Publications

Read Now

December 1998 (Revised February 1999)
Case

City of Charlotte (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

The city manager's office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is attempting to align and focus the city's programs and operating departments. City managers, working collaboratively with the elected mayor and city council, have identified five strategic themes to make... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Government Administration; City; Growth and Development Strategy; Adoption; Public Sector; Management Teams; Programs; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Public Administration Industry; North Carolina

December 1998
Background Note

Cash Management Practices in Small Companies

By: H. Kent Bowen, Andrew R. Jassy, Laurence E. Katz, Kevin E. Kelly and Baltej Kochar

Most small business managers claim that cash management is their leading concern. Often walking a tightrope between growth and illiquidity, small business managers face different cash management challenges than their counterparts in larger companies. Compared to larger... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Working Capital; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Design; Cash; Forecasting and Prediction; Policy; Business Strategy

1997
Chapter

Resource Allocation, Incentives, and Control: The Importance of Venture Capital in Financing Entrepreneurial Firms

By: P. A. Gompers

Keywords: Venture Capital; Resource Allocation; Motivation and Incentives; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Governance

1995
Chapter

Incentive Problems in Financial Contracting: Impacts on Corporate Financing, Investment, and Risk Management Policies

By: K. Froot

Keywords: Catastrophe Risk; Corporate Finance; Cost Of Capital; Banking And Insurance; Asset Pricing; Hedging; Banking; Decision Choice And Uncertainty; Financial Markets; Insurance; Policy; Risk Management; Natural Disasters; Insurance Industry

December 1993 (Revised January 1994)
Case

Montana Land Reliance

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Thomas Patterson

The Montana Land Reliance is a small not-for-profit organization in the business of creating conservation easements on private lands in Montana. The easements preserve the scenic character and recreational value of the lands by precluding subdivision and other forms of... View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; Motivation and Incentives; Business or Company Management; Natural Environment; Nonprofit Organizations; Property; Environmental Sustainability; Government and Politics; Montana

July 1993 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Sears Auto Centers (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Michael Santoro

The CEO of Sears must decide how to respond to allegations that the company's auto repair division has been misleading consumers and charging them for unnecessary repairs. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Organizational Culture; Compensation and Benefits; Management Teams; Employees; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Improvement; Auto Industry

January 1991 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Westchester Distributing, Inc. (A)

By: Robert L. Simons and Robert Boxwell

Focuses on the three-way interaction among internal controls, employee behavior, and incentives. Salesmen are illegally providing kickbacks to customers of this beer-distribution firm. In turn, salesmen are reimbursing themselves by filing fraudulent expense reports.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Crime and Corruption; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Salesforce Management; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Distribution Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

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

November 1989
Teaching Note

H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (A), (B), (C), and (D), Teaching Note

By: Kenneth E. Goodpaster and Thomas R. Piper

Teaching Note for (9-382-034, 035, 036, and 037). View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Management Practices and Processes; Motivation and Incentives; System; Ethics; Policy; Business Divisions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Food and Beverage Industry

1988
Chapter

Evaluation of Government Financial Incentives to Large Scale Energy Projects: A Contingent Claims Approach

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Scott P. Mason

Keywords: Energy; Projects; Motivation and Incentives; Sovereign Finance; Business and Government Relations; Mathematical Methods; Energy Industry

1986
Chapter

Promise Them Anything: The Incentive Structures of Local Public Pension Plans

By: Dutch Leonard

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Public Sector; Government and Politics; Local Range; Motivation and Incentives

1983
Chapter

Incentives for Ocean Mining Under the Convention

By: James K. Sebenius and Lance Antrim

Keywords: Mining; Natural Environment; Motivation and Incentives; International Relations; Trade; Mining Industry

June 1977 (Revised May 1997)
Case

University of Trent

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Focuses on two issues: 1) technical systems that can be employed in nonprofit organizations for control and motivational purposes. Systems discussed range from payroll monitoring systems to zero-base budgeting and 2) the managerial environment needed for serious... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Motivation and Incentives; Business or Company Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Governance Controls; Education Industry

Research Summary

Corporate Governance

By: Charles C.Y. Wang

The characteristics and structure of boards of directors have important implications for firm performance. Professor Wang has found that firms with well-connected boards whose members have strong network connections provide economic benefits that are not immediately... View Details

Teaching Interest

Large-Scale Investment (LSI, MBA Elective Curriculum)

By: Benjamin C. Esty

Large-Scale Investment (LSI) is a case-based course about project finance that is designed for second-year MBA students. Project finance involves the creation of a legally independent project company financed with nonrecourse debt for the purpose of investing in a... View Details

Keywords: Project Finance; Corporate Finance; Corporate Governance; Valuation; Capital Budgeting

Research Summary

Nominal versus Indexed Debt: A Quantitative Horse Race (joint with Fabio Kanczuk)

By: Laura Alfaro

There are different arguments in favor and against nominal and indexed debt which broadly include the incentive to default through inflation versus hedging against unforeseen shocks. We model these arguments and calibrate the model to assess the quantitative importance... View Details

Forthcoming
Article

Regulatory Incentives for Innovation: The FDA's Breakthrough Therapy Designation

By: Amitabh Chandra, Jennifer Kao, Kathleen L. Miller and Ariel Dora Stern

Regulators of new products confront a tradeoff between speeding a product to market and collecting additional product quality information. The FDA's Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) provides an opportunity to understand if regulators can use new policy to... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government Administration; Research and Development; Pharmaceutical Industry