Publications

November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Supplement

GE's Talent Machine: The Making of a CEO

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

CEO Jeff Immelt, ex-CEO Jack Welch, and HR Chief Bill Conaty discuss how GE has made talent development a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Immelt describes GE's deeply embedded philosophy around its people and how it has allowed the company to add value... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Talent and Talent Management; Human Resources; Business or Company Management; Performance Capacity; Performance Effectiveness; Competitive Advantage; System; Value

December 2000 (Revised January 2002)
Background Note

Incentives and Controllability: A Note and Exercise

By: Brian J. Hall

Describes three performance measures for "plants" or businesses: cost centers, revenue centers, and profit centers. Discusses what should be done if a function outside of the "controllability" of the manager affects the performance measure and therefore compensation. View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Cost; Profit; Revenue; Compensation and Benefits; Managerial Roles; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives

01 Sep 2005
News

WATER Ltd.

in “water-stressed” countries, where either the quantity or the quality of water supplies will have sunk to levels ranging from inadequate to economically crippling. At the same time, another valuable water-infrastructure system, the environment, is in steep decline... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Waste Management and Remediation Services; Corporate Services; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

19 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

Public Education Goes to School

organizational coherence in support of the strategy Developing and managing human capital Allocating resources in alignment with the strategy Using performance data for decision making and accountability... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark; Education

01 Jun 2001
News

Teaching for the Ages: the MBA Classroom in the 21st Century

month, the results are nearly disastrous, but the concerns are human and strategic, not just technological: “How do we get people to change? Do we adapt our business process to the technology or the technology to our process?” I find... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

01 Dec 2006
News

Rowing Upstream

their task but also energize team members through the bonding that comes with striving toward a common goal. It’s important to remember, however, that poorly designed teams can waste resources and time. Teams should always be used... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Dec 2004
News

The Future of Stem Cells

River.) In August 2001, President George W. Bush (MBA ’75) announced a ban on federal funding for research on any human embryonic stem-cell lines created after that date. The decision reflected opposition to the use and destruction of... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons

09 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 9

specialization, or firm prestige. We discuss the theoretical implications of these results for the literatures on status and groups, along with practical implications for strategic human resource management.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Profile

John Bracaglia

longitudinal health data study to "map human health." "At the time I applied," John says, "I had no idea what I'd be doing at HBS. But I respected the alumni and the talent the school produces. HBS builds people... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing/Energy; Tech; CPG

20 Jul 2017
News

Life Lab Nurtures Early Stage Startup Day Zero Diagnostics

rise. It’s one of the greatest threats that human health is facing today,” says Miriam Huntley, a DZD cofounder who focuses on computational approaches to genomic analysis. “Patients with severe infections can die within hours, but... View Details

Keywords: Scientific Research and Development Services

13 Mar 2025
Blog Post

Advancing Health Care Innovation and Impact with Anita Gupta (GMP 29, 2020)

Learn about the career resources available to HBS alumni through HBS Career & Professional Development When I came to Harvard Business School (HBS) to participate in the Executive Education General Management Program, I wasn’t looking... View Details

June 1993 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Duckworth Industries, Inc.--Incentive Compensation Programs

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

A private company is considering an introduction of a long-run incentive compensation system in which payoffs to managers are determined by the economic value added for shareholders by their individual business units. The proposed new system is compared to a number of... View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation; Management Teams; Business and Shareholder Relations; Motivation and Incentives; Value Creation

2024
Working Paper

Corporate Culture Homogeneity and Top Executive Incentive Design: Evidence from CEO Compensation Contracts

By: Dennis Campbell, Ruidi Shang and Zhifang Zhang

We examine how corporate cultures characterized by high degrees of homogeneity in the underlying values and beliefs of organizational members are related to the design of CEO incentive compensation contracts. We argue that culture homogeneity within firms lowers... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Culture; Compensation Design; Accounting; Management Control; Incentive Systems; Organizational Culture; Job Design and Levels; Governance; Executive Compensation; Motivation and Incentives

Read Now

July 2022
Teaching Plan

Wellthy: The Economics of Caring

By: Brian Trelstad

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 320-028. In 2014, Lindsay Jurist-Rosner (MBA ’09) founded Wellthy, a B2C business that coordinates care for working professionals seeking help to support loved ones with chronic diseases or aging parents. With personal experience as a... View Details

Keywords: B2B Vs. B2C; Future Of Work; Health; Social Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Recruitment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Health Industry; United States

May 24, 2016
Article

Build a Culture of Health

By: John A. Quelch

Every company, large and small, has an impact on health. It does so in four ways: first, through the healthfulness and safety of the products and services it sells; second, through its attention to employee health and well-being in its work practices and benefits;... View Details

Read Now

2016
Blog

Building A Culture of Health - John A. Quelch: Creating A Culture of Health

By: John A. Quelch

All American companies are in the health business whether they like it or not. The private sector directly pays for one-fifth of the whopping 17.5% of GDP spent on healthcare in the United States. Rather than viewing health merely as an insurance expense to be... View Details

Read Now

February 2008 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Olympia Machine Company, Inc.

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Benson P. Shapiro

The management team of an industrial equipment supplier is debating the company's method of compensating salespeople. Different executives have offered different alternatives to the current method of straight salary plus expenses. Each option has different implications... View Details

Keywords: Governance Controls; Compensation and Benefits; Mission and Purpose; Salesforce Management; Motivation and Incentives; Business Strategy; Industrial Products Industry

April 1999 (Revised September 1999)
Case

Compaq Computer: Consumer Notebook Group

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

Presents the background for a video of a focus group on Compaq Computer's new consumer notebook. Engineers, manufacturers, and retailers had collaborated on the product design, which has been approved by the executive committee. A launch is scheduled for nine months... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Product Launch; Product Design; Outcome or Result; Social and Collaborative Networks; Corporate Strategy; Computer Industry