Balanced Benchmarking - Publications - Faculty & Research

Summer 2013
Article

Analyzing Performance of Service Organizations: Balanced Benchmarking Can Identify Best Practices That Are Often Hidden

By: H. David Sherman and Joe Zhu

Just as sports teams have increasingly relied on rigorous quantitative analyses, so have many businesses. In particular, a growing number of service organizations have been investigating the use of a sophisticated linear programming technique called DEA, or data... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Benchmarking; Management

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09 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

When Benchmarks Don’t Work

Benchmarking certainly has its virtues. Comparing production time or the cost of a standard process to that of peer companies can yield important insights about your own efficiencies—and ultimately, competitiveness. But View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan; Service

23 Jan 2011
News

Air Products ruling will set takeover benchmark

2017
Working Paper

Lessons Unlearned? Corporate Debt in Emerging Markets

By: Laura Alfaro, Gonzalo Asis, Anusha Chari and Ugo Panizza

This paper documents a set of new stylized facts about leverage and financial fragility for emerging market firms following the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Corporate debt vulnerability indicators during the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) attributed to corporate... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Debt; Financial Fragility; Firm-level Data; Large Firms; Emerging Markets; Borrowing and Debt; Corporate Finance; Financial Condition

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19 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 19, 2008

managers, investors, and regulators. The basic analytical tool is the risk-adjusted balance sheet, which shows the sensitivity of the enterprise's assets and liabilities to external "shocks." At the national level, the sectors... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

policy propagating through banks’ balance sheets are primarily driven by cash flow loans, whereas asset-based credit is mostly insensitive to these types of effects. See Victoria’s other research here , Luc’s other research here , and... View Details

17 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

What the Stockdale Paradox Tells Us About Crisis Leadership

neighborhood. Research by Leach and others indicates that people who survive disasters are able to regain cognitive function quickly after the event, assess their new environment accurately, and take goal-directed action to survive within it. This is the View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

01 Nov 2017
What Do You Think?

What Are the Real Lessons of the Wells Fargo Case?

David DeSteno, Who Can You Trust?, reminded us that “90% of people—most of whom identify themselves as morally upstanding—will act dishonestly to benefit themselves if they believe they won’t get caught.” Possible remedies were suggested by Dino Ferrari (“They should... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Banking

18 Mar 2013
HBS Case

HBS Cases: LEGO

Out of work for a year following a serious illness in 1993, Kjeld appointed a five-person management team to help him run the company when he returned. The group focused mainly on driving growth. When a benchmarking study revealed LEGO's... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Entertainment & Recreation

07 Mar 2023
Blog Post

Deconstructing LEGO’s Decarbonization

2050? The LEGO Group’s goals and benchmarks include 100% “sustainable elements” by 2030, a 37% baseline emissions reduction by 2032, and net zero by 2050. Even for Scope 1 emissions (generated onsite) and Scope 2 emissions (associated... View Details

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Research - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

that credit growth dynamics and bank lending channels vary across these loan types using credit-registry data for Spain and Peru. The effects of monetary policy propagating through banks’ balance sheets are primarily driven by cash flow... View Details

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Social Enterprise - Faculty & Research

sacrificing returns; in fact, the foundation had already demonstrated its ability to generate competitive performance. Still, leadership acknowledged that some growing pains and short-term deviation from traditional benchmarks were... View Details

26 Mar 2024
Blog Post

IFC India: Financing the Climate Transition in India

focus of this estimate, presenting a roadmap for sustainable investment. Is this gap unsurmountable? We believe there are reasons to feel hopeful - It all depends on how we choose to contextualize. Benchmarking the funding gap against... View Details

01 Oct 1999
News

Banking on Success

think those people also run a tremendous risk of being left behind. Goldman has a big market share in Internet stocks, and we have tried our best to understand them, but some of this defies rational analysis! We're using valuation View Details

Keywords: Deborah E. Blagg

Web

HBS - Financials | Supplemental Financial Information

2021 Annual Report From The Dean Financials PDF Downloads Archive Financials 5 Year Summary From the CFO Financial Highlights Statement of Activity & Cash Flows Consolidated Balance Sheet Supplemental Financial Information Financials 5... View Details

20 Oct 2010
Op-Ed

Export Competitiveness: Reversing the Logic

empirical data confirms the presence of this effect but does not indicate that it renders export-driven growth strategies infeasible (Wood/Mayer, 2009). Overall, the discussion remains far from having reached a consensus. At the minimum, there is a sense that there is... View Details

Keywords: by Christian Ketels

Web

Business Economics Online Course | HBS Online

pricing strategies Benchmark costs compared to competitors through relative cost analysis Apply conjoint analysis to understand what features customers value most Understand the power of network effects to drive demand Identify sources of... View Details

16 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 16

from shareholders than directors in a benchmark sample. They are also more likely than other independent directors to leave sued firms. Overall, shareholders use litigation along with director elections and director retention to hold some... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

establishing or revising their safety protocols or preemptively stacking inventory. Adaptation sometimes meant being able to strike a fine balance between leveraging existing capabilities and finding innovative ways to integrate old... View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

01 Mar 2011
News

Tax and Grow

prod corporations to put some of their remarkable cash hoards to productive use. Estimates of the cash held by U.S. public corporations easily exceed $1 trillion; several technology companies alone are sitting on cash balances in excess... View Details

Keywords: Mihir A. Desai; Administration of Economic Programs; Government; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Management

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