Chief Veterans Experience Officer, Lynda Davis, and Deputy Chief Veterans Experience Officer, Barbara C. Morton reflect on a busy four years leading the Veterans Experience Office at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The case provides an update... View Details

Keywords: Government; Service Management; Leading Change; Transformation; Service Operations; Management; Health Care and Treatment; Government Administration; Performance Improvement; Public Administration Industry; United States

August 2015
Article

A Comparative-Advantage Approach to Government Debt Maturity

By: Robin Greenwood, Samuel G. Hanson and Jeremy C. Stein

We study optimal government debt maturity in a model where investors derive monetary services from holding riskless short-term securities. In a setting where the government is the only issuer of such riskless paper, it trades off the monetary premium associated with... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; Debt Securities

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May 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Service and Value in e-Commerce

This collection of readings illustrates the importance of service and logistics in e-commerce, focusing on e-Toys' disastrous 1999 holiday season. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Internet and the Web; Service Operations; Logistics; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Retail Industry

Research Summary

Current Research: Issues in Corporate Governance

Effectiveness of shareholder voting

Reform of shareholder voting is a key component of legislation arising from the financial crisis of 2008. Professor Gow examines the effect of shareholder voting on corporate actions, particularly on... View Details

14 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Time that Government Reopens for Business

DC. Jim Aisner: The newspapers point out that a federal government shutdown has occurred 17 times before, but that really doesn't provide much solace, does it? Joe Fuller: The thing that's particularly unnerving about this shutdown is its... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

16 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Data.gov: Matching Government Data with Rapid Innovation

lack of trust in government officials," he explained. "There is no point in adding services over a foundation we don't trust. The number-one priority of Data.gov should be to restore confidence in... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Technology

15 Sep 2020
Working Paper Summaries

State and Local Government Employment in the COVID-19 Crisis

Keywords: by Daniel Green and Erik Loualiche

03 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The State of Customer Service Leadership

Southwest Airlines, for instance, has continued as a legendary US-based service provider since its inception in 1971, IKEA of Sweden has evolved to teach the world’s retailers about the power of a well-... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Retail

12 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

Corporate Innovation Increasingly Benefits from Government Research

shrinking human services than the long-term benefits of research spending, whose outcomes might be years away. “Voters don’t get as angered about such cuts.” The research can’t predict what would happen if the US View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

December 1998 (Revised December 1999)
Case

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Private Client Services

By: Thomas J. DeLong, David M. Darst, Ann K Rusher and Catherine M. Conneely

The 1997 merger of retail giant Dean Witter and investment bank Morgan Stanley was a year old when Bob Sculthorpe was appointed director of Private Client Services (PCS) at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (MSDW). The firm was still operating under two separate broker-dealer... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Divisions; Investment Banking; Brands and Branding; Salesforce Management; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry