Publications

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14 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Pay-for-Performance Doesn’t Always Pay Off

What better way to drive people to work harder and more efficiently, you may ask, than to offer them a special carrot: more money for hitting specific company targets? The idea seems perfect. Managers want their employees to pull out the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

September 2023
Article

Corporate Purpose in Public and Private Firms

By: Claudine Gartenberg and George Serafeim

Analyzing data from approximately 1.5 million employees across 1,108 established public and private US companies, we find that the strength of employee beliefs related to purpose is weaker in public companies. Among public companies, those beliefs are stronger for... View Details

Keywords: Purpose; Corporate Purpose; Culture; Corporate Culture; Public And Private Organizations; Hedge Fund; Executive Pay; Corporate Governance; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Culture; Mission and Purpose; Employees; Attitudes; Executive Compensation; Ownership

October 1981
Background Note

Note on Rewards Systems

By: Michael Beer

Looks at rewards in general, and pay in particular, and studies the conditions that may enhance or detract from employee satisfaction and organizational effectiveness. View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Wages; Organizations; Performance Effectiveness; Motivation and Incentives; Satisfaction

June 2001 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Spir-It, Inc. (B): Managing People

When Jack Sindler founded Spir-it, Inc. in 1934, he was the company's sole employee. By 1999, Sindler's firm more than survived its first 55 years. Employment was up to nearly 200, with facilities in two states and work done in three shifts. The product line--which had... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Production; Business Growth and Maturation; Interpersonal Communication; Logistics; Human Resources; Diversity Characteristics; Manufacturing Industry

December 1982 (Revised December 1984)
Case

Hi-Tech Corp.

By: Fred K. Foulkes and William E. Fruhan Jr.

Hi-Tech examines the financial implications of a reduction in the work force via a voluntary severance program which offers up to two and a half times annual pay if an employee voluntarily terminates employment. View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Financial Management; Retirement; Employees; Compensation and Benefits; Corporate Finance; Technology Industry; Europe

Find at Harvard

31 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

You’re Wasting Your Employees! What You Can Do About It

operations of any company that wishes to flourish in the new age. And yet, a decade of organizational delayering, destaffing, restructuring, and reengineering has produced employees who are more exhausted than empowered, more cynical than... View Details

Keywords: by Christopher A. Bartlett & Sumantra Ghoshal

Benjamin C. Esty

Benjamin Esty is the Roy and Elizabeth Simmons Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Over the years, he has taught a variety of courses ranging from advanced corporate finance and project finance to competitive strategy and leadership. He... View Details

Keywords: banking; asset management; investment banking industry; consumer products; shipping; wine; financial services

October 2006 (Revised May 2007)
Case

King Arthur Flour

By: Thomas J. DeLong, James Holian and Joshua Weiss

Steve Voigt, the CEO of King Arthur Flour, must determine how the company can continue to grow, whilst preserving its unique culture. In 1996, the company was sold to employees in as ESOP transaction. The following decade saw significant growth, despite declining sales... View Details

Keywords: Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture; Employee Ownership

September 1990 (Revised November 1991)
Case

Merck & Co., Inc. (A)

Merck & Co., Inc., a major pharmaceutical company, is in the process of reviewing and evaluating its personnel policies and practices. Employee interviews revealed that rewards for excellent performance were not adequate: outstanding performers received salary... View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Pharmaceutical Industry

December 2001 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Netherlands:The, A "Third Way?"

By: Bruce R. Scott and Jamie Matthews

The economic success of The Netherlands in the 1960s can be attributed to Dutch wages that were kept substantially below those in neighboring countries. But increased pressures in the 1970s led to a wage explosion, which in turn pushed unemployment and disguised... View Details

Keywords: Wages; History; Policy; Problems and Challenges; Macroeconomics; Economic Systems; Employment; Performance Productivity; Jobs and Positions; Economic Growth; Netherlands

January 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Chiacchierone's Owners Chat About Tipping

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Michael S. Kaufman

The founders of a successful upscale restaurant operating with a "no-tipping" policy are faced with employee defections to tipped establishments as well as difficulty in recruiting. They must decide whether to retain or jettison their policy and determine how to deal... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Policy; Food and Beverage Industry

August 2018 (Revised July 2020)
Case

Revenue Recognition at HBP

By: Paul Healy and Siko Sikochi

In early 2014, Paul Bills, CFO of Harvard Business Publishing (HBP), sat down with David Wan, the company’s CEO, to discuss budget preparations for the coming year. Bills noted that the performance of Corporate Learning, one of HBP’s three business units, would be... View Details

Keywords: Accrual Accounting; Budgets and Budgeting; Revenue Recognition; Financial Reporting; Publishing Industry; Education Industry; United States

August 2019
Case

Bark Gift Shop Ltd.

By: Susanna Gallani, Jan Bouwens and Peter Kroos

This case describes a setting in which the CFO of Bark Gift Shop Ltd., a gift items retailer, discovers an undesired pattern in the performance data suggesting that her shop managers that perform well during the first part of the year, purposely reduce their effort in... View Details

Keywords: Data Analytics; Employees; Behavior; Performance; Management; Goals and Objectives; Motivation and Incentives; Analysis

June 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Lotus Development Corp.: Spousal Equivalents (A)

A group of Lotus employees propose extending all health care and other benefits to the spousal equivalents of lesbian and gay employees. The vice president of human resources considers the proposal during a reorganization and period of financial uncertainty. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Diversity Characteristics; Compensation and Benefits

January 2021
Case

Value-Based Insurance Design at Onex

By: Joshua Schwartzstein, Amitabh Chandra and Amram Migdal

The operating executives of Health and Benefits for Onex Partners, Megan Jackson Frye and Sam Camens, faced a challenge: Healthcare costs for employees of Onex’s portfolio companies were continuing to rise above the consumer price index, reflecting broader trends... View Details

March 2012
Background Note

Managing the Layoff Process: France

By: Sandra J. Sucher

This note is an overview of the context for managing layoffs in France. It describes the legal responsibilities of managers in conducting layoffs, recent unemployment trends, and the financial, health, training, job placement, and other benefits that laid-off employees... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Resignation and Termination; Compensation and Benefits; Ethics; Management; Employees; Governance Compliance; France