Publications

January 2014 (Revised June 2014)
Supplement

Dumb Ways To Die: Advertising Train Safety (B)

By: John Quelch

The case series focuses on Melbourne Trains' viral advertising campaign to improve safe behaviors around trains among young people. This iconic, low budget campaign swept the Cannes Lions advertising awards in 2013 and became a social media sensation. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Channels; Marketing Communication; Viral Advertising; Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Public Sector; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Digital Marketing; Advertising Industry; Public Administration Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Oceania; Europe

January 2014 (Revised June 2014)
Case

Dumb Ways To Die: Advertising Train Safety (A)

By: John Quelch

The case series focuses on Melbourne Trains' viral advertising campaign to improve safe behaviors around trains among young people. This iconic, low budget campaign swept the Cannes Lions advertising awards in 2013 and became a social media sensation. View Details

Keywords: Viral Marketing; Advertising; Marketing Communications; Social Marketing; Digital Marketing; Advertising Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Public Administration Industry; Oceania; Europe

March 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Neck & Neck: Leveraging the Club Neck Information

Commercial Director Prado wonders how to leverage the loyalty card information to prepare the fall 2008 budget. The case discusses the value of subjective and objective information for profit-planning purposes. Spanish children's apparel retailer Neck & Neck uses... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Profit; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Retail Industry

September 1976
Case

Del Norte Paper Co. (B)

By: William A. Sahlman

Serves two roles: first, provides a reasonably comprehensive description of an ongoing budgeting and reporting system for the international operations of a large American company. Second, allows the student to focus on and critically analyze a series of specific... View Details

Keywords: International Accounting; Financial Reporting; Budgets and Budgeting; United States

June 2004
Case

TechnoServe and the Tanzanian Specialty Coffee Industry

In 2003, TechnoServe, a U.S.-based, international, nonprofit organization, was deciding how to structure the capital investments required for Tanzanian business groups to acquire coffee bean central pulperies. This case explores the challenges of capital budgeting and... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Cash Flow; Emerging Markets; Financing and Loans; Capital Budgeting; Tanzania

January 1996 (Revised October 1997)
Case

Americhem: The Gaylord Division (A)

By: David A. Garvin

The Gaylord Division of Americhem, a large chemical company, is in the midst of the first use of a new zero-base budgeting system. The general manager of the division leading the process is experiencing disagreement and conflict among the members of the senior... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges

Find at Harvard

October 1987 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Boston Fights Drugs (A): Designing Communications Research

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Describes in detail the research mounted by five individuals with a $20,000 budget to combat drug abuse among Boston's school-going population. Using the focus group methodology they discover that most of the current anti-drug advertising is useless. They create their... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Communication Intention and Meaning; Brands and Branding; Performance Evaluation; Research and Development; Segmentation; Pharmaceutical Industry; Boston

01 Nov 2019
Video

Jaithirth Rao

Jerry Rao, serial entrepreneur and founder of the India-based Value and Budget Housing Corporation, describes the impact of regulation on the construction industry in India, and the need for further change to enable the building of affordable housing. View Details

June 2009
Case

Midland Energy Resources, Inc.: Cost of Capital

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Joel L. Heilprin

The senior vice president of project finance for a global oil and gas company must determine the weighted average cost of capital for the company as a whole and each of its divisions as part of the annual capital budgeting process. The case uses comparable companies to... View Details

Keywords: Risk Assessment; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Cost of Capital; Cash Flow; Capital Structure; Valuation; Capital Budgeting; Energy Industry

11 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Strategy Execution and the Balanced Scorecard

We note that quality and process improvement programs are like teaching people how to fish. Strategy maps and scorecards teach people where to fish. Another pitfall occurs when budgeting and financial planning are done separately from... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

01 Nov 2019
Video

Jaithirth Rao

View Details

28 Jan 2013
News

Bullish Beginning to 2013

15 Sep 2020
Working Paper Summaries

State and Local Government Employment in the COVID-19 Crisis

Keywords: by Daniel Green and Erik Loualiche

June 1992
Case

Arundel Partners: The Sequel Project

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and William A. Teichner

A group of investors is considering buying the sequel rights for a portfolio of feature films. They need to determine how much to offer to pay and how to structure a contract with one or more major U.S. film studios. The case contains cash flow estimates for all major... View Details

Keywords: Rights; Debt Securities; Contracts; Cash Flow; Valuation; Capital Budgeting; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; United States

October 2013 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Americhem: The Gaylord Division (A-1)

By: David A. Garvin

The Gaylord Division of Americhem, a large chemical company, is in the midst of the first use of a new zero-base budgeting system. The general manager of the division leading the process is experiencing disagreement and conflict among the members of the senior... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges

January 2014 (Revised June 2014)
Supplement

Dumb Ways To Die: Advertising Train Safety (C)

By: John Quelch

The case series focuses on Melbourne Trains' viral advertising campaign to improve safe behaviors around trains among young people. This iconic, low budget campaign swept the Cannes Lions advertising awards in 2013 and became a social media sensation. View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Marketing Communication; Viral Advertising; Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Marketing Strategy; Digital Marketing; Advertising Industry; Public Administration Industry; Transportation Industry; Oceania; Europe

01 Aug 2011
News

Four Leadership Lessons from Debt-Ceiling Brinkmanship (and Baseball)

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

Keywords: Goals and Objectives; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Performance; Budgets and Budgeting

February 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Lance Johnstone: Developing 3000 North Broad

The case focuses on Lance Johnstone, a former NFL player, who has dabbled in real estate development during his playing career, and now, as a retired player, is trying to pursue the development of a 10-unit rental apartment building in a depressed area of Philadelphia,... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Development Economics; Construction; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Investment Return; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; Philadelphia