Publications

March 2010 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Whose Money Is It Anyway? (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan, Richard G. Hamermesh and Rachel Gordon

The Brigham and Women's Physician's Organization (BWPO) and its corporate parent disagree over who has jurisdiction over significant legacy funds. Are they controlled by the BWPO or do they belong to BWPO's corporate parent? The BWPO and its corporate parent must... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Investment Funds; Governance Controls; Agreements and Arrangements; Boundaries; Health Industry

Kash Rangan is the Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing at the Harvard Business School. Formerly the chairman of the Marketing Department (1998-2002), he is now the co-chairman of the school's Social Enterprise Initiative. He has taught in a wide variety of MBA... View Details

Keywords: advertising; agribusiness; apparel; automobiles; computer; consumer products; e-commerce industry; high technology; industrial goods; marketing industry; pharmaceuticals

11 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Adding Time to Activity-Based Costing

managers substantial benefits that would be difficult to realize without the ERP IT infrastructure. Q: Must a company have an ERP system in place to use time-driven activity-based costing? A: Clearly, having... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

Feng Zhu

Feng Zhu is the MBA Class of 1958 Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he leads the Platform Lab within the Digital, Data, and Design Institute, co-chairs the Harvard Business Analytics Program, and serves as the course head for the... View Details

April 1998 (Revised September 1998)
Case

Classic Pen Company, The: Developing an ABC Model

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Classic Pen has diversified from its core blue and black pen business by introducing new specialized colors. But costs have risen and margins on blue and black pens are decreasing. The controller turns to activity-based costing (ABC) for an explanation. View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Manufacturing Industry

2011
Article

Too Big to Live: Why We Must Stamp Out State Monopoly Capitalism

The problems of excessive economic concentration, so lucidly and incisively analysed here, are not limited to the financial services industry. For the problem is now widespread: while five firms control 80% of the banking industry, a similar or greater concentration is... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Monopoly

23 Apr 2008
Op-Ed

The Gap in the U.S. Treasury Recommendations

same financial oversight as the prudential regulator. Risk Still In Play The difficulty with this approach is that even if the prudential regulator does its job of managing risk well, the risk in the financial View Details

Keywords: by Dwight Crane; Banking; Construction; Real Estate; Financial Services

February 2011 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Product Development at OPOWER

By: Thomas Eisenmann and Rob Go

OPOWER, a software startup that helps utilities engage their customers in ways that reduce energy consumption, is scaling rapidly. The company's new head of product management has designed a system to address a point of constant tension: whether to build custom... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Relationship Management; Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Product Development; Sales; Customization and Personalization; Energy Conservation; Environmental Sustainability; Information Technology Industry; Utilities Industry

Alan MacCormack is the MBA Class of 1949 Adjunct Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, a member of The Digital, Data, and Design (D^3) Institute at Harvard, and a core faculty member... View Details

Keywords: automotive; communications; computer; e-commerce industry; electronics; high technology; information technology industry; internet; semiconductor; software; telecommunications; venture capital industry

2012
Chapter

Pursuing Public Value: Frameworks for Strategic Analysis and Action

By: Herman B. Leonard and Mark H. Moore

Features Harvard Kennedy School scholars who focus diverse conceptual lenses on a single high-stakes management task—enhancing port security across the United States. This title considers the challenge of driving change in a complex system involving hundreds of private... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; National Security; Complexity; Performance Improvement; United States

Find at Harvard

31 Jan 2014
Working Paper Summaries

The Diseconomies of Queue Pooling: An Empirical Investigation of Emergency Department Length of Stay

Keywords: by Hummy Song, Anita L. Tucker & Karen L. Murrell; Health

April 1981 (Revised January 1987)
Case

Atlantic Aviation Corp.: Westwind Division

Raises issues on monitoring and controlling flight demonstration costs for the Westwind business jet. Atlantic's marketing vice president is concerned about rising demonstration costs, but doesn't wish to deny solid prospects an evaluation ride. He asks the general... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Product Marketing; Air Transportation Industry

November 2007 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Excerpts from Interview with Jim Triandiflou, Founder of Ockham Technologies

By: Noam Wasserman

Describes the issues facing a founder-CEO regarding building a board, assembling an executive team, managing tension between co-founders, and outsourcing system development work. The abridged version does not include the introduction and final sections of the full case... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Governing and Advisory Boards; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Management Teams; Managerial Roles; Conflict Management

16 Aug 2012
News

Switzerland Has Its Own Kind of Obamacare — and Loves It

January 1994
Case

ABC Sales and Service Division: A Case Study of Personal and Organizational Transformation

By: D. Quinn Mills, Brock W. Orwig, Janet M. Pumo, Todd C. Stilson and Richard C. Wei

In the midst of dramatic changes in the information systems industry and declining profits at the ABC Co., the vice president in charge of the sales and service division, Jeff, and his managers attempt to transform their division. The transformation gets off to a good... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Motivation and Incentives; Resignation and Termination; Communication; Business or Company Management; Information Technology Industry

Philippe van der Beck is an Assistant Professor in the Finance Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches the Finance I course in the MBA required curriculum. Philippe’s research interests are in empirical asset pricing, sustainable finance, and structural estimation.... View Details

2008
Working Paper

Modern Management: Good for the Environment or Just Hot Air?

By: Nicholas Bloom, Christos Genakos, Ralf Martin and Raffaella Sadun

We use an innovative methodology to measure management practices in over 300 manufacturing firms in the UK. We then match this management data to production and energy usage information for establishments owned by these firms. We find that establishments in better... View Details

Keywords: Energy Conservation; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Productivity; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Manufacturing Industry; United Kingdom

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October 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Lexar Media: The Digital Photography Company?

Examines growth options for a start-up that has parlayed its core technology in flash memory controllers into a rapidly growing position in the emerging digital photography industry. The new CEO must decide whether LexarMedia should maintain its identity as a digital... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth Management; Market Entry and Exit; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Technology Industry