Publications

February 1993 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Bidwell Training Center, Inc. and Manchester Craftsmen's Guild: Preparation in Pittsburgh

By: James L. Heskett and Roger H. Hallowell

Bill Strickland, executive director of both Bidwell Training Center and Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, has built a highly successful training organization to enable underprivileged minorities in Pittsburgh to escape the cycle of poverty. His success has led to questions... View Details

Keywords: Training; Non-Governmental Organizations; Leadership; Society; Competency and Skills; Pittsburgh

2015
Other Teaching and Training Material

Entrepreneurship Reading: Partnering with Venture Capitalists

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Michael J. Roberts

This reading takes a deep look at the venture capital (VC) industry in the United States. VCs have a unique perspective on opportunity evaluation, deal structure, new venture support, and exit strategy. Their work at all stages of the entrepreneurial life cycle offers... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship

September 2014
Article

Income Inequality and Social Preferences for Redistribution and Compensation Differentials

By: William R. Kerr

In cross-sectional studies, countries with greater income inequality typically exhibit less support for government-led redistribution and greater acceptance of wage inequality (e.g., United States versus Western Europe). If individual nations evolve along this pattern,... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Income; Government and Politics

Read Now

09 May 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Can Robin Williams’ Son Help Other Families Heal Addiction and Depression?

Keywords: Re: Lauren H. Cohen; Health; Entertainment & Recreation

October 1991 (Revised November 1993)
Case

Dynashears, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Piper

A senior loan officer is reviewing the recent performance of a company that has failed to repay its loan as scheduled. The failure results from a cyclical downturn in sales, coupled with a lag in cutting back production. Inventory risk is minimal. Teaching objective:... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Business Cycles; Financial Condition; Risk and Uncertainty; Failure

September 1986 (Revised March 1987)
Case

Graves Industries, Inc. (B): Lohnes Marine Hardware Division

Describes events occurring over a four-year period in one division of Graves Industries. The division goes through a business cycle and uses several methods of managing earnings to meet its budget targets. The purpose of the case is to allow the exploration of the... View Details

Keywords: Earnings Management; Crime and Corruption; Ethics

July 1986 (Revised April 1989)
Background Note

Note on Sources of Comparative Advantage

By: David B. Yoffie and John J. Coleman

After Eli Heckscher and Bertil Ohlin's propositions about the sources of comparative advantage were empirically challenged by Wassily Leontief, scholars set out to explain the "Leontief paradox" by developing alternative theories on the sources of comparative... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage

Teaching Interest

FIELD 2 (Jakarta, Indonesia)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development (FIELD) is a field course giving first-year students meaningful and numerous opportunities to act like leaders, translating their ideas into practice.

As a complement to the case method, the field method... View Details

August 1995 (Revised July 1997)
Background Note

Capacity Analysis: Sample Problems

Three examples of capacity analysis are provided. Calculations for cycle time, manufacturing lead times, capacities, labor cost, labor content, and utilization are performed for three different types of processes: a bread-making process with two independent lines; a... View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Performance Capacity

27 Jun 2011
Research & Ideas

Recovering from the Need to Achieve

across socioeconomic groups. Instead of experiencing happiness or well-being, HNAPs seek "relief in the accomplishment of tasks." Moving immediately to the next task on the list, they never savor accomplishments for long, he says. This creates a vicious View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

Article

The Asymmetric Experience of Positive and Negative Economic Growth: Global Evidence Using Subjective Well-being Data

By: Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, George Ward, Femke De Keulenaer, Bert Van Landeghem, Georgios Kavetsos and Michael I. Norton

Are individuals more sensitive to losses than gains in terms of economic growth? We find that measures of subjective well-being are more than twice as sensitive to negative as compared to positive economic growth. We use Gallup World Poll data from over 150 countries,... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Business Cycles; Welfare; Perception; Global Range

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March 2016
Article

Using Quality Improvement Methods and Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing to Improve Value-Based Cancer Care Delivery at a Cancer Genetics Clinic

By: R.Y. Tan, M. Met-Domestici, K. Zhou, A.B. Guzman, S.T. Lim, K.C. Soo, T.W. Feeley and J. Ngeow

Purpose:
To meet increasing demand for cancer genetic testing and improve value-based cancer care delivery, National Cancer Centre Singapore restructured the Cancer Genetics Service in 2014. Care delivery processes were redesigned. We sought to improve access by... View Details

Keywords: Cancer Treatment; Value Based Health Care; Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Health Care and Treatment; Quality; Performance Improvement; Activity Based Costing and Management

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June 1994 (Revised September 1994)
Background Note

Beating the Commodity Magnet

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and George T. Bowman

All markets follow a cycle of growth and maturity, then commoditization and decline. This note argues that while commoditization of an industry may seem inevitable, the better managed firms find a way to make money in the commodity cycle. These firms know how and when... View Details

Keywords: Goods and Commodities; Financial Markets; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry

April 2007 (Revised June 2007)
Case

Aid, Debt Relief, and Trade: An Agenda for Fighting World Poverty (A)

By: Laura Alfaro, Eric D. Werker and Renee Kim

At the 2005 Group of Eight summit, world leaders agreed to relieve the world's poorest countries' debt burdens and double aid to Africa by 2010. The announcement raised questions whether debt relief would really help the poor. By examining past aid trends and policies... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Borrowing and Debt; Capital; International Relations; Nonprofit Organizations; Poverty; Welfare; Africa

May 1996 (Revised March 1998)
Case

SaleSoft, Inc. (A)

By: Das Narayandas

SaleSoft, a start-up firm, markets Comprehensive Sales Automation Solutions (CSAS) that automate a firm's sales, marketing, and service functions. Even though the product has received very favorable responses from prospects, product complexity and a long buying cycle... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decisions; Revenue; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Sales; Opportunities; Information Technology; Technology Industry

Teaching Interest

Scaling Ventures, HBS Online

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

This course is for startup founders and senior leaders who have achieved product-market fit and now need to successfully guide their company through cycles of rapid growth and organizational change. Topics include optimal growth rate, recruiting and motivating... View Details

February 2015
Article

The Great Recession, Insurance Mandates, and the Use of In Vitro Fertilization Services in the United States

By: Sorapop Kiatpongsan, Robert S. Huckman and Mark D. Hornstein

Objective: To investigate the relationship between economic activities, insurance mandates, and the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the United States.

Design: We examined the correlation between the coincident index (a proxy for overall economic... View Details

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Recessions; Medical Care; In Vitro Fertilization; Health Industry; United States

2011
Case

How Fast and Flexible Do You Want Your Information, Really?

By: Thomas H. Davenport and Jim Snabe

Almost all executives want more and faster information, and almost all companies are racing to provide it. What many of them are overlooking is that the real aim should not be faster information but faster decision making, and those aren't the same things. Executives... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Information; Service Delivery; Decision Making; Crisis Management