Publications

2017
Book

The Wisdom of Finance: Discovering Humanity in the World of Risk and Return

By: Mihir Desai

The Wisdom of Finance takes well-known financial concepts and applies them to our most pressing life issues. The book is philosophical in its approach, but Desai's thesis is peppered with real-life examples of how financial types can and should see the world... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Financial Institutions; Ethics; Values and Beliefs

Find at Harvard

27 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

Want a Happy Customer? Coordinate Sales and Marketing

together at every level—from the core central concepts of the strategy to the minute details of execution. New World, New Roles When companies generally made their money in a large number of mid-sized accounts, marketing was typically... View Details

Keywords: by Benson Shapiro

December 2009
Case

TruEarth Healthy Foods: Market Research for a New Product Introduction

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sunru Yong

Topics covered include: consumer marketing, market research, new product introduction, and quantitative analysis. TruEarth Healthy Foods, a maker of gourmet pastas, sauces, and meals, wants to build on its successful introduction of fresh whole grain pasta by... View Details

Keywords: Market Research; Consumer Marketing; Brands; Food; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Forecasting and Prediction; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

July 1995
Background Note

Managerial Effectiveness and Diversity: Individual Choices

Provides an introduction to the key concepts and questions individuals encounter in a diverse workplace. These concepts and questions are organized around three critical interactions and experiences in any individual's career: entry into an organization or work group;... View Details

Keywords: Management; Diversity

April 1988 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Home Depot, Inc., The

By: Krishna G. Palepu

Home Depot, founded in 1978, pioneered the warehouse retailing concept in the home center industry. The company's niche strategy resulted in rapid growth in sales. By 1986, however, the company began experiencing deteriorating profitability. Students are asked to... View Details

Keywords: Mathematical Methods; Performance; Business Strategy; Retail Industry

2014
Other Teaching and Training Material

Strategy Reading: Setting Aspirations—Mission, Vision, and Values

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell

"Setting Aspirations-Mission, Vision, and Values" introduces students to the concepts of organizational aspirations and the link to strategy. The Reading presents a framework for analyzing aspirations, discusses the differences between mission and vision, and uses... View Details

21 Apr 2008
Research & Ideas

The New Math of Customer Relationships

involving almost everyone in the company. How difficult has it been for organizations to adopt this all-in approach? A: Service profit chain concepts are deceptively simple. They require an integrated set of management initiatives to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

January 1986 (Revised July 2006)
Case

Kristen's Cookie Company (A)

The student is starting his or her own business, baking make-to-order cookies. Basic times of each operation are laid out and the student is asked to determine the consequences for the operating system. Serves as an exercise and review of concepts such as capacity,... View Details

Keywords: Production; Business Startups; Food and Beverage Industry

January 1997 (Revised March 1998)
Background Note

Fiscal Policy: Managing Aggregate Demand

Introduces the concept of fiscal policy. View Details

Keywords: Policy; Macroeconomics

07 Jul 2016
Blog Post

Can You Learn Finance through the Case Method?

confident in my business-related quantitative skills coming into HBS. I had never taken a single economics class in my life and had no exposure – and I truly mean zero – to accounting or finance. In fact, developing an understanding of basic finance and accounting and... View Details

November 1995
Technical Note

Analyzing Standard Costs: Technical Note

By: V.G. Narayanan

Explains variance analysis. Concepts of price variance and quantity variance are introduced to analyze prime cost variances. Spending variance and capacity variance are used to analyze overhead variance. Consistent with conducting variance analysis in an activity-based... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Cost; Analysis

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

What Roosevelt Took: The Economic Impact of the Panama Canal, 1903-29

Keywords: by Noel Maurer & Carlos Yu

09 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Location, Location, Location: The Strategy of Place

When companies thrive in their home base, temptation can be great to expand to new locations, either across town or around the world. The problem: Many companies think of location strategy as a short-term checkers match rather than as a long-term chess game. “Many... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Dec 13 2017
Testimonial

Putting Theory into Practice

14 Dec 2007
Op-Ed

When Your Product Becomes a Commodity

Editor's Note: Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business Online. It is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge. How often have you heard a manager blame "commoditization" for... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

2016
Other Teaching and Training Material

Organizational Behavior Reading: Decision Making

By: Francesca Gino, Max Bazerman and Katherine Shonk

This Reading argues that decision making is systematically flawed and introduces methods to improve decision-making effectiveness. The Essential Reading section covers the rational decision-making model and three important ideas that challenge it: Herbert Simon's... View Details

Keywords: Game Theory; Decision Making

December 1993 (Revised June 2000)
Case

Kochman, Reidt + Haigh, Inc.

By: Richard S. Ruback and Roy Burstin

A small company faces the dilemma of how to finance growth (i.e., internally generated cash flows vs. outside financing sources). An innovative concept positions the company in promoting a niche within the kitchen-cabinet industry and in looking for an optimal way of... View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Finance; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Utilities Industry

Profile

Andres Sarmiento

love with the concept of building something and releasing it to the market. Our Field 3 (Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development) experience at HBS allowed me to experience building a product with minimum career risk. I... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Technology; Services

July 2007
Case

Kristen's Cookie Company (A) (Abridged)

By: Roger E. Bohn and Janice H. Hammond

The student is starting his or her own business, baking make-to-order cookies. Basic times of each operation are laid out and the student is asked to determine the consequences for the operating system. Serves as an exercise and review of concepts such as capacity,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; SWOT Analysis; Operations; Outcome or Result; Performance Capacity