Publications

March 2006
Background Note

A Note on Applying Dimensional Analysis to Understand Cost Drivers

Describes the basics of how to break down costs into productivity and input prices and then compare those cost drivers between competitors. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Competitive Strategy

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29 Apr 2013
News

Big Week Ahead For the Markets

September 1986 (Revised March 1987)
Case

Graves Industries, Inc. (B): Lohnes Marine Hardware Division

Describes events occurring over a four-year period in one division of Graves Industries. The division goes through a business cycle and uses several methods of managing earnings to meet its budget targets. The purpose of the case is to allow the exploration of the... View Details

Keywords: Earnings Management; Crime and Corruption; Ethics

September 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

John Rogers and Ariel Investments

By: Steven Rogers and Greg White

The strong, public advocacy of a highly successful African American CEO has the potential to negatively impact his company. The CEO is deciding if he should listen to the advice of others who are urging him to “tone it down”. View Details

Keywords: Advocacy; Diversity; Investment Management; Affirmative Action; Disruption; Cost vs Benefits; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Accountability; Leading Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Problems and Challenges; Financial Services Industry; Chicago

21 Oct 2016
News

The barbarian establishment

17 Jun 2015
News

Gender, looks hold sway in venture capital funding

12 Jan 2017
News

Bond Covenants and Skeptic Skepticism

21 Dec 2017
News

In Tax Overhaul, Trump Tries to Defy the Economic Odds

March 2011 (Revised December 2017)
Background Note

The IMF: The Washington Consensus, the Critics, and the New Challenges as China Rises

By: Rafael M. Di Tella, Natalie Kindred and Monica Baraldi

How the International Monetary Fund (IMF) defines and carries out its mandate has evolved considerably since 1944, when it was founded to serve a vital but narrow function in maintaining the global foreign exchange system and thus enabling international trade. This... View Details

Keywords: History; International Finance; Globalized Economies and Regions; Trade; Financial Institutions; Macroeconomics; Financial Services Industry

05 Oct 2014
News

SEC’s new rules give US money market funds a floating feeling

January 2006 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Deutsche Borse and the European Markets

By: Dwight B. Crane and Monika Stachowiak

In December 2004, Deutsche Borse proposed an offer for the London Stock Exchange. Some shareholders opposed the acquisition, leading to the offer's withdrawal and replacement of management, including the CEO and board members. Written from the viewpoint of Deutsche... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Strategy; Governing and Advisory Boards; Capital Structure; Stocks; Valuation; Corporate Governance; Price; Change Management; Commercialization; Financial Services Industry; Europe

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September 2016 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Springfield Hospital

By: Susanna Gallani and Robert Kaplan

One of the key roles of costing systems is to support the evaluation of performance and facilitate appropriate resource allocations. Through participation in a comparative cost study, management at Springfield Hospital, known for its heavy focus on operational... View Details

Keywords: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Variance Analysis; Activity Based Costing and Management; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

01 Mar 2009
News

It’s the Economy

billion financial bailout program. see article America’s financial future is more closely intertwined with China’s than most people recognize, argues HBS professor Niall Ferguson in an excerpt from his new... View Details

Keywords: Administration of Economic Programs; Administration of Economic Programs; Administration of Economic Programs

January 1996
Background Note

Standard Costs and Variance Analysis

In an introduction to standard costs and cost variances, discussion, formulae, and examples explore the idea of comparing actual costs to those that were expected. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting

12 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 12, 2008

problems in the renovation of the 27-floor, 60,000 square meter complex. The WTC owners, two Dutch financial institutions, had hired TvT in 1995 to advise how to best handle their property's... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2014
Book

Los Buenos Tiempos Son Éstos: Los efectos de la incursión de la banca extranjera en México después de un siglo de crisis bancarias [These Are the Good Old Days: Foreign Entry and the Mexican Banking System]

By: Stephen Haber and Aldo Musacchio

This book is the Spanish edition of our award winning paper "These Are the Good Old Days: Foreign Entry and the Mexican Banking System." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 18713, January 2013. The book examines the effects of foreign bank entry into Mexico. Foreign banks... View Details

Keywords: Banks And Banking; Mexico; Commercial Banking; Foreign Direct Investment; Competition; Financial Markets; Banking Industry; Mexico

March 1996 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Arborite

Describes the competitive position of Arborite, a Canadian manufacturer of high-pressure laminates (HPL) (a product sold under the Formica name in the United States). Arborite's market share has slipped, and a new general manager must evaluate whether a change in... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Consumer Behavior; Manufacturing Industry; Canada