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• Background Note | HBS Case Collection | October 2016 (Revised August 2018)

  Cost Variance Analysis

  Robert S. Kaplan and Susanna Gallani

  This note was written to provide students with fundamental concepts and methods for the analysis of cost variances. It focuses on the decomposition of cost variances into price, quantity, and mix variance components, an approach that allows students to identify the root causes of differences between expected and actual costs.

  Keywords: Cost Accounting;

  Citation:

  Kaplan, Robert S., and Susanna Gallani. "Cost Variance Analysis." Harvard Business School Background Note 117-006, October 2016. (Revised August 2018.)  View Details

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• Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2019

  The Creative Consulting Company

  Robert S. Kaplan, Richard Nolan and David P. Norton

  During the past 50 years, several consulting companies introduced important new ideas that extended management theory and improved management practice. This paper draws upon public sources and the authors’ personal experiences to describe how three management consulting companies created and sustained several big management ideas. The consulting organizations identified companies that had introduced an innovation to address a practice gap or anomaly. It then described the innovation in articles, cases, and public conferences and proceeded to help a new set of companies implement the management innovation, which led to enhancements in the original innovation that made it more understandable, generalizable, and robust. The consulting leaders sustained their thought-leadership positions by creating an ecosystem with senior executives at pioneer corporations and academic/thought leaders. The paper also describes how other consulting companies did not sustain an initial thought-leadership position because of a failure to recognize the synergistic interplay between knowledge application and knowledge creation.

  Keywords: Management; Theory; Practice; Performance Improvement; Innovation and Management; Consulting Industry;

  Citation:

  Kaplan, Robert S., Richard Nolan, and David P. Norton. "The Creative Consulting Company." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-001, July 2018.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2018 (Revised June 2018)

  Medtronic: Navigating a Shifting Health Care Landscape

  Robert S. Kaplan, Michael E. Porter, Thomas W. Feeley and Alee Hernandez

  Medtronic is adapting its strategy to changes in health care competition and payments. It has decided to develop new relationships with payers, hospitals, and physicians to become more accountable for patient outcomes and total costs. The case describes new forms of partnerships for therapy optimization, management of acute care episodes, and management of chronic care patients. The case also illustrates how integrated practice units (IPUs) provide focused, comprehensive care for two high-volume and expensive medical conditions: type-1 diabetes and morbid obesity.

  Keywords: Value Based Health Care; bundled payments; Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Value Creation; Supply Chain Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Health Industry; United States; Netherlands;

  Citation:

  Kaplan, Robert S., Michael E. Porter, Thomas W. Feeley, and Alee Hernandez. "Medtronic: Navigating a Shifting Health Care Landscape." Harvard Business School Case 718-471, January 2018. (Revised June 2018.)  View Details

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