Publications

Read Now

November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 13: Identifying Strategic Risk

By: Robert Simons

This module reading begins by describing the three sources of strategic risk—operations risk, asset impairment risk, and competitive risk—and demonstrates how these risks can undermine an entire business. To assist in the identification of these risks, the risk... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Risk Assessment; Operational Control; Asset Impairment; Franchise Risk; Fraud; Strategy; Information Management

09 May 2017
What Do You Think?

Should Management Be Primarily Responsible to Shareholders?

Summing Up How Do We Encourage CEOs to Manage for Sustainability? Important forces encourage short-term perspectives among managers as well as investors today. These include governance biases, tax policies,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

March 2004
Article

How Do You Stop the Books From Being Cooked? A Management Control Perspective on Financial Accounting Standard Setting and the Section 404 Requirement of the Sarbanes/Oxley Act

By: S. Datar and M. G. Alles

Keywords: Governance Controls; Accounting; Standards

1993
Chapter

The Law of the Sea Conference: Lessons for Negotiations to Control Global Warming

By: James K. Sebenius

Keywords: Negotiation; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Agreements and Arrangements; International Relations

April 2011
Module Note

Customer-Centric Information and Control Systems in B2B Settings: The Case for Customer-Supplier Partnerships

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez

Keywords: Customers; Information; Information Management; Partners and Partnerships

February 2012
Article

Management Practices across Firms and Countries

By: Nicholas Bloom, Christos Genakos, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

For the last decade we have been using double-blind survey techniques and randomized sampling to construct management data on over 10,000 organizations across 20 countries. On average, we find that in manufacturing American, Japanese, and German firms are the best... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Competency and Skills; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Organizations; Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Sectors; Performance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Private Equity; Multinational Firms and Management; United States; Germany; Japan; China; India

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2011
Working Paper

From Social Control to Financial Economics: The Linked Ecologies of Economics and Business in Twentieth Century America

By: Marion Fourcade and Rakesh Khurana

As the main producers of managerial elites, business schools represent strategic research sites for understanding the formation of economic practices and representations. This article draws on historical material to analyze the changing place of economics in American... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Practice; Business Education; Labor and Management Relations; Decision Making; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Change; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Finance; Knowledge; Production; Business Conglomerates; Education Industry; United States

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July 1989
Case

NWA, Inc. - Northwest Airlines Revenue Management

Northwest Airlines is evaluating improvements to its revenue management system. This system executes a program of economic price discrimination under which the airline attempts to control the conditions on its discount fare offerings. Students must evaluate the effect... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Air Transportation; Management Systems; Corporate Finance; Air Transportation Industry; United States

Educators

June 2014 (Revised March 2017)
Teaching Note

Agero: Enhancing Capabilities for Customers

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This is the teaching note for Agero: Enhancing Capabilities for Customers (HBS No. 113-001) View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Execution; Organization Structure; Diagnostic Control Systems; Interactive Control Systems; Performance Goals; Performance Measurement; Strategy; Organizational Design; Performance Evaluation; Customer Focus and Relationships

December 2022
Article

Social Skills Improve Business Performance: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial with Entrepreneurs in Togo

By: Stefan Dimitriadis and Rembrand Koning

Recent field experiments demonstrate that advice, mentorship, and feedback from randomly assigned peers improve entrepreneurial performance. These results raise a natural question: what is preventing entrepreneurs and managers from forming these peer connections... View Details

Keywords: Social Skills; Business Performance; Entrepreneurs; Peer Relationships; Field Experiment; Entrepreneurship; Performance; Relationships; Interpersonal Communication; Togo

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Susanna Gallani

At HBS, Professor Gallani teaches in the Executive Education Program for Leadership Development and in focused Executive Education programs, including Managing Health Care Delivery, Driving Corporate Performance, and several programs focused on the implementation of... View Details

Keywords: Management Controls; Performance Management; Strategy Execution; Incentive Programs; Health Care

September 2009
Case

The Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions, Inc.

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Stephen P. Bradley and Natalie Kindred

Through its uniquely proactive approach to medical malpractice risk management, the Risk Management Foundation (RMF) has decreased claims—and premiums—for the Harvard hospitals it insures. The RMF is the captive medico-legal insurer of the Harvard medical institutions... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Risk Management; Performance Improvement; Safety; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; Boston

Educators

June 2012 (Revised February 2017)
Teaching Note

Henkel: Building a Winning Culture

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This is the teaching note for Henkel: Building a Winning Culture (HBS No. 112-060) View Details

Keywords: Execution; Management Control Systems; Performance Goals; Incentives; Levers Of Control; Strategy

02 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Casino Payoff: Hands-Off Management Works Best

ensure that the casinos' best customers return to play another day. “It's not absolute freedom—it's freedom within a framework" —Francisco de Asís Martinez-Jerez And it turns out that casino hosts are ideal subjects to gain insight into an ongoing question debated for... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Entertainment & Recreation

November 2020
Article

When the Boss Comes to Town: The Effects of Headquarters' Visits on Facility-Level Misconduct

By: Jonas Heese and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos

We study the effects of headquarters’ visits on facility-level misconduct. We use the staggered introduction of airline routes to identify exogenous travel-time reductions between headquarters and facilities and test whether such reductions affect facility-level... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Misconduct; Visits By Management; Flight Routes; Control Systems; Compliance Programs; Performance Pressure; Business or Company Management; Management Systems; Governance Controls; Governance Compliance; Performance Expectations

SSRN

March 2014
Article

Choosing the Right Customer

By: Robert Simons

Companies that win in competitive markets identify a primary customer and dedicate maximum resources to meeting that customer's needs. This article will show you how to identify the best primary customer for your business by analyzing perspective, capabilities, and... View Details

Keywords: Strategy Execution; Customer Focus; Organization Design; Accountability; Management Control Systems; Customer Relationship Management; Organizational Design