Publications

September 1996 (Revised April 1998)
Case

Mobil USM&R (B): New England Sales and Distribution

By: Robert S. Kaplan

The general manager of a local gasoline/distillate sales and distribution business unit must communicate a new strategy to the unit's 300 employees. An initial strategic planning exercise identified a high-priority list of opportunities that blended the parent... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Adoption; Strategic Planning; Customization and Personalization; Management Practices and Processes; Growth and Development Strategy; Measurement and Metrics; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Evaluation; Energy Industry; Mining Industry; United States

February 2011 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Braddock Industries, Inc.

By: William E. Fruhan

This case examines the drivers of economic value creation for shareholders, and how these drivers are reflected in various incentive compensation programs for management. The case also looks at how the economic performance of business units can be evaluated using... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Investment; Executive Compensation; Measurement and Metrics; Performance Evaluation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Motivation and Incentives; Value Creation

14 Nov 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas: November 14, 2017

with Data Science.” The course provides MBA students with no programming experience an introduction to the field of data science and its applications in business. Students learn to (1) carefully articulate the business ask, (2) reason carefully from the ask; through... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Article

Market Reaction to and Valuation of IFRS Reconciliation Adjustments: First Evidence from the UK

By: Joanne Horton and George Serafeim

We investigate the market reaction to, and the value-relevance of, information contained in the mandatory transitional documents required by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 1 (2005). We find significant negative abnormal returns for firms reporting... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Markets; Information; International Finance; Earnings Management; Stock Shares; Taxation; Goodwill Accounting; Price; Financial Reporting; Standards; Corporate Disclosure; United Kingdom

10 Sep 2013
First Look

First Look: September 10

of metrics to describe TV programs and broadcast advertising. Co-Founder and CEO Deb Roy said: "We want to measure audience engagement, not just media consumption." But what was the value of audience engagement? How could it be... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 May 2013
Research & Ideas

Can LEGO Snap Together a Future in Asia?

Asia," as one LEGO executive put it. Uncertainties of Asian retail. Many Asian countries lack a developed retail network. And while big chains like Walmart and Tesco are growing in China, the country still relies on many small retailers, few of which use common... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Entertainment & Recreation

Article

The Best of Both Worlds: Integrating Conscious and Unconscious Thought Best Solves Complex Decisions

Two studies address the debate over whether conscious or unconscious mental processes best handle complex decisions. According to Unconscious Thought Theory (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006), both modes of thinking have particular advantages: conscious thought can follow... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Values and Beliefs; Information; Knowledge Management; Management Skills; Management Style; Measurement and Metrics; Success; Research; Cognition and Thinking; Personal Characteristics; Perception

January 2022 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Introducing EVA at ISS: A Better Way to Evaluate CEO Performance and Compensation?

By: Jonas Heese, Charles C.Y. Wang and James Weber

In early 2019, Anthony Campagna, the global director of fundamental research at ISS EVA, a unit of the proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), was preparing to release ISS's analyses of public company performance and CEO compensation ahead of Say... View Details

Keywords: Jobs and Positions; Compensation and Benefits; Performance; Performance Productivity; Measurement and Metrics; Analytics and Data Science; Value; Business or Company Management; Performance Evaluation; Business and Shareholder Relations

11 Sep 2006
Research & Ideas

Negotiating When the Rules Suddenly Change

judgment or tactical execution. Having a metric in place that rates your priorities and weighs tradeoffs will enable you to make good decisions on the fly. Axiom #3: Learn And Adapt Bolstering your capacity to sense and respond is key to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Wheeler; Sports

20 Oct 2009
First Look

First Look: October 20

is a network of successful private health clinics that primarily serve middle-income populations but which have the potential to reach low-income markets. On what basis should Acumen decide whether or not to invest? What performance View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

28 Jan 2002
Research & Ideas

Read All About It! Newspapers Lose Web War

facing the Internet. Note that in the newspaper industry, digital content initially started with different advertising customers, a different business model, and a whole set of performance characteristics that made it appear unattractive on the View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation; Information; Publishing

Article

Effects of Cultural Ethnicity, Firm Size, and Firm Age on Senior Executives' Trust in Their Overseas Business Partners: Evidence from China

By: Crystal Jiang, Roy Y.J. Chua, Masaaki Kotabe and Janet Murray

We investigate trust relationships between senior business executives and their overseas partners. Drawing on the similarity-attraction paradigm, social-categorization theory, and the distinction between cognition- and affect-based trust, we argue that executives trust... View Details

Keywords: Ethnicity; Culture; Management Teams; Cognition and Thinking; Networks; Globalized Firms and Management; Partners and Partnerships; Business Growth and Maturation; Size; Trust; China

Read Now

June 2007
Article

Efficient Kidney Exchange: Coincidence of Wants in a Structured Market

By: A. E. Roth, Tayfun Sonmez and M. Utku Unver

Patients needing kidney transplants may have donors who cannot donate to them because of blood or tissue incompatibility. Incompatible patient-donor pairs can exchange donor kidneys with other pairs only when there is a "double coincidence of wants." Developing... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Size; Emotions; Human Needs; Health Care and Treatment; Health Testing and Trials; Infrastructure; Supply Chain Management; Fairness; Performance Improvement; Health Industry

15 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Connecting Goals and Go-To-Market Initiatives

and making alignment of strategy and sales difficult. Performance management practices. Performance management is not just performance measurement or compensation, although both are important. Performance management is a systemic process for moving from strategy to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

December 2003 (Revised October 2005)
Case

High-Definition TV: The Grand Alliance

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Describes political and economic forces that influenced the development of an all-digital, high-definition television (HDTV) standard in the United States between 1986 and 1996. Outlines the stakes for various government and industry participants in the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment; Policy; Management Practices and Processes; Emerging Markets; Standards; Business and Government Relations; Networks; Research and Development; Technology Adoption; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Technology Industry; Japan; Europe; United States

September 2004
Article

Trust in Agency

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell

Existing models of the principal-agent relationship assume the agent works only under extrinsic incentives. However, many observed agency contracts take the form of a fixed payment. For such contracts to succeed, the principal must trust the agent to work in the... View Details

Keywords: Trust; Agency Theory; Relationships; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Contracts; Business Model; Emotions; Forecasting and Prediction; Ethics; Standards; Risk and Uncertainty

January 2022 (Revised December 2022)
Case

TotalEnergies’ Investment in Hyzon Motors

By: Vikram S. Gandhi and David Lane

In November 2021, Girish Nadkarni, the head of TotalEnergies’ corporate venture capital arm (TEV) was considering whether, and on what terms, to exit an investment in Hyzon Motors, a start-up supplier of hydrogen-powered trucks. TEV had invested $4 million in Hyzon,... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Communication Intention and Meaning; Renewable Energy; Venture Capital; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Design; Standards; Commercialization; Investment Portfolio; Market Transactions; Energy Industry; Financial Services Industry; Transportation Industry; Europe; New York (city, NY)