Publications

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Innovation and Its Discontents: How Our Broken Patent System is Endangering Innovation and Progress, and What to Do About It

The United States patent system has become sand rather than lubricant in the wheels of American progress. Such is the premise behind this provocative and timely book by two of the nation's leading experts on patents and economic... View Details

November 1997 (Revised April 2017)
Teaching Note

Purity Steel Corporation, 2012

By: Robert Simons and Antonio Dávila

Teaching Note for (9-197-082). View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Performance Measurement; ROI; Transfer Pricing; Steel Industry

June 2009 (Revised April 2017)
Teaching Note

Merck: Managing Vioxx (A)-(G)

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

Teaching Note for [109080], [109081], [109082], [109083], [109084], [109085], and [109086]. View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Strategy And Execution; Crisis Management; Risk; Core Values; Pharmaceutical Industry

04 Mar 2011
Working Paper Summaries

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

Keywords: by Marion Fourcade & Rakesh Khurana; Education

2021
Article

Evidence of Decreasing Internet Entropy: The Lack of Redundancy in DNS Resolution by Major Websites and Services

By: Samantha Bates, John Bowers, Shane Greenstein, Jordi Weinstock, Jonathan Zittrain and Yunhan Xu

This paper analyzes the extent to which the Internet’s global domain name resolution (DNS) system has preserved its distributed resilience given the rise of cloud-based hosting and infrastructure. We explore trends in the concentration of the DNS space since at least... View Details

Keywords: Domain Name System; Resilience; Entropy; Internet and the Web; Infrastructure; Performance Effectiveness; Safety; Cybersecurity

November 1987 (Revised April 2017)
Teaching Note

Polysar Limited

By: Robert Simons

Teaching Note for (9-187-098). View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Strategy And Execution; Performance Measurement; Variance Analysis; Profit Management; Canada

2013
Working Paper

These Are the Good Old Days: Foreign Entry and the Mexican Banking System

By: Stephen Haber and Aldo Musacchio

In 1997, the Mexican government reversed long-standing policies and allowed foreign banks to purchase Mexico's largest commercial banks and relaxed restrictions on the founding of new, foreign-owned banks. The result has been a dramatic shift in the ownership structure... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Balance and Stability; Foreign Direct Investment; Banks and Banking; Society; Economics; Banking Industry; Mexico

SSRN

June 2017
Teaching Note

Google to Alphabet: Two Job Opportunities

By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard

This is the teaching note for "Google to Alphabet: Two Job Opportunities" HBS No.116-046 The case describes two job postings for positions at Google. The first job posting is for a Software Engineer in the Google Maps unit and the second job posting is for an Account... View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Span Of Control; Span Of Accountability; Span Of Support; Management Control Systems; Entrepreneurial Gap; Motivation; Job Design; Strategy; Information Technology; Organizational Design; Jobs and Positions; Technology Industry

2009
Book

Too Big to Save?: How to Fix the U.S. Financial System

By: Robert C. Pozen

Too Big To Save? provides a comprehensive review of the financial crisis, explaining not only the factors causing the crisis but also evaluating the government responses to date and suggesting practical reforms for the future. View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government and Politics; United States

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11 Dec 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Quality Management and Job Quality: How the ISO 9001 Standard for Quality Management Systems Affects Employees and Employers

Keywords: by David I. Levine & Michael W. Toffel

September 2009
Article

How to Fix Wall Street: Regulation Alone Can't Right the Financial System

By: Lynn S. Paine

Keywords: Stocks; Financial Institutions; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Finance; System

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2011
Teaching Note

UFIDA (C) (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donglin Xia and E. Chen

This case documents the evolution of UFIDA's management control system over a decade as it grew five-fold from a 325 million RMB to a 1.66 billion RMB company, while its staff grew by more than three-fold. View Details

Keywords: Budgeting; Computer Software; Emerging Markets; Management Controls; Performance Management; Planning; China; Applications and Software; China

2019
Working Paper

The Comprehensive Effects of a Digital Paywall Sales Strategy

By: Doug J. Chung, Ho Kim and Reo Song

This paper explores the multiple and comprehensive effects of a digital paywall sales strategy, an increasingly common means of go-to-market for media firms. Specifically, we examine the effects of a digital paywall on a media firm’s two sources of income—subscription... View Details

Keywords: Digital Paywall; Demand Substitution; Spillover Effect; Synthetic Control; Sales; Strategy; Media; Newspapers; Publishing Industry

SSRN

October 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 6: Evaluating Strategic Profit Performance

By: Robert Simons

This module reading demonstrates how to calculate and analyze the profit generated by different business strategies. Formulas and examples are provided to calculate profit generated by changes in market share, revenue growth, efficiency improvements, and support costs.... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Evaluating Business Performance; Profitability Analysis; Variance Analysis; Measuring Effectiveness; Measuring Efficiency; Activity-Based Costing; Flexible Budget; Accounting; Strategy

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

2009
Working Paper

An Ounce of Prevention: The Power of Public Risk Management in Stabilizing the Financial System

By: David A. Moss

The magnitude of the current financial crisis reflects the failure of an economic and regulatory philosophy that had proved increasingly influential in policy circles over the past three decades.

This paper suggests (1) that contrary to the prevailing wisdom,... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Financial Institutions; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Risk Management; Business and Government Relations; Balance and Stability

2021
Working Paper

Science-Based Carbon Emissions Targets

By: David Freiberg, Jody Grewal and George Serafeim

We examine the effect of voluntarily adopting a standard for setting science-based carbon emissions targets on target difficulty and investments to achieve those targets. We find that firms with a track record of setting and achieving ambitious carbon targets are more... View Details

Keywords: Target; Targeting; Target-setting; Target Efficiency; Management Control Systems; Management Accounting; Environment; Environmental And Social Sustainability; Climate Change; Environmental Management; Environmental Accounting; Environmental Sustainability; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

SSRN

October 2014 (Revised June 2015)
Case

Quiet Logistics (A)

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This two-part case focuses on how to identify and manage strategic uncertainties in an innovative, entrepreneurial start-up company. In the (A) case, students learn about Quiet Logistics, an e-commerce fulfillment company working with high-end apparel retailers such as... View Details

Educators

March 2017 (Revised May 2017)
Teaching Note

The Strategy Execution Series

By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard

This is the teaching note for the 15-module Strategy Execution series. New management tools and techniques are needed to implement strategy in the 21st century. Rapid innovation, entrepreneurial competitors, and increasingly demanding customers have radically altered... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Strategy Execution; Performance Measurement; Profit Planning; Organization Design; Profitable Growth; Management Attention; Organizational Conflict; Job Design; Business Strategy; Management Systems; Entrepreneurship; Competition; Organizational Design; Performance Evaluation; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques