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- All HBS Web
(1,592)
- News (259)
- Research (1,127)
- Events (2)
- Multimedia (1)
- Faculty Publications (366)
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- August 2001 (Revised February 2005)
- Case
Dakota Office Products
By: Robert S. Kaplan
The senior management team of Dakota, an office products distributor, is concerned about the company's first loss in history. Explores the role for activity based costing and customer profitability measurement in a distribution company. Dakota's customers are... View Details
Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Profit; Distribution; Customers; Distribution Industry
Kaplan, Robert S. "Dakota Office Products." Harvard Business School Case 102-021, August 2001. (Revised February 2005.)
- March 1995 (Revised April 1997)
- Case
Co-operative Bank, The
By: Robert S. Kaplan and Srikant M. Datar
A British bank with strong roots in the cooperative movement encounters declining profitability in an increasingly competitive and deregulated financial services industry. It attempts to grow by broadening its customer base and increasing the range of products and... View Details
Keywords: Product; Competition; Expansion; Cost Management; Activity Based Costing and Management; Profit; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry
Kaplan, Robert S., and Srikant M. Datar. "Co-operative Bank, The." Harvard Business School Case 195-196, March 1995. (Revised April 1997.)
- November 1984 (Revised March 1999)
- Case
Mayers Tap, Inc. (A)
Mayers Tap, Inc. has a poorly designed cost accounting system and is in the process of redesigning it. This case provides background details for the rest of the Mayers Tap, Inc. series. View Details
Keywords: Management Systems
Cooper, Robin. "Mayers Tap, Inc. (A)." Harvard Business School Case 185-024, November 1984. (Revised March 1999.)
- August 2001
- Case
Scios, Inc.
Scios, filled with distinguished scientists and experienced managers, nevertheless fails to clear the FDA Phase III process for an important biotechnology drug. This case asks the students to analyze the social costs and benefits of the regulatory process. View Details
- spring 1987
- Article
Second-Sourcing and the Experience Curve: Price Competition in Defense Procurement
By: James J. Anton and Dennis A. Yao
We examine a dynamic model of price competition in defense procurement that incorporates the experience curve, asymmetric cost information, and the availability of a higher cost alternative system. We model acquisition as a two-stage process in which initial production... View Details
Anton, James J., and Dennis A. Yao. "Second-Sourcing and the Experience Curve: Price Competition in Defense Procurement." RAND Journal of Economics 18, no. 1 (spring 1987): 57–76. (Harvard users click here for full text.)
- February 2016
- Case
Express Scripts: Promoting Prescription Drug Home Delivery (A)
By: John Beshears, Patrick Rooney and Jenny Sanford
The pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector processes prescription drug claims on behalf of companies that offer a prescription drug benefit to their employees. This case follows Bob Nease, Chief Scientist at Express Scripts, as he considers methods to promote home... View Details
Keywords: Pharmaceuticals; Prescription Drugs; Pharmacy Benefit Manager; PBM; Healthcare; Behavioral Economics; Choice Architecture; Active Choice; Service Delivery; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Care and Treatment; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Compensation and Benefits; Pharmaceutical Industry
Beshears, John, Patrick Rooney, and Jenny Sanford. "Express Scripts: Promoting Prescription Drug Home Delivery (A)." Harvard Business School Case 916-026, February 2016.
- July 2007 (Revised July 2008)
- Case
The Beijing Dream
By: Arthur I Segel, Voon Siang Lee, Jialei Tian and Ying Laura Wang
The purchase of a single-family home is generally the major investment for most young couples in China. Shows in detail the process that a young couple goes through in late April 2007 to find, finance, and close on an apartment in Beijing within what they believe to be... View Details
Keywords: Property; Investment; Cost; Emerging Markets; Financing and Loans; Acquisition; Activity Based Costing and Management; Internet and the Web; Management Practices and Processes; Real Estate Industry; Beijing; United States
Segel, Arthur I., Voon Siang Lee, Jialei Tian, and Ying Laura Wang. "The Beijing Dream." Harvard Business School Case 208-015, July 2007. (Revised July 2008.)
- March 2018 (Revised September 2023)
- Case
X: The Foghorn Decision
In February 2016, Kathy Hannun—a project leader at X, Alphabet Inc.'s so-called "moonshot factory"—had to prepare a recommendation for the senior leadership of X regarding the future of Foghorn, a project she was leading to develop a carbon-neutral process for... View Details
Keywords: Innovation; R＆D Project Management; Radical Innovation; Clean Technology; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Energy; Research and Development; Projects; Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technology Industry; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; California
Huckman, Robert S., Karim R. Lakhani, and Kyle R. Myers. "X: The Foghorn Decision." Harvard Business School Case 618-060, March 2018. (Revised September 2023.)
- November 1990 (Revised April 1999)
- Case
General Motors: Packard Electric Division
Packard Electric is the division of General Motors (GM) that does all of the electrical wiring and cabling for GM automobiles. They developed a new approach for passing the cables through the firewall between the engine and passenger compartments. The new technology... View Details
Keywords: Business Divisions; Cost; Management Style; Product Design; Product Development; Production; Projects; Groups and Teams; Conflict and Resolution; Technology; Auto Industry
Wheelwright, Steven C. "General Motors: Packard Electric Division." Harvard Business School Case 691-030, November 1990. (Revised April 1999.)
