Publications

June 1997 (Revised May 1998)
Case

Mobil USM&R (A1)

First of a two-part case on the development and use of a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) at Mobil's US Marketing and Refining Division. Split from the original (A) case to give students an opportunity to suggest objectives and measures for the division's initial BSC, without... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Measurement and Metrics; Restructuring; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Marketing Strategy; Motivation and Incentives; Mining Industry; Energy Industry; United States

Web

HBS Alumni Conference: Accelerating Climate Solutions - Alumni

that could enable finance to fulfill its potential in both stabilizing the atmosphere and making society more resilient. Measuring and Reducing Corporate Carbon Emissions Faculty Presenters: View Details

July 1990 (Revised October 1997)
Case

Siemens Electric Motor Works (A) (Abridged)

Explores how a cost system can help support a firm's decision to change strategies. In the process, the students are introduced to a simple activity-based cost system. Siemens Electric Motor Works found itself facing an increasingly competitive environment and so made... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Cost Accounting; Cost; Adoption; Cost vs Benefits; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Production; Business Strategy; Electronics Industry; Manufacturing Industry

2008
Chapter

Conceptual Foundations of the Balanced Scorecard

David Norton and I introduced the Balanced Scorecard in a 1992 Harvard Business Review article. The article was based on a multi-company research project that studied performance measurement in companies whose intangible assets played a central role in value... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Management Systems; Measurement and Metrics; Performance Improvement; Strategy

September 2009 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Elkay Plumbing Products Division

The vice president of sales learns that the most profitable 1% of the division's customers generate 100% of profits, and that two of the division's largest customers lose 50% of profits. The division has just finished a project to install a time-driven activity-based... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Profit; Management Systems; Consumer Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry

31 May 2016
First Look

May 31, 2016

Revealing Hand By: Kaplan, Robert S., and Anette Mikes Abstract—Many believe that the recent emphasis on enterprise risk management function is... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 1996 (Revised November 2003)
Case

Indianapolis: Activity-Based Costing of City Services (A)

A new administration in the City of Indianapolis is initially determined to privatize many municipal services. Before taking this action, however, the city managers want to know the current cost of performing these services with the municipal workers. Existing... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Public Sector; Activity Based Costing and Management; Service Delivery; Privatization; City; Indianapolis

29 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 29

Managers Become Influential? A Field Study in Two Financial Institutions By: Hall, Matthew, Anette Mikes, and Yuval Millo Abstract—This paper, based on a five-year longitudinal study at two UK-based banks,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2018
Case

Partners In Health: Costing Primary Care in Haiti

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Mahek A. Shah

Partners in Health, a global NGO focused on delivering health care to residents of rural underserved communities, conducts a project on the cost of primary care at five sites in the Central Highlands of Haiti. It devises a simple approach for tracking the resources... View Details

Keywords: Global Health; Public Health; Health Care and Treatment; Activity Based Costing and Management; Cost Accounting; Rural Scope; Health Industry; Haiti

21 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 21

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=42640 Managing Risks: Towards a Contingency Theory of Enterprise Risk Management By: Mikes, Anette, and Robert Kaplan Abstract—Enterprise... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Social Enterprise - Faculty & Research

September 26, 2024 Article A Better Way to Measure Social Impact By: Robert S. Kaplan and Constance Spitzer March 2025 Case Hurtigruten: Sea Zero... View Details

Web

General Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

(Scribner, 2017) was selected by Strategy + Business as one of the Best Business Books on Leadership in 2018. Lynn S. Paine : Winner of the 2018 Rendanheyi Badge for Lifetime Achievement from the Second... View Details

July – August 2011
Article

Managing the Multiple Dimensions of Risk: Part I

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Anette Mikes

Based on an extensive program of case-writing and teaching on risk management, we identify three categories of risk and elaborate on the ways companies can identify and mitigate them, with particular emphasis on strategy execution risks. View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategy

Find at Harvard

11 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 11

Maintenance of Certification Examinations By: Valentine, Melissa A., S. Barsade, Amy C. Edmondson, A. Gal, and R. Rhodes Abstract—Context: Physicians can demonstrate mastery of the knowledge that supports... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 6

accompanies the cases "Medtronic: Patient Management Initiative" (A) and (B), HBS Nos. 302-005 and 309-064. Purchase this note:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/310075-PDF-ENG Jet Propulsion... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2016
Article

Communicating Value in Healthcare Using Radar Charts: A Case Study of Prostate Cancer

By: Nikhil G. Thaker, Tariq N. Ali, Michael E. Porter, Thomas W. Feeley, Robert S. Kaplan and Steven J. Frank

Question: Can we create a value-based tool to visualize the outcomes and cost of various treatments that could facilitate patient-centered decision making?

Summary Answer: We developed a standardized value framework by using radar charts to visualize and... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

Read Now

January 2007 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Fulton County School System: Implementing the Balanced Scorecard

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Monica Nah Lee

Illustrates the adaptation and implementation of a private sector management tool, the Balanced Scorecard, to a public school district. As part of a continuous improvement initiative, the Director of Planning and Policy facilitates the development of a strategy map and... View Details

Keywords: Education; Governance; Leadership; Balanced Scorecard; Performance Improvement; Strategy; Education Industry

2020
Working Paper

Updating the Balanced Scorecard for Triple Bottom Line Strategies

By: Robert S. Kaplan and David McMillan

Many companies are now attempting to achieve triple bottom line performance on financial, environmental, and societal metrics. Successful strategies for such performance, however, generally require new relationships among multiple players in multiple sectors across a... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Adaptation; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Performance; Strategy