Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 12, 2012

By making the fixed cost of payroll inherently more variable under differing business conditions, you can make your company more resilient and agile, while also treating your employees exceptionally well. Tie a part of your employees' wages to the company's performance.

Long-term 10

Long-term Fixed Costs Commitment Agility 10

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 24, 2013

When through our venture investment arm we seek to evaluate the profitability prospects of a young business, we look to see whether its team can credibly answer two questions: How will you charge enough for a transaction to cover the costs related to producing and delivering a good?

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Supply Chain Long-term Christensen 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 17, 2014

Eden McCallum, thus, manages to keep its overhead and other fixed costs at a minimum. Consequently, they are able to offer their teams of consultants at comparatively low prices, while customers are happy that the senior people actually do the work. (A

McCallum 13

McCallum Competitive Advantage McKinsey Consultative 13

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 24, 2015

Does the business have a complete, balanced, and cohesive management team? Successful spin-offs tend to have a management team that comprises both insiders and outsiders. Are the management team and owners prepared to abandon business as usual? has its former parent deprived it even from basic maintenance investments?)

Chemicals 8

Chemicals How To Kahneman Reputation 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 4, 2015

Since theme parks are high fixed cost/low variable cost entities, revenue from discount-enticed new customers is virtually all profit… free money. By offering deeper discounts on off-peak days, customers who otherwise would not have enjoyed Disneyland could now do so. This would result in growth.

Price 8

Price Course Discount Fixed Costs 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 13, 2016

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. “There are too many cultural differences!”

Budgeting 8

Budgeting NGO Diversity Fixed Costs 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 28, 2018

Directly influenced by investor input, Nikon developed a restructuring plan that would carry a onetime cost of ¥48 billion ($460 million) but generate ¥20 billion ($190 million) in annual savings. It also called for streamlining headquarters and cutting executive management’s compensation.

Company 8

Company ROIC CFO Restructuring 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 11, 2016

Nearly all contemporary organizations are increasing their use of talent from the outside—by engaging individuals, teams, and even firms in non-traditional work relationships and alternate forms of employment. But there are also extrinsic factors that complicate the relationship.

Agility 8

Agility Organization Resources Fixed Costs 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 10, 2016

Recently, for example, in a meeting with athenahealth’s clinical team, leaders from the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) expressed concern about the number of women with hypertension who, not yet knowing they’re pregnant, continue to use ACE inhibitors that cause serious malformations in fetuses.

Health Care 9

Health Care Power Hotels Transportation 9

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

Working under a fixed-cost ceiling was, of course, difficult. Preventive, coordinated, and team-based care has proven a successful strategy for managing these high-cost, high-utilization patients. (A The Parliament would vote on an expenditure limit and the NHS had to live within that limit.

Health Care 8

Health Care Constraint Budgeting Quality 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 29, 2013

A fascinating business dynamic will unfold as health care providers in the United States shift from a reimbursement system that has historically paid for procedures performed to one that rewards population health — providing the total care of a community at a fixed cost and improving its members overall health.

Health Care 8

Health Care Committee Cost Operations 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 8, 2012

In response, the management team made a counterintuitive move: It outsourced network installation, maintenance, and service to Ericsson, Nokia, and Siemens, and chose IBM to build and manage its IT systems. Bharti's innovative business model converted fixed costs in capital expenditure to a variable cost based on usage of capacity.

Outsourcing 10

Outsourcing Wireless Telecommunications Core Competence 10

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 7, 2015

The success of an activist strategy is contingent upon placing a management team in an extremely reactive, frenzied and compromising position. And they are usually not apprehensive about replacing the current management team to boost efficiency and performance.

How To 8

How To Due Diligence Strategy Proposal 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 20, 2011

I worked with him for three years (2006-2008) during my work with Rick Wagoner and his senior team on the attempt to turnaround the fortunes of GM. A succession of CEOs prior to Rick Wagoner (who fought heroically to overcome the dreadful hand he was dealt) allowed all manner of legacy costs to build up (retiree health, Jobs Bank, etc.)

Company 12

Company Franchising Fixed Costs Banking 12

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 6, 2018

Consider its decision to pursue the market for pharmaceutical distribution, or the recent announcement that it will be teaming up with Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase to create joint solutions for reducing the health care spending of more than 1 million employees and their families. This latest move has engendered robust debate.

Health Care 10

Health Care Retail Operations Insurance 10

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

Founded only last year by a team of current MBA students, HourlyNerd is a prime example of the disruption in consulting that my co-authors and I discuss in our new article , “Consulting on the Cusp of Disruption” in HBR. HourlyNerd, by encouraging students to bid against each other, likely drives down the hourly cost of projects even more.

McCallum 9

McCallum Consultative Disruptive Innovation Real Estate 9

Harvard Business Review

MAY 9, 2013

But instead of going through the typical pitch process, the V&S team created a brief and posted it to its crowd of 7,200 creatives and strategists — made up of freelancers, moonlighters from other agencies, and brand and advertising enthusiasts all opting to work in a new open model.

Advertising 10

Advertising Brand Innovation Creativity 10

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 12, 2015

Placing ads next to content helps websites recover the sizeable fixed costs of creating content. But ad blockers cut off this revenue stream and make it difficult to offset even the running cost of storing and delivering content to visitors.

Advertising 8

Advertising Content Fixed Costs Software 8