- 03 Oct 2023
- HBS Case
Layoffs Can Be Bad Business: 5 Strategies to Consider Before Cutting Staff
points to study after study that show that layoffs have hidden costs that make companies less profitable, innovative, and productive. Senior leaders may be saying, “If companies I know and admire are doing this, it can’t be that bad, or... View Details
- 22 Jul 2014
- First Look
First Look: July 22
use process mapping and time-driven activity-based costing to measure the costs of treating patients over a complete cycle of care for a specific medical condition. With valid... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- March 1990 (Revised July 1991)
- Case
Digital Equipment Corp.: Complex Order Management
Describes the proposed creation of a low end 3000 configuration workstation using Digital's competitive advantage of offering a la carte configuration capability and ability to build different options for customers. Disadvantages of this 3000 configuration workstation... View Details
Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Cost; Management Practices and Processes; Distribution; Competitive Advantage
Hammond, Janice H. "Digital Equipment Corp.: Complex Order Management." Harvard Business School Case 690-081, March 1990. (Revised July 1991.)
- January 2017
- Article
Innovation Under Regulatory Uncertainty: Evidence from Medical Technology
By: Ariel Dora Stern
This paper explores how the regulatory approval process affects innovation incentives in medical technologies. Prior studies have found early mover regulatory advantages for drugs. I find the opposite for medical devices, where pioneer entrants spend 34% (7.2 months)... View Details
Stern, Ariel Dora. "Innovation Under Regulatory Uncertainty: Evidence from Medical Technology." Journal of Public Economics 145 (January 2017): 181–200.
- February 1985 (Revised July 1986)
- Case
Applichem (A)
Applichem has six plants in different countries making the same chemical product. The purpose of this case is to allow students to think about what costs are relevant to management in this process industry environment, about how to define a comparison of costs and... View Details
Keywords: Business or Company Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Performance Productivity; Operations; Performance Improvement; Chemical Industry
Flaherty, Marie-Therese M. "Applichem (A)." Harvard Business School Case 685-051, February 1985. (Revised July 1986.)
- September 2009 (Revised October 2010)
- Case
Elkay Plumbing Products Division
By: Robert S. Kaplan
The vice president of sales learns that the most profitable 1% of the division's customers generate 100% of profits, and that two of the division's largest customers lose 50% of profits. The division has just finished a project to install a time-driven activity-based... View Details
Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Profit; Management Systems; Consumer Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry
Kaplan, Robert S. "Elkay Plumbing Products Division." Harvard Business School Case 110-007, September 2009. (Revised October 2010.)
- Article
Turning Waste into By-Product
By: Deishin Lee
This paper studies how a firm can create and capture value by converting a waste stream into a useful and saleable by-product (i.e., implementing by-product synergy [BPS]). We show that BPS creates an operational synergy between two products that are jointly produced.... View Details
Keywords: Value Creation; Innovation and Invention; Cost Management; Opportunities; Market Participation; Framework; Profit; Competition; Wastes and Waste Processing; Product; Business Processes
Lee, Deishin. "Turning Waste into By-Product." Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 13, no. 1 (Winter 2011).
- July 2001 (Revised August 2005)
- Case
Medicines Company, The
It is early 2001 and the Medicines Co. just received FDA approval to market Angiomax, a blood thinner to be used during angioplasties and heart procedures. It is intended to be a better alternative to Heparin, an 80-year-old drug that costs less then $10 per dose. The... View Details
Keywords: Business Model; Change Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cost Management; Price; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Product Development; Risk and Uncertainty; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry
Gourville, John T. "Medicines Company, The." Harvard Business School Case 502-006, July 2001. (Revised August 2005.)
- August 1994 (Revised May 2001)
- Case
ITT Automotive: Global Manufacturing Strategy (1994)
By: Gary P. Pisano and Sharon L. Rossi
ITT Automotive is in the process of developing a new-generation antilock brake system (ABS), designated the MK-20. The case focuses on the level of automation to be used in the production of this new system, and whether all plants should use the same process... View Details
Keywords: Information Technology; Innovation Strategy; Production; Product Development; Globalized Firms and Management; Performance Productivity; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Belgium; Germany; United States
Pisano, Gary P., and Sharon L. Rossi. "ITT Automotive: Global Manufacturing Strategy (1994)." Harvard Business School Case 695-002, August 1994. (Revised May 2001.)
- Winter 2013
- Article
How to Identify the Best Customers for Your Business
By: Frank V. Cespedes, James P. Dougherty and Ben S. Skinner III
How can businesses achieve profitable growth so that their costs don’t grow faster than sales? This article focuses on scaling a venture’s sales process and provides a methodology for identifying core customers and some implications for governance criteria and... View Details
Cespedes, Frank V., James P. Dougherty, and Ben S. Skinner III. "How to Identify the Best Customers for Your Business ." MIT Sloan Management Review 54, no. 2 (Winter 2013): 53–59.
- March 2016 (Revised March 2022)
- Teaching Note
Express Scripts: Promoting Prescription Drug Home Delivery (A) and (B)
By: John Beshears
The pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector processes prescription drug claims on behalf of companies that offer a prescription drug benefit to their employees. The case associated with this teaching note follows Bob Nease, chief scientist at Express Scripts, as he... View Details
Keywords: Pharmaceuticals; Prescription Drugs; Pharmacy Benefit Manager; PBM; Healthcare; Behavioral Economics; Choice Architecture; Active Choice; Service Delivery; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Behavior; Distribution Channels; Health Care and Treatment; Service Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry