Publications

October 8, 2012
Column

Henkel's Culture Shift

By: Robert Simons

This case descriibes 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: Strategy Execution; Culture; New CEO; Change; Performance Measures; Accountability; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Accountability; Leading Change; Competitive Strategy; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Consumer Products Industry; Germany

01 Dec 2008
News

NYC Club Hosts Nonprofits

STRATEGIC ADVICE: HBS professor Michael Porter took a question before his presentation. What happens when you bring over 450 CEOs and presidents of New York City’s leading nonprofits together for a daylong educational summit? Answer: a lot of business card swapping and... View Details

15 Dec 2015
Blog Post

One MBA's Path to Boston Consulting Group

process and play. Someone once told me that recruiting is as much about you evaluating the firms as it is about the firms evaluating you. As I look back on that hectic fall of last year, what stuck out most... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Consumer Products / Retail

03 Dec 2018
Research & Ideas

How Companies Can Increase Market Rewards for Sustainability Efforts

nutrition or health categories. Yet investor momentum differed drastically: Domino’s scored a 15 to Cheesecake Factory’s 87 (out of a 100) in TruValue Labs's sentiment metrics, driven by lower evaluations for customer welfare as well as... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

July 1999
Article

Analysts' Forecast Accuracy: Do Ability and Portfolio Complexity Matter

By: Michael B. Clement

Prior studies have identified systematic and time persistent differences in analysts’ earnings forecast accuracy, but have not explained why the differences exist. Using the I/B/E/S Detail History database, this study finds that forecast accuracy is positively... View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Forecasting and Prediction; Performance Evaluation; Experience and Expertise

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October 1979 (Revised May 1980)
Case

Dunkin' Donuts (B): Field Management

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Franchise Ownership; Food and Beverage Industry

Find at Harvard

February 1998 (Revised January 1999)
Case

Rob Parson at Morgan Stanley (C)

A year after Rob Parson's manager decided to postpone Parson's promotion, Parson's new manager Gary Stuart faces the decision of promotion again. Stuart considers whether the efforts Parson had made were sufficient. Teaching purpose: To explore managerial problems... View Details

Keywords: Management; Personal Development and Career; Performance Evaluation; Financial Services Industry

06 Jun 2018
News

The Business of Social Justice

become legal in one day. These kinds of changes have decades of investment behind them.” As COO, Brooks oversees strategic planning, operations, and finances, as well as the evaluation of programs to determine ways operations can be more... View Details

August 2010 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Urban Water Partners (A)

By: Karthik Ramanna, George Serafeim and Aldo Sesia

The case explores a new business venture to bring clean water to residents of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, who otherwise cannot afford it. Management has enough money to get the company through August 2010 but needs more capital thereafter. An HBS alumnus is interested in... View Details

Keywords: Accrual Accounting; Financial Statements; Business Startups; Social Entrepreneurship; Investment; Performance Evaluation; Dar es Salaam; Massachusetts

2010
Working Paper

Investment Taxation and Portfolio Performance

By: Daniel B. Bergstresser and Jeffrey Pontiff

Taxes have a first-order impact on portfolio returns. Most research mistakenly assumes that portfolios command similar tax burdens, or that tax burdens are proportional to dividend yields. Portfolio strategies differ in the pace of capital gains realization. We use the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Taxation; Performance Evaluation

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February 2008
Case

SPECIALISTERNE: Sense & Details

Three-quarters of Specialisterne's expert software testing staff are diagnosed with some form of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Usually a handicap, ASD conveys talents especially suited to software testing and other highly repetitive tasks that require very high... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Health Disorders; Employees; Performance Evaluation; Quality; Software; Information Technology Industry

07 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Market Investors Pay More for Resilient Companies

The steep market drop in the early days of the COVID-19 crisis is being used as a laboratory to study the importance of companies investing in stakeholder relations with their employees, suppliers, and customers, and how those investments could be strategic resources... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Financial Services

March 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Supplement

Arck Systems (E)

By: Ian Larkin

The Arck Systems series of cases describes the dilemmas faced by a senior sales manager in determining a sales compensation plan at an enterprise software company. The existing compensation plan is aggressive and highly rewards "star" performers. The cases track a... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Framework; Compensation and Benefits; Organizational Design; Performance Evaluation; Salesforce Management; Motivation and Incentives; Software

December 1999
Case

Brierley Investments Limited

By: Paul M. Healy

Brierley's is an investment company that has performed poorly in the New Zealand market. Management has prepared a report of the intrinsic value of the company's investments. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Corporate Disclosure; Financial Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Performance Evaluation; Investment; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry; New Zealand