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Cost Variance Analysis
This note was written to provide students with fundamental concepts and methods for the analysis of cost variances. It focuses on the decomposition...
Variance Analysis Tutorial
An interactive tutorial on variance analysis, flexible budgets, and overhead allocation.
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  • March 2021
  • Article

The Customer May Not Always Be Right: Customer Compatibility and Service Performance
By: Ryan W. Buell, Dennis Campbell and Frances X. Frei
This paper investigates the impact of customer compatibility – the degree of fit between the needs of customers and the capabilities of the operations serving them – on customer experiences and firm performance. We use a variance decomposition analysis to quantify the...  View Details
Keywords: Customer Compatibility; Satisfaction; Profitability; Service Operations; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Satisfaction; Performance
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  • Article

Are Cost Advantages from a Modern Indian Hospital Transferable to the United States?
By: R. S. Kaplan, F. Erhun, V.G. Narayanan, B. Mistry and K. Brayton, et al
We use time-driven activity-based costing to estimate the cost of personnel and space for an elective coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery at two U.S. hospitals, Intermountain and Baylor Heart, and Narayana Health (NH), in India. All three hospitals use modern...  View Details
Keywords: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Organizational Structure; Performance Efficiency; India; United States
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  • Fall 2017
  • Article

An Empirical Analysis of Investment Return Dispersion in Emerging Markets Private Equity
By: Josh Lerner and Mark Baker
The authors use transaction-level data to compare the dispersion of private equity (PE) returns in emerging markets (EMs) to the same in developed markets (DMs). They regress within-market absolute deviation from the mean on an EM indicator and controls. They find...  View Details
Keywords: Private Equity; Emerging Markets; Investment Return
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  • November 2016 (Revised April 2018)
  • Case

Darby's Investment in Sirma: Professionalizing an Entrepreneurial Firm
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Eren Kuzucu
In March 2010, Burak Dalgın (HBS MBA 2004) led private equity firm Darby's investment in Sırma, a local Turkish water and beverage company. Sırma was owned and managed by members of two Turkish business families. The existing management, while being highly...  View Details
Keywords: Control Systems; Variance Analysis; Emerging Markets; Debt; Family Ownership; Turkey; Valuation; Business or Company Management; Private Equity; Financial Reporting; Investment; Budgets and Budgeting; Food and Beverage Industry; Turkey
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  • October 2016 (Revised December 2016)
  • Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 6: Evaluating Strategic Profit Performance
By: Robert Simons
This module reading demonstrates how to calculate and analyze the profit generated by different business strategies. Formulas and examples are provided to calculate profit generated by changes in market share, revenue growth, efficiency improvements, and support costs....  View Details
Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Evaluating Business Performance; Profitability Analysis; Variance Analysis; Measuring Effectiveness; Measuring Efficiency; Activity-Based Costing; Flexible Budget; Accounting; Strategy
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  • October 2016 (Revised October 2018)
  • Background Note

Cost Variance Analysis
By: 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...  View Details
Keywords: Cost Accounting
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  • September 2016 (Revised October 2018)
  • Case

Springfield Hospital
By: Susanna Gallani and Robert Kaplan
One of the key roles of costing systems is to support the evaluation of performance and facilitate appropriate resource allocations. Through participation in a comparative cost study, management at Springfield Hospital, known for its heavy focus on operational...  View Details
Keywords: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Variance Analysis; Activity Based Costing and Management; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry
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  • 2019
  • Working Paper

The Customer May Not Always Be Right: Customer Compatibility and Service Performance
By: Ryan W. Buell, Dennis Campbell and Frances X. Frei
This paper investigates the impact of customer compatibility – the degree of fit between the needs of customers and the capabilities of the operations serving them – on customer experiences and firm performance. We use a variance decomposition analysis to quantify the...  View Details
Keywords: Customer Compatibility; Satisfaction; Profitability; Customer Relationship Management; Service Operations; Customer Satisfaction; Banking Industry; Retail Industry
Related
  • Article

Time-driven Activity-based Costing of Multivessel Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting across National Boundaries to Identify Improvement Opportunities: Study Protocol
By: F. Erhun, B. Mistry, T. Platcheck, A. Milstein, V.G. Narayanan and R. S. Kaplan
Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is a common treatment for coronary artery disease—a disease that affects over 10% of US adults and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. In 2005, the mean cost for a CABG procedure among Medicare beneficiaries in the...  View Details
Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; United States; India
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  • 2014
  • Working Paper

The Organizational and Geographic Drivers of Absorptive Capacity: An Empirical Analysis of Pharmaceutical R&D Laboratories
By: Francesca Lazzeri and Gary P. Pisano
Scholars and practitioners alike now recognize that a firm's capacity to assimilate and use know-how from external sources—what Cohen and Levinthal (1990) called "absorptive capacity"—plays a central role in innovation performance. In recent years, a common strategy...  View Details
Keywords: Geographic Location; Industry Clusters; Knowledge Acquisition; Pharmaceutical Industry; San Francisco; San Diego; Massachusetts
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  • January 2013
  • Case

