Publications

Research Summary

Research Interests

Budgeting and planning, forecasting, incentives, management control systems, conflicts of interst in accounting. View Details

25 Jul 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Bias in Official Fiscal Forecasts: Can Private Forecasts Help?

Keywords: by Jeffrey A. Frankel and Jesse Schreger

December 1997 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Valuing Capital Investment Projects

By: W. Carl Kester

A collection of problems that introduces students to the application of discounted cash flow analysis in the evaluation of capital budgeting problems. View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Capital; Cash Flow; Investment; Valuation

November 1991 (Revised December 1996)
Case

Pressco, Inc.--1985

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

A capital budgeting problem is viewed from the context of a marketing representative attempting to make a sale of energy saving heavy industrial equipment. Tax law changes promise to have a significant impact on the customer's decision process. Teaching purpose: To... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Machinery and Machining; Valuation; Taxation; Customer Value and Value Chain; Cost vs Benefits; Inflation and Deflation; Cost Management; Product Marketing; North and Central America

August 1984 (Revised October 1994)
Case

Suave

By: Mark S. Albion

Promotes discussion on advertising budgeting and media mix decisions in the shampoo market for low-priced, high-volume Suave. Provides various types of market research into consumer behavior and the competition context. The importance of retailers and shelf space is... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Product Marketing; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

October 1994
Case

Yokohama Corporation, Ltd. (B): Cost Management System

Illustrates the budget planning process at a Japanese firm. Also describes a highly traditional cost accounting system, and shows how variances are used for performance measurement. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Performance Evaluation; Budgets and Budgeting; Japan

01 Oct 2013
News

Bill George on Medical Device Tax, U.S. Shutdown

30 Mar 2017
News

Public Funding Essential for Advances in Biomedical Research

March 1997 (Revised August 2017)
Case

Compagnie du Froid, S.A.

By: Robert Simons and Antonio Dávila

The owner of an ice cream company must evaluate the performance of three regional businesses. To do the analysis, students must flex the budget by seasonal temperature; calculate revenue, volume, price, and efficiency variances; analyze the effects of transfer prices;... View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Investment Return; Performance Evaluation; Revenue; Budgets and Budgeting; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; France; Spain; Italy

May 1981 (Revised December 1992)
Case

Chesebrough-Pond's, Inc.: Vaseline Petroleum Jelly

By: John A. Quelch

The product manager for Vaseline Petroleum Jelly has to prepare the 1978 brand budget and determine expenditure levels for advertising, trade promotion, and consumer promotion. View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Budgets and Budgeting; Product Marketing; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

Research Summary

Overview

By: Kevin P. Mohan

Kevin Mohan is currently researching negotiations in private company contexts, including topics such as financings, compensation systems, budgeting and planning, recruiting, and succession. View Details

06 Aug 2012
News

The high cost of private pension savings

August 2015
Case

Building an e-Commerce Brand at Wayfair

By: Thales Teixeira and Elizabeth Anne Watkins

Wayfair, Inc. comprised five home goods, furniture, and décor e-commerce brands. Wayfair.com, the main brand, which was responsible for the majority of sales, targeted the mass-middle home-goods market. AllModern, DwellStudio, Joss & Main, and Birch Lane were niche... View Details

21 May 2015
Blog Post

3 Ways to Fund Your HBS MBA

Trying to figure out how you’re going to afford your Harvard MBA can feel very scary – I definitely remember the sticker shock I felt when I read the expected student budget for the first time. Luckily, there are a lot of ways for you to... View Details

February 2002 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Activity-Based Management at W.S. Industries (B)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Jeremy Cott

Describes activity-based budgeting at W.S. Industries. Also describes target costing-led product redesign, and product, customer, and order profitability. View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Operations; Energy Industry; India

March 1968 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Basic Industries

By: Joseph L. Bower and John W. Rosenblum

Policy problems, mainly organizational issues, face a young middle manager in the context of capital budgeting in a highly technological conglomerate firm with high market uncertainty. View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Capital Budgeting; Policy; Managerial Roles; Risk and Uncertainty

September 1996 (Revised September 2004)
Case

Monterrey Manufacturing Company

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

A small manufacturing company plans and budgets sales and expenses to ensure that its strategy is feasible. It must trace costs of manufacturing through work-in-process to finished goods and cost of goods sold, and project cash flows and income. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Business Earnings; Cash Flow; Sales; Budgets and Budgeting; Manufacturing Industry

October 2001 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Sarnia Corporation

By: Thomas R. Piper

A division manager must explain why his division failed to meet its budgeted profit performance as well as meet with members of his management team to discuss corrective action. View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Business Divisions; Profit; Management Teams; Managerial Roles; Failure; Performance; Strategy

Find at Harvard

November 1978 (Revised June 1985)
Case

Hanson Industries (A)

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Julie H. Hertenstein

Hanson Industries produces and sells an award-winning design ski boot. Describes the company history from founding through July 1978, the product, production processes, marketing strategy, and background information for related cases on budgeting and finance. View Details

Keywords: Product; Marketing Strategy; Production; Finance; Budgets and Budgeting; Consumer Products Industry