-
When You've Got to Cut Costs--Now
Technology & Operations Magazine ArticleYou've been ordered to reduce overhead by 10%, 20%, or even (wince) 30%. How do you do it? First, don't expect to reach your target with a single big... -
New Framework for Corporate Debt Policy
Accounting Magazine ArticleFew, if any, articles on finance that have appeared in HBR have enjoyed the influence of the 1962 article reprinted here as a “Classic.” Gordon Donaldson’s analysis of how many companies haphazardly established their debt capacity, and his careful explanation of what he considered a better way, seemed to strike a chord among corporate administrative […] -
Innovating on a Shoestring
Innovation Digital ArticleScott Anthony, president of Innosight and author of The Silver Lining, explains how to innovate when time and money are tight. -
3 Lessons from Hyperinflationary Periods
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleWhat today's businesses can learn about pricing strategies and consumer trust. -
Getting Transfer Prices Right: What Bellcore Did
Accounting Magazine ArticleThe subject of transfer pricing doesn’t normally excite many people, but when your transfer pricing system is less than perfect, life gets interesting. We at Bellcore first got interested in transfer pricing in 1983. That’s the year before AT&T was broken up and Bellcore was being formed as the centralized organization supporting the seven regional […] -
Don’t Let Cost Cutting Run Amok
Costing Digital ArticleToo many CEOs are penny-wise and pound-foolish. -
How Much Should a Corporation Earn?
Financial analysis Magazine ArticleThis article presents the research findings of a leading U.S. corporation, AT&T, on a series of important economic questions and issues, with an interpretation of the material by one of the company’s top executives. The subject is corporate earnings patterns in different industries, investment trends, the relation of profits and investment to GNP, and other […] -
The Department of Mobility
Costing Magazine ArticleEmployees are constantly in motion—making sales calls or taking service trips; visiting an international office for a few days or relocating there for a few years; soaring across oceans in the corporate jet or heading across town in the company car. Typically, these activities are administered by an assortment of departments and vendors. But we […] -
Profit Priorities from Activity-Based Costing
Accounting Magazine ArticleIn recent years, companies have reduced their dependency on traditional accounting systems by developing, activity-based cost management systems. Initially, managers viewed the ABC approach as a more accurate way of calculating product costs. But ABC has emerged as a tremendously useful guide to management action that can translate directly into higher profits. Moreover, the ABC […] -
One Cost System Isn’t Enough
Accounting Magazine ArticleMany companies now recognize that their cost systems are inadequate for today’s powerful competition. Systems designed mainly to value inventory for financial and tax statements are not giving managers the accurate and timely information they need to promote operating efficiencies and measure product costs. In response, they have tried to redesign their present systems, but […] -
What’s Your Real Cost of Capital?
Budgets and budgeting Magazine ArticleThe traditional approach to evaluating capital investments has a fatal flaw. Here’s how to get numbers you can count on. -
You Need a New Cost System When…
Accounting Magazine ArticleBy now it’s well publicized—if not obvious—that many companies’ cost accounting systems are falling down on the job. They give managers incorrect product costing information, or they inundate managers with irrelevant cost information, or they fail to measure the things that really count. Strategies may be conceptually brilliant, but if they are based on faulty […] -
Using APV: A Better Tool for Valuing Operations
Finance and investing Magazine ArticleToday’s technology can put adjusted present value into the arsenal of every general manager. -
Delivering Higher Value Care Means Spending More Time with Patients
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleAnd it could lower costs in the long run. -
Outsourcing: Where Will You Draw the Line?
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleThe Defense Department is due to report to Congress that in Afghanistan, U.S. troops continue to be outnumbered by private contractors. The contractors... -
Why GE, Boeing, Lowe's, and Walmart Are Directly Buying Health Care for Employees
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleBundled payment programs reduce employers' costs and improve patient care. -
To Lead, You Must Focus
Costing Magazine ArticleLeading a large, complex organization like the U.S. Navy, which is interdependent with similar entities, calls for a certain approach. You begin with a narrow focus on your organization’s unique strength and role. For the navy, that is presence. U.S. naval forces—sailors and Marines—are constantly mobilized, don’t need an inch of foreign soil, and can […] -
A Case for Historical Costs
Costing Magazine ArticleDo we really need to switch to replacement-cost accounting to understand how companies have performed? -
You Can Prevent Layoffs
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleWhen you strip away the fancy jargon, a successful business fundamentally makes more money than it spends. While managers can pull any number of levers... -
IT Doesn’t Matter
Costing Magazine ArticleAs information technology’s power and ubiquity have grown, its strategic importance has diminished. The way you approach IT investment and management will need to change dramatically.
-
The Maple Lane Driveway Paving Project
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95View Details This brief case narrative tells the story of how a few people managed to wring consensus from over 40 of their neighbors on repaving a shared driveway.... -
Lehigh Steel
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Lehigh Steel is a specialty steel manufacturer that plummeted from record profits to record losses in less than three years, driven by an inability to... -
Luckin Coffee (A): Caffeine-fueled Growth?
