Publications

Teaching Interest

Financial Reporting and Control

By: Suraj Srinivasan

Financial Reporting and Control (FRC) covers topics about how managers can design and use performance measurement systems for external reporting and internal management to build more effective organizations. Throughout their careers, business leaders are required to... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting

July 2010 (Revised December 2011)
Case

Controlling Hot Money

By: Robert C. Pozen

The manager of the Japan Equities Fund is faced with an increase in "hot money" moving quickly in and out of the Fund. This short-term trading is an attempt to take advantage of the difference between the closing times of the Tokyo and New York Stock Exchanges. The CFO... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; International Finance; Investment Funds; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Market Timing; Market Transactions; Financial Services Industry; New York (city, NY)

Educators

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

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Strategy And Execution; Crisis Management; Risk; Core Values; Pharmaceutical Industry

2021
Article

How Top Managers Use the Entrepreneurial Gap to Drive Strategic Change

By: Robert L. Simons and Antonio Davila

Prior research provides strong evidence for the association between business strategy and the design and use of management control systems. We complement this research by examining the role of management control systems in situations of strategic change. We report the... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Accountability; Strategic Change; Organization Change And Adaptation; Organizational Performance; Management Systems; Organizational Structure; Corporate Accountability; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance

This HBS working paper focuses on the relationship between business strategy, organization structure, and diagnostic control systems. The project analyzes data from 75 field studies to illustrate how managers adjust span of accountability and span of control to... View Details

February 2017
Article

The Throne vs. the Kingdom: Founder Control and Value Creation in Startups

By: Noam Wasserman

Does the degree to which founders keep control of their startups affect company value? I argue that founders face a "control dilemma" in which a startup's resource dependence drives a wedge between the startup's value and the founder's ability to retain control of... View Details

Keywords: Founders; Entrepreneurial Management; Value Creation; Governing and Advisory Boards; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups

13 Oct 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Employee Selection as a Control System

Keywords: by Dennis Campbell; Banking

September 2006
Tutorial

Internal Control Process - Online Tutorial

By: David F. Hawkins

Introduces the Internal Control Process by detailing its five components: 1) the internal control environment, 2) risk assessment, 3) internal control activities, 4) information and communications, and 5) monitoring. Includes multiple review exercises throughout the... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Communication; Assets; Governance Compliance; Governance Controls; Policy; Information; Code Law; Risk Management; System; Online Technology

June 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Teaching Note

Scientific Glass Incorporated: Inventory Management (Brief Case)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt

Teaching Note for 4208 View Details

Keywords: Inventory Control; Inventory Management; Materials Management; Order Processing; Warehousing; Logistics; Supply Chain Management

November 1992 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Process Control at Polaroid (A)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Steven C. Wheelwright

Describes the initial efforts at a film production plant to shift from a traditional QC inspection mentality to a worker-based process control mentality. Students can prepare SPC charts, propose actions needed, and combine steps into an overall action plan. View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Operations; Quality; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Processes; Change Management; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry

Educators

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

15 Mar 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Targeted Price Controls on Supermarket Products

Keywords: by Alberto Cavallo and Diego Aparicio; Food & Beverage

Article

How New Top Managers Use Control Systems as Levers of Strategic Renewal

By: R. Simons

Keywords: Management; System; Strategy

2006
Other Unpublished Work

Does Banks' Corporate Control Benefit Firms? Evidence from US Banks' Control over Firms' Voting Rights

By: Joao A.C. Santos and Kristin Wilson

In this paper we examine the importance of banks' corporate control over their borrowers by investigating the loan pricing effect of banks' voting stakes in borrowers. We exploit the fact that banks may hold shares of firms in a fiduciary capacity to identify a clean... View Details

Keywords: Voting; Corporate Governance; Commercial Banking; Banking Industry; United States