Publications

December 2013 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Atlanta Schools: Measures to Improve Performance

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

The widespread cheating scandal that rocked the Atlanta public school system in 2010 and 2011 illustrates how high-stakes performance pressure, without sufficient risk controls, can drive dangerous behavior. After becoming superintendent of the low-income and... View Details

Educators

June 2010 (Revised May 2017)
Teaching Note

Sydney IVF: Stem Cell Research

By: Robert Simons and Kathryn Rosenberg

Teaching Note for 109017. View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Levers Of Control; Strategy; Risk Management; Decisions; Cooperative Ownership; Product Development; Moral Sensibility; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Expansion; Science-Based Business; Research; Management Practices and Processes; Business Subsidiaries; Biotechnology Industry; Sydney

June 2010 (Revised April 2017)
Teaching Note

Pfizer: Letter from the Chairman (A) and (B)

By: Robert Simons and Kathryn Rosenberg

Teaching Note for 110003 and 110004. View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Strategy And Execution; Performance Measurement; Pharmaceutical Industry

Article

Toward a Corporate Culture of Health: Results of a National Survey

By: Michael Anne Kyle, Lumumba Seegars, John M. Benson, Robert J. Blendon, Robert S. Huckman and Sara J. Singer

Context: The private sector has a large potential role in advancing health and well-being, but attention to corporate practices around health tends to focus on a narrow range of issues and on large businesses. Systematically describing private sector engagement in... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Health; Social Determinants Of Health; Health Policy; Public Health; Organizations; Health; Policy; Surveys

Find at Harvard

June 2016
Article

When Doctors Go to Business School: Career Choices of Physician-MBAs

By: Damir Ljuboja, Brian W. Powers, Benjamin Robbins, Robert S. Huckman, Krishna Yeshwant and Sachin Jain

There has been substantial growth in the number of physicians pursuing Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees over the past decade, but there is continuing debate over the utility of these programs and the career outcomes of their graduates. The authors... View Details

Keywords: Medical Education; MD; MBA; Physicians; Executive Education; Training; Personal Development and Career; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States

Read Now

05 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 5

perhaps extremely severe, that are routine because they can be anticipated and prepared for) and "true crises" (which, because of significant novelty, cannot be dealt with exclusively by pre-determined emergency plans and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 12, 2009

(Studies 3 and 4), we find that dishonest behavior increased moral disengagement and motivated forgetting of moral rules. Such changes did not occur in the case of honest behavior or consideration of the behavior of others. In addition, increasing moral saliency View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 9, 2019

capital and demonstrates how technology—novel data sources, artificial intelligence, machine learning—will transform the small business lending market. This market has been plagued by frictions: it is hard for a lender to determine which... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

20 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 20, 2008

despite export options which appear to be more profitable. Thus many conjecture that one or several markets are missing. We report here on a randomized controlled trial conducted by DrumNet in Kenya that attempts to help farmers adopt and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2019
Supplement

Final Words of Advice

April 2019
Supplement

Building Accountability for Results

April 2019
Supplement

Selecting the Right Type of Employees

November 1998 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Asea Brown Boveri (Condensed)

The merger of Asea AB and BBC Brown Boveri required a restructuring of operations and a change in organizational cultures. Competitive success also necessitated the benefits of scale while remaining "local" for political and customer-responsiveness reasons. The case... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Cost vs Benefits; Competitive Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth and Development; Performance Effectiveness; Consumer Products Industry

Educators

April 2017 (Revised August 2019)
Supplement

Cafes Monte Bianco - Fixed Interest Solution

This is the fixed interest solution to the analysis required in the case Cafes Monte Bianco (HBS No. 198-088) View Details

31 Oct 2013
Conference Presentation

Designing Competitive Organizations

01 Mar 2011
Conference Presentation

Seven Strategy Questions

Keywords: Strategy

May 1992 (Revised January 2000)
Case

Asea Brown Boveri: The ABACUS System

Describes the computer-based information system (ABACUS) used to monitor and control business operations in a complex, global company. Describes the technical attributes of the database system, financial reporting requirements, target setting and profit calculations on... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Profit; Business Growth and Maturation; Analytics and Data Science; Design; Accounting Audits; Growth and Development; Globalized Firms and Management; Complexity; Technology Industry

Educators

March 1990 (Revised June 1991)
Case

IBM Corp.: ""Make It Your Business"" (A)