Publications

2025
Working Paper

Pushing the Envelope: The Effects of Salary Negotiations

By: Zoë B. Cullen, Bobak Pakzad-Hurson and Ricardo Perez-Truglia

Salary negotiations are a widespread phenomenon that can shape key labor market outcomes, such as welfare and inequality. We provide novel empirical and theoretical insights into the causes and consequences of salary negotiations. We conducted two field experiments... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Negotiation; Policy; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Welfare

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2006
Article

Performance Measure Properties and the Effect of Incentive Contracts

By: J. Bouwens and L. van Lent

Using data from a third-party survey on compensation practices at 151 Dutch firms, we show that less noisy or distorted performance measures and higher cash bonuses are associated with improved employee selection and better-directed effort. Specifically, (1) an... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Data and Data Sets; Problems and Challenges; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Netherlands

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Working Paper

Benchmarking Against the Performance of High Profile 'Scandal' Firms

By: Emre Karaoglu, Tatiana Sandino and Randy Beatty

In recent years, several high profile firms engaged in accounting fraud that resulted in severe investor losses and erosion of trust in the capital markets. We examine high profile accounting "scandals" prosecuted by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Unlike most... View Details

Keywords: Earnings Management; Ethics; Executive Compensation; Performance Evaluation; Financial Services Industry; United States

SSRN

Article

The Psychological Costs of Pay-for-Performance: Implications for the Strategic Compensation of Employees

By: Ian Larkin, L. Pierce and F. Gino

Keywords: Cost; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Strategy; Employees

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March 2006 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Manchester Bidwell Corporation (A)

By: James L. Heskett

The head of Manchester Bidwell Corp. ponders what it will take to replicate its social services in 100 cities across North America and internationally--an effort that ultimately would cost several hundred million dollars. View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Social Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Growth Management; Welfare; North and Central America

July 2003 (Revised December 2004)
Case

Sustainable Conservation--Where Next?

Sustainable Conservation (SusCon) is an environmental nonprofit in San Francisco that works collaboratively with the private and public sectors to achieve positive environmental change. The organization forms partnerships with industry and government agencies to devise... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Cost vs Benefits; Expansion; Environmental Sustainability; San Francisco

September 1989
Background Note

Performance Curves: Costs, Prices, and Value

By: Robert J. Dolan and Benson P. Shapiro

Explains the concept of a family of performance curves. The most well known is the price/performance curve relating the prices of items in a product line to their performance. Also discusses the cost/performance curve and its impact on product positioning, product line... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Price; Product Positioning; Performance; Competition; Value

16 May 2024

Life at HBS Chat with HBS Club of Sweden (In Person)

Join for a unique opportunity to learn more about the HBS MBA experience and life at HBS from alumni. This special event, hosted by the HBS Club of Sweden, is available both in-person and online. During this event alumni will share their reflections on their... View Details

07 Dec 2022
News

Dubai-Based Proptech Builds Up

Dubai to Saudi Arabia and beyond. "There are almost 25,000 short-term rentals here in Dubai and 550 companies are operating them," he said. "These are often small companies that do a great job, but in a piecemeal manner. They don't necessarily have access to technology... View Details

30 Oct 2019
News

Creating Agents of Change

Susana Eshleman (MBA 1998) is president and CEO of Children International. In this interview she talks about the goals and benefits of running an international nonprofit organization. “Children International is a global nonprofit... View Details

September 2003
Case

Executive Compensation at Reckitt Benckiser plc

By: V.G. Narayanan, Krishna G. Palepu and Lisa Brem

Investors felt betrayed by the increasingly lucrative pay packages awarded to CEOs and other top executives at multinational companies. Yet, board members charged with adequately rewarding executives were forced to compete with rising packages of salaries and stock... View Details

Keywords: Design; Stock Options; Investment Activism; Corporate Accountability; Compensation and Benefits; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Management Teams; Business and Shareholder Relations; Consumer Products Industry; Netherlands; United States

09 Feb 2012
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Online Marketing

benefit merchants through advertising, simply by informing consumers of a merchant's existence via e-mail. For some merchants, the benefits of offering discount vouchers are sharply reduced if individual... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Technology

29 May 2001
Research & Ideas

Genomics: Can We Start Making Money Now?

new drugs and therapies that can be tailored to individuals and result in fewer side effects. Advances in treatments of cancer and infectious diseases are likely to be early benefits of work in genomics, Lechleiter said. Another potential... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

27 Jul 2023
Blog Post

Recruiting International Students is Easy and Beneficial for Employers

specializes in working with international students throughout the visa process. “Most [employers] are frustrated by the limited number of H1B visas and are afraid they won’t win a number in the H1B lottery. But students already have up to three years of U.S. work... View Details

Platform for Dialogue

and schools to build creative curriculum is possible and desirable given the immense benefits it brings to debate and discussion in the classroom. As a historian, discovering new archival materials is no doubt exhilarating. And while I... View Details

June 2007 (Revised December 2007)
Case

AFL-CIO: Office of Investment and Home Depot

By: Rakesh Khurana and James Weber

Describes the AFL-CIO: Office of Investments activities in their campaign to improve governance at Home Depot by calling attention to Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli's compensation package and the company's poor performance. The AFL-CIO Office of Investments advocates... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Labor Unions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business and Shareholder Relations

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