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August 1993
Case

Applichem (A) (Abridged)

By: Janice H. Hammond and Gary P. Pisano

Applichem manufactures the same chemical product in four plants, each of which is located in a different country. The company has completed a major study comparing the productivity and performance of these plants. Using the data from the study, students must decide... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Productivity; Performance Efficiency; Performance Evaluation; Strategy; Judgments; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Exit or Shutdown; Chemical Industry

January 1982 (Revised July 2007)
Case

Dan Stewart (A)

A subordinate who Dan Stewart has recently placed on warning for unsatisfactory performance is suddenly appointed Dan's boss. Involves such issues as the management of disappointment, understanding organizational irrationality, lateral transfer within the same company,... View Details

Keywords: Rank and Position; Emotions

January 2021 (Revised May 2021)
Case

'GEnron'? Markopolos versus General Electric (A)

By: Jonas Heese and David Lane

In August 2019, Harry Markopolos—the forensic accountant known for uncovering Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme—alleged that General Electric had committed accounting fraud totaling $38 billion, coining the term “GEnron” for perceived similarities with the 2001 accounting... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Communication; Energy; Financial Condition; Insurance; Performance; Planning; Business and Shareholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Value; Insurance Industry; Financial Services Industry; Energy Industry

22 Aug 2008
News

New Book Examines How to Execute Strategy

Research Summary

Strategic Human Capital

My research focuses on the links between managerial background, job attributes, organizational/firm characteristics, and firm performance. Broadly speaking, I am interested in how a manager's skills, knowledge, connections, experiences, and other attributes... View Details

01 Apr 2011
News

Harvard Business School Panelists Examine Health Care Flaws

04 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

How Female Stars Succeed in New Jobs

If a successful analyst is hired by another organization, chances are both his work performance and the market value of his new company will not reap the expected benefits; they might even lose altitude. So discovered HBS professor Boris... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

February 2012 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Bain Capital: Outback Steakhouse

By: Paul Gompers, Kristin Mugford and J. Daniel Kim

Bain Capital had purchased Outback Steakhouse in 2007 and despite the myriad initiatives to improve operations, the financial collapse in 2008 threatened the company's ability to meet its loan covenants. Outback's performance steadily declined throughout the year. How... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Performance Expectations; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Services Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

17 Mar 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Conceptual Foundations of the Balanced Scorecard

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan

13 Apr 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Incorporating Price and Inventory Endogeneity in Firm-Level Sales Forecasting

Keywords: by Saravanan Kesavan, Vishal Gaur & Ananth Raman; Retail

March–April 2019
Article

Operational Transparency: Make Your Processes Visible to Customers and Your Customers Visible to Employees

By: Ryan W. Buell

Conventional wisdom holds that the more contact an operation has with its customers, the less efficiently it will run. But when customers are partitioned away from the operation, they are less likely to fully understand and appreciate the work going on behind the... View Details

Keywords: Operational Transparency; Customers; Services; Operations; Customer Focus and Relationships; Employees; Customer Satisfaction; Behavior; Service Industry

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March 1994 (Revised May 1994)
Case

Lisa Benton (A)

By: Linda A. Hill

Lisa Benton is in her fourth month as an assistant product manager at Houseworld, a leading consumer products company. She has been on the job since graduating from the Harvard Business School, and she has been frustrated from the start by a lack of responsibility, by... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Jobs and Positions; Power and Influence; Relationships; Consumer Products Industry

October 13, 2021
Editorial

How Companies Can Improve Employee Engagement Right Now

By: Daniel Stein, Nick Hobson, Jon M. Jachimowicz and Ashley Whillans

A year and a half into the pandemic, employees’ mental “surge capacity” is likely diminished. Managers must take proactive steps to increase employee engagement, or risk losing their workforce. Engaged employees perform better, experience less burnout, and stay in... View Details

Keywords: Employee Retention; Employee Engagement; Employee Relationship Management; Work-Life Balance

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2019
White Paper

Impact-Weighted Financial Accounts: The Missing Piece for an Impact Economy

By: George Serafeim, T. Robert Zochowski and Jennifer Downing

Reimagining capitalism is an imperative. We need to create a more inclusive and sustainable form of capitalism that works for every person and the planet. Massive environmental damage, growing income and wealth disparity, stress, and depression within developed... View Details

Keywords: Impact-Weighted Accounts; IWAI; Background; Economic Systems; Economy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Measurement and Metrics; Financial Statements

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November 2005 (Revised July 2006)
Background Note

Understanding Economic Value Added

By: Mihir A. Desai, Fabrizio Ferri and Steve Treadwell

Explores the concept of economic value added (EVA) and its practical applications as a management control system for performance measurement and incentive compensation. Explains how EVA is measured and explores some of the adjustments to financial statements that are... View Details

Keywords: Value

Research Summary

Current Research

By: Thomas J. DeLong

I'm currently studying how global organizations organize talent management systems in order to maintain and enhance the performance of professionals. I'm also interested in the socialization process of organizations based on size and focus of the... View Details

March 1994
Case

Bose Corp.: The JIT II Program (A)

By: Roy D. Shapiro and Bruce Isaacson

Bose Corp. is evaluating an unusual plan to manage relationships with vendors that supply components for Bose speakers. The company must decide: 1) which planning and ordering activities should be performed by Bose and which can be performed by vendors, 2) how much... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Planning; Production; Alliances; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Electronics Industry