Publications

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Research Summary

Cost Management Systems

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Robert S. Kaplan continues to explore the design and use of activity-based cost management systems for manufacturing and service companies. His most recent work, done collaboratively with Professor Michael E. Porter, applies time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC)... View Details

October 1993 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Becton Dickinson: Worldwide Blood Collection Team

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Kathleen Scharf

Describes Becton Dickinson's evolving attempt to develop products and strategies to meet worldwide competitive and market needs. Traces the evolution of a classic parent company-led product-market strategy to truly transnational product and strategy development.... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Product Development; Innovation and Management; Competitive Advantage; Multinational Firms and Management

Article

Highways and Spatial Location within Cities: Evidence from India

By: Ejaz Ghani, Arti Grover Goswami and William R. Kerr

We investigate the impact of the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) highway project on the spatial organization and efficiency of manufacturing activity. The GQ project upgraded the quality and width of 3,633 miles of road in India. We use a difference-in-difference estimation... View Details

Keywords: Infrastructure; Transportation; India

February 2001 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Dialpad Communications (A)

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Kerry Herman

Describes the evolution of Dialpad, a voice-over-Internet-protocol telephony company. Set in September 2000, CEO Brad Garlinghouse faces a dilemma: what to do about the large number of international users who use Dialpad to call the United States for free. He must also... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Organizational Design; Competitive Strategy; Investment; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Internet and the Web; Venture Capital; Telecommunications Industry; California

Keywords: Food Service

25 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Why IT Does Matter

had the courage to invest in its performance, and they used it to gain a significant competitive edge. It is naive to assume that other sharply discontinuous technologies will not offer similar... View Details

Keywords: by F. Warren McFarlan & Richard L. Nolan

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Do Managers’ Heuristics Affect R&D Performance Volatility? A Simulation Informed by the Pharmaceutical Industry

Keywords: by Francesca Gino & Gary P. Pisano; Pharmaceutical

September 2016
Article

The Effect of Target Difficulty on Target Completion: The Case of Reducing Carbon Emissions

By: Ioannis Ioannou, Shelley Xin Li and George Serafeim

Targets are an integral component of management control systems and play a significant role in achieving desirable performance outcomes. We focus on a key environmental performance objective—reduction of carbon emissions—as a setting in which to examine how target... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Target-setting; Management Accounting; Management Accounting And Control Systems; Control Systems; Sustainable Development; Environment; Goals and Objectives; Climate Change; Management Systems; Accounting; Environmental Sustainability

2015
Working Paper

Expertise vs. Bias in Evaluation: Evidence from the NIH

By: Danielle Li

Evaluators with expertise in a particular field may have an informational advantage in separating good projects from bad. At the same time, they may also have personal preferences that impact their objectivity. This paper develops a framework for separately identifying... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Performance Evaluation; Experience and Expertise

November 2023 (Revised July 2024)
Case

'Care in Every Drop': Ayala Corporation and Manila Water (A)

By: Debora L. Spar, Paul Healy, Tricia Peralta and Julia M. Comeau

Since 1834, eight generations of the Ayala family have used their conglomerate to fund nation-building projects in the Philippines, including investments in tramcars, telecommunications, hospitals, and schools. In 1997, Ayala’s subsidiary, Manila Water, took control of... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Economic Growth; Social Entrepreneurship; Climate Change; Natural Resources; Crisis Management; Failure; Privatization; Social Issues; Urban Development; Adaptation; Public Opinion; Mission and Purpose; Utilities Industry; Asia; Philippines

19 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

The History of Beauty

chypre, and was the first perfumer to sell his wares in elegantly designed glass bottles, rather than in the pharmaceutical bottles used previously. An ambitious believer in globalization, he even sent his energetic mother-in-law to open... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics

Robert J. Dolan

Robert J. Dolan is the Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester and began his academic career in 1976 as a faculty member at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago. He joined... View Details

March 2024 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Coursera's Foray into GenAI

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Michael Parzen and Radhika Kak

In early 2023, Maggioncalda, CEO of US EdTech firm Coursera, launched Project Genesis to develop a strategy for incorporating GenAI capabilities into the firm's offerings, asking his teams to focus on value to the firm and cost of implementation. The team identified... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; AI and Machine Learning; Brands and Branding; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Technological Innovation; Education Industry; Technology Industry; United States

2023
Working Paper

Coordinated R&D Programs and the Creation of New Industries

By: Daniel P. Gross and Maria P. Roche

Complex systems technologies—including “deep tech”—are prone to numerous frictions that stymie commercial development. Yet technologies with these features underpin some of the most valuable industries of the past century. We examine how large, mission-oriented... View Details

Keywords: Research and Development; Policy; Business and Government Relations; Technological Innovation; Collaborative Innovation and Invention

SSRN

29 Oct 2020
Blog Post

Delving Deeper into Development with the MBA/MPA-ID Program – a Q+A with Zainab Raji (MBA/MPA-ID 2022)

history on my grandpa’s walking tours of Lagos Island, celebrating Eid holidays with family, and working on craft projects with my twin sister. My family bonded over storytelling. Older family members recounted tales of their past... View Details

Teaching Interest

Product Management 101 & 102

Julia previously taught Product Management 101 & 102 (PM 101/102). This is a two-semester project-based course that uses a learning-by-doing approach to build basic product management skills. Students evaluate user needs and specify functional requirements... View Details

2011
Report

Nordic Globalization Barometer 2011

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

The Nordic Globalization Barometer 2011, the fourth in its series, builds on the methodology established in previous editions: The first part provides a short overview of the macroeconomic climate in the Nordic countries. The second part tracks the changes in economic... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Macroeconomics; Trade; Globalized Economies and Regions; Policy; Competitive Strategy; Scandinavia