Publications
Publications
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(828)
- Faculty Publications (151)
- June 2000 (Revised July 2000)
- Case
ORIX KK
By: Malcolm S. Salter and Andrew Eggers
Describes the challenges facing a Japanese financial services company as it attempts to maintain its ability to attract and retain talented employees. The CEO's ideas of corporate governance and evidence from the competitive labor environment suggest the need for more... View Details
- February 2000 (Revised August 2000)
- Case
Microsoft Latin America
By: Robert S. Kaplan, Alberto Ballve and Antonio Davila
Mauricio Santillan, regional vice president for the Latin American division of Microsoft, has introduced a new performance measurement system to help his country managers formulate and control strategy. Microsoft Latin America's priorities are rolling out of an... View Details
- May 1999 (Revised March 2001)
- Case
Marshall Industries
Confounding predictions that the Internet would "disintermediate" commerce, making "middle man" companies all but obsolete, Marshall Industries, a leading electronics distributor, used the Internet and digital technologies to reinvent itself. Marshall continued to sell... View Details
- December 1998
- Background Note
Cash Management Practices in Small Companies
By: H. Kent Bowen, Andrew R. Jassy, Laurence E. Katz, Kevin E. Kelly and Baltej Kochar
Most small business managers claim that cash management is their leading concern. Often walking a tightrope between growth and illiquidity, small business managers face different cash management challenges than their counterparts in larger companies. Compared to larger... View Details
- 1998
- Working Paper
CEO Incentives and Firm Size
By: Brian Hall and George P. Baker
What determines CEO incentives? A confusion exists among both academics and practitioners about how to measure the strength of CEO incentives, and how to reconcile the enormous differences in pay sensitivities between executives in large and small firms. We show that... View Details
- April 1998 (Revised May 2000)
- Case
Guidant Corporation: Shaping Culture Through Systems
By: Robert L. Simons and Antonio Davila
Guidant is a successful IPO start-up selling pacemakers and defibrillators. The case describes how managers install systems to balance innovation and control. Three parts of a shareholder value strategy are described. Controls include incentive systems, beliefs... View Details
- January 1998
- Article
Tradeoffs within Costing Systems between Incentives and Measurement Objectives
By: M. Alles, S. Datar and M. Gupta
- December 1997
- Case
Making the Grade (A)
By: Robert L. Simons
Focuses on the dilemma of a young professor at a graduate school of business. He must decide what final grade to give a student who has worked extremely hard, but he is constrained by the school's "forced curve" grading policy. Designed to explore the multiple purposes... View Details
- April 1997
- Case
Peoria Engine Plant (A): (Abridged)
By: Robert S. Kaplan and Amy P. Hutton
Describes the cost control system used at an automobile engine plant for labor and overhead costs. The finance staff prepares daily, weekly, and monthly variance reports against budgets. Department supervisors, finance staff, and the plant manager discuss the use and... View Details
- March 1997 (Revised November 2013)
- Case
Purity Steel Corporation, 2012
By: Robert L. Simons and Antonio Davila
Managers introduce a new performance evaluation system based on sales growth and return-on-investment (ROI). A branch manager wonders whether his new warehouse should be leased to mitigate the impact on ROI. Formulas and performance calculations are provided. A... View Details
- January 1994
- Case
ABC Sales and Service Division: A Case Study of Personal and Organizational Transformation
By: D. Quinn Mills, Brock W. Orwig, Janet M. Pumo, Todd C. Stilson and Richard C. Wei
In the midst of dramatic changes in the information systems industry and declining profits at the ABC Co., the vice president in charge of the sales and service division, Jeff, and his managers attempt to transform their division. The transformation gets off to a good... View Details
- November 1993 (Revised March 1997)
- Case
Romeo Engine Plant
By: Amy P. Hutton and Robert S. Kaplan
A newly reopened automobile engine plant has been organized along total quality and teamwork principles. Employees now is to solve problems and ensure quality, rather than watch parts being produced. New operating and financial systems have been installed to promote... View Details
- June 1993 (Revised November 2007)
- Case
Duckworth Industries, Inc.--Incentive Compensation Programs
A private company is considering an introduction of a long-run incentive compensation system in which payoffs to managers are determined by the economic value added for shareholders by their individual business units. The proposed new system is compared to a number of... View Details
- September 1991 (Revised January 2017)
- Teaching Note
Nordstrom: Dissension in the Ranks? (A) and (B)
By: Robert Simons
Teaching Note for Nordstrom: Dissension in the Ranks, Case A (191-002) and Case B (192-027) 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
- 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 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
- November 1989
- Teaching Note
H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (A), (B), (C), and (D), Teaching Note
By: Kenneth E. Goodpaster and Thomas R. Piper
Teaching Note for (9-382-034, 035, 036, and 037). View Details
- winter 1988
- Article
Management Buyouts and Managerial Efforts
By: Robert F. Bruner and Lynn S. Paine
Management buyouts, which have played an important role in the recent wave of corporate restructurings, have been criticized from several directions. This article addresses the problems created by management's conflict of interest. As members of the buyout team,... View Details