Publications

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

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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

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

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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

1986
Chapter

Promise Them Anything: The Incentive Structures of Local Public Pension Plans

By: Dutch Leonard

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Public Sector; Government and Politics; Local Range; Motivation and Incentives

Find at Harvard

01 Jun 2009
News

Faculty Books

given predictable, reliable, low-cost care) and iterative (the patient’s condition is unknown; tremendous resources may be required for diagnosis and treatment, often with uncertain outcomes). To reduce costs and manage care effectively,... View Details

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

Web

Leading Race Work in Business Schools - Race, Gender & Equity

Roberts Laura Morgan Roberts is a Professor of Practice at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Laura’s research and consulting focus on the science of maximizing human potential in... View Details

27 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Gen AI Marketing: How Some 'Gibberish' Code Can Give Products an Edge

on which side you’re looking from.” It also expands the debate around similar practices in search-engine optimization. Just as marketers were able to figure out how to adjust product descriptions to rank higher in search engine... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Technology

March 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Supplement

Arck Systems (E)

By: Ian Larkin

The Arck Systems series of cases describes the dilemmas faced by a senior sales manager in determining a sales compensation plan at an enterprise software company. The existing compensation plan is aggressive and highly rewards "star" performers. The cases track a... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Framework; Compensation and Benefits; Organizational Design; Performance Evaluation; Salesforce Management; Motivation and Incentives; Software

October 2010
Case

Scollon Productions: Working with a Bunch of Characters

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Chad Carr

As the sole female employee in an 11 person production shop, Lisa Ocheltree complained about being subjected to crass sexual "jokes" and antics; after being discharged, she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against her former employer, Scollon Productions, alleging... View Details

Keywords: Working Conditions; Ethics; Employee Relationship Management; Lawsuits and Litigation; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Gender

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

February 2003 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Large Scale Change at The WSSC

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Corey B. Hajim

Describes the organizational transformation occurring at the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC), a public utility. Faced with the possibility of privatization after decades of providing service in the absence of competition or performance pressures, the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Change Management; Restructuring; Privatization; Resignation and Termination; Utilities Industry

June 2000 (Revised July 2000)
Case

ORIX KK

By: Malcolm S. Salter and Andrew Eggers

Describes the challenges facing a Japanese financial services company as it attempts to maintain its ability to attract and retain talented employees. The CEO's ideas of corporate governance and evidence from the competitive labor environment suggest the need for more... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Geographic Location; Financial Services Industry; Japan

October 1982
Supplement

Ideal Standard France: Pat Paterson, Video

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

A two-part taped interview with Pat Paterson. Paterson describes the action he took in dealing with his company's profit problems, then talks about the outcome. His decision to dismiss 1,500 workers may have accelerated the company's bankruptcy. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Profit; Resignation and Termination; Outcome or Result; Problems and Challenges

Web

Undergraduate Technology Innovation Fellows Program | MBA

individuals or teams will create (or continue working on) a venture, practice pitching that venture, and receive meaningful feedback from faculty co-chairs and experts in the field. More Innovation Resources... View Details

06 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

How Small Wins Unleash Creativity

nourishers. "You don't need a lot of resources to do any of those things," she says. "We're not talking about hiring fancy comics to perform at lunchtime. You just need to make people feel supported as people. And it's... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

May 2017
Case

Vicki Fuller: Chief Investment Officer of New York State's $150+ Billion Employee Pension Fund

By: Steven Rogers and Valerie Mosley

Vicki Fuller traveled from a four-room tenement bordering Chicago’s infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects to speaking at conferences around the world and typically holding court wherever she went. As a teenager, she helped raise her siblings. As a Wall Street... View Details