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study8.95View Details This case describes the founding of Chinese coffee chain Luckin Coffee in 2017 and its path to surpassing Starbucks as the largest coffee chain in China... -
Highland Malt: Accounting Policy Choices in Financial Statements
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details In early 2020, a recent graduate from a prestigious masters of business administration program was working as a financial accountant for a renowned private... -
Plastiq
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study8.95View Details The young CEO of a venture-backed startup needs to figure out his go to market strategy and the right profile for his first key sales hires. Should he... -
Insteel Wire Products: ABM at Andrews
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Insteel implements an activity-based costing (ABC) system in 1996. It finds pallet nails to be its most profitable product and decides to expand the number... -
Lit Motors
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study8.95View Details In mid-2012 Lit Motors had created both engineering and design prototypes and conducted initial customer tests on less than $750,000 of investment. Lit... -
Boston Children's Hospital: Measuring Patient Costs (V)
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details The case describes two pilot projects on applying activity-based costing to measuring the cost of treating patients. It presents process maps and financial... -
Octane Service Station
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details The owner of a gas station must prepare financial statements. -
Boston Children's Hospital: Measuring Patient Costs
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details The case describes two pilot projects on applying activity-based costing to measuring the cost of treating patients. It presents process maps and financial... -
Depreciation at Delta and Pan Am
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Depreciation policies of Delta Air Lines and Pan Am Corp. are compared and contrasted against a summary of operating data from each airline. Questions... -
Petro Refinery LLC: Linear Programming Exercise - Tutorial Handout
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details Petro Refinery LLC, a crude oil refinery, faces an issue common in many production and service industries: finding the optimal product mix or input mix.... -
Hintz-Kessels-Kohl A.G.
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details A truck manufacturer must decide whether to bid on the sale of 120 trucks to a private firm in Costa Rica. If a bid is submitted, a decision must be made... -
Come As You Are: The Role of Internal Financial Reporting after a Change of Leadership
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details As You Are Seventh-Day Adventist Church (AYA) is located in Williamsburg, Virginia, in a low-income community, where it offers a wide range of primarily... -
The University Store: Textbook Travails
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details The University Store, a university auxiliary running bookstore operations, was contemplating an overvalued inventory at year-end. The overvaluation was... -
FinePrint Company (Abridged)
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details John Johnson, owner of FinePrint Company, is presented with two opportunities to consider: (1) whether to accept a one-time special printing order and... -
Activity-Based Costing and Capacity
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Discusses the use of budgeted rather than historical data in an activity-based costing (ABC) model and argues for calculating rates using practical capacity,... -
Grand River University Water Buffalos: Activity-Based Costing of University Sports
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details On April 30, 2018, the athletic director of Grand River University was drafting a plan for his department to be reviewed by the school's board of trustees.... -
B.F. Goodrich-Rabobank Interest Rate Swap
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details A U.S. manufacturing organization and a Eurobank swap fixed and floating rate obligations to reduce their financing costs. -
Monterrey Manufacturing Co.
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details A small manufacturing company plans and budgets sales and expenses to ensure that its strategy is feasible. It must trace costs of manufacturing through...
-
Making Smart Investments: A Beginner’s Guide
Costing AdviceReduce the risk factor, increase the reward factor, and generate meaningful returns. -
When You've Got to Cut Costs--Now
Technology & Operations Magazine ArticleYou've been ordered to reduce overhead by 10%, 20%, or even (wince) 30%. How do you do it? First, don't expect to reach your target with a single big... -
New Framework for Corporate Debt Policy
Accounting Magazine ArticleFew, if any, articles on finance that have appeared in HBR have enjoyed the influence of the 1962 article reprinted here as a “Classic.” Gordon Donaldson’s analysis of how many companies haphazardly established their debt capacity, and his careful explanation of what he considered a better way, seemed to strike a chord among corporate administrative […] -
Innovating on a Shoestring
Innovation Digital ArticleScott Anthony, president of Innosight and author of The Silver Lining, explains how to innovate when time and money are tight. -
The Maple Lane Driveway Paving Project
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95View Details This brief case narrative tells the story of how a few people managed to wring consensus from over 40 of their neighbors on repaving a shared driveway.... -
3 Lessons from Hyperinflationary Periods
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleWhat today's businesses can learn about pricing strategies and consumer trust. -
Lehigh Steel
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Lehigh Steel is a specialty steel manufacturer that plummeted from record profits to record losses in less than three years, driven by an inability to... -
Getting Transfer Prices Right: What Bellcore Did
Accounting Magazine ArticleThe subject of transfer pricing doesn’t normally excite many people, but when your transfer pricing system is less than perfect, life gets interesting. We at Bellcore first got interested in transfer pricing in 1983. That’s the year before AT&T was broken up and Bellcore was being formed as the centralized organization supporting the seven regional […] -
Luckin Coffee (A): Caffeine-fueled Growth?
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study8.95View Details This case describes the founding of Chinese coffee chain Luckin Coffee in 2017 and its path to surpassing Starbucks as the largest coffee chain in China... -
Don’t Let Cost Cutting Run Amok
Costing Digital ArticleToo many CEOs are penny-wise and pound-foolish.