Publications

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February 2001 (Revised November 2009)
Case

Amazon.com (C)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

At the end of 1998, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos ponders the next moves for his company. Having secured the leadership position as the leading online book seller in the United States, Amazon.com has now moved into the product categories of CDs and videos by... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Internet and the Web; Business Growth and Maturation; Books; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Germany; United Kingdom; United States

December 2000 (Revised January 2002)
Background Note

Incentives and Controllability: A Note and Exercise

By: Brian J. Hall

Describes three performance measures for "plants" or businesses: cost centers, revenue centers, and profit centers. Discusses what should be done if a function outside of the "controllability" of the manager affects the performance measure and therefore compensation. View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Cost; Profit; Revenue; Compensation and Benefits; Managerial Roles; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives

December 2000 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Achieving Customer Satisfaction at Pizza Hut (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Preeti Choudhary

Describes how Pizza Hut measures and monitors customer satisfaction, customer complaints, and the quality of its retail locations. View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Systems; Risk Management; Franchise Ownership; Performance Evaluation; Problems and Challenges; Quality; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry

December 2000
Case

Friona Industries, L.P.

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

As the food industry becomes more sophisticated, and as genomics and other factors provide for quality control from the producers to the consumers in the food chain, the beef industry has been one of the last commodity systems to organize the vertical systems to... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Customer Value and Value Chain; Food; Management Systems; Supply and Industry; Performance Consistency; Quality; Partners and Partnerships; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry

November 2000 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Activity-Based Management at W.S. Industries (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Sanjay Pothen

W.S. Industries undertakes the design and implementation of an activity based costing (ABC) system, and the ABC information empowers workers to make process improvement decisions. Workers' incentive pay is tied to cost savings from process improvements. View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Evaluation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Knowledge Management; Energy Industry; India

November 2000 (Revised July 2019)
Teaching Note

Cafes Monte Bianco: Building a Profit Plan

By: Robert Simons and Indra Reinbergs

Teaching Note for (9-198-088). View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Cash Flow; Capital Structure; Business Earnings; Financial Statements; Business Plan; Profit; Cost Management; Performance Evaluation; Strategic Planning; Financial Management; Investment Return; Food and Beverage Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Italy

November 2000 (Revised April 2001)
Case

CMR Enterprises

By: Das Narayandas and Mary N. Caravella

Sam Marcus recently purchased a small cabinet-making company, and is looking for dramatic growth. The company competes in commercial and residential construction markets; shortly after the acquisition, the company gains a large new residential customer. The case traces... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Customer Relationship Management; Entrepreneurship; Leadership; Marketing Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Relationships; Segmentation; Construction Industry

October 2000 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Vyaderm Pharmaceuticals: The EVA Decision

By: Robert Simons and Indra A. Reinbergs

In 2016, the new CEO of Vyaderm Pharmaceuticals introduces an Economic Value Added (EVA) program to focus the company on long-term shareholder value. The EVA program consists of three elements: EVA centers (business units), EVA drivers (operational practices that... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Employee Relationship Management; Economic Growth; Economic Systems; Management; Motivation and Incentives; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Performance Evaluation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Pharmaceutical Industry; Washington (state, US)

September 2000
Background Note

Professional Services Module Five: Serving Clients Effectively

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

It is imperative for the internal systems and processes to be connected to the external processes of client management, competitive adaptation, and service delivery. View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Customer Relationship Management; Knowledge Acquisition; Service Delivery; Performance Effectiveness; Adaptation; Competitive Strategy

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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

August 2000
Case

Belmont Industries, Inc. (C)

By: Joseph L. Bower

Supplements the (A) case. A rewritten version of an earlier supplement. View Details

Keywords: Wages; Managerial Roles; Management Practices and Processes; Performance; Goals and Objectives; Labor and Management Relations

August 2000
Case

Belmont Industries, Inc. (D)

By: Joseph L. Bower

Supplements the (A) case. A rewritten version of an earlier supplement. View Details

Keywords: Wages; Managerial Roles; Management Practices and Processes; Performance; Goals and Objectives; Labor and Management Relations

2000
Other Unpublished Work

Career Concerns and Staged Investment: Evidence from the Venture Capital Industry

By: Malcolm Baker

I develop a model in which career concerns lead to inefficient reinvestment decisions. Managers have incentives to inflate interim returns by continuing bad projects and delaying write-offs. In the venture capital industry, the syndication of follow-on investments can... View Details

Keywords: Performance Efficiency; Valuation; Venture Capital; Investment; Decisions; Motivation and Incentives; Quality

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June 2000 (Revised July 2000)
Case

ORIX KK

By: Malcolm S. Salter and Andrew Eggers

Describes the challenges facing a Japanese financial services company as it attempts to maintain its ability to attract and retain talented employees. The CEO's ideas of corporate governance and evidence from the competitive labor environment suggest the need for more... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Geographic Location; Financial Services Industry; Japan

June 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Compensation and Performance Evaluation at Arrow Electronics

By: Brian J. Hall and Carleen Madigan

Describes a company's struggles in implementing a subjective performance rating system for its employees. In particular, it describes the difficulties faced by the CEO in getting managers to combat "ratings inflation"--that is, to produce numerical ratings that are... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Electronics Industry