Publications

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October 2008 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Amazon Web Services

By: Robert S. Huckman, Gary P. Pisano and Liz Kind

Considers the development of Amazon Web Services (AWS), a division of Amazon.com, Inc., specializing in the provision of web-based storage and computing services to web developers. The case focuses on the issues facing Andy Jassy, the head of AWS, in 2008 as AWS faces... View Details

Keywords: Price; Market Entry and Exit; Service Operations; Competition; Diversification; Retail Industry; Web Services Industry

January 19, 2024
Article

Value-Based Health Care Can Transform the Treatment of Patients with Substance Use Disorder

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Sarah E. Wakeman

U.S. overdose deaths currently exceed 100,000 per year. New facilities, known as bridge clinics, are broadening access to high-quality care by offering outpatient substance use disorder (SUD) treatment with few access barriers. But many of the critical services offered... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Adoption

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January–February 2018
Article

Inclusive Growth: Profitable Strategies for Tackling Poverty and Inequality

By: Robert S. Kaplan, George Serafeim and Eduardo Tugendhat

More than a billion people in the developing world remain in extreme poverty and outside the formal economy. Traditional CSR programs have done little to alleviate the situation and rarely produce transformative change.
Instead of trying to fix local problems,... View Details

Keywords: Inclusive Growth; Sustainability; Social Impact; Business Strategy; Shared Value; Impact Investing; Inequality; Corporate Governance; Balanced Scorecard; Strategy Execution; Economic Growth; Developing Countries and Economies; Poverty; Equality and Inequality; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Strategy; Investment

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20 Oct 2010
Op-Ed

Export Competitiveness: Reversing the Logic

Lauri Ojala, Ben Shepherd, Daniel Saslavsky (2010), Connecting to Compete 2010: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy World Bank, Washington, D.C.: 2010. Atkinson, Robert (2009), Sustainable Globalization Means Limiting Export-Led Growth... View Details

Keywords: by Christian Ketels

Article

We Need Better Carbon Accounting. Here's How to Get There.

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Karthik Ramanna

Any effective system of greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting needs to measure each company’s supply-chain carbon impacts accurately. Such information would provide visibility and incentives for the company to make more climate-friendly product-specification and purchasing... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Greenhouse Gas Emissions; GHG; Carbon Accounting; Environmental Accounting; Environmental Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Supply Chain

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10 Jul 2007
What Do You Think?

How Much of Leadership Is About Control, Delegation, or Theater?

organizational performance. In a thought-provoking book published last year, Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton suggest that the overriding impact of leadership on performance is a myth, or at least only a half-truth. 30 years ago, in... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

February 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Best Buy Health: Enabling Care at Home

By: Robert S. Huckman, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Antonio Moreno, Bradley Staats and Sarah Mehta

This case explores retailer Best Buy’s decision to enter health care. Best Buy Health aims to enable care at home across three prongs: consumer health, active aging, and virtual care. A key pillar of Best Buy Health's strategy is leveraging the Geek Squad—the company's... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Business Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Electronics Industry; Health Industry; Retail Industry; United States; Minnesota

September 2001
Background Note

Financial Reporting Environment, The

By: Paul M. Healy, Amy P. Hutton, Robert S. Kaplan and Krishna G. Palepu

Provides a framework for understanding the role of financial reporting and various intermediaries as mechanisms for reducing both adverse selection and moral hazard problems in capital markets. Financial reports reduce adverse selection by providing basic information... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Capital Markets; Venture Capital; Corporate Disclosure; Conflict of Interests

15 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Remembering Alfred Chandler

done. Nor was he the elegant Robert E. Lee, fending off superior forces through ingenious defensive maneuvers. Instead he was the relentless Ulysses S. Grant—grinding out a series of costly victories at... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

16 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 16, 2007

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=206033 PublicationsManagement Accounting, 5th ed. Authors:Anthony A. Atkinson, Robert S. Kaplan, S. Mark Young,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

13 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

The Inner Life of Leaders

require adaptation and the avoidance of the repetition compulsion. Q: Your book describes leadership dilemmas facing well-known individuals historically and currently, including Robert S. McNamara, Ronald... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Teaching Interest

Technology and Operations Management - MBA Required Curriculum

By: Robert S. Huckman

This course enables students to develop the skills and concepts needed to ensure the ongoing contribution of a firm's operations to its... View Details

March–April 1986
Article

Must CIM be Justified by Faith Alone?

Article

Strategic Performance Measurement and Management in Nonprofit Organizations

Keywords: Performance; Measurement and Metrics; Strategy; Management; Nonprofit Organizations

May 1989
Teaching Note

MRC, Inc. (Consolidated), Teaching Note

Teaching Note for (9-277-123). View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing Industry

March 1999
Case

City of Charlotte (B)

This case shows how two operating departments-transportation and police-translate the high-level corporate scorecard for the city into departmental balanced scorecards. The transportation department follows a highly structured approach designed to link initiatives... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Global Strategy; National Security; Balanced Scorecard; Organizational Design; Technology Adoption; Public Administration Industry; Transportation Industry