Luotang Power: Variances Explained
By: Robert Simons and Craig Chapman
The general manager of Luotang Power, a coal-fired power plant located in central China, reviews annual results before a meeting with the board of directors. He thought the company performed well during the year and both plant availability and fuel economy had improved...  View Details
Keywords: China; Financial Statements; Management Accounting; Variance Analysis; Environmental Regulations; Incentives; Electric Power Generation; Contracts; Valuation; Energy Generation; Accounting; Performance Evaluation; Energy Industry; China
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  • January 2013 (Revised March 2017)
  • Teaching Note

Luotang Power: Variances Explained (Brief Case)
By: Robert Simons and Craig Chapman
The primary objective is to explore the concepts of variance analysis in performance from one year to the next and the predictability of contracting counterparts to extract value from contract positions where they can. The general manager of a coal-fired power plant...  View Details
Keywords: Variance Analysis; Strategy And Execution; Profitability Analysis; Management Control Systems; Contracts; Valuation; Energy Generation; Accounting; Performance Evaluation; China
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  • September 2009
  • Article

A Detailed Analysis of the Reduction Mammaplasty Learning Curve: A Statistical Process Model for Approaching Surgical Performance Improvement
By: Matthew Carty MD, Rodney Chan, Robert S. Huckman, Daniel C. Snow and Dennis Orgill

Background: The increased focus on quality and efficiency improvement within academic surgery has met with variable success among plastic surgeons. Traditional surgical performance metrics, such as morbidity and mortality, are insufficient to improve the...  View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Outcome or Result; Performance Efficiency; Performance Improvement
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  • March 2009
  • Article

Applicant and Examiner Citations in U.S. Patents: An Overview and Analysis
By: Juan Alcacer, Michelle Gittelman and Bhaven Sampat
Prior art patent citations have become a popular measure of patent quality and knowledge flow between firms. Interpreting these measurements is complicated, in some cases, because prior art citations are added by patent examiners as well as by patent applicants. The...  View Details
Keywords: Citations; Patents; Knowledge Sharing; Measurement and Metrics; Quality; United States
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  • 2008
  • Working Paper

Applicant and Examiner Citations in U.S. Patents: An Overview and Analysis
By: Juan Alcacer, Michelle Gittelman and Bhaven Sampat
Researchers studying innovation increasingly use indicators based on patent citations. However, it is well known that not all citations originate from applicants—patent examiners contribute to citations listed in issued patents—and that this could complicate...  View Details
Keywords: Citations; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Research; United States
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  • Other Article

What Do We Know About Variance in Accounting Profitability?
By: Anita M. McGahan and Michael E. Porter
In this paper, we analyze the variance of accounting profitability among a broad cross-section of firms in the American economy from 1981 to 1994. The purpose of the analysis is to identify the importance of year, industry, corporate-parent, and business-specific...  View Details
Keywords: Strategy; United States
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  • October 2000 (Revised March 2004)
  • Background Note

Variance Analysis and Flexible Budgeting
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Facilitates the teaching of cases on variance analysis and flexible budgeting. Uses algebra, diagrams, and numerical examples to illustrate the calculation of price, quantity, and mix variances for revenues and costs, and a flexible budget for analyzing indirect and...  View Details
Keywords: Cost; Price; Mathematical Methods; Revenue; Budgets and Budgeting
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  • November 1997 (Revised April 2017)
  • Teaching Note

Compagnie du Froid, S.A.
By: Robert Simons, Antonio Dávila, Kathryn Rosenberg and Jennifer Packard
Teaching Note for (9-197-085).  View Details
Keywords: Management Control Systems; Strategy And Execution; Variance Analysis; Performance Measurement; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe
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  • Article

How Much Does Industry Matter, Really?
By: A. M. McGahan and M. E. Porter
In this paper, we examine the importance of year, industry, corporate-parent, and business-specific effects on the profitability of U.S. public corporations within specific 4-digit SIC categories. Our results indicate that year, industry, corporate-parent, and...  View Details
Keywords: Supply and Industry; Strategy
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  • April 1997
  • Case

Peoria Engine Plant (A): (Abridged)
By: Robert S. Kaplan and Amy P. Hutton
Describes the cost control system used at an automobile engine plant for labor and overhead costs. The finance staff prepares daily, weekly, and monthly variance reports against budgets. Department supervisors, finance staff, and the plant manager discuss the use and...  View Details
Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Cost Management; Financial Reporting; Performance Improvement; Budgets and Budgeting; Auto Industry
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Are you looking for?

Cost Variance Analysis
This note was written to provide students with fundamental concepts and methods for the analysis of cost variances. It focuses on the decomposition...
Variance Analysis Tutorial
An interactive tutorial on variance analysis, flexible budgets, and overhead allocation.
→ Search All HBS Web