Publications

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01 Dec 2023
News

The Imposter Among Us

back home and was being sent to HBS by his bankers, who believed there was more he could learn about accounting. Gaines-Cooper was an astute financier but had never attended university. The Rolls, he confessed to Wallner, was all part of... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

August 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Revenue Recognition Problems in the Communications Equipment Industry

By: Paul M. Healy and Arjuna J Costa

Designed to explore recognition issues in the context of a potential market downturn. In late 2000, Lucent Technologies reports multiple revisions to its recent financial results due to revenue recognition problems, leading to a dramatic decline in its stock price.... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Revenue Recognition; Policy; Supply and Industry; Performance; Communications Industry

21 May 2007
Research & Ideas

Fixing the Marketing-CEO Disconnect

susceptibility to competition. How to repair the rift? Two HBS faculty developed a CD-based program called Measuring Marketing Performance targeted at senior executives—namely CEOs, COOs, and CMOs. The tutorial helps execs understand how... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

2010
Working Paper

Specialization and Variety in Repetitive Tasks: Evidence from a Japanese Bank

By: Bradley R. Staats and Francesca Gino

Sustaining operational productivity in the completion of repetitive tasks is critical to many organizations' success. Yet research points to two different work-design related strategies for accomplishing this goal: specialization to capture the benefits of repetition... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Working Conditions; Service Delivery; Performance Productivity; Financial Services Industry; Japan

Read Now

Malcolm Salter has been a member of the Harvard Business School faculty since 1967. His teaching and research focus on issues of corporate strategy, organization, and governance.

In addition to teaching at HBS, he has held faculty positions at the Harvard... View Details

Keywords: arts; automobiles; energy; investment banking industry; retailing; venture capital industry

January 2018
Technical Note

Business at the Base of the Pyramid: Understanding Impact and Impact Evaluations

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Tricia Gregg

Unlike financial success, there is no clear consensus regarding how best to define and measure social impact. This HBS Technical Note written for students of the HBS MBA course Business at the Base of the Pyramid (BBOP), offers readers pragmatic perspectives on how the... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Social Issues; Value Creation; Human Needs; Performance Evaluation

22 Nov 2010
Research & Ideas

Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution

point, I'll contrast Merck's $20 billion decision to pull Vioxx from the market with Pfizer's decision to continue marketing Celebrex. 3. What Critical Performance Variables Are You Tracking? Once you're confident that the foundation of... View Details

Keywords: by Robert Simons

August 2018 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Fair Value Accounting at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (A)

By: Jonas Heese, Suraj Srinivasan, Francois Brochet and Christine Johnson

In May 2018, Berkshire Hathaway announced an unprecedented loss of more than $1 billion for the first quarter of 2018. Warren Buffett blamed this loss on the new accounting rules for equity securities which he criticized. In the case ‘Fair Value Accounting at Berkshire... View Details

Keywords: Equity Securities; FASB; Fair Value Accounting; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry

October 2015
Teaching Note

Clef Company: Turnover

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Clef Company sells keys and other products to retail outlets, which then sell these products to consumers. The case concerns turnover in Clef's sales force in the context of company strategy, financial performance, and a day in the life of a Clef salesperson. Among... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Marketing; Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

Web

Online Business Courses & Certifications | HBS Online

Complete the year-long CLIMB program to earn a Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business . Finance & Accounting Learn financial principles, understand financial statements, and unlock... View Details

Article

Tax Aversion in Labor Supply

By: Judd B. Kessler and Michael I. Norton

In a real-effort laboratory experiment, labor supply decreases more with the introduction of a tax than with a financially equivalent drop in wages. This “tax aversion” is large in magnitude: when we decompose the productivity decrease that arises from taxation, we... View Details

Keywords: Taxes; Labor Supply; Productivity; Experiments; Wages; Human Capital; Performance Productivity; Taxation

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20 Mar 2007
First Look

First Look: March 20, 2007

model to establish these interrelationships at a firm level. Using publicly available financial data we estimate the six causal effects among sales, inventory, and gross margin. Our results show that sales, inventory, and gross margin are... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 1997
Case

ABB Germany

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

Describes Europe's most famous postwar multinational merger between Asea of Sweden and Brown Boveri of Switzerland. Gives background on both companies and focuses particularly on BBC's geographic organization, its corporate culture, and the relationship between its... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Multinational Firms and Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Culture; Performance Improvement; Geographic Location; Rank and Position; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Sweden; Switzerland; Germany

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13 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

When Good Incentives Lead to Bad Decisions

Among the culprits contributing to the recent financial crisis were bank loan officers who approved mortgage loans that were doomed to fail. Many of these frontline workers were motivated by bonuses and other incentives to approve... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking

November 1998
Case

Wegmans Food Markets: Diabetes Counseling

By: Ray A. Goldberg, David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

Danny Wegman, president of Wegmans Food Markets, is trying to decide how to evaluate the success of a nutrition-counseling program for diabetics, and whether and how to expand the program beyond the two stores currently involved. Wegmans, with 57 stores and $2.3... View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Expansion; Programs; Human Needs; Financial Management; Health Care and Treatment; Nutrition; Consumer Behavior; Pharmaceutical Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

09 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 9, 2008

agencies. While negative ratings may "shame" firms that are performing poorly, the threat of regulatory action and the presence of "low hanging fruit" are important drivers of how firms respond to information-based... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2007 (Revised December 2008)
Case

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group: The Human Capital Strategy

By: Boris Groysberg and Eliot Sherman

Describes the development and implementation of one of the world's most advanced human resource management support systems. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a global banking leader that began implementing a strategy for measuring the impact of human capital on... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Human Resources; Human Capital; Management Systems; Measurement and Metrics; Performance Effectiveness; Strategy; Information Technology; Banking Industry