Publications

Teaching Interest

Managing Human Capital

By: Ethan S. Bernstein

The Managing Human Capital course has been specifically designed to teach practical skills for the future general manager (not just the human resource practitioner) who seeks to manage both other people and her or his own career with optimal... View Details

October 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 6: Evaluating Strategic Profit Performance

By: Robert Simons

This module reading demonstrates how to calculate and analyze the profit generated by different business strategies. Formulas and examples are provided to calculate profit generated by changes in market share, revenue growth, efficiency improvements, and support costs.... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Evaluating Business Performance; Profitability Analysis; Variance Analysis; Measuring Effectiveness; Measuring Efficiency; Activity-Based Costing; Flexible Budget; Accounting; Strategy

December 1988 (Revised November 1989)
Case

Provigo, Inc. (A): Management Incentives for Superior Performance

03 Oct 2013
News

Study: Rankings Affect Student Applications

TeachingInterests

Performance Management for Nonprofit Organizations (Executive Education, Faculty Co-chair)

This Executive Education course —a joint program presented by the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative and Harvard University's Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations—explores the impact of measurement on resource allocation, organizational learning, internal processes,... View Details

Article

A Performance Management System: Research, Design, Introduction and Evaluation

By: Michael Beer, Robert Ruh, Jack A. Dawson, B.B. McCaa and Michael J. Kavanagh

Web

Application Requirements - Doctoral

Admissions & Financial Support Application Requirements Interested in applying to one of our fully funded PhD Programs? Before you begin, learn more about our application requirements. Please note that View Details

Fall 2013
Article

The Role of Performance Measures in the Intertemporal Decisions of Business Unit Managers

Accounting performance measures are often argued to lead to short-sighted behavior by managers facing intertemporal decisions. We assess the association between different types of performance measures and the time horizon of business unit managers who have profit... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Performance Evaluation

14 Sep 2012
Working Paper Summaries

What Do Managers Do? Exploring Persistent Performance Differences among Seemingly Similar Enterprises

An abstract is unavailable at this time. View Details

Keywords: by Robert Gibbons & Rebecca Henderson

March 2007
Article

Authority, Risk, and Performance Incentives: Evidence from Division Manager Positions inside Firms

By: Julie Wulf

I show that performance incentives vary by decision-making authority of division managers. For division managers with broader authority, i.e., those designated as corporate officers, both the sensitivity of pay to global performance measures and the relative importance... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Performance; Risk and Uncertainty; Business Model; Globalization; Measurement and Metrics; Status and Position; Forecasting and Prediction; Business Divisions

Read Now

July 2012
Teaching Note

Performance Management at Vitality Health Enterprises, Inc. (Brief Case)

By: John Bingham and Michael Beer

1999
Book

High Performance Nonprofit Organizations: Managing Upstream for Greater Impact

By: William P. Ryan, Allen Grossman and Christine W. Letts

Keywords: Performance; Nonprofit Organizations; Management

June 2014 (Revised February 2017)
Teaching Note

Atlanta Schools: Measures to Improve Performance

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This is the teaching note for Atlanta Schools: Measures to Improve Performance (HBS No. 114-001) View Details

Keywords: Execution; Management Control Systems; Risk; Balancing Innovation And Control; Strategy; Risk Management; Education Industry

2007
Conference Presentation

The Management of Alliance Portfolios and Their Performance Implications

By: Ranjay Gulati

August 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 1: Managing Organizational Tensions

By: Robert Simons

This module reading lays the foundation for executing strategy using performance measurement and control systems. Properly applied, these systems can overcome the organizational blocks that impede the potential of all people who work in modern organizations. This... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Strategy Execution; Performance Measurement; Profit Planning; Organization Design; Profitable Growth; Management Attention; Organizational Conflict; Human Behavior; Strategy; Ethics; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Design; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Performance; Measurement and Metrics

September 2016
Supplement

ZenRecruit: Sales Coaching and Performance Reviews

By: Mark N. Roberge

Amara Kaggwa leads the small but rapidly expanding sales team at ZenRecruit, a recruiting software application used by small businesses. Armed with six months of sales performance metrics, Kaggwa is preparing for her monthly performance conversations with two... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Salesforce Management; Applications and Software; Employees; Performance Evaluation; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry

December 2013 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Atlanta Schools: Measures to Improve Performance

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

The widespread cheating scandal that rocked the Atlanta public school system in 2010 and 2011 illustrates how high-stakes performance pressure, without sufficient risk controls, can drive dangerous behavior. After becoming superintendent of the low-income and... View Details

Educators