Publications

January 2009
Teaching Note

Consumer Payment Systems — United States and Japan

By: Benjamin Edelman and Andrei Hagiu

Teaching Note for [909006] and [909007]. View Details

Keywords: Cash; Cost; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Efficiency; Technology; Alliances; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; United States; Japan

2024
Working Paper

Corporate Culture Homogeneity and Top Executive Incentive Design: Evidence from CEO Compensation Contracts

By: Dennis Campbell, Ruidi Shang and Zhifang Zhang

We examine how corporate cultures characterized by high degrees of homogeneity in the underlying values and beliefs of organizational members are related to the design of CEO incentive compensation contracts. We argue that culture homogeneity within firms lowers... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Culture; Compensation Design; Accounting; Management Control; Incentive Systems; Organizational Culture; Job Design and Levels; Governance; Executive Compensation; Motivation and Incentives

June 1998 (Revised March 2017)
Teaching Note

Chemalite, Inc. (B): Cash Flow Analysis

By: Robert Simons and Antonio Davila

Teaching Note for (9-195-130). View Details

Keywords: Execution; Management Control Systems; Cash Flow Analysis; Profit Planning; Strategy

March 2000 (Revised April 2017)
Teaching Note

The Cross Country Group: A Piece of the Rock (A) and (B)

By: Robert Simons and Indra A. Reinbergs

Teaching Note for (9-199-044) and (9-100-044). View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Strategy And Execution; Compensation; Performance Measures

October 2002 (Revised March 2017)
Teaching Note

DIENA

By: Robert Simons and Indra Reinbergs

Teaching Note for (102-001) View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Execution; Management Control Systems; Organization Design; Implementing Strategy; Pulp and Paper Industry; Publishing Industry; Latvia

June 2017
Teaching Note

Quiet Logistics (A) and (B)

By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 115-001 and 115-003. View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Five Forces; Risk; Adaptability; Distribution Industry; Technology Industry; United States

January 2013 (Revised March 2017)
Teaching Note

Luotang Power: Variances Explained (Brief Case)

By: Robert Simons and Craig Chapman

The primary objective is to explore the concepts of variance analysis in performance from one year to the next and the predictability of contracting counterparts to extract value from contract positions where they can. The general manager of a coal-fired power plant... View Details

Keywords: Variance Analysis; Strategy And Execution; Profitability Analysis; Management Control Systems; Contracts; Valuation; Energy Generation; Accounting; Performance Evaluation; China

June 2010
Article

Quality Management and Job Quality: How the ISO 9001 Standard for Quality Management Systems Affects Employees and Employers

By: David I. Levine and Michael W. Toffel

Several studies have examined how the ISO 9001 Quality Management System standard predicts changes in organizational outcomes such as profits. This is the first large-scale study to explore how employee outcomes such as employment, earnings, and health and safety... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Management; Standards; Employees; Wages; Organizations; Profit; Safety; Health; Policy

Find at Harvard

December 1997 (Revised May 2017)
Teaching Note

Kidder, Peabody & Co.: Creating Elusive Profits

By: Robert Simons and Antonio Dávila

Teaching Note for (9-197-038). View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Internal Controls; Risk Management; Risk And Uncertainty; Risk Assessment; Profit

August 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 1: Managing Organizational Tensions

This module reading lays the foundation for executing strategy using performance measurement and control systems. Properly applied, these systems can overcome the organizational blocks that impede the potential of all people who work in modern organizations. This... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Strategy Execution; Performance Measurement; Profit Planning; Organization Design; Profitable Growth; Management Attention; Organizational Conflict; Human Behavior; Strategy; Ethics; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Design; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Performance; Measurement and Metrics

November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 12: Aligning Performance Goals and Incentives

This module reading explains how managers use performance goals and incentives to ensure that employee actions align with the overall business strategy of the organization. The module begins by discussing how managers use goals to communicate business strategy, the... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Performance Goals; Performance Measures; Incentives; Benchmarks; Motivation; Compensation; Bonuses; Strategy

June 2010 (Revised January 2017)
Teaching Note

Continental Media Group: Business Highlights

Teaching Note for 110087. View Details

Keywords: Execution; Management Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Informal Management; Emergent Strategy; Management; Profit; System; Opportunities; Strategy; Risk and Uncertainty; Media and Broadcasting Industry

November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 8: Linking Performance to Markets

This module reading shows how to link profit plans and other performance measurement systems to both internal and external markets. Starting with the transfer of goods and services within a firm, the module discusses the different methods of designing transfer pricing... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Transfer Pricing; Activity Based Costing; Return On Investment; Residual Income; EVA; Strategy; Cost Accounting; Activity Based Costing and Management; Markets; Investment Return

Research Summary

Overview

Professor Simons is currently studying how executives make their businesses more competitive using innovative structural designs and performance measurement systems. He has a number of ongoing research projects on this topic, and teaches MBA and executive education... View Details

Keywords: Strategy Execution; Organization Design; Management Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Competitiveness

November 1997 (Revised April 2017)
Teaching Note

Compagnie du Froid, S.A.

By: Robert Simons, Antonio Dávila, Kathryn Rosenberg and Jennifer Packard

Teaching Note for (9-197-085). View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Strategy And Execution; Variance Analysis; Performance Measurement; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe

November 1997 (Revised April 2017)
Teaching Note

Purity Steel Corporation, 2012

By: Robert Simons and Antonio Dávila

Teaching Note for (9-197-082). View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Performance Measurement; ROI; Transfer Pricing; Steel Industry

March 2011 (Revised April 2021)
Case

The Whiz Kids

By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen

In October 1945, Henry Ford II received a telegram in his office at the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan written by Charles "Tex" Thornton, a U.S. Air Force colonel. The telegram presented an opportunity for Ford to deploy a system of statistical control which... View Details

Keywords: Ford Motor Company; Statistical Control; Management Systems; Accounting; Operations; Strategy; Mathematical Methods; Auto Industry; United States

Educators

2013
Working Paper

These Are the Good Old Days: Foreign Entry and the Mexican Banking System

By: Stephen Haber and Aldo Musacchio

In 1997, the Mexican government reversed long-standing policies and allowed foreign banks to purchase Mexico's largest commercial banks and relaxed restrictions on the founding of new, foreign-owned banks. The result has been a dramatic shift in the ownership structure... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Balance and Stability; Foreign Direct Investment; Banks and Banking; Society; Economics; Banking Industry; Mexico

SSRN

January 2020
Article

The Market Reacts Quickly: Changes in Paclitaxel Vascular Device Purchasing Within the Ascension Healthcare System

By: Peter P. Monteleone, Subhash Banerjee, Priya Kothapalli, Ariel Dora Stern, Daniel Fehder, Ron Ginor, Dominic Vollmar, Edward T. A. Fry and Mark J. Pirwitz

Background. A meta-analysis of trials in endovascular therapy suggested an increased mortality associated with treatment exposure to paclitaxel. Multiple publications and corrections of prior data were performed, and the United States Food and Drug Administration has... View Details

Keywords: Medical Devices; Health Testing and Trials; Analysis; Sales