Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,114)
- Faculty Publications (175)
- August 2005 (Revised April 2006)
- Case
Kemps LLC: Introducing Time-Driven ABC
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Kemps is making a strategy shift: from being focused on fulfilling customer requests to becoming the best cost dairy producer in the industry. Its existing manufacturing cost system, however, fails to capture the costs associated with handling special flavors, small... View Details
- June 2005 (Revised August 2013)
- Case
Amazon.com's European Distribution Strategy
By: Janice Hammond and Claire Chiron
Describes how Amazon's distribution system evolved from the company's inception. In 2003, Amazon Europe must decide how to reconfigure its distribution network in light of expected growth, products proliferation, and geographical expansion in Europe. Examines how... View Details
- February 2005 (Revised March 2006)
- Case
PCAOB, The (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine and Kim Bettcher
Members of the Public Co. Accounting Oversight Board--a private-sector, nonprofit body created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002--must determine the form and content of a new auditing standard on internal control that will fulfill the requirements of Section 404 of the... View Details
- October 2004 (Revised November 2004)
- Case
Mavens & Moguls: Creating a New Business Model
By: Myra M. Hart, Victoria Winston and Kristin Lieb
Mavens & Moguls is a "virtual" marketing-consulting firm of approximately 40 professionals. Examines the processes by which its founder, Paige Arnof-Fenn, learns the business, builds a power network of industry experts and potential customers, and uses this expertise... View Details
- May 2004 (Revised July 2004)
- Case
Clarence Saunders: The Comeback King
By: Nitin Nohria and Bridget Gurtler
Follows the rise and fall of the founder of the modern supermarket, Clarence Saunders. Prior to 1915, all staple shopping took place in the market or general store, where a clerk behind a counter pulled items from shelves for customers , measured them from a barrel, or... View Details
- April 2004 (Revised May 2005)
- Case
Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (A)
A manager recounts his experience firing the person he was asked to replace and reflects on the challenges of the experience. Teaching Purpose: To role-play and reflect on tasks that entail harming other people to fulfill one's responsibility. View Details
- March 2004 (Revised April 2005)
- Case
Midwest Office Products
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Presents an easy introduction to time-driven activity-based costing (ABC) that allows students to build a simple ABC model of order profitability. Midwest's time-driven ABC approach is based on two categories of parameter estimates. The first is the cost per hour of... View Details
- February 2004 (Revised May 2005)
- Supplement
Confronting a Necessary Evil: The Firing of Alex Robins (B)
A manager recounts his experience firing the person he was asked to replace and reflects on the challenges of the experience. Teaching Purpose: To role-play and reflect on tasks that entail harming other people to fulfill one's responsibility. View Details
Keywords: Resignation and Termination
- May 2003
- Background Note
How to Induce Retailers to Reduce Stockouts?
By: V.G. Narayanan
Describes how the lack of incentive alignment between retailers and their vendors can lead to stockouts. Also describes various means to reduce incentive misalignment and hence stockouts. View Details
- February 2003 (Revised January 2004)
- Case
International Steel Group
By: Paul W. Marshall and Todd H Thedinga
Profiles veteran investor Wilbur L. Ross, Jr.'s plan to turn around the aging steel assets of LTV, formerly America's second largest integrated steel producer. Purchasing several key assets from LTV under Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code, Ross is able to acquire the... View Details
- February 2003 (Revised March 2003)
- Case
The Nature Conservancy
By: Allen S. Grossman and Jane Wei-Skillern
Almost immediately upon being appointed CEO of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Steve McCormick undertakes a radical reorganization of this global institution. TNC is the largest and, by most measures, the most successful environment organization in the world, with... View Details
- August 2001 (Revised February 2005)
- Case
Dakota Office Products
By: Robert S. Kaplan
The senior management team of Dakota, an office products distributor, is concerned about the company's first loss in history. Explores the role for activity based costing and customer profitability measurement in a distribution company. Dakota's customers are... View Details
- February 2001 (Revised November 2019)
- Case
Delivery Problems at Arrow Electronics, Inc. (A)
By: Andrew P. McAfee, Frances X. Frei and Kerry Herman
Describes a dramatic decrease in service levels (on-time shipments) from the warehouse network of a large electronics distributor. Students need to analyze the root cause of the problem and propose actions. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details
- February 2001 (Revised November 2019)
- Supplement
Delivery Problems at Arrow Electronics, Inc. (B)
By: Andrew P. McAfee, Frances X. Frei and Kerry Herman
Supplements the (A) case. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details
- August 2000 (Revised February 2003)
- Case
Borders Group, Inc.
By: Zeynep Ton and Ananth Raman
Describes Borders Group, a well-known retail chain, in late 1999 and its traditional strengths and rapid growth in the 1990s. By 1990, however, the company had fallen behind Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble in leveraging the Internet for book retailing, although it... View Details
Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Distribution Channels; Service Operations; Business Growth and Maturation; Economic Growth; Industry Growth; Growth and Development; Internet; Business Model; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Supply and Industry; Retail Industry; Publishing Industry
- September 1999 (Revised November 1999)
- Case
Explore, Inc.
Documents the creation of a national before and after-school day care program aimed at bridging the gap between school and parents' work schedules. This high-growth, for-profit social enterprise organization operated in what was historically the domain of nonprofit or... View Details
- September 1999 (Revised April 2000)
- Case
drugstore.com
By: Richard L. Nolan
On a clear day in August 1999 in the new headquarters of drugstore.com, against a backdrop of the Blue Angels flying in formation over Lake Washington practicing for their hydroplane Seafare Cup performance, Peter Neupert was pleased with his company's IPO performance.... View Details
- February 1999
- Case
Volant Skis
By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Matt Verlinden
Volant brought innovation to the ski equipment industry in 1989 by developing a stainless steel ski. He claimed the skis could turn more easily, could hold an edge in icy conditions, and were more stable than aluminum or fiberglass skis. The company's "soft-flex"... View Details
- April 1998
- Case
Compaq, 1998
By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Matt Verlinden
In 1997, Compaq Computer Corp. had become a $25 billion powerhouse. It had accomplished its revenue growth projections, successfully made a number of strategic acquisitions, and increased its gross margins, principally by moving up market into servers, workstations,... View Details
- April 1996 (Revised November 1996)
- Case
BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Ramiro Montealegre, Carin-Isabel Knoop and H. James Nelson
Describes the events surrounding the construction of the BAE baggage-handling system at the Denver International Airport. It looks specifically at project management, including decisions regarding budget, scheduling, and the overall management structure. Also examines... View Details