Publications
Publications
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(5,824)
- Faculty Publications (1,427)
- February 1991
- Case
Burlington Northern: The ARES Decision (A)
By: Julie H. Hertenstein and Robert S. Kaplan
Burlington Northern's decision whether to invest in ARES, an automated train control system, is a ($350 million) strategic investment in information technology. Although set in a service industry (railroad) the issues around this decision arise in many organizations... View Details
- February 1991 (Revised February 1992)
- Case
Appex Corp.
By: Nitin Nohria
1990 Business Week named Appex Corp. the fastest growing high-technology company in the United States. Appex provided management information systems and intercarrier network services to cellular telephone companies. During its rapid growth, the company went through... View Details
Keywords: Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Culture; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Performance Productivity; Problems and Challenges; Management Practices and Processes; Business Divisions; Information Management; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States
- February 1991 (Revised November 2010)
- Case
Tennessee Controls: The Strategic Ranking Problem
By: Robert L. Simons and Dale Geiger
Tennessee Controls has instituted a new formal asset acquisition process to rank competing proposals. Judy Starnes, the new division manager, is asked to rank three proposals by using techniques to quantify economic returns, risk, as well as the credibility of the... View Details
- January 1991 (Revised March 1992)
- Case
USA Today
By: Robert L. Simons
USA Today is a national newspaper struggling to achieve profitability. This case focuses on the use of management control systems to identify emerging opportunities and the formulation of new strategies. The interactive system used by top managers--the Friday... View Details
Keywords: Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Managerial Roles; Forecasting and Prediction; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Labor and Management Relations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Journalism and News Industry; United States
- January 1991
- Article
Strategic Orientation and Top Management Attention to Control Systems
By: R. Simons
- Article
Total Quality Management and the Human Resource Professional: Applying the Baldrige Framework to Human Resources
By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Christopher L. Hart
The still evolving discipline of total quality management (TQM) has left many human resource professionals confused about their role. The authors believe that the HR function personnel should spearhead company quality efforts, as well as assess the performance of their... View Details
- July 1990
- Case
Ceramics Process Systems Corp. (B)
By: Kim B. Clark and Brent D. Barnett
Ceramics Process Systems (CPS) is an advanced ceramics company facing problems with lead time in product/process development, and late delivery of prototype parts to its customers. Engineering is confronted with difficult technical problems and multiple objectives... View Details
- July 1990 (Revised October 1999)
- Case
Nordstrom: Dissension in the Ranks? (A)
By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston
In 1989, the performance measurement systems and compensation policies of Nordstrom Department Stores unexpectedly came under attack by employees, unions, and government regulators. The case describes the "sales-per-hour" monitoring and compensation system that many... View Details
- July 1990 (Revised August 1995)
- Case
Symantec--1982-90
By: Nitin Nohria
As Symantec grew from a small, upstart software development company to a major player in the software development industry, the channels of information flow and the internal communication needs of the company became more complex. The geographically-dispersed structure... View Details
- July 1990 (Revised October 1997)
- Case
Siemens Electric Motor Works (A) (Abridged)
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Explores how a cost system can help support a firm's decision to change strategies. In the process, the students are introduced to a simple activity-based cost system. Siemens Electric Motor Works found itself facing an increasingly competitive environment and so made... View Details
- Article
A Model for Managing System Conflict during Franchise Expansion
By: P. J. Kaufmann and V. K. Rangan
- May 1990
- Teaching Note
Xerox Corp.: Executive Support Systems, Teaching Note
- March 1990 (Revised October 1999)
- Case
Turner Construction Company: Project Management Control Systems
By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston
After providing a brief overview of Turner Construction Co.'s structure and project work, the case gives a detailed description of its project management control system, the IOR system. In addition to explaining the mechanics of the IOR system, the case identifies the... View Details
- March 1990
- Case
Lehrer McGovern Bovis, Inc. (Abridged)
Describes the growth of a construction management company and the operating problems it now encounters. Designed to introduce students to the value of competition in the construction industry, to show how the techniques of value analysis can be used to strategic... View Details
- March 1990 (Revised June 1991)
- Case
IBM Corp.: ""Make It Your Business"" (A)
By: Robert L. Simons
In 1987, IBM changed its strategy in an attempt to become a market-driven company rather than a product-driven company. The case begins with a description of the new strategy and the reasons for the change and then describes the top-down sales planning and quota system... View Details
- March 1990 (Revised June 1993)
- Case
Analog Devices, Inc.: The Half-Life System
By: Robert S. Kaplan
The company has committed to major improvements in quality, cost, and on-time delivery performance. Despite strong senior management support, however, the actual rate of improvement was disappointing until a new measurement philosophy was introduced. The new approach... View Details
- March 1990 (Revised October 1999)
- Case
Mary Kay Cosmetics: Sales Force Incentives (A)
By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston
Describes the incentive system by which Mary Kay Cosmetics motivates the sales force of 200,000 independent agents who comprise the firm's only distribution channel. Illustrates the powerful effect on sales-force behavior that results when creative types of employee... View Details
- February 1990 (Revised July 1990)
- Case
Internal Revenue Service: Automated Collection System
By: Nitin Nohria
Describes how the IRS's collection operations changed from a largely manual system (COF) to an automated system (ACS). A central aspect of ACS was the electronic scheduling and maintaining of work. While with ACS the IRS accomplished significant improvements in the... View Details
- January 1990 (Revised June 1995)
- Case
Colliers International Property Consultants
By: Nitin Nohria
Describes the origins, organizational structure, management practices, and use of information technology (IT) in Colliers, a real estate network. Colliers provides local firms with a way to maintain local autonomy while gaining national and international coverage.... View Details
- January 1990 (Revised February 1990)
- Teaching Note
Sedalia Revisited, Teaching Note
By: Roy D. Shapiro
Teaching Note for (9-687-004). View Details
Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Design; Quality; System; Employees; Framework; Competition; Production; Strategy