Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,719)
- Faculty Publications (454)
- March 2012
- Article
The Incentive Bubble
By: Mihir Desai
The past three decades have seen American capitalism quietly transformed by a single, powerful idea—that financial markets are a suitable tool for measuring performance and structuring compensation. Stock instruments for managers, high-powered incentive contracts for... View Details
- February 2012
- Case
Henkel: Building a Winning Culture
By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred
This case illustrates 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
- 2012
- Working Paper
Earnings Management from the Bottom Up: An Analysis of Managerial Incentives Below the CEO
By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Julie Wulf
Performance-based pay is an important instrument to align the interests of managers with the interests of shareholders. However, recent evidence suggests that high-powered incentives also provide managers with incentives to manipulate the firm's reported earnings. The... View Details
- Article
Market Heterogeneity and Local Capacity Decisions in Services
By: Dennis Campbell and Frances X. Frei
We empirically document factors that influence how local operating managers use discretion to balance the tradeoff between service capacity costs and customer sensitivity to service time. Our findings, using data from one of the largest financial services providers in... View Details
- October 2011
- Case
Raleigh & Rosse: Measures to Motivate Exceptional Service
By: Robert Simons and Michael Mahoney
In January 2010, U.S. luxury goods retailer Raleigh & Rosse is being sued by its employees for encouraging "off the clock" hours. At the center of the class action lawsuit is the famous Raleigh & Rosse performance measurement system previously thought to be the core of... View Details
Keywords: Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Goal Setting; Compensation; Incentives; Motivation; Sales Compensation; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Growth Management; Lawsuits and Litigation; Organizational Culture; Management Systems; Customer Focus and Relationships; Employees; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Retail Industry; United States
- October 2011 (Revised April 2017)
- Teaching Note
Raleigh & Rosse: Measures to Motivate Exceptional Service (Brief Case)
By: Robert L. Simons and Michael Mahoney
Teaching Note for 4353. View Details
Keywords: Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Goal Setting; Compensation; Incentives; Motivation; Sales Compensation; Strategy And Execution; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Salesforce Management; Organizational Culture; Accounting; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits
- September 2011 (Revised February 2013)
- Case
Trucost: Valuing Corporate Environmental Impacts
By: Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice
Trucost provided corporate environmental performance data and analysis to institutional investors and corporate managers, but after operating for a decade had yet to achieve profitability. Trucost was struggling to effectively differentiate its high quality products... View Details
- September 2011 (Revised July 2012)
- Case
Building Watson: Not So Elementary, My Dear!
By: Willy Shih
This case is set inside IBM Research's efforts to build a computer that can successfully take on human challengers playing the game show Jeopardy! It opens with the machine named Watson offering the incorrect answer "Toronto" to a seemingly simple question during the... View Details
- September 2011
- Article
A Global Leader's Guide to Managing Business Conduct
An extensive global survey by three Harvard Business School professors finds that employees agree on core standards of corporate behavior. But meeting those standards will require new approaches to managing business conduct. The compliance and ethics programs of most... View Details
- September 2011
- Article
On Testing Business Models
By: D. Huelsbeck, K. Merchant and Tatiana Sandino
This study explored management decisions regarding formal empirical testing of business models. It documented a test of one company's business model under seemingly favorable conditions for such a test – a successful single product firm following a consistent strategy... View Details
- June 2011
- Article
The Paradox of Excellence
By: Thomas J. DeLong and Sara DeLong
Why is it that so many smart, ambitious professionals are less productive and satisfied than they could be? We argue that it's often because they're afraid to demonstrate any sign of weakness. They're reluctant to ask important questions or try new... View Details
- April 2011
- Case
Porcini's Pronto: "Great Italian cuisine without the wait!"
By: James L. Heskett and Richard Luecke
Porcini's Inc. operates a chain of 23 full-service restaurants located near shopping malls and downtown areas in the northeastern United States. Known for providing excellent service, Porcini's serves high-quality Italian cuisine made from fresh ingredients. Looking... View Details
Keywords: Franchising; Syndication; Quantitative Analysis; Performance Measurement; Human Resource Management; Incentives; Motivation; Consumer Behavior; Measurement and Metrics; Quality; Customer Value and Value Chain; Selection and Staffing; Expansion; Business Growth and Maturation; Service Delivery; Franchise Ownership; Customer Focus and Relationships; Product Marketing; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; Northeastern United States
- April 2011
- Teaching Note
Porcini's Pronto: "Great Italian cuisine without the wait!" (Brief Case)
By: James L. Heskett and Richard Luecke
Teaching Note to 4277. View Details
- April 2011
- Supplement
Porcini's Pronto: 'Great Italian cuisine without the wait!', Spreadsheet Supplement (Brief Case)
By: James L. Heskett and Richard Luecke
- 2011
- Working Paper
The Contingent Effect of Absorptive Capacity: An Open Innovation Analysis
By: Andrew A. King and Karim R. Lakhani
Technological advancement and innovation requires the integration of both external knowledge and internal inventiveness. In this paper, we unpack the concept of absorptive capacity and separately explore the effect of different types of prior experience on the capacity... View Details
- March 2011
- Case
Insight Communications
By: Rajiv Lal and Natalie Kindred
After undertaking a multi-year, metrics-driven operational and cultural overhaul, in April 2010 Insight Communications was planning the next phase of its development. Insight was a New York-based provider of cable, landline phone, and high-speed Internet service to... View Details
- February 2011 (Revised April 2012)
- Case
Braddock Industries, Inc.
This case examines the drivers of economic value creation for shareholders, and how these drivers are reflected in various incentive compensation programs for management. The case also looks at how the economic performance of business units can be evaluated using... View Details
- 2011
- Article
'Deprival Value' vs. 'Fair Value' Measurement for Contract Liabilities: How to Resolve the 'Revenue Recognition' Conundrum
By: Joanne Horton, Richard H. Macve and George Serafeim
Revenue recognition and measurement principles can conflict with liability recognition and measurement principles. We explore here under different market conditions when the two measurement approaches coincide and when they conflict. We show that where entities expect... View Details
- January – February 2011
- Article
How to Design a Winning Business Model
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Joan E. Ricart
Most executives believe that competing through business models is critical for success, but few have come to grips with how best to do so. One common mistake is enterprises' unwavering focus on creating innovative models and evaluating their efficacy in standalone... View Details
- Article
Values, Purpose, Meaning, and Expectations: Why Culture and Context Matter
The "rational person" standard, based on assumptions of economic self-interest, has long prevailed in legal reasoning. But understanding of decision making, behavioral choices, and possibilities for action must be enlarged to include a variety of factors that give... View Details