Publications

June 2010
Supplement

Chet Huber on OnStar, video

By: Willy C. Shih

Chet Huber, general manager of GM's OnStar unit, givbes an update on how OnStar is doing, talks about the job OnStar does for consumers, and reflects on assembling the OnStar team. The video is organized into three chapters so that instructors may use then... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Product Development; Service Delivery; Performance Evaluation; Groups and Teams; Auto Industry; Telecommunications Industry

August 2000
Case

Belmont Industries, Inc. (A)

By: Joseph L. Bower

A new general manager has to propose a salary structure for the top 20 managers. His task is complicated as he learns about past performance, ambitions, interpersonal relations, and market conditions. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation; Goals and Objectives; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits

October 2010
Teaching Note

The Robin Hood Foundation (TN)

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

Teaching Note for 310031. View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Enterprise; Organizational Culture; System

January 1994 (Revised May 1996)
Background Note

Leading for Integrity: Corporate Purpose and Responsibility

By: Lynn S. Paine

Outlines several differing conceptions of corporate purpose and responsibility that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. View Details

Keywords: Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Evaluation; Corporate Strategy

06 Dec 2004
What Do You Think?

Why Do Managers Fail to Act on Their Predictions?

consider future implications for their companies...and then decide what action to take." Muller suggests, alternatively, that "traded companies be required—by regulating authorities—to include in their...financial report an...evaluation [of] View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

30 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

Mapping Your Board’s Effectiveness

corporation's business strategy. Mapping Board Performance Currently, prior to a typical board meeting, members receive reams of paper that are difficult to wade through and make sense of. Once the meeting... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan

August 2023
Article

Do Rating Agencies Behave Defensively for Higher Risk Issuers?

By: Samuel B. Bonsall IV, Kevin Koharki, Pepa Kraft, Karl A. Muller III and Anywhere Sikochi

We examine whether rating agencies act defensively toward issuers with a higher likelihood of default. We find that agencies' qualitative soft rating adjustments are more accurate as issuers' default risk grows, as evidenced by the adjustments leading to lower Type I... View Details

Keywords: Credit Rating Agencies; Soft Rating Adjustments; Default; Credit; Performance Evaluation; Measurement and Metrics; Financial Institutions; Risk Management

November 2013
Exercise

People Management (Abridged)

By: Boris Groysberg

Highlights critical gaps between research and practice in the field of strategic human resources management. Also, aims to debunk some myths and preconceptions that general managers bring to their HR decisions. Before class, participants fill out a true-or-false... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Management; Compensation and Benefits; Retention; Performance Evaluation

August 1983 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Milford Industries (A)

By: Robert J. Dolan and Benson P. Shapiro

The new district sales manager for a tool company must determine how to get his district "back on track." The case presents various qualitative and quantitative information on the salespeople. Teaching objectives include the specification of the tasks of a district... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Salesforce Management; Resignation and Termination; Performance Evaluation

31 Oct 2019
News

Finding an Audience

Rene Solis (MBA 1958) is director of Musica en Mexico, a performing arts information service in Mexico City. In this interview he talks about how the group grew out of a personal mission to today serving a wide community of interest. “I... View Details

Keywords: Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries

12 Nov 2018
Research & Ideas

'Always On' Isn't Always Best for Team Decision-Making

Improve Collective Intelligence, written by Ethan Bernstein, the Edward W. Conard Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School; Jesse Shore, assistant professor at Boston... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

01 Mar 2013
News

Sizing Up Social Impact

increased expectations for hard, measurable results. Which seems only fair, right? The problem: Nonprofits can lose sight of their mission if a major funder's performance measurement priorities don't align with the necessary actions to... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Crop Production; Agriculture; Administration of Economic Programs; Government; Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development; Government; Water, Sewage and Supply Systems; Utilities

01 Mar 2010
News

'Own the Podium,' Vindicated

Keywords: Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries

Article

Storytelling: A Method for Assessing Children's Creativity

By: B. A. Hennessey and T. M. Amabile

Keywords: Creativity; Measurement and Metrics; Early Childhood Education; Research; Performance Evaluation

Find at Harvard

January 1991
Supplement

Volkswagen of America: Audi 5000 (B)

By: Stephen A. Greyser

Six months after the launch in the United States of Audi 5000, Audi marketing executives and their advertising agency must appraise the introductory advertising for the car. Three alternative campaigns to replace the current one are under consideration. View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Product Launch; Performance Evaluation; Auto Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

December 2003
Teaching Note

Negotiation Self-Assessment (TN)

By: Michael A. Wheeler

Teaching Note to (9-902-218). View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Style; Performance Evaluation; Personal Characteristics

June 1991 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Takeover of the Norton Co., The

By: Thomas R. Piper

After a decade of mediocre performance, the Norton Co. enters 1990 with the prospect of increased sales in the next few years. Yet Norton is pursuing slow growth industries, and a lower than expected earnings announcement at the beginning of 1990 has depressed earnings... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Goals and Objectives; Forecasting and Prediction; Performance Evaluation; Revenue; Bids and Bidding; Business Processes; Ownership Stake

April 2000 (Revised October 2002)
Background Note

Career Strategies and Tactics in Professional Service Firms

By: Ashish Nanda, Thomas J. DeLong and Scot H. Landry

Presents suggestions for ensuring a good start in a professional services career. View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Performance Expectations; Performance Effectiveness; Customization and Personalization; Practice; Valuation; Performance Evaluation; Business Startups; Competency and Skills; Learning; Talent and Talent Management; Management Skills; Consulting Industry

1 Aug 2010
Conference Presentation

Firm Performance, Top Management and Minority Hiring: African‐American Coaches in the NFL, 1970‐2007

By: Andrew Hill and David Thomas

Studies of minority hiring have found that low-status firms are more likely to hire minority candidates. However, most work has examined hiring for entry and mid-level positions, not senior management, which differs in the level of 1) uncertainty regarding the optimal... View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Management Teams; Recruitment; Relationships; Risk and Uncertainty; Ethnicity; Sports Industry; Africa; United States