Publications

SSRN

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October 8, 2012
Column

Henkel's Culture Shift

By: Robert Simons

This case descriibes a CEO-led organizational transformation driven by stretch goals, performance measurement, and accountability. When Kasper Rorsted became CEO of Henkel, a Germany-based producer of personal care, laundry, and adhesives products, in 2008, he was... View Details

Keywords: Strategy Execution; Culture; New CEO; Change; Performance Measures; Accountability; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Accountability; Leading Change; Competitive Strategy; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Consumer Products Industry; Germany

Research Summary

Overview

The Information Age has introduced well recieved opportunities to track performance. Fitbits and Fuelbands show individuals their own performance; service companies including Uber and leading hospitals help pick from drivers or doctors based on how others rate them;... View Details

Keywords: Management Accounting; Performance Measurement; Incentives; Control; Healthcare Industry; Education; Education Industry; Health Industry; Transportation Industry; Energy Industry; Auto Industry; United States; Japan; India

June 2019 (Revised April 2020)
Teaching Note

Vox Capital: Pioneering Impact Investing in Brazil

By: Julie Battilana, Marissa Kimsey and Falko Paetzold

Teaching Note for HBS No. 417-051. This Teaching Note provides conceptual foundations and teaching plan recommendations for the case on Vox Capital, a firm that launched one of the first impact investing funds in Brazil. The learning objectives are to understand how an... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Social Performance Measurement; Social Entrepreneurship; Investment Funds; Social Enterprise; Brazil

July 2012 (Revised February 2017)
Teaching Note

Dovernet

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This is the teaching note for Dovernet (HBS No. 112-061) View Details

Keywords: Execution; Management Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Performance Goals; Incentives; Strategy

May 1991 (Revised January 2017)
Teaching Note

Turner Construction Co.: Project Management Control Systems

By: Robert Simons

Teaching Note for Turner Construction Company: Project Management Control Systems (190-128) View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Execution; Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Projects; Management; Construction Industry

December 2013
Article

Measuring the Value of Process Improvement Initiatives in a Preoperative Assessment Center using Time-driven Activity-based Costing

By: Katy E. French, Heidi W. Albright, John C. Frenzel, James R. Incalcaterra, Augustin C. Rubio, Jessica F. Jones and Thomas W. Feeley

Background: The value and impact of process improvement initiatives are difficult to quantify. We describe the use of time-driven activity-based costing(TDABC)in a clinical setting to quantify the value of process improvements in terms of cost, time and personnel... View Details

Keywords: Quality Improvement; Value Agenda; Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Accounting; Health; Measurement and Metrics; Value; Health Industry; North and Central America

February 2020
Article

Using Charity Performance Metrics as an Excuse Not to Give

By: Christine L. Exley

There is an increasing pressure to give more wisely and effectively. There is, relatedly, an increasing focus on charity performance metrics. Via a series of experiments, this paper provides a caution to such a focus. While information on charity performance metrics... View Details

Keywords: Charitable Giving; Prosocial Behavior; Altruism; Excuses; Self-serving Biases; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Performance; Measurement and Metrics; Behavior

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August 8, 2018
Article

Hospital-based ACOs Face Challenges in Tracking Performance Indicators

By: Christiana Beveridge, Sofia Warner, Greg Leya and Thomas W. Feeley

Given that accountable care organizations (ACOs) have not achieved the degree of cost reductions and quality improvements initially hoped for, we sought to better understand the underlying reasons for their limited success. Our analysis of American Hospital Association... View Details

Keywords: ACOs; Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Performance; Measurement and Metrics

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2011
Article

'Deprival Value' vs. 'Fair Value' Measurement for Contract Liabilities: How to Resolve the 'Revenue Recognition' Conundrum

By: Joanne Horton, Richard H. Macve and George Serafeim

Revenue recognition and measurement principles can conflict with liability recognition and measurement principles. We explore here under different market conditions when the two measurement approaches coincide and when they conflict. We show that where entities expect... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value; Deprival Value; Contract Liabilities; Fair Value Accounting; Measurement and Metrics; Profit; Revenue Recognition; Assets; Performance Evaluation; Contracts

SSRN

10 Mar 2015
News

UCLA Researchers for the first Time Measure the Cost of Care for a Common Prostate Condition

March 2012 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Schön Klinik: Eating Disorder Care

By: Michael E. Porter, Emma Stanton, Jessica A. Hohman and Caleb Stowell

The Schön Klinik is a private, for-profit German hospital group trying to establish itself as a premium health care provider in a competitive German market. The case details Schön Klinik's founding, its early focus on measurement and improvement, and the design and... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Quality; Outcomes; Quality Improvement; Strategy And Performance Measurement; Integration; Measurement and Metrics; Competition; Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; Outcome or Result; Performance Evaluation; Business Processes; Health Industry; Germany

Educators

March 2001
Article

Technological Acquisitions and the Innovation Performance of Acquiring Firms: A Longitudinal Study

By: Gautam Ahuja and Riitta Katila

This paper examines the impact of acquisitions on the subsequent innovation performance of acquiring firms in the chemicals industry. We distinguish between technological acquisitions, acquisitions in which technology is a component of the acquired firm's assets, and... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Acquisitions; Knowledge; Strategy; Knowledge Acquisition; Acquisition; Innovation and Invention; Chemical Industry

06 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Motivate Your High Performers to Share Their Knowledge

the monetary incentives increased it by 13 percent. Combining the two interventions boosted the total by a small but statistically insignificant amount over the structured meetings alone. After the study period ended, however, something surprising happened. When the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

November–December 2006
Article

Customer Metrics and Their Impact on Financial Performance

By: Sunil Gupta and Valarie Zeithaml

Keywords: Customers; Measurement and Metrics; Finance; Performance

01 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

Keeping Track: Performance Measurement, Control & Strategy

managers put into practice in the late 1980s and 1990s. Most recently, we have tried to develop a holistic view of how performance measurement and control systems function in the new economy. A considerable... View Details

Keywords: Re: Robert Simons

April 2007
Article

The Structure, Size, and Performance of Corporate Headquarters

By: David J. Collis, David Young and Michael Goold

Keywords: Size; Performance; Business Ventures