Publications

July 1993 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Sears Auto Centers (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Michael Santoro

The CEO of Sears must decide how to respond to allegations that the company's auto repair division has been misleading consumers and charging them for unnecessary repairs. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Organizational Culture; Compensation and Benefits; Management Teams; Employees; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Improvement; Auto Industry

July 1993
Article

Compensation Plans for Single- and Multi-Product Salesforces: An Application of the Holmstrom-Milgrom Model

By: R. Lal and V. Srinivasan

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Product

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

Article

CEO Compensation in Financially Distressed Firms: An Empirical Analysis

By: S. C. Gilson and M. R. Vetsuypens

Keywords: Management; Compensation and Benefits; Business Ventures

January 1993 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Sally Jameson: Valuing Stock Options in a Compensation Package

By: Peter Tufano

Details a thinly disguised situation faced by a recent Harvard MBA graduate who was forced by a prospective employer to place a dollar value on a grant of stock options. There are two objectives: 1) Serves as an introduction to option valuation, in which students have... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Stock Options; Compensation and Benefits

October 1992 (Revised October 1993)
Case

MCI Communications Corporation: National Accounts Program (Condensed)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Concerns the early stages of a major-account program at MCI, a telecommunications firm seeking to penetrate the corporate-account market. Among the issues are: 1) coordination of field sales efforts with national account selling efforts; 2) sales strategy for major... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Decision Choices and Conditions; Training; Compensation and Benefits; Management Practices and Processes; Marketing Strategy; Groups and Teams; Sales

March 1992 (Revised October 1994)
Case

AT&T Consumer Products

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Describes the factors AT&T Consumer Products managers considered in deciding whether to locate a new plant for telephone answering machines in the United States, Asia, or Mexico. Describes in depth the restructuring of AT&T during the 1980s, the competition facing its... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Competitive Strategy; Trade; Management; Operations; Crime and Corruption; Executive Compensation; Selection and Staffing; Demand and Consumers; Asia; Mexico

March 1992 (Revised June 1992)
Case

AT&T Productos de Consumo de Mexico

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Describes in detail the decisions AT&T made in designing and staffing their Mexican telephone answering machine plant. Allows students to evaluate a company's detailed implementation decisions on a plant in a developed country--involving wages, benefits, waste... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Executive Compensation; Selection and Staffing; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Systems; Mexico

1992
Chapter

Reward Systems in the Role of Compensation

By: M. Beer

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives

August 1991 (Revised February 1992)
Case

Gain Sharing at Star Cablevision Group

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Sarah Ann Greene

Describes Star's experiment with gain sharing over a three-year period. Background on the industry and company's history are provided to establish the context for the shift to pay-for-performance. Describes the three different gain sharing programs, the resulting... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Service Delivery; Performance Productivity; Television Entertainment; Compensation and Benefits; Media and Broadcasting Industry

January 1991 (Revised March 2010)
Supplement

Westchester Distributing, Inc. (B)

By: Robert L. Simons and Robert Boxwell

Describes the actions taken by the owner/president to resolve the dilemma. View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Customers; Problems and Challenges; Governance Controls; Compensation and Benefits; Behavior; Distribution Industry

Article

Enfranchisement of Service Workers

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and James Heskett

Enfranchisement is achieved through an integration of empowerment with methods of pay for performance. Evidence from Ito Yokado Group in Japan and Nordstrom in the US demonstrates the positive effects of enfranchisement. Successful efforts to enfranchise employees: 1.... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Franchise Ownership; Employees; Compensation and Benefits; Service Industry; Japan; United States

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1991
Article

How Management Bonus Plans Affect Reported Earnings

By: Paul M. Healy

Keywords: Management; Compensation and Benefits; Business Earnings

fall 1990
Article

A Preface to Payment: Designing a Sales Compensation Plan

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Keywords: Sales; Compensation and Benefits; Design