Harvard Business Review

MARCH 23, 2015

If you want approval for a new project — purchasing new equipment or computer systems, applying for a patent, building a new store — chances are you need your company’s finance department on board. To get the green light, it helps to understand how finance people think. Finance & Accounting Tool.

Finance 8

Finance NPV CFO ROI 8

Strategy Driven

OCTOBER 21, 2011

Twelve cases are written as narratives with multiple teaching points, but without a focus on a particular business decision; the remaining twenty-three cases were written around specific conundrums related to strategy, operations, finance, marketing, leadership, culture, human resources, organizational design, business model, and growth.

Learning-by-Doing 62

Learning-by-Doing Price Bottom-up Finance 62

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

Don’t optimize for efficiency. Your business model is still in flux, and flexibility is more valuable than efficiency and cost savings. Strategies like outsourcing, hiring lower-cost people, or exotic employment offer tempting cost savings to the finance-minded folks. What not to do. Your goal is success.

Metrics 13

Metrics Engineering Efficiency Learning-by-Doing 13

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 11, 2018

a cataract operation can cost $200 or less, compared with $3,500 in the U.S. Under the leadership of Anthony Tersigni, Ascension’s president and CEO, the organization has sought to become much more efficient at delivering health care. The savings to Ascension in supplies alone totaled about $1 billion, or 5% of total revenues.

Health Care 8

Health Care Insurance Cost Price 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 30, 2013

In fact, Amazon was only operating at such a high burn rate because it could. Well, he's a hedge fund veteran who has always taken a skeptical view of Wall Street, treating it more as a loopy rich uncle than the efficient information processor of standard finance theory. How has Bezos done this? Nobody complains.

Training 8

Training Bond Christensen Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 8, 2016

Listening, Derek Melis, his friend and CFO, was relieved. And although senior managers’ remuneration was tied to Contect’s overall sales and operating profits, the head office had relatively little control over the 30,000 projects the company had underway at any given time. Is it your personal relationship?

Case Study 8

Case Study Decentralization CFO Construction 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 7, 2011

Air Products, for example, tripled corporate productivity (hard profit-and-loss benefits) from 2003 to 2006, and boosted operating return on net assets from 9.5% They also believe that companies without them are forced to settle for lower customer satisfaction no matter how well they improve efficiency within functions or departments.

Process 15

Process Champy Competitive Advantage Hammer 15