Publications

2015
Working Paper

The Impact of Funds: An Evaluation of CDC 2004-12

By: Josh Lerner, Ann Leamon, Steve Dew and Dong Ik Lee

CDC was founded in 1948 as part of the U.K. government's efforts to develop the economic resources of Britain's remaining colonies. Since then, CDC has pursued a series of strategies to "do good without losing money," as its original mission was phrased. Its approach... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Great Britain

27 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Build 'Scaffolds' to Improve Performance of Temporary Teams

interdependent tasks, and stable, appropriate composition, Edmondson says. "Here we say we've got only the minimal version of those four factors-just a whisper of those things-and yet we get an awful lot of benefit." Performance... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Health

Article

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Corporate Compliance Programs: Establishing a Model for Prosecutors, Courts, and Firms

By: Eugene F. Soltes

When prosecutors, courts, and regulators make charging and sentencing decisions, they must evaluate whether firms have effective compliance programs. Such evaluations are difficult because of the challenges associated with measuring effectiveness. Notably, these... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governance Compliance; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Evaluation

December 2012
Article

Grand Innovation Prizes: A Theoretical, Normative, and Empirical Evaluation

By: Alan MacCormack, Fiona Murray, Scott Stern and Georgina Campbell

This paper provides a systematic examination of the use of a Grand Innovation Prize (GIP) in action—the Progressive Automotive Insurance X PRIZE—a $10 million prize for a highly efficient vehicle. Following a mechanism design approach we define three key dimensions for... View Details

Keywords: Design; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Performance; Auto Industry

January 2018
Technical Note

Business at the Base of the Pyramid: Understanding Impact and Impact Evaluations

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Tricia Gregg

Unlike financial success, there is no clear consensus regarding how best to define and measure social impact. This HBS Technical Note written for students of the HBS MBA course Business at the Base of the Pyramid (BBOP), offers readers pragmatic perspectives on how the... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Social Issues; Value Creation; Human Needs; Performance Evaluation

Educators

October 1995 (Revised January 1999)
Case

Western Chemical Corporation: Divisional Performance Measurement (A)

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Roger Atherton

The president and controller of Western Chemical Corp. are discussing the best way to measure and report performance of foreign subsidiaries. One subsidiary is a joint venture with its own borrowing capacity; another is wholly owned; and a third is wholly owned and... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Financial Reporting; Performance Evaluation; Chemical Industry

Educators

14 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

The New Measures for Improving Nonprofit Performance

all levels is cutting programs. How will this affect the evolution of performance management? Morino: Relatively speaking, there's been remarkable progress in the nonprofit sector in the area of View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

2010
Working Paper

Investment Taxation and Portfolio Performance

By: Daniel B. Bergstresser and Jeffrey Pontiff

Taxes have a first-order impact on portfolio returns. Most research mistakenly assumes that portfolios command similar tax burdens, or that tax burdens are proportional to dividend yields. Portfolio strategies differ in the pace of capital gains realization. We use the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Taxation; Performance Evaluation

March 8, 2016
Article

Cognitive Fatigue Influences Students' Performance on Standardized Tests

By: Hans Henrik Sievertsen, F. Gino and Marco Piovesan

Using test data for all children attending Danish public schools between school years 2009–2010 and 2012–2013, we examine how the time of the test affects performance. Test time is determined by the weekly class schedule and computer availability at the school. We find... View Details

Keywords: Time Management; Education; Performance Evaluation; Education Industry; Denmark

February 2014
Supplement

Evaluating Microsavings Programs: Green Bank of the Philippines (C)

By: Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan, Wesley Yin and Marc Shotland

Keywords: Saving; Innovation and Invention; Measurement and Metrics; Product Design; Success; Performance Evaluation; Banking Industry; Philippines

February 2014
Supplement

Evaluating Microsavings Programs: Green Bank of the Philippines (B)

By: Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan, Wesley Yin and Marc Shotland

Keywords: Microfinance; Saving; Innovation and Invention; Measurement and Metrics; Product Design; Success; Performance Evaluation; Banking Industry; Philippines

1987
Chapter

Evaluating Foreign Investment with Special Reference to Southeast Asia

By: L. T. Wells Jr.

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Performance Evaluation; Developing Countries and Economies; Asia

August 2012
Article

Surviving the Global Financial Crisis: Foreign Ownership and Establishment Performance

By: Laura Alfaro and Maggie Chen

We examine the differential response of establishments to the recent global financial crisis with particular emphasis on the role of foreign ownership. Using a worldwide establishment panel dataset, we investigate how multinational subsidiaries around the world... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Financial Crisis; Multinational Firms and Management; Analytics and Data Science; Business Subsidiaries; Production; Finance; Performance; Ownership

January 2022 (Revised March 2022)
Module Note

Analysis of Financial and Non-Financial Information for Forecasting Performance

By: Charles C.Y. Wang

This note describes the main themes and cases of a teaching module on the analysis of information from, and outside of, financial statements for forecasting firms’ future financial performance. The module’s pedagogical goal is to deepen students’ understanding of the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Performance; Analysis; Valuation; Accounting; Finance

March 2007
Article

Authority, Risk, and Performance Incentives: Evidence from Division Manager Positions inside Firms

By: Julie Wulf

I show that performance incentives vary by decision-making authority of division managers. For division managers with broader authority, i.e., those designated as corporate officers, both the sensitivity of pay to global performance measures and the relative importance... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Performance; Risk and Uncertainty; Business Model; Globalization; Measurement and Metrics; Status and Position; Forecasting and Prediction; Business Divisions

Working Paper

Benchmarking Against the Performance of High Profile 'Scandal' Firms

By: Emre Karaoglu, Tatiana Sandino and Randy Beatty

In recent years, several high profile firms engaged in accounting fraud that resulted in severe investor losses and erosion of trust in the capital markets. We examine high profile accounting "scandals" prosecuted by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Unlike most... View Details

Keywords: Earnings Management; Ethics; Executive Compensation; Performance Evaluation; Financial Services Industry; United States

SSRN

December 1979
Article

Evaluating and Comparing Projects: Simple Detection of False Alarms

By: John S. Hammond and John W. Pratt

Keywords: Performance Evaluation