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When You’ve Got to Cut Costs—Now
Costing Magazine ArticleA practical guide to reducing overhead by 10%, 20%, or (wince) 30%. -
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. -
To Control Health Care Costs, U.S. Employers Should Form Purchasing Alliances
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleA hot labor market is limiting employers' ability to shift more costs to their workers. -
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 […] -
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 […] -
Delivering World-Class Health Care, Affordably
Innovation Magazine ArticleInnovative hospitals in India are pointing the way. -
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. -
Fix the Handful of U.S. Hospitals Responsible for Out-of-Control Costs
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleA small number of hospitals are responsible for nearly 80% of the excess payments for common Medicare procedures. -
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 […] -
Healthcare Reform Through the Lens of Strategy
Strategy & Execution Digital ArticleLast time he was running for President, the time before this time, Mitt Romney gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal that ran under the title,... -
A Case for Historical Costs
Costing Magazine ArticleDo we really need to switch to replacement-cost accounting to understand how companies have performed? -
Health Care for 1% of the Cost
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleThis blog post is written with Pepijn Veling, Utrecht University, Netherlands. There is a general consensus that U.S. healthcare needs major reform. Can... -
In a Downturn, Include Your Employees in Cost-Cutting Decisions
Costing Digital ArticleA bottom-up approach helps align incentives and find creative solutions. -
3 Strategies for Managing Your Profit-Drain Customers
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleImprove their experience - and your bottom line.
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Indianapolis: Activity-Based Costing of City Services (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details A new administration in the City of Indianapolis is initially determined to privatize many municipal services. Before taking this action, however, the... -
VMD Medical Imaging Center
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details VMD Medical Imaging Center, a local independent provider of medical imaging services, is facing some important challenges. Despite efficiency improvements... -
Harris Seafoods, Inc.
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Presents data relevant to a major capital expenditure--the construction of a shrimp plant. Designed to test student's ability to identify relevant cash... -
Circuit City Stores, Inc. (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Circuit City sells consumer electronic equipment, appliances, and extended service and warranty contracts which supplement those provided by equipment... -
Identify the Industries--1996
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Common-size balance sheets and financial ratios are given for thirteen companies. Students must identify which company is in which of thirteen industries.... -
Doing Business in Ghana
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95View Details An entrepreneur considered investing in tomato paste manufacturing in Ghana, an emerging economy, and pondered the opportunities and challenges of investing... -
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... -
Octane Service Station
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details The owner of a gas station must prepare financial statements. -
Mobil USM&R (A): Linking the Balanced Scorecard
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details The CEO of the marketing and refining division of a major oil company is in the midst of implementing a profit turnaround. He transforms the strongly... -
Investindustrial Exits Ducati
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details In early 2012, Investindustrial, a European private equity group, publicly announced their intention to sell their 76.7% stake in Ducati Motor Holding... -
Kidder, Peabody & Co.: Creating Elusive Profits
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details On April 17, 1994, Kidder, Peabody & Co. announced a $350 million charge against earnings resulting from the discovery of false trading profits. That... -
Spreadsheets or Michelangelo: Going Back to School
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details A financially struggling administrative assistant needs information to help her decide whether she can return to school. -
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... -
Introduction to Activity-Based Costing
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Introduces the fundamental notions of activity-based costing (ABC). Motivates ABC by means of a simple example, a single and a diversified pen factory.... -
Birch Paper Co.
Finance & Accounting Case Study6.95View Details Involves transfer pricing among three divisions of a company. -
Accounting for Manufacturing Companies
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details The accounting for a manufacturing company is examined, including the flow of costs from raw materials to work in process to finished goods and the distribution... -
The Tulsa Massacre and the Call for Reparations
Leadership & Managing People Case StudyHow should historic social injustices be addressed? Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and their descendants, including Representative Regina Goodwin... -
Understand Sensitivity Analysis and Variance
Finance & Accounting Tool99.00View Details Every budget contains assumptions, but real life can turn out differently. So as you build your budget, you need to test your assumptions. -
Business in Brazil: Infrastructure
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details ... -
Asea Brown Boveri (Condensed)
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details The merger of Asea AB and BBC Brown Boveri required a restructuring of operations and a change in organizational cultures. Competitive success also necessitated...
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Making Smart Investments: A Beginner's Guide
Finance & Accounting AdviceReduce the risk factor, increase the reward factor, and generate meaningful returns. -
When You’ve Got to Cut Costs—Now
Costing Magazine ArticleA practical guide to reducing overhead by 10%, 20%, or (wince) 30%. -
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. -
To Control Health Care Costs, U.S. Employers Should Form Purchasing Alliances
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleA hot labor market is limiting employers' ability to shift more costs to their workers. -
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 […] -
Indianapolis: Activity-Based Costing of City Services (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details A new administration in the City of Indianapolis is initially determined to privatize many municipal services. Before taking this action, however, the... -
Don’t Let Cost Cutting Run Amok
Costing Digital ArticleToo many CEOs are penny-wise and pound-foolish. -
VMD Medical Imaging Center
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details VMD Medical Imaging Center, a local independent provider of medical imaging services, is facing some important challenges. Despite efficiency improvements... -
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 […]