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Health Systems Need to Completely Reassess How They Manage Costs

Harvard Business Review

hospitals and health systems experienced an average 39% reduction in their operating margins from 2015 to 2017. This was because their expenses grew faster than their revenues, despite cost-cutting initiatives. PM Images/Getty Images. A recent Navigant survey found that U.S. ” Clearly, more is needed.

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What BMW’s Corporate VC Offers That Regular Investors Can’t

Harvard Business Review

From 2012 to 2015, the number of global corporate venture capital deals almost doubled, and their investments quadrupled, to $29.1 Among the 30 top companies in seven of the largest industries, almost half had a VC-fueled accelerator in 2015, up from just 2% in 2010. Harnessing Big Potential While Minimizing Risk.

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Joint Ventures Reduce the Risk of Major Capital Investments

Harvard Business Review

For example, in 2015, Maersk and MSC, the world’s two largest liner shipping companies, established 2M, a 10-year vessel sharing agreement covering 193 vessels. But on the other hand, in order to safeguard the company’s future competitiveness, CEOs may have no other choice than to invest now. Model 2: Asset capacity pooling.

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What the Nonprofit Sector Needs to Reach Its Full Potential

Harvard Business Review

Imagine eliminating all of the redundancies in fixed costs. The Kansas City Royals’ 2015 team payroll was over $110 million. Consolidating databases and information and talent. Imagine the strength of the acumen and the voice. Imagine the sense of pride it would engender.

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The Real Reason Superstar Firms Are Pulling Ahead

Harvard Business Review

It could be because “software development typically requires large upfront fixed costs,” meaning that firms that are already pretty large are the ones who can afford to invest in it. Perhaps, as OECD economist Chiara Criscuolo wrote in 2015, “ Some firms clearly ‘get it’ and others don’t.”

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The Customers Who Are Happy to Pay More for Less

Harvard Business Review

This makes financial sense in industries with high fixed costs and low variable costs: larger sizes enable the company to charge higher prices that, even if they are just slightly larger, absorb a higher portion of fixed costs, while reducing packaging cost per volume and attracting value-minded consumers.

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4 Types of Activist Investors and How to Spot Them

Harvard Business Review

According to Schulte, Roth & Zabel’s Activist Investing 2015 Annual Review, a total of 344 companies worldwide were subjected to activist demands in 2014, up 18% from the 291 recorded in 2013. However, free cash flow per share remained impressive at both companies, and fixed cost ratios remained somewhat intact.

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