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- All HBS Web (2,142)
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- Research Summary
Management Control Issues of International Ventures
William J. Bruns, Jr. is conducting (with Sharon M. McKinnon of Northeastern University) a field study of control issues that arise in international ventures between U.S. and European companies. Bruns' research is aimed at answering questions raised by earlier... View Details
- June 2009 (Revised April 2017)
- Teaching Note
Merck: Managing Vioxx (A)-(G)
By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred
Teaching Note for [109080], [109081], [109082], [109083], [109084], [109085], and [109086]. View Details
- Article
Competition and Cost Accounting
By: V.G. Narayanan and Michael Smith
The central theme of Competition and Cost Accounting is that strategic considerations may make it desirable for a firm to have divisions and product managers internalize something other than their true costs. In the case of transfer prices, a high transfer price... View Details
Keywords: Cost Allocation; Transfer Pricing; Decentralization; Bertrand And Cournot Competition; Cost Accounting
Narayanan, V.G., and Michael Smith. "Competition and Cost Accounting." Foundations and Trends® in Accounting 7, no. 3 (2012): 131–195. (Published: 11 April 2013.)
- June 2025
- Article
What Board-level Control Mechanisms Changed in Banks Following the 2008 Financial Crisis? A Descriptive Study
By: Shelly Li, Shivram Rajgopal, Suraj Srinivasan and Yu Ting Forester Wong
Following the 2008 financial crisis, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) identified major shortcomings in bank board governance, contributing to systemic risk management failures. This study adapts a management control framework and empirically examines... View Details
Keywords: Board Of Directors; Management Control; Governing and Advisory Boards; Governance Controls; Risk Management; Change Management; Banks and Banking; Financial Crisis
Li, Shelly, Shivram Rajgopal, Suraj Srinivasan, and Yu Ting Forester Wong. "What Board-level Control Mechanisms Changed in Banks Following the 2008 Financial Crisis? A Descriptive Study." Art. 101596. Accounting, Organizations and Society 114 (June 2025).
- 2005
- Book
Levers of Organization Design: How Managers Use Accountability Systems for Greater Performance and Commitment
By: R. Simons
Simons, R. Levers of Organization Design: How Managers Use Accountability Systems for Greater Performance and Commitment. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2005.
- 2014
- Working Paper
The Effect of Management Control Elements on Coordination
By: Sara Bormann, Jan Bouwens and Christian Hofmann
This study examines how control elements of a firm affect coordination among profit centers. The firm operates a network of 59 profit centers. It uses a transfer-pricing system designed to account for interdependencies between profit centers and to induce coordination.... View Details
Bormann, Sara, Jan Bouwens, and Christian Hofmann. "The Effect of Management Control Elements on Coordination." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 14-092, March 2014.
- April 1993 (Revised May 1993)
- Case
Safeway Manufacturing Division: The Manufacturing Control System (MCS) (A)
Describes a decision that SMD management made to implement an MRP II system in its 38 plants. Raises the issues that needed to be addressed to enable the implementation, and is positioned so the students can develop a detailed implementation plan. View Details
Stoddard, Donna B., and Maryellen C. Costello. "Safeway Manufacturing Division: The Manufacturing Control System (MCS) (A)." Harvard Business School Case 193-134, April 1993. (Revised May 1993.)
- Teaching Interest
Finance Reporting and Control
Financial Reporting and Control (FRC) is a course about how leaders can design and use performance measurement systems to build more effective organizations. Throughout their careers, business leaders are required to... View Details
- May 2017 (Revised June 2017)
- Case
ATH Technologies (A): Making the Numbers
By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard
An exercise that takes students through five stages of growth in an entrepreneurial start-up in the medical devices industry: 1) founding, 2) growth, 3) push to profitability, 4) refocusing process, and 5) takeover by new management. At each stage, students must... View Details
Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Balancing Innovation And Control; Performance Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Profit; Geographic Location; Governance Controls; Innovation and Invention; Management Succession; Performance Evaluation; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry
Simons, Robert, and Jennifer Packard. "ATH Technologies (A): Making the Numbers." Harvard Business School Case 117-013, May 2017. (Revised June 2017.)
