Publications

22 Mar 2016
First Look

March 22, 2016

institutions. It explores as well new efforts to understand the micro mechanisms and channels by which host countries can benefit from multinational activity, within and between firm productivity increases. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 1990 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Nordstrom: Dissension in the Ranks? (A)

By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston

In 1989, the performance measurement systems and compensation policies of Nordstrom Department Stores unexpectedly came under attack by employees, unions, and government regulators. The case describes the "sales-per-hour" monitoring and compensation system that many... View Details

Keywords: Performance Consistency; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Labor Unions; Salesforce Management; Retention; Growth and Development; Industrial Products Industry; Utilities Industry

May 2017 (Revised June 2017)
Case

ATH Technologies (A): Making the Numbers

By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard

An exercise that takes students through five stages of growth in an entrepreneurial start-up in the medical devices industry: 1) founding, 2) growth, 3) push to profitability, 4) refocusing process, and 5) takeover by new management. At each stage, students must... View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Balancing Innovation And Control; Performance Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Profit; Geographic Location; Governance Controls; Innovation and Invention; Management Succession; Performance Evaluation; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

15 Feb 2011
First Look

First Look: Feb. 15

experiments offer evidence that debates about the relative costs and benefits of self-deception are informed by adopting a temporal view that assesses the cumulative impact of self-deception over time. Download the paper:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Browse All Articles, Research, & Case Studies - HBS Working Knowledge

Case What Wartime Service Taught These Historic Leaders by Avery Forman What can corporate leaders learn from executives who served their country during wartime conflicts? Drawing on a series of case studies, View Details

Web

Live from Klarman Hall - Alumni

Google AI Regulation Join us for a panel moderated by Mitchell Weiss, the Richard L. Menschel Professor of Management Practice at HBS, featuring insights from Anita Lynch, board member at Nasdaq US... View Details

November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 11: Using Diagnostic and Interactive Control Systems

By: Robert Simons

This module reading introduces diagnostic and interactive control systems. Diagnostic control systems are the management-by-exception systems that managers use to monitor the achievement of their business strategy. Interactive control systems are the systems that top... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Performance Measurement; Diagnostic Control Systems; Interactive Control Systems; Emergent Strategy; Goal Setting; Incentives; Strategy; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Management Systems; Performance Evaluation

December 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 15: Using the Levers of Control to Implement Strategy

By: Robert Simons

This module reading pulls together key concepts and techniques from the Strategy Execution series into an integrated model—the levers of control. The four levers are: (1) belief systems, (2) boundary systems, (3) diagnostic control systems, and (4) interactive control... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Levers Of Control; Balancing Innovation And Control; Managing Growing Businesses; Turn Around Management; Human Behavior; Organizational Life Cycle; Strategy; Management Systems; Performance; Measurement and Metrics; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Behavior

Web

Placement - Doctoral

studies, are uniquely individualized. Factors like departmental fit, location preferences, dual career choices, and family needs shape these decisions. We celebrate when students secure a position that brings them joy! Students are supported throughout their job search... View Details

February 2012
Case

Henkel: Building a Winning Culture

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This case illustrates a CEO-led organizational transformation driven by stretch goals, performance measurement, and accountability. When Kasper Rorsted became CEO of Henkel, a Germany-based producer of personal care, laundry, and adhesives products, in 2008, he was... View Details

Keywords: Performance Measurement; Performance Appraisals; Human Resource Management; Values; Organizational Transformations; Pay For Performance; Strategy Execution; Values and Beliefs; Work-Life Balance; Organizational Culture; Human Resources; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits

17 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 17, 2018

a product of the international Communist movement’s model of revolution in the developing world that envisioned new states following a “non-capitalist path of development.” In Iran, this was compounded by the use of Allende-era Chile as a... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

October 2011
Case

Raleigh & Rosse: Measures to Motivate Exceptional Service

By: Robert Simons and Michael Mahoney

In January 2010, U.S. luxury goods retailer Raleigh & Rosse is being sued by its employees for encouraging "off the clock" hours. At the center of the class action lawsuit is the famous Raleigh & Rosse performance measurement system previously thought to be the core of... View Details

Keywords: Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Goal Setting; Compensation; Incentives; Motivation; Sales Compensation; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Growth Management; Lawsuits and Litigation; Organizational Culture; Management Systems; Customer Focus and Relationships; Employees; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Retail Industry; United States

October 2016 (Revised February 2019)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 5: Building a Profit Plan

By: Robert Simons

This module reading describes how to build a profit plan to reflect the strategy of a business in economic terms. After introducing the profit wheel, cash wheel, and ROE wheel, the module illustrates how to use a profit plan to assess the viability of different... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Profit Planning; Cash Flow Analysis; Asset Utilization; Return On Equity; Business Planning; Testing Strategy; Analyzing Strategic Alternative; Strategy; Asset Management; Cash Flow; Investment Return; Management Systems; Profit

March 1997 (Revised August 2017)
Case

Compagnie du Froid, S.A.

By: Robert Simons and Antonio Dávila

The owner of an ice cream company must evaluate the performance of three regional businesses. To do the analysis, students must flex the budget by seasonal temperature; calculate revenue, volume, price, and efficiency variances; analyze the effects of transfer prices;... View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Investment Return; Performance Evaluation; Revenue; Budgets and Budgeting; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; France; Spain; Italy

29 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: Jan. 29

reaping the benefits of FDI (which relate to when FDI will generate growth) and (2) the mechanisms by which FDI creates positive externalities (which relate to how FDI generates growth). Technology and Innovation Management... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Feb 2011
First Look

First Look: Feb. 8

M. Howitt Publication:In Integrative Risk Management: Advanced Disaster Recovery, edited by Simon Woodward. Zürich, Switzerland: Swiss Re Centre for Global Dialogue, 2010 Abstract Societies face a wide array... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

IBM Corporation Turnaround

By: Robert D. Austin and Richard L. Nolan

Describes the details of IBM's dramatic corporate turnaround in the early 1990s led by CEO Louis V. Gerstner. Accounts of events are from interviews with IBM executives. Covers the factors that led to the company's decline and actions taken to recover. View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Restructuring; Management Teams; Management Practices and Processes; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry