Publications

September 2000 (Revised October 2002)
Background Note

Professional Services Module Seven: Becoming a Professional

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda and Scot H. Landry

Discusses strategies for balancing private and professional life. View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Success; Work-Life Balance

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June 1998 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Wells Fargo Online Financial Services (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Nicole Tempest

Wells Fargo, the industry leader in electronic banking, has implemented a Balanced Scorecard in its online financial services group (OFS) to track and measure performance. The OFS group develops and supports services that allow existing and future banking customers to... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Internet and the Web; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Finance; Change; Situation or Environment; Measurement and Metrics; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

November 1996 (Revised April 1999)
Case

United Way of Southeastern New England (UWSENE)

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Ellen L. Kaplan / RA

A regional United Way organization, a nonprofit already active in total quality management, implements a Balanced Scorecard to link its strategic planning objectives with day-to-day operations, and is able to translate its vision and strategy into objectives and... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Nonprofit Organizations; Governing and Advisory Boards; Strategy; United States

March–April 1979
Article

How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy

By: M. E. Porter

Many factors determine the nature of competition, including not only rivals, but also the economics of particular industries, new entrants, the bargaining power of customers and suppliers, and the threat of substitute services or products. A strategic plan of action... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Strategy

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August 1998 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Wells Fargo Online Financial Services (B)

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Nicole Tempest

Describes how the Balanced Scorecard built by the Online Financial Services (OFS) group is used to select the highest-priority initiatives for the organization. Currently, initiatives arise continually throughout the organization, and management spends considerable... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Internet and the Web; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Finance; Change; Situation or Environment; Measurement and Metrics; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry

01 Mar 2023
News

Know Your HBS Staff: Morgane Herculano

July 2012
Case

LEGO

By: Jan W. Rivkin, Stefan Thomke and Daniela Beyersdorfer

LEGO has emerged as one of the most successful companies in the toy industry. The case describes LEGO's gradual rise, rapid decline, and recent revitalization as it is keeping up with a changing market place. Central to LEGO's management model is the ability to find... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Management; Innovation; Operations Management; Organizational Change And Transformation; Operations; Competitive Strategy; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

May 15 2018
Testimonial

Creating an Agile Organization

09 Jun 2016
Cold Call Podcast

Hold on to Your Complexity: Bringing Multiple Identities to Work

Keywords: Re: Lakshmi Ramarajan; Financial Services

Career Coach

Ryan Kim

Ryan (HBS '02, Harvard College '95) is particularly interested in helping students and alumni find balance and meaning in their career choices. Throughout his adult life, he has attempted to balance... View Details

Keywords: Investment Banking; Financial Services (All); Private Equity; Financial Services (All); Search Fund; Financial Services (All); Impact Investing; Financial Services (All)

March 19, 2015
Article

Dealing with the Unique Work-Life Challenges of Family Businesses

By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer

Maintaining a work-life balance in family businesses can be challenging. The extremes of being "all in" or "all out" are unproductive. The article highlights the importance of setting boundaries, separating family time from work time, using effective communication,... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Work-Life Balance

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October 2011 (Revised July 2013)
Case

Delta/Signal Corp.

By: V.G. Narayanan, Lisa Brem and Matthew Packard

This auto parts company has just ousted its longtime CEO and founder, and the new, professional CEO is badly in need of a coherent strategy, clear objectives and metrics, and initiatives that are aligned with the strategy and objectives. Will the balanced scorecard... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Business Strategy; Financial Reporting; Leading Change; Performance Evaluation; Growth and Development Strategy; Web Services Industry; Auto Industry

February 2022
Article

Borrowing to Save? The Impact of Automatic Enrollment on Debt

By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian and William L. Skimmyhorn

Does automatic enrollment into a retirement plan increase financial distress due to increased borrowing outside the plan? We study a natural experiment created when the U.S. Army began automatically enrolling newly hired civilian employees into the Thrift Savings Plan.... View Details

Keywords: Retirement Savings; Automatic Enrollment; Choice Architecture; Nudge; Financial Distress; Retirement; Saving; Borrowing and Debt; Behavior

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June 2001 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Tradeoffs: Juggling Careers in Professional Services Firms with Private Life

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda, Scot Landry and Scott M O'Neil

Balancing professional and private lives continues to challenge single and committed partners alike. Professionals are expected to work long hours. It is simply part of the ethos of professional service firms. This case focuses on the lives of three couples connected... View Details

Keywords: Work-Life Balance; Family and Family Relationships; Problems and Challenges; Service Industry

Oct 09 2014
Testimonial

Expanding Horizons for Home-Grown Leaders

November 2003 (Revised August 2005)
Case

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation

By: Robert S. Kaplan

First Commonwealth Financial Corp., a financial institution in central and southwestern Pennsylvania, implemented the Balanced Scorecard for describing and implementing its new customer-focused strategy. Its founder and chairman decided that the Balanced Scorecard also... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Corporate Strategy; Customers; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Customer Relationship Management; Executive Compensation; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; Pennsylvania

02 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Mapping Your Corporate Strategy

Since the 1990s, the Balanced Scorecard system has cut a path in business as a more rigorous way to measure performance by quantifying what had been considered intangible assets, such as human capital, information, and culture. The system... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Robert S. Kaplan

Robert S. Kaplan is Senior Fellow and Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development, Emeritus at the Harvard Business School. He joined the HBS faculty in 1984 after spending 16 years on the faculty of the business school at Carnegie-Mellon University, where he... View Details

Keywords: health care; nonprofit industry

September 2015
Teaching Note

Unidentified Industries: Australia 2014

By: Benjamin C. Esty and William E. Fruhan, Jr.

Helps students to understand how the characteristics of a business are reflected in the firm's financial statements. In this exercise, students are given balance sheet data in percentage form (common-size balance sheets) and other selected financial ratios for a set of... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Finance; Financial Management; Australia