Benchmarks - Publications - Faculty & Research

11 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

Is Amazon a Retailer, a Tech Firm, or a Media Company? How AI Can Help Investors Decide

manager, I'm going to get paid based on how much I do better than my GICS segment. I'm then stuck with using the GICS framework. If you tell me we can’t use GICS anymore, you have to tell me what else to benchmark on. Once I say that the... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Consumer Products; Real Estate; Financial Services; Retail

14 Feb 2023
HBS Case

Is Sweden Still 'Sweden'? A Liberal Utopia Grapples with an Identity Crisis

country is shifting away from the liberal Social Democratic Party that has been the benchmark of its system. Fewer young Swedes are joining unions, and American-style private schools and medical care have taken root. “Americans, myself... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

29 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Is There a Method to Musk’s Madness on Twitter?

consistent with trying to get that particular benchmark in line. We should definitely feel sympathy for all the people at Twitter who have gone through this. But at the same time, we shouldn’t be surprised that Musk has chosen to start... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Technology

18 Mar 2013
HBS Case

HBS Cases: LEGO

Out of work for a year following a serious illness in 1993, Kjeld appointed a five-person management team to help him run the company when he returned. The group focused mainly on driving growth. When a benchmarking study revealed LEGO's... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Entertainment & Recreation

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

Citation

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23 May 2005
Research & Ideas

What Could Bring Globalization Down?

age of globalization? Do you see the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 as a benchmark for the beginning of the end of this first age of globalization? A: To be absolutely precise about dating, I'd say it was from the moment the... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

03 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

How to Succeed With Your New Boss

Your new boss will have more impact than anyone else over whether you succeed or fail. Your boss establishes benchmarks for your success, interprets your actions for other key players, and controls resources you need. Building a... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Watkins

18 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

The Cost of Leaning In

exercises. In many situations, such benchmarks are not so readily available, so women might undervalue what they bring to the table. “Investigating whether factors like this influence the cost (or benefit) of leaning-in is an important... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

22 Dec 2008
Research & Ideas

10 Reasons to Design a Better Corporate Culture

development of dogmatic cults with little capacity for change. High-performing organizations periodically revisit and reaffirm their core values and associated behaviors. Further, they often subscribe to some kind of initiative that requires constant View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser & Joe Wheeler

11 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Budgeting Kills Your Company

model," they write. Among the features of the approach they recommend, which is currently being used by organizations in a range of industries and countries, are the following: Goals based on longer-term external benchmarks instead... View Details

Keywords: by Loren Gary

11 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Branding Sells Cereal, Handbags, and Vacations. Can It Sell a Country?

years, South Korea increased aid and volunteer work abroad, hosted the G-20 Summit, promoted Korean language education, and even advanced the image of its national sport, Taekwondo. While the investment was significant, South Korea ultimately surpassed its View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Tourism

16 Feb 2010
Research & Ideas

The Outside-In Approach to Customer Service

across merchandizing, store operations, and segment owners, senior leadership at Best Buy saw to it that the entire organization embraced an outside-in approach. Q: How long does this process generally take? And what are the benchmarks of... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Consumer Products

21 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

The Most Common Strategy Mistakes

analysts. These all tend to push companies toward what I call "competition to be the best"—the analyst who wants every company to look like the current market favorite, the consultant who helps you benchmark yourself against... View Details

Keywords: by Joan Magretta

28 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

Can Apprenticeships Work in the US? Employers Seeking New Talent Pipelines Take Note

results for apprentices, while beating the benchmark for productivity reported by employers by the system often cited as the gold standard, Switzerland,” Fuller says. “The data supports that CareerWise is working for the apprentices and... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

14 Jun 2010
Research & Ideas

The Hard Work of Measuring Social Impact

chain of changes that need to occur to achieve long-term results. We often talk about how a nonprofit organization should have a theory of change, yet many donors don't have one of their own." Internal Benchmarks Possible Despite the... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

Research Summary

Clinical Trials as a setting for Health Policy and Management Research

The clinical trial marketplace is in flux. A decade ago, pharmaceutical firms almost exclusively conducted the study of their novel drug compounds within major academic medical centers. But today, industry-sponsored clinical trials are increasingly using community... View Details

26 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

How Toyota Turns Workers Into Problem Solvers

American Big Three and many other auto companies had done major benchmarking studies, and they and other companies had tried to implement their own forms of the Toyota Production System. There is the Ford Production System, the Chrysler... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston; Manufacturing; Transportation; Auto

22 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

Pulling Campbell’s Out of the Soup

only one was disengaged, a ratio that exceeded Gallup's "world-class" benchmark of 12:1. More impressively, the engagement ratio for the top 350 leaders was an amazing 77:1. Once the company was solid in both the workplace and... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

20 Oct 2010
Op-Ed

Export Competitiveness: Reversing the Logic

private profitability of activities. This is not only an absolute benchmark to decide whether an individual measure should be introduced but can also be used to compare different policy instruments. Wage-restraint, for example, has mainly... View Details

Keywords: by Christian Ketels

19 Mar 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Overcoming the Stress of ‘Englishnization’

invested in working and speaking together, Neeley says. Managers should also be aware that workers often underestimate their language capabilities. In many cases, testing and offering benchmarks helps calm anxieties, as can limiting... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

Publications