Publications

March 2012
Article

The Incentive Bubble

By: Mihir Desai

The past three decades have seen American capitalism quietly transformed by a single, powerful idea—that financial markets are a suitable tool for measuring performance and structuring compensation. Stock instruments for managers, high-powered incentive contracts for... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Financial Markets; Executive Compensation; Motivation and Incentives; Corporate Governance; Equality and Inequality; Human Capital; United States

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October 2001 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Herman Miller(B): Creating Innovation Streams

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Stacy McManus

In 1997, Mike Volkema faced the difficulty of attempting to revitalize a once dynamic organization. Volkema wondered how he could incorporate advances made within subsidiaries, such as Miller SQA's business model innovation, into the company as a whole while also... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Product Design; Product Development; Product; Supply Chain Management; Business Model; Service Delivery; Customer Value and Value Chain; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

December 2009 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Neoprene

By: Tom Nicholas and Felipe Tamega Fernandes

In 1931, during one of the worst economic crises in U.S. history, Du Pont announced the discovery of an innovative rubber synthetic product—neoprene. Yet at the time of the announcement, Du Pont did not have any neoprene to sell. Manufacturing facilities were still... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Business History; Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Risk and Uncertainty; Science-Based Business; Commercialization; Chemical Industry; United States

June 2016
Teaching Note

N12 Technologies: Building an Organization and Building a Business

By: David A. Garvin

N12 Technologies was a startup founded in 2010 that employed nanotechnology to manufacture a patented material to improve the performance of carbon fiber composites, which were used in a wide variety of products, ranging from bicycles to automobiles to aircraft parts.... View Details

Keywords: Startup; Organizational Structure; Nanotechnology; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Management Systems; Commercialization; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; United States

2004
Article

Sources of Structural Inequality in Managerial Labor Markets

By: Rakesh Khurana and Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

This article proposes two mechanisms that allow actors to obtain unearned advantages in labor markets. The ﬁrst mechanism is consistent with collusive closure arguments. However, it questions the assumption that those who seek to beneﬁt from collusive closure will... View Details

Keywords: Management; Labor; Markets

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2013
Tool

Harvard Business Review's Go to Market Tools: Pricing for Profit

By: Thomas Steenburgh and Jill Avery

What price is right? Figuring out the best price for your product or service can be nerve-wracking. Your new product launch or marketing campaign's success—perhaps even your career advancement—may hinge on the price you choose. So how do you select a price that's... View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Analysis; Tools; Pricing; Profitability Analysis; Pricing Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Marketing

January 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Ganeden Biotech, Inc.

By: Robert C. Pozen, Dale Alan Winger and Matthew Kenneth Ahlers

The CEO of Ganeden Biotech, a small firm with several viable probiotic products but limited resources, must decide what markets to invest in and what intellectual property strategies will best serve its immediate and longer-term business interests. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Investment; Intellectual Property; Market Entry and Exit; Business Strategy; Biotechnology Industry

30 Jun 2015
News

Creating a Tech Hub in Gaza

Research Summary

The Impact of ABC on Managerial Decisions

In this type of research, Ratna Sarkar seeks to determine whether, in fact, new cost systems such as ABC (Activity Based Costing) have a measurable effect on managerial decisions regarding product and customer mix.

The theory of ABC is now academically established,... View Details

20 Nov 2019
Video

Rosario Bazán

Rosario Bazán, the co-founder of the Peruvian agribusiness group Danper Trujillio, explains her unusual decision to begin a healthcare center within the company, and the reasons it has resulted in significant... View Details

March 2021 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Revlon: Surviving Covid-19

By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah Gulick

In October 2020, Revlon faced a crossroads. While it had been struggling with high levels of debt before COVID-19, the pandemic had caused it to go further into debt. Unlike other financial crises, many consumers had stopped buying skincare or cosmetics, and sales of... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Leveraged Buyouts; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Liquidity; Bonds; Corporate Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

Article

Competition and Cost Accounting

By: V.G. Narayanan and Michael Smith

The central theme of Competition and Cost Accounting is that strategic considerations may make it desirable for a firm to have divisions and product managers internalize something other than their true costs. In the case of transfer prices, a high transfer price... View Details

Keywords: Cost Allocation; Transfer Pricing; Decentralization; Bertrand And Cournot Competition; Cost Accounting

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07 Sep 2017
News

Faber-Castell Doubles Down on the Pencil

11 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Globalizing the Beauty Business Before 1980

Keywords: by Geoffrey G. Jones

01 Jul 2011
News

Corporates need to hard sell strategy to their people

Article

Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?

By: Benjamin Edelman

This paper studies the adult online entertainment industry, particularly the consumption side of the market. In particular, it focuses on the demographics and consumption patterns of those who subscribe to adult entertainment websites. On the surface, this business... View Details

Keywords: Online Technology; Segmentation; Film Entertainment; Demographics; Web Sites; Competition; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Demand and Consumers; Legal Liability; Culture; Religion; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

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May 2011 (Revised July 2015)
Case

Ford Motor Company: Strengthening the Dealer Network

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Katharine Lee and Marie Bell

The case describes a five-year effort (2006-2011) of distribution rationalization and consolidation at Ford. The financial crisis in the second-half of 2008 forced GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy. Having completed the distribution overhaul work by 2011, its senior... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Product; Distribution; Consolidation; Distribution Channels; Transformation; Business Processes; Auto Industry

April 1998 (Revised November 1999)
Case

Hambrecht & Quist

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Nicole Tempest

Hambrecht & Quist (H&Q), an investment bank headquartered in San Francisco, has a very unique culture relative to its Wall Street counterparts. Firm members and even competitors describe the culture as entrepreneurial, team-driven, non-bureaucratic, and... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Investment Banking; Growth and Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; Organizational Culture; Competitive Advantage; Banking Industry; San Francisco