Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(7,220)
- Faculty Publications (1,746)
- 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
- March 1998 (Revised April 1998)
- Case
Lehigh Steel
By: V.G. Narayanan and Laura Donohue
Lehigh Steel is a specialty steel manufacturer that plummeted from record profits to record losses in less than three years, driven by an inability to distinguish between profitable and unprofitable business. The scale and growth of service activities and overhead... View Details
- March 1998 (Revised October 2001)
- Case
Teradyne: Corporate Management of Disruptive Change
By: Joseph L. Bower
Two cases deal with the introduction of a new product to Teradyne's line of semiconductor test equipment. This case deals with the problems facing the head of a start-up division responsible for developing and bringing to market a new product based on technology deemed... View Details
- February 1998 (Revised September 1998)
- Case
Insteel Wire Products: ABM at Andrews
By: V.G. Narayanan and Ratna G. Sarkar
Insteel implements an activity-based costing (ABC) system in 1996. It finds pallet nails to be its most profitable product and decides to expand the number of cells making pallet nails from two to four. A repeat of the ABC study in 1997 shows pallet nails have become... View Details
- February 1998 (Revised November 1998)
- Case
Novartis (A): Being a Global Leader
By: Srikant M. Datar and Carin-Isabel Knoop
For the Novartis leaders, the decision to "use stretch budgets again next year" highlights the tension between candor and empowerment and command-and-control, between the new and the old, between high performance and business as usual, between Ciba and Sandoz.... View Details
- January 1998 (Revised July 2019)
- Case
Cafes Monte Bianco: Building a Profit Plan
By: Robert L. Simons and Antonio Davila
Alert: This case has been revised since its original publication; all amounts have been converted to euros and the dates have been updated to 2020. If you’ve taught with this case in the past, please note that changes may affect teaching plans and classroom use. Using... View Details
- 1998
- Article
Alternative Models of Uncertain Commodity Prices for Use with Modern Asset Pricing Methods
By: Malcolm Baker, E. S. Mayfield and John Parsons
This paper provides an introduction to alternative models of uncertain commodity prices. A model of commodity price movements is the engine around which any valuation methodology for commodity production projects is built, whether discounted cash flow (DCF) models or... View Details
Keywords: Asset Pricing; Goods and Commodities; Price; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Production; Projects; Cash Flow
- 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
- December 1997 (Revised August 1998)
- Case
Shanghai Real Estate (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine and Harold F. Hogan Jr
An independent consultant from the United States must decide what to do when faced with his client's apparent violation of an agreement with a third party. The consultant is American, the client is a Chinese real estate developer, and the third party is a French... View Details
- November 1997
- Case
Colly Cotton Ltd.
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Tom Clay
Colly Farm is an entrepreneurial cotton farm complex that has to compete on a world market. In going public it has to satisfy the market that it can remain profitable in volatile times. View Details
- November 1997 (Revised May 2001)
- Background Note
Introduction to Entrepreneurial Finance
By: Paul A. Gompers
Presents an overview of the issues covered in Entrepreneurial Finance. The frameworks of analysis as well as themes of the course are covered. Additionally, provides references on entrepreneurial finance from both academics and the popular press. View Details
- November 1997 (Revised February 1998)
- Case
WESCO Distribution, Inc.
By: Das Narayandas
In 1996, WESCO, a national distributor of electrical equipment and supplies, charted out a growth of 6 to 8 percent in sales, and 12 to 16 percent in profitability over the next five years. The centerpiece of this growth strategy is the National Accounts (NA) program... View Details
- October 1997
- Case
L'Oreal of Paris: Bringing 'Class to Mass' with Plenitude
By: Robert J. Dolan
L'Oreal's strategy is to "trickle down" technology over time from high-end outlets like department stores to mass-markets, such as drugstores. The mass market brand Plenitude has become the market leader in France, but even eight years after introduction in the United... View Details
- October 1997 (Revised May 1998)
- Background Note
International Use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
By: David A. Thomas and Emily Heaphy
Intended to be used as a supplement to the Introduction to Type and provides an overview of the international uses of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. View Details
Keywords: Personal Development and Career
- September 1997 (Revised May 1999)
- Case
Automated Intelligence Corporation
By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen
Precision Controls is a Minnesota-based manufacturer of electronic control devices. To enhance its product line, Precision would like to establish an artificial intelligence research group, either through internal development or, preferably, by merging with or... View Details
- September 1997 (Revised May 1999)
- Case
Precision Controls, Inc.
By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen
Precision Controls is a Minnesota-based manufacturer of electronic control devices. To enhance its product line, Precision would like to establish an artificial intelligence research group, either through internal development or, preferably, by merging with or... View Details
- August 1997
- Background Note
Accounting for Manufacturing Companies
By: Srikant M. Datar
The accounting for a manufacturing company is examined, including the flow of costs from raw materials to work in process to finished goods and the distribution between an inventoriable or product cost and a noninventoriable or period cost. View Details
Keywords: Cost Accounting; Product; Cost; Distribution; Accrual Accounting; Accounting; Manufacturing Industry
- June 1997 (Revised February 2000)
- Case
Walker and Company: Profit Plan Decisions
By: Robert L. Simons and Ramsey Walker
Ramsey Walker, a second-year MBA student, must decide how to control a family business as an absentee owner. After providing background details on the publishing industry, the case requires the reader to: 1) make a product segmentation decision; 2) prepare a profit... View Details
- May 1997
- Case
Donna Karan International Inc.
By: Krishna G. Palepu and Sarayu Srinivasan
Designer Donna Karan takes her firm public. After eager anticipation from Wall Street, the stock loses 60% of its value. This case addresses the questions: Is Karan's company ready to undertake responsibilities of being public? Is the company's strategy sustainable?... View Details
- May 1997
- Teaching Note
Introduction and Overview: Managing Product Development, Instructor's Note
By: Marco Iansiti
The first module, comprising three cases and a team exercise, provides an impressionistic look at all the issues raised in greater detail in subsequent classes. It thus enables students, who come to the course with a range of experience and skills, to get up to speed... View Details