- Article
Management Accounting and Control: Lessons for and from the World's Tiniest Businesses
By: Srikant M. Datar, Marc J. Epstein and Kristi Yuthas
The article discusses skills microentrepreneurs need to manage and expand their businesses. After interviewing hundreds of microfinance clients around the globe, the authors were able to identify five tools drawn from management accounting where improved knowledge... View Details
Keywords: Governance Controls; Expansion; Business or Company Management; Microfinance; Cost Management; Risk Management; Budgets and Budgeting; Accounting; Opportunities
Datar, Srikant M., Marc J. Epstein, and Kristi Yuthas. "Management Accounting and Control: Lessons for and from the World's Tiniest Businesses." Strategic Finance 91, no. 5 (November 2009).
- November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
- Module Note
Strategy Execution Module 7: Designing Asset Allocation Systems
By: Robert Simons
This module reading provides tools and analyses for acquiring and allocating resources. The module begins by reviewing the importance of setting strategic boundaries as a basis for asset acquisitions. Next, a distinction is made between new assets acquired to meet... View Details
Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Asset Allocation Systems; Payback; Discounted Cash Flow; Internal Rate Of Return; Strategic Investments; Analyzing Acquisitions; Strategy; Capital Budgeting
Simons, Robert. "Strategy Execution Module 7: Designing Asset Allocation Systems." Harvard Business School Module Note 117-107, November 2016. (Revised December 2016.)
- April 1991 (Revised March 2017)
- Teaching Note
Westchester Distributing, Inc. (A) and (B)
By: Robert Simons
Teaching Note for (9-191-118) and (9-191-119). View Details
- February 2019
- Technical Note
Can Multiunit Organizations Remain Agile as They Grow?
By: Tatiana Sandino
This note discusses how multiunit organizations incorporate flexibility into their management control systems, some by authorizing all or a select number of their dispersed units to make input and process decisions, some by investing in data-analytic technologies to... View Details
Keywords: Management Control Systems; Flexibility; Management Systems; Business Units; Decision Making
Sandino, Tatiana. "Can Multiunit Organizations Remain Agile as They Grow?" Harvard Business School Technical Note 119-067, February 2019.
- Teaching Interest
Financial Reporting and Control
By: Paul M. Healy
Throughout their careers, business leaders are required to measure and evaluate their organization's economic performance, improve resource allocation and strategy implementation within their organizations, and build accountability for performance through effective... View Details
- Winter 2011
- Article
Developing Good Measures to Advance Management Accounting and Control Research: A Discussion of 'Corporate Frugality: Theory, Measurement and Practice'
By: Tatiana Sandino
Sandino, Tatiana. "Developing Good Measures to Advance Management Accounting and Control Research: A Discussion of 'Corporate Frugality: Theory, Measurement and Practice'." Contemporary Accounting Research 28, no. 4 (Winter 2011): 1388–1396.
- August 1994
- Case
Higashimaru Shoyu Company, Ltd. (A): Price Control System
Illustrates how Japanese firms use profit pressures to increase efficiency. In particular, explores how pseudo profit centers create pressure on workers to increase revenues and reduce costs, and the use of semiautonomous teams in a traditional Japanese workforce. View Details
Keywords: Cost Management; Groups and Teams; Organizational Structure; Performance Efficiency; Management Systems; Japan
Cooper, Robin. "Higashimaru Shoyu Company, Ltd. (A): Price Control System." Harvard Business School Case 195-050, August 1994.
- 1 Nov 2013
- Conference Presentation
The Entrepreneurial Gap: How Managers Adjust Span of Accountability and Span of Control to Implement Business Strategy
By: Robert L. Simons
- Teaching Interest
Financial Reporting and Control
Throughout their careers, business leaders are required to measure and evaluate their organization's economic performance, improve resource allocation and strategy implementation within their organizations, and build accountability for performance through effective... View Details
- June 2010 (Revised April 2017)
- Teaching Note
Pfizer: Letter from the Chairman (A) and (B)
By: Robert Simons and Kathryn Rosenberg
Teaching Note for 110003 and 110004. View Details
- June 2010
- Article
Quality Management and Job Quality: How the ISO 9001 Standard for Quality Management Systems Affects Employees and Employers
By: David I. Levine and Michael W. Toffel
Several studies have examined how the ISO 9001 Quality Management System standard predicts changes in organizational outcomes such as profits. This is the first large-scale study to explore how employee outcomes such as employment, earnings, and health and safety... View Details
Keywords: Quality; Management; Standards; Employees; Wages; Organizations; Profit; Safety; Health; Policy
Levine, David I., and Michael W. Toffel. "Quality Management and Job Quality: How the ISO 9001 Standard for Quality Management Systems Affects Employees and Employers." Management Science 56, no. 6 (June 2010): 978–996. (Appendix. Profiled by industry practitioners in Quality Digest, Quality Progress, ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB).)