Publications

SSRN

March 2013
Article

Financial Development, Fixed Costs and International Trade

Exporting firms face significant up-front costs in product design, marketing, and distribution, which likely would be difficult to finance externally. We argue that a developed financial system can facilitate exports, and we test three implications. First, a more... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Finance

June 1983
Article

Aggregate Consequences of Fixed Costs of Price Adjustment

By: J. J. Rotemberg

Keywords: Cost; Price

June 1995 (Revised April 2012)
Background Note

Long-lived Fixed Assets

By: David F. Hawkins

Discusses accounting for long-lived fixed assets, depreciation, and asset impairments. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Asset Management; Goodwill Accounting

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2021
Working Paper

How to Fix ESG Reporting

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Karthik Ramanna

Investors, advocacy groups, academics, and the 200 CEOs of the US Business Roundtable have asked corporations to take on an added purpose beyond a narrow pursuit of shareholder value. In response, many companies now issue ESG (Environmental, Societal, and Governance)... View Details

Keywords: ESG Reporting; Sustainability; Corporate Purpose; Greenhouse Gas; Activity-Based Costing; Environmental Sustainability; Environmental Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Measurement and Metrics; Goals and Objectives; Agreements and Arrangements; Corporate Accountability

SSRN

September 2008
Article

Let Disruption Fix Education

By: Henry Eyring and Renee Hopkins Callahan

Eyring and Hopkins Callahan apply Clayton Christensen's theory of Disruptive Innovation to Higher Education. The Spellings' Commission's 2006 report cited rising costs, lack of access, and a rift between output and the average stakeholder's needs in U.S. Higher... View Details

Keywords: Education; Disruptive Innovation; Higher Education; Education Industry

06 Aug 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Fixing Market Failures or Fixing Elections? Agricultural Credit in India

Keywords: by Shawn A. Cole; Banking

2011
Working Paper

CEO Bonus Plans: And How to Fix Them

By: Kevin J. Murphy and Michael C. Jensen

Almost all CEO and executive bonus plans have serious design flaws that limit their benefits dramatically. Such poorly designed executive bonus plans destroy value by providing incentives to manipulate the timing of earnings, mislead the board about organizational... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Competency and Skills; Cost of Capital; Executive Compensation; Risk Management; Performance Evaluation; Projects; Motivation and Incentives; Value

SSRN

11 Dec 2006
Research & Ideas

Fixing Price Tag Confusion

can firms do to prevent it? A: When you go buy a toy at the store, the only cost that stands out is the price you pay for the toy, not the coins you put in the parking meter near the store's window. If you buy toys online, you might wind... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

2010
Chapter

Cost Structure Patterns in the Asset Management Industry

By: Dennis Campbell and Frances X. Frei

This chapter examines patterns in the cost structure of asset management firms and establishes two important trends in cost behavior. First, when revenues are growing, "indirect" costs related to sales, distribution, marketing, personnel, technology, and occupancy are... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Asset Management; Cost Management; Financial Services Industry

October 2013
Article

The Strategy That Will Fix Health Care

By: Michael E. Porter and Thomas H. Lee

In health care, the days of business as usual are over. Around the world, every health care system is struggling with rising costs and uneven quality, despite the hard work of well-intentioned, well-trained clinicians. Health care leaders and policy makers have tried... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Value; Customer Focus and Relationships; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

05 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

Fixing the ‘I Hate Work’ Blues

with first-line employees every day will have a much better sense of how their businesses are running, and their presence will be highly motivating and even inspiring. As a result of these changes, the employees will be more engaged and more productive, overhead View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

May 2016 (Revised August 2022)
Case

RegionFly: Cutting Costs in the Airline Industry

By: Susanna Gallani and Eva Labro

RegionFly is a small, private airline specializing in ultra-premium services. Founded shortly after the "Golden Age of airline travel," RegionFly's financial performance had been strong for several decades. More recently, however, the results have taken a downward... View Details

Keywords: Recession; Downsizing; Profitability; Cost Management; Profit; Luxury; Competitive Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Divisions; Logistics; Decision Making; Strategic Planning; Air Transportation Industry

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Article

Lessons from England's Health Care Workforce Redesign: No Quick Fixes

By: Richard Bohmer and Candace Imison

In 2000 the English National Health Service (NHS) began a series of workforce redesign initiatives that increased the number of doctors and nurses serving patients, expanded existing staff roles and developed new ones, redistributed health care work, and invested in... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Work Force Management; United Kingdom

2012
Article

The Unbundling of Advertising Agency Services: An Economic Analysis

By: Mohammad Arzaghi, Ernst R. Berndt, James C. Davis and Alvin J. Silk

We address a puzzle surrounding the shift from bundling to unbundling of U.S. advertising agency services and the slow pace of change over several decades. We model an agency’s decision as a tradeoff between the fixed cost to the advertiser of establishing a... View Details

Keywords: Bundling; Unbundling; Advertising Agency Services; Fixed Cost; Higher Media Prices; Volume; Diversification; Advertising; Change; Advertising Industry; United States

26 Nov 2001
Op-Ed

Why Corporate Budgeting Needs To Be Fixed

able to realize the sales before the end of the quarter and thus fulfill their budget goal and make their bonuses. But the high cost of assembling the goods at a distant location—it required not only the rental of the warehouse but also... View Details

Keywords: by Michael C. Jensen

May 2011
Case

Baria Planning Solutions, Inc.: Fixing the Sales Process

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt

Baria Planning Solutions (BPS) is a consulting firm that specializes in using spend analysis to help companies identify savings through reduced procurement costs and improved supplier performance. Management is concerned about the disappointing performance of the sales... View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Analysis; Technology; Operations Management; Product Lines; Manufacturing; Capacity Planning; Production Planning; Production; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Supply Chain Management; Salesforce Management; Planning; Consulting Industry; North and Central America

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1986
Working Paper

Price Competition with a Distribution of Switch Costs and Reservation Prices

By: Jerry R. Green and Suzanne Scotchmer

When there is a distribution of switch costs and of reservation prices for a good, and marginal cost of producing the good is zero, equilibrium in pure price strategies may (and sometimes must) exhibit price dispersion. Equilibrium may or may not exist, and there may... View Details