Publications

Teaching Note for 190-053 View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Levers Of Control; Consulting Industry

2017
Working Paper

Empowering Bureaucracy: Achieving Non-Hierarchical Control and Employee Autonomy Through Dynamic Formal Roles

By: Michael Lee

Hierarchy and formal structure are conventionally viewed as two tightly coupled dimensions of organization design. As organizations move from more hierarchical to less hierarchical authority structures, they also tend to reduce formal structure. However, organic... View Details

Keywords: Organization Design; Autonomy; Decentralization; Self-Managed Organizations; Formalization; Roles; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Management Systems

August 2017
Supplement

Quiet Logistics: CEO Bruce Welty Discusses New Robotics Company

By: Robert L. Simons and Jennifer Packard

This is a video supplement to Quiet Logistics A (HBS No. 115-001) and Quiet Logistics B (HBS No. 115-003). View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Risk and Uncertainty

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

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June 2017
Teaching Note

Organizing for Performance: Four Vignettes

By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard

Teaching Note for HBS No. 117-062. View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Organization; Span Of Control; Resource Allocation

January 2009 (Revised April 2017)
Teaching Note

American Cancer Society: Access to Care

Teaching Note for [109015]. View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Strategy And Execution; Levers Of Control; Non-profit; Non-Governmental Organizations; Nonprofit Organizations

24 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

SuperCorp: Values as Guidance System

another aligned with the core set of principles. This kind of human control system does not work perfectly by itself, but it certainly reduces the need for rules and thus helps people feel autonomous. Rather... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

April 1991 (Revised March 2017)
Teaching Note

Westchester Distributing, Inc. (A) and (B)

Teaching Note for (9-191-118) and (9-191-119). View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Internal Controls; Risk Management; Food and Beverage Industry; Distribution Industry

2015
Chapter

How Leaders Use Values-based Guidance Systems to Create Dynamic Capabilities

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Matthew Bird, Ethan Bernstein and Ryan Raffaelli

How do strategic leaders create change-adept organizations? Based on qualitative field research, this chapter argues that well-defined institutionalized purpose, values, and principles act as an organizational guidance system that integrates and strengthens the... View Details

Keywords: Dynamic Capabilities; Field Research; Intrinsic Motivation; Organizational Identity; Ecosystem; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Motivation and Incentives; Research; Management Systems; Change

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April 2012 (Revised June 2014)
Case

Capitalizing for the Future: HSBC in 2010

By: Anette Mikes and Dominique Hamel

Following the financial crisis of 2007/2008, HSBC CEO Michael Geoghegan saw a fundamental change in global opportunities and risks. With increasing regulation and fierce competition between banks, the Western hemisphere was going to be a tougher place to do business.... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Competitive Strategy; Control Systems; Finance; Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Emerging Markets; Risk Management; Business Strategy; Banking Industry

Educators

June 2012 (Revised February 2017)
Teaching Note

Henkel: Building a Winning Culture

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This is the teaching note for Henkel: Building a Winning Culture (HBS No. 112-060) View Details

Keywords: Execution; Management Control Systems; Performance Goals; Incentives; Levers Of Control; Strategy

May 2017
Supplement

ATH Technologies (E)

By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard

Supplements the (A) case. Designed as an in-class handout. View Details

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

October 2011
Case

Raleigh & Rosse: Measures to Motivate Exceptional Service

By: Robert Simons and Michael Mahoney

In January 2010, U.S. luxury goods retailer Raleigh & Rosse is being sued by its employees for encouraging "off the clock" hours. At the center of the class action lawsuit is the famous Raleigh & Rosse performance measurement system previously thought to be the core of... View Details

Keywords: Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Goal Setting; Compensation; Incentives; Motivation; Sales Compensation; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Growth Management; Lawsuits and Litigation; Organizational Culture; Management Systems; Customer Focus and Relationships; Employees; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Retail Industry; United States

Educators

November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 13: Identifying Strategic Risk

This module reading begins by describing the three sources of strategic risk—operations risk, asset impairment risk, and competitive risk—and demonstrates how these risks can undermine an entire business. To assist in the identification of these risks, the risk... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Risk Assessment; Operational Control; Asset Impairment; Franchise Risk; Fraud; Strategy; Information Management

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System

study of the system in more than 40 plants, the authors came to understand that at Toyota it's the very rigidity of the operations that makes the flexibility possible. That's because the company's operations can be seen as a continuous... View Details

Keywords: by H. Kent Bowen & Steven Spear; Manufacturing; Transportation; Auto

March 1999 (Revised April 2017)
Teaching Note

Citibank: Performance Evaluation

By: Robert Simons and Antonio Dávila

Teaching Note for (9-198-048). View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Performance Measures; Performance Evaluation; Balanced Scorecard; Banking Industry

January 2025
Article

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System Implementations and Corporate Misconduct

By: Jonas Heese and Joseph Pacelli

This study examines whether enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations are associated with reductions in corporate misconduct. Specifically, we study the relation between staggered facility-level rollouts of ERP systems and facility-level regulatory violations... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governance Compliance

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May 2017
Supplement

ATH Technologies (C)

By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard

Supplements the (A) case. Designed as an in-class handout. View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Performance Management; Balancing Innovation And Control; Management Systems; Performance; Health Industry

September 1994 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Chemalite, Inc. (B): Cash Flow Analysis

By: Robert Simons and Antonio Davila

Students are asked to use actual and pro forma financial statements to prepare a statement of cash flows under both the direct and indirect method. View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow Analysis; Strategy Execution; Management Control Systems; Analysis; Cash Flow; Financial Statements

Educators