Publications

May 2011
Case

Baria Planning Solutions, Inc.: Fixing the Sales Process

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt

Baria Planning Solutions (BPS) is a consulting firm that specializes in using spend analysis to help companies identify savings through reduced procurement costs and improved supplier performance. Management is concerned about the disappointing performance of the sales... View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Analysis; Technology; Operations Management; Product Lines; Manufacturing; Capacity Planning; Production Planning; Production; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Supply Chain Management; Salesforce Management; Planning; Consulting Industry; North and Central America

January 2017
Article

Impact Evaluation Methods in Public Economics: A Brief Introduction to Randomized Evaluations and Comparison with Other Methods

By: Dina Pomeranz

Recent years have seen a large expansion in the use of rigorous impact evaluation techniques. Increasingly, public administrations are collaborating with academic economists and other quantitative social scientists to apply such rigorous methods to the study of public... View Details

Keywords: Practice; Public Sector; Research; Policy; Performance Evaluation

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May 2020
Teaching Note

Kraft Heinz: The $8 Billion Brand Write-Down

By: Jill Avery

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-076. On Friday, February 22, 2019, following an unexpected and disappointing earnings report, The Kraft Heinz Company’s stock price fell 27%, wiping out $16 billion in market value. CEO Bernardo Hees had announced that the company had... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

Article

Multi-Echelon Inventory Management Under Short-Term Take-or-Pay Contracts

By: Joel Goh and Evan L. Porteus

We extend the Clark–Scarf serial multi-echelon inventory model to include procuring production inputs under short-term take-or-pay contracts at one or more stages. In each period, each such stage has the option to order/process at two different cost rates; the cheaper... View Details

Keywords: Inventory Management; Multi-echelon Inventory Theory; Karush Lemma; Clark-Scarf Model; Convex Ordering Cost; Advance Commitments; Supply Chain

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January 2021
Supplement

Aster DM Healthcare: Budget Exercise

By: V.G. Narayanan and Amy Klopfenstein

In April 2020, Alisha Moopen, Deputy Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare, a network of clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies in the Middle East and India, must create her company’s budget for the 2021 fiscal year in light of the onset of Covid-19. The pandemic had... View Details

April 1994 (Revised January 1995)
Case

StarKist (A)

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Forest L. Reinhardt

Set in April 1990, this case focuses on H.J. Heinz and its subsidiary, StarKist, the largest producer of canned tuna in the United States. During the 1980s, the public became increasingly concerned about tuna fishing practices that killed dolphins. StarKist was the... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Decision Choices and Conditions; Laws and Statutes; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Environmental Sustainability; Competition; Mexico; United States

Research Summary

Current research

Professor Pomeranz's research is situated at the intersection of development economics and public finance. Her current work focuses in particular on corporate taxation and public procurement, the two key ways in which government finance affects firms and entrepreneurs.... View Details

January 2021
Case

Aster DM Healthcare: Budgeting for a Crisis

By: V.G. Narayanan and Amy Klopfenstein

In April 2020, Alisha Moopen, Deputy Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare, a network of clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies in the Middle East and India, must create her company’s budget for the 2021 fiscal year in light of the onset of Covid-19. The pandemic had... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Decisions; Forecasting and Prediction; Judgments; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cost vs Benefits; Budgets and Budgeting; Health Pandemics; Health Industry; Asia; India; United Arab Emirates; Dubai

01 Dec 2015
First Look

December 1, 2015

2015 Modern China Studies Free at Last, Now What: The Soviet and Chinese Attempts to Offer a Roadmap for the Post-Colonial World By: Friedman, Jeremy Abstract—This article seeks to understand the motivations behind the People's Republic of China's attempt to present an... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January – February 2011
Article

Creating Shared Value

By: Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer

The capitalist system is under siege. In recent years business has been criticized as a major cause of social, environmental, and economic problems. Companies are widely thought to be prospering at the expense of their communities. Trust in business has fallen to new... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Economic Growth; Economic Systems; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Trust; Human Needs; Welfare; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation

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February 2011 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Sound Group China: Urban Waste Entrepreneurs

By: John D. Macomber, Chad M. Carr and Fan Zhao

Private sector entrepreneur in China with advanced solid waste management capability competes with state owned enterprises and also government policies supporting a rival technology. Wen Yibo has used engineering expertise and political savvy to build a major privately... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Public Sector; Service Delivery; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Wastes and Waste Processing; Urban Development; Utilities Industry; China

2015
Working Paper

Build It, Buy It or Both? Rethinking the Sourcing of Advertising Services

By: Alvin J. Silk and Marta M. Stiglin

This paper provides an update on the current state of in-house agencies. Whereas traditional consideration of internalizing advertising services was framed as a binary choice of build or buy, today's advertisers frequently pursue hybrid policies of build and buy to... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Advertising

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Research Summary

Research Focus of Chris Gordon

Chris Gordon's main area of interest and expertise is the delivery of complex capital projects. These projects can take the form of government sponsored infrastructure projects such as highways and utilities, private real estate development such as commercial and... View Details

Article

Build It, Buy It, or Both? Rethinking the Sourcing of Advertising Services

By: Alvin J. Silk and Marta M. Stiglin

This paper provides an update on the current state of in-house agencies. Whereas traditional consideration of internalizing advertising services was framed as a binary choice of build or buy, today's advertisers frequently pursue hybrid policies of build and buy to... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Advertising; Advertising Industry

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23 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 23, 2015

paper provides an update on the current state of in-house agencies. Whereas traditional consideration of internalizing advertising services was framed as a binary choice of build or buy, today's advertisers frequently pursue hybrid policies of build and buy to View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Nestlé: Agricultural Material Sourcing Within the Concept of Creating Shared Value (CSV)

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Lorin A. Fries

Corporate Head of Agriculture Hans Jöhr's mind raced in anticipation of the executive board meeting that afternoon. Jöhr recognized the meeting as a key opportunity to strategize far into the future, reexamining how his team's efforts in sustainable agricultural... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Value Creation; Quality; Supply Chain Management; Social Issues; Environmental Sustainability; Problems and Challenges; Growth and Development Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Health Industry

Research Summary

Governance of Interorganizational Exchange

By: Ranjay Gulati

In a series of papers, I examine the antecedents and consequences of governance choices in exchange relations. Using data from the automotive industry, a coauthor and I have examined the dynamics associated with the social and contractual structure of sourcing... View Details

Program

Changing the Game

career decisions Who Should Attend Executives who engage in activities such as business development, strategic alliances and business partnerships, dispute resolution and consensus building, procurement and purchasing, finance,... View Details

September 2019 (Revised February 2022)
Supplement

Glenn Defense Marine Asia (B)

By: Susanna Gallani, Anja Anliker, Luke Hodges and Amram Migdal

This case describes the growth of Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA) under the leadership of Leonard Glenn Francis. GDMA provided ship husbanding and logistical support services to the United States Navy when Navy ships visited various ports in Southeast Asia. The case... View Details