Publications

November 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Supplement

Foxconn Technology Group (B)

By: Robert G. Eccles, George Serafeim and Beiting Cheng

The (B) case presents Foxconn’s plan to replace manual labor with robots and move some of its employees to more interesting and sophisticated jobs. View Details

Keywords: Multinational; Labor Market; Electronic Manufacturing Services; Health ＆ Wellness; Robots; Automation; Social Responsibility; Employee Relationship Management; Safety; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Technology Industry; China

Web

Staff | Information Technology

learn, and work more effectively every day. To get help, email us at ithelp@hbs.edu . Getting Started Information for community members who are setting up new accounts at HBS. Onboarding Resources Policies and Guidelines Setting Up... View Details

March–April 2014
Article

Do Bonuses Enhance Sales Productivity? A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Bonus-Based Compensation Plans

By: Doug J. Chung, Thomas Steenburgh and K. Sudhir

We estimate a dynamic structural model of sales force response to a bonus based compensation plan. Substantively, the paper sheds insights on how different elements of the compensation plan enhance productivity. We find evidence that: (1) bonuses enhance productivity... View Details

Keywords: Performance Productivity; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits

Find at Harvard

October 2002
Article

CEO compensation, diversification, and incentives

Keywords: Management; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives

Find at Harvard

28 May 2013
Research & Ideas

Can LEGO Snap Together a Future in Asia?

Mintzberg argued that strategic planning techniques (such as scenario planning) do not work well for organizations because they typically fail to engage business managers and remain detached from everyday... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Entertainment & Recreation

01 Oct 1997
News

Theory & Practice

covers many of the most important issues currently facing business - strategy, innovation, customer focus, global trends, leadership for change, strategic alliances, compensation systems, and community responsibility. Kanter¹s enduring... View Details

01 Mar 2017
News

Ask the Expert: Capital Architect

strategic execution, and beneficial stakeholder participation. Successfully replacing the oil resource curse requires several factors, including unwavering political will, market and trade focus, and access... View Details

September 2020
Case

&pizza: Leading an ‘Employee-First’ Company During a Period of Societal Challenges

By: Francesca Gino and Jeffrey Huizinga

&Pizza is a pizza chain that in the spring of 2020 finds its business completely up-ended by the COVID-19 crisis and shut-down. Many companies in the restaurant and hospitality sector responded to the crisis by shutting down their operations and laying off employees.... View Details

Keywords: Agility; Crisis; Culture; Values; COVID-19 Pandemic; Crisis Management; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Values and Beliefs; Employee Relationship Management

January 2021 (Revised March 2022)
Teaching Note

Ureed.com: The Marketplace for Language

By: Ashley V. Whillans

This case explores the growth of Ureed, an online marketplace for translation services that is powered by a workforce consisting of remote freelancers who are based in the United Arab Emirates. Nour Al Hassan, the founder and CEO faced the challenge of how best to... View Details

Keywords: Language Translation; Freelancers; Remote Work; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Management; Motivation and Incentives; Job Design and Levels

January 2008 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Sara Campbell Ltd. (A)

By: Romana Autrey, V.G. Narayanan and Julia Rozovsky

Describes a situation in which Sara Campbell, the CEO of a women's apparel company, must decide how to resolve the tense relationship with her Financial Controller and ex-brother-in-law, Stephen Holt. Holt was employed by Campbell for 10 years, took on the majority of... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Judgments; Governance Controls; Employee Relationship Management; Behavior; Apparel and Accessories Industry

Forthcoming
Article

Eliciting Advice Instead of Feedback Improves Developmental Input

By: Hayley Blunden, Ariella Kristal, Ashley Whillans, Jaewon Yoon, Hannah Burd, Georgina Bremner and Michael Yeomans

Most organizations encourage employees to provide feedback to one another to support learning, personal growth, and career advancement. However, employee feedback often fails to improve performance because it lacks concrete, specific guidance. We provide a temporal... View Details

Keywords: Feedback; Personal Development and Career; Employee Relationship Management; Performance Evaluation

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2015
Working Paper

Incentives versus Reciprocity: Insights from a Field Experiment

By: Doug J. Chung and Das Narayandas

We conduct a field experiment in which we vary the sales force compensation scheme at an Asian enterprise that sells consumer durable goods. With variation generated by the experimental treatments, we model sales force performance to identify the effectiveness of... View Details

Keywords: Sales Force Compensation; Field Experiment; Heterogeneity; Loss Aversion; Reciprocity; Motivation and Incentives; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits

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February 2014
Background Note

Furloughs: An Alternative to Layoffs for Economic Downturns

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Susan J. Winterberg

This note describes the practice of employee furloughs (also known as work sharing or short-time work) including their regulatory frameworks in different countries and the business and ethical implications of their use. View Details

Keywords: Work Sharing; Furloughs; Temporary Layoff; Short Time Work; Employee Relationship Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing

March 1999
Case

MotivAction plc (A)

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

The owner/manager of MotivAction is developing a package of incentives and bonuses that he hopes will stimulate sales growth, encourage development of new autonomous teams, and increase profitability. If they are adopted, these new incentives will replace others... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Improvement; Growth and Development Strategy; Decisions; Profit; Organizational Culture