Publications

02 Oct 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Is Mandatory Nonfinancial Performance Measurement Beneficial?

Keywords: by Susanna Gallani, Takehisha Kajiwara & Ranjani Krishnan; Health

February 1993 (Revised May 1993)
Background Note

Responsibility Centers and Performance Measurement

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

Introduces the concepts of responsibility centers and performance measurement. Expense centers, financial responsibilities such as profit centers, and investment centers are introduced, defined, and illustrated with simple examples. View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Management Systems

2009
Working Paper

Specific Knowledge and Divisional Performance Measurement

By: Michael C. Jensen and William H. Meckling

This paper discusses five common divisional performance measurement methods—cost centers, revenue centers, profit centers, investment centers, and expense centers—providing a theory that explains when each of these methods is likely to be the most efficient. The... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Business Headquarters; Decisions; Cost; Investment; Investment Return; Profit; Revenue; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Managerial Roles; Performance Efficiency; Strategy

SSRN

14 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

The New Measures for Improving Nonprofit Performance

couple of your comments, Mario, that I believe are critical to emphasize. Going back to your point about the differences and similarities of performance measurement in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

October 1995 (Revised January 1999)
Case

Western Chemical Corporation: Divisional Performance Measurement (A)

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Roger Atherton

The president and controller of Western Chemical Corp. are discussing the best way to measure and report performance of foreign subsidiaries. One subsidiary is a joint venture with its own borrowing capacity; another is wholly owned; and a third is wholly owned and... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Financial Reporting; Performance Evaluation; Chemical Industry

June 1992
Article

Incentive Contracts and Performance Measurement

By: George P. Baker

Keywords: Contracts; Performance; Measurement and Metrics; Motivation and Incentives

14 Jun 2010
Research & Ideas

The Hard Work of Measuring Social Impact

Quantifying performance and measuring results are no longer the sole domain of for-profit enterprises. Today, many nonprofit organizations also find themselves on the hot seat—not with stockholders but with... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

Article

Formal Measures in Informal Management: Can a Balanced Scorecard Change a Culture?

By: Robert Gibbons and Robert S. Kaplan

Agency theorists, historically, have analyzed what kinds of performance measures should be used in formal incentive contracts. For example, after Kaplan-Norton proposed a balanced scorecard of both financial and non-financial measures, some envisioned its role only in... View Details

Keywords: Relational Contracts; Performance Measurement; Informal Management; Balanced Scorecard; Economics; Mathematical Methods

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2009
Report

Breakthroughs in Shared Measurement

By: Mark R. Kramer, Marcie Parkhurst and Lalitha Vaidyanathan

The traditional approach to measuring each individual grant and nonprofit initiative separately prevents learning and improvement, because no 2 efforts can be compared on a consistent basis. This research highlights 20 social enterprises that developed innovative... View Details

Keywords: Impact Evaluation; Impact Measurement; Social Enterprise; Organizations; Performance Effectiveness; Measurement and Metrics

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01 Jan 2020
HBS Conference

Agile Performance Measurement & Management

October 1992
Article

Creating A Comprehensive Performance Measurement System

By: Robert G. Eccles Jr. and Philip J. Pyburn

Keywords: Performance; Measurement and Metrics; System

Article

Putting the Brakes on Impact: A Contingency Framework for Measuring Social Performance

By: A. Ebrahim and V. K. Rangan

Keywords: Framework; Performance; Measurement and Metrics

March 1999 (Revised April 2017)
Teaching Note

Citibank: Performance Evaluation

By: Robert Simons and Antonio Dávila

Teaching Note for (9-198-048). View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Performance Measures; Performance Evaluation; Balanced Scorecard; Banking Industry

2006
Article

Performance Measure Properties and the Effect of Incentive Contracts

By: J. Bouwens and L. van Lent

Using data from a third-party survey on compensation practices at 151 Dutch firms, we show that less noisy or distorted performance measures and higher cash bonuses are associated with improved employee selection and better-directed effort. Specifically, (1) an... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Data and Data Sets; Problems and Challenges; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Netherlands

January 2020
Case

SK Group: Social Progress Credits

By: George Serafeim, Ethan Rouen and David Freiberg

SK Group was one of the largest companies South Korea. A family-run conglomerate consisting of around 120 subsidiaries and employing more than 100,000, SK was tightly knit into the fabric of Korean society. SK viewed their future success as contingent upon the strength... View Details