Publications

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September 2011 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Trucost: Valuing Corporate Environmental Impacts

By: Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

Trucost provided corporate environmental performance data and analysis to institutional investors and corporate managers, but after operating for a decade had yet to achieve profitability. Trucost was struggling to effectively differentiate its high quality products... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Distribution Channels; Investment; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Information; Value; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Services Industry

05 Aug 2014
First Look

First Look: August 5

important and previously unidentified metric for assessing the health of the human emotional ecosystem. Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/quoidbach%20et%20al_372259e1-d8a0-4488-b09a-b4978f06f406.pdf August... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Who Guarantees Your Workplace Is Safe for Return?

There are many, but here are examples of each. Settings: Air flow and other engineering steps. Before you think of moving back into your office building or shop, you should check on basic metrics that any building manager should easily be... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber and Joseph Allen; Real Estate

30 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Political Polarization: Why We All Just Can't Get Along

on that higher reputation identity, he says. Companies also can boost their employees’ trust with CSR efforts and transparency on the many metrics they have access to these days. Minor cites the example of Sears, which sends a weekly... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Banking; Financial Services

10 Jun 2013
Research & Ideas

How Numbers Talk to People

successfully. Megibow's team investigated the reason for the failures, again using Web metrics data and server log files throughout the process. Apparently, the "Company" field under the customer's name was causing a problem.... View Details

13 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 13

case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/512003-PDF-ENG Allied Electronics Corporation Ltd.: Linking Compensation to Sustainability Metrics Robert G. Eccles, George Serafeim, Shelley Xin Li, and Alan KnightHarvard Business School Case... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Nov 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas: November 14, 2017

with Data Science.” The course provides MBA students with no programming experience an introduction to the field of data science and its applications in business. Students learn to (1) carefully articulate the business ask, (2) reason carefully from the ask; through... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

July 2011 (Revised September 2012)
Case

Industrial Metrology: Getting In-Line? (A)

By: Willy Shih

Metrology plays a key role in the manufacture of mechanical components. Traditionally it is used extensively in a pre-process stage where a manufacturer does process planning, design, and ramp-up, and in post-process off-line inspection to establish proof of quality.... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Machinery and Machining; Measurement and Metrics; Product Design; Planning; Quality; Opportunities; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Segmentation; Technology Adoption; Theory; Manufacturing Industry

March 2010
Article

Information Content of Insider Trades before and after the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

By: Francois Brochet

This paper examines the information content of Form 4 filings under the more timely disclosure regime introduced by Section 403 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). Abnormal returns and trading volumes around filings of insider stock purchases are significantly... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government Legislation; Lawsuits and Litigation; Market Transactions; Volume; Sales

September 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Oklahoma VISION Project

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Susan Saltrick

Describes the two-year-old pilot phase of a public/private initiative in Oklahoma called the Virtual Internet School in Oklahoma Network (VISION) project. VISION was a first-of-its-kind, standards-based, vendor-neutral technology infrastructure developed to enable... View Details

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Internet and the Web; Performance Evaluation; Technological Innovation; Partners and Partnerships; Service Delivery; Innovation and Management; Entrepreneurship; Education; Information Technology Industry; Education Industry; Oklahoma; Western United States

December 2012
Article

Evidence on the Use of Unverifiable Estimates in Required Goodwill Impairment

By: Karthik Ramanna and Ross L. Watts

SFAS 142 requires managers to estimate the current fair value of goodwill to determine goodwill write-offs. In promulgating the standard, the FASB predicted managers will, on average, use the fair value estimates to convey private information on future cash flows. The... View Details

Keywords: Goodwill Impairment; Fair-value Accounting; FASB; SFAS 142; Fair Value Accounting; Standards; Cash Flow; Agency Theory; Motivation and Incentives; Forecasting and Prediction; Goodwill Accounting

SSRN

September – October 2008
Article

Care Platforms: A Basic Building Block for Care Delivery

By: Richard Bohmer and David Lawrence

Without significant operational reform within the nation's health care delivery organizations, new financing models, payment systems, or structures are unlikely to realize their promise. Adapting insights from high-performing companies in other high-risk, high-cost,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management Systems; Standards; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Business Processes; Organizational Design; Customization and Personalization; Health Industry

December 1992 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Becton Dickinson Division: Marketing Organization

By: Frank V. Cespedes

The marketing director for the largest division of a health care products company is reviewing the structure and staffing of the division's marketing organization. The division has authorization to hire an additional marketing manager. Hence, the immediate case... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Health Care and Treatment; Human Resources; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Managerial Roles; Product Marketing; Measurement and Metrics; Organizational Structure; Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Health Industry

November 2023 (Revised February 2025)
Background Note

Corporate Climate Targets

By: Willy C. Shih, Michael W. Toffel and Kelsey Carter

Companies that are addressing climate change by mitigating their greenhouse gas emissions often set reduction targets. This note describes several types of widely used carbon reduction targets, including carbon neutral, science based, net zero, real zero, and carbon... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Sustainability; Environmental Strategy; Climate Risk; Target-setting; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Accountability; Policy; Measurement and Metrics; Strategic Planning; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

September 2012
Article

The Size and Composition of Corporate Headquarters in Multinational Companies: Empirical Evidence

By: David J. Collis, David Young and Michael Goold

Based on a six-country survey of nearly 250 multinationals (MNCs), this paper is the first empirical analysis to describe the size and composition of MNC headquarters and to account for differences among them. Findings are as follows: MNC corporate headquarters are... View Details

Keywords: Headquarters; Subsidiaries; Multinational Corporations; Organization Design; Administrative Heritage; International Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Organizational Design; Multinational Firms and Management; Size; Business Headquarters; Global Strategy