Publications

Article

Credit and Punishment: Are Corporate Bankers Disciplined for Risk-Taking?

By: Janet Gao, Kristoph Kleiner and Joseph Pacelli

We examine whether bankers face disciplining consequences for structuring poorly performing corporate loans. We construct a novel data set containing the employment histories and loan portfolios of a large sample of corporate bankers and find that corporate credit... View Details

Keywords: Syndicated Loans; Credit Events; Career Outcomes; Loan Officers; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; Risk Management; Corporate Finance; Personal Development and Career

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27 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

How One Late Employee Can Hurt Your Business: Data from 25 Million Timecards

control of store owners: Employees showing up late—or sometimes not at all. Managers are aware that employee lateness and absenteeism is prevalent and expensive to their operations. Now, researchers at Harvard Business School have gone a... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Retail

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Lynn S. Paine

Ms. Paine currently teaches Boards of Directors and Corporate Governance in the second-year MBA program. She also co-chairs the HBS flagship programs for corporate directors Making Corporate Boards More Effective, Advanced Corporate Director Seminar, as well as its... View Details

January 1996
Case

Biogen, Inc.: rBeta Interferon Manufacturing Process Development

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Biogen, Inc., a Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company, is wrapping up a project to develop a new manufacturing process for a new drug product that will reposition the company from a purely research-oriented company to a fully integrated pharmaceutical manufacturing... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Technological Innovation; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Projects; Research and Development; Corporate Strategy; Biotechnology Industry

September 2004 (Revised September 2006)
Case

Harley-Davidson, Inc.: Motorcycle Manufacturer or Financing Company?

Harley-Davidson manufactures and sells motorcycles. It also provides financing for retail purchases and dealer stock. Although Harley's performance has been very strong, analysts and the press have questioned its use of a special-purpose entity to sell securities... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business or Company Management; Corporate Disclosure; Financial Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Financial Services Industry; Motorcycle Industry; Retail Industry

July 1989 (Revised October 1992)
Case

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.: MIS Reorganization (A)

As a part of the Management Information Services (MIS) Division's evolution, it was planned to distribute all systems development and applications (SD&S) activities and resources (assets and personnel) from the central MIS Division to the operating areas by October... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Decision Making

July 2023
Supplement

Schuberg Philis: From Success to Significance (B)

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Daniela Beyersdorfer

Three years into their “Ambition” growth plan, in 2022, the management team of Dutch professional service firm Schuberg Philis is taking stock. The global COVID-19 pandemic and other headwinds required adjustments to their growth targets, but they believe that their... View Details

Keywords: Management Succession; Growth Management; Change Management; Transformation; Mission and Purpose; Leadership; Leading Change; Information Technology Industry; Consulting Industry; Europe; Netherlands

March 2010 (Revised August 2010)
Supplement

Systems Infrastructure at Google (B)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Stecker

This case is a thick description of how a Senior Vice President of Engineering at Google, Bill Coughran, leads a high-performing engineering organization. The case focuses specifically on Coughran's use of encouraging two teams of engineers to develop competing... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Leadership; Infrastructure; Management Teams; Leadership Development; Information Technology Industry

2014
Book

Aligning Strategy and Sales: The Choices, Systems, and Behaviors That Drive Effective Selling

By: Frank V. Cespedes

There are many books that provide strategy advice and selling methodologies. But there is a gap in the management literature when it comes to linking sales efforts with strategy. Part 1 of this book provides data indicating how and why sales remain (by far) the biggest... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Sales

Research Summary

Overview

By: Srikant M. Datar

Professor Datar has several research and course development interests. His initial areas of research interest were in cost management and management control, strategy implementation and governance. Over the last few years his areas of interest are management education,... View Details

March 2012 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Boston Children's Hospital: Measuring Patient Costs

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Mary L. Witkowski and Jessica A. Hohman

The case describes two pilot projects on applying activity-based costing to measuring the cost of treating patients. It presents process maps and financial data relating to the processes used during (1) an office visit to a plastic surgeon for three different diagnoses... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Costing; Hospitals; Activity Based Costing and Management; Mathematical Methods; Health Industry

2010
Working Paper

Specialization and Variety in Repetitive Tasks: Evidence from a Japanese Bank

By: Bradley R. Staats and Francesca Gino

Sustaining operational productivity in the completion of repetitive tasks is critical to many organizations' success. Yet research points to two different work-design related strategies for accomplishing this goal: specialization to capture the benefits of repetition... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Working Conditions; Service Delivery; Performance Productivity; Financial Services Industry; Japan

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April 2011
Supplement

Felipe Calderón: Leading with Light and Power (B)

By: J. Bruce Harreld and David Lane

This sequence of cases explores how leaders get their team focused on framing, analyzing, and ultimately acting upon complex decisions. The A case provides an inside look as President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, works with his cabinet ministers to decide how to... View Details

Keywords: Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cases; Crime and Corruption; State Ownership; Business or Company Management; Economics; Risk and Uncertainty; Finance; Performance; Management Teams; Strategic Planning; Energy Industry; Mexico City

March 1996 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Arborite

Describes the competitive position of Arborite, a Canadian manufacturer of high-pressure laminates (HPL) (a product sold under the Formica name in the United States). Arborite's market share has slipped, and a new general manager must evaluate whether a change in... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Consumer Behavior; Manufacturing Industry; Canada

29 May 2012
News

Changing the Conversation in Your Company

Research: Investors Reward Companies That Talk Up Their Digital Initiatives

A study of how companies disclose their digital initiatives on earnings calls and written communications finds that more firms are using these technologies, that financial markets reward companies that disclose such initiatives, but that financial performance... View Details

20 Mar 2013
News

Sizing Up Social Impact

2014
Working Paper

Hidden Structure: Using Network Methods to Map System Architecture

By: Carliss Baldwin, Alan MacCormack and John Rusnak

In this paper, we describe an operational methodology for characterising the architecture of complex technical systems and demonstrate its application to a large sample of software releases. Our methodology is based upon directed network graphs, which allows us to... View Details

Keywords: Complexity; Applications and Software; Product Design