Publications

February 2021
Article

Do Household Wealth Shocks Affect Productivity? Evidence from Innovative Workers During the Great Recession

By: S. Bernstein, T. McQuade and R. Townsend

We investigate how the deterioration of household balance sheets affects worker productivity, and, in turn, economic downturns. Specifically, we compare the output of innovative workers who experienced differential declines in housing wealth during the financial crisis... View Details

Keywords: Great Recession; Household; Financial Condition; System Shocks; Employees; Performance Productivity

May 2019
Supplement

Kjell and Company: Motivating Salespeople with Incentive Compensation (C)

By: Doug J. Chung

Kjell & Company was a Swedish retail electronics chain. The company’s products consisted of home electronics and accessories. The company was noted for its excellent customer service and a fair “one-for-all” HR policy. Historically, the salespeople had been compensated... View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Change Management; Behavior; Electronics Industry; Sweden

January 2017 (Revised April 2018)
Background Note

Introduction to Incentive-based Sales Compensation Systems

By: Willy Shih

This background note explains the structure of incentive-based sales compensation systems. View Details

Keywords: Sales Compensation; Sales Force Compensation; Sales Force Management; Sales; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Industrial Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry; United States

Article

Why Do Pro Forma and Street Earnings Not Reflect Changes in GAAP? Evidence from SFAS 123R

By: Ian D. Gow, Mary E. Barth and Daniel Taylor

This study examines how key market participants—managers and analysts—responded to SFAS 123R's controversial requirement that firms recognize stock-based compensation expense. Despite mandated recognition of the expense, some firms' managers exclude it from pro forma... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Employee Stock Ownership Plan

November 2007 (Revised July 2009)
Supplement

Differences at Work: Martin (B)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Rachel Gordon

In Differences at Work: Martin (B) HBS Case No. 408052 Martin leaves the firm partially because of the incident but he does not tell his firm the reason for his departure. View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Attitudes; Motivation and Incentives; Resignation and Termination

August 1983 (Revised June 1985)
Supplement

Milford Industries (C)

By: Robert J. Dolan and Benson P. Shapiro

Supplements the (A) case. A rewritten version of part of an earlier series. View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Salesforce Management; Resignation and Termination; Performance Evaluation

April 1994 (Revised December 1994)
Case

Vancom Transportation, Inc. (A)

Describes the history and evolution of a school/public bus transit company that has grown rapidly and successfully by gradually pushing responsibility and trust as far down the organizational ladder as possible. A real test comes however, in two major labor relations... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Business Strategy; Labor and Management Relations; Transportation Industry

January 2012 (Revised January 2014)
Case

Mexico City Water Shortage

By: John D. Macomber, Regina Garcia-Cuellar, Griffin H. James and Frederik Nellemann

In this case, a property company, a water privatizer, and municipal engineers explore the causes of and solutions to a severe water shortage in Mexico City, a great global capital. The protagonist is a real estate investor doing due diligence on the magnitude of the... View Details

Keywords: Infrastructure; Environmental Sustainability; Urban Development; Mexico City

12 May 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Equality and Equity in Compensation

Keywords: by Jiayi Bao and Andy Wu

2025
Working Paper

Discrimination, Rejection, and Job Search

By: Anne Boring, Katherine Coffman, Dylan Glover and María José González-Fuentes

We investigate how candidates’ willingness to apply responds to (potential) discrimination and rejection using a simulated labor market. Past work has shown that “blinding” job applications reduces discrimination and increases the rate at which women are hired. Our... View Details

Keywords: Job Search; Prejudice and Bias; Selection and Staffing; Demographics

May 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Technical Note

Education Technology: A Technical Note

By: Boris Groysberg

This note considers educational technology as it intersects with HR technology. View Details

Keywords: Edtech; HR; AI; Data Science; Competency and Skills; Talent and Talent Management; Human Resources; Personal Development and Career; Education Industry; Technology Industry; United States

December 23, 2022
Article

What the World Cup Can Teach Business Leaders About Top Performers

By: Boris Groysberg, Sascha L. Schmidt, Abhijit Naik and Harry Krueger

Our people are our greatest source of competitive advantage." This sentiment is often heralded in companies by everyone from middle managers to HR professionals to CEOs. It is a great sound bite. The problem: It is not true—at least, not entirely. View Details

Keywords: Soccer; Performance; Business; Leadership; Competitive Advantage; Selection and Staffing; Talent and Talent Management

December 2020 (Revised March 2021)
Case

eXp Realty and the Virbela Platform

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Jan Bena, David Rowat and Emma Salomon

As he considered his plans for the future, Glenn Sanford, CEO of eXp World Holdings, Inc., faced an exciting conundrum. He had built the first all-remote real estate brokerage firm, eXp Realty, which had been growing exponentially and was thriving, even amidst the... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; All Remote; Virtual Platform; Internet and the Web; Strategy; Decision Making; Resource Allocation; Digital Platforms; Real Estate Industry; Technology Industry

2017
Working Paper

Rethinking Measurement of Pay Disparity and its Relation to Firm Performance

By: Ethan Rouen

I develop measures of firm-level pay disparity and examine their relation to firm accounting performance. Using comprehensive compensation data for a large sample of firms, I find no statistically significant relation between the ratio of CEO-to-mean employee... View Details

Keywords: Pay Disparity; Pay Ratio; CEO Pay Ratio; Income Inequality; Executive Compensation; Wages; Equality and Inequality; Business Ventures; Performance

SSRN

November 2013
Article

Which U.S. Market Interactions Affect CEO Pay? Evidence from UK Companies

By: Joseph Gerakos, Joseph Piotroski and Suraj Srinivasan

This paper examines how different types of interactions with U.S. markets by non-U.S. firms are associated with higher level of CEO pay, greater emphasis on incentive-based compensation, and smaller pay gap with U.S. firms. Using a sample of CEOs of UK firms and using... View Details

Keywords: CEO Compensation; International Pay; Incentives; Cross-listing; United Kingdom; Motivation and Incentives; Executive Compensation; Globalization; Corporate Governance; United Kingdom; United States

SSRN

January 2013
Article

Payout Taxes and the Allocation of Investment

When corporate payout is taxed, internal equity (retained earnings) is cheaper than external equity (share issues). If there are no perfect substitutes for equity finance, payout taxes may therefore have an effect on the investment of firms. High taxes will favor... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Investment; Equity; Growth and Development Strategy; Resource Allocation