Publications

This module reading demonstrates how to calculate and analyze the profit generated by different business strategies. Formulas and examples are provided to calculate profit generated by changes in market share, revenue growth, efficiency improvements, and support costs.... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Evaluating Business Performance; Profitability Analysis; Variance Analysis; Measuring Effectiveness; Measuring Efficiency; Activity-Based Costing; Flexible Budget; Accounting; Strategy

June 2005 (Revised March 2017)
Teaching Note

Siebel Systems: Organizing for the Customer

Teaching Note to (103-014). The Siebel Systems case describes the unusual accountability and organizing choices made by managers of a successful, rapidly growing software development company. The case is set in 2002, but details the critical decisions made by founder... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Execution; Organization Design; Structure; Job Design; Diagnostic Control Systems; Customers; Strategy; Organizational Design

Other Article

My Favorite Slide: The Entrepreneurial Gap Applied to Health Care

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Robert Simons

Value-based health care increases physicians’ accountability for patient outcomes. Many have resisted, claiming that patient outcomes are influenced by many forces outside their control, such as patient’s compliance with post-acute and rehab care. The difference... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Outcome or Result; Motivation and Incentives

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Online Business Strategy Courses | HBS Online

Certificate Strategy Execution Professor Robert Simons Gain the tools, skills, and frameworks to successfully implement strategy within your organization and drive impactful results. 8 weeks, 5-8 hrs/week... View Details

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Doctoral 100 Years - Doctoral

Overview Doctoral 100 Years 1922 Training Men for Teaching Business HBS is authorized by the Harvard University Governing Boards to grant the degree of Doctorate of Commercial Science. 1928 Gragg Awarded First Doctorate of Commercial... View Details

March 2014
Article

Choosing the Right Customer

Companies that win in competitive markets identify a primary customer and dedicate maximum resources to meeting that customer's needs. This article will show you how to identify the best primary customer for your business by analyzing perspective, capabilities, and... View Details

Keywords: Strategy Execution; Customer Focus; Organization Design; Accountability; Management Control Systems; Customer Relationship Management; Organizational Design

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January 1991 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Westchester Distributing, Inc. (A)

By: Robert L. Simons and Robert Boxwell

Focuses on the three-way interaction among internal controls, employee behavior, and incentives. Salesmen are illegally providing kickbacks to customers of this beer-distribution firm. In turn, salesmen are reimbursing themselves by filing fraudulent expense reports.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Crime and Corruption; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Salesforce Management; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Distribution Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

Educators

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Partners - Case Method Project

of 65 Natalie Johnson Khan Lab School Mountain View, CA CA 33 of 65 Doug Jones Cambridge School San Diego, CA Subjects: US History CA 34 of 65 Beth Karzes John Muir Charter School Sacramento, CA CA 35 of 65 Robert Kelly Minarets High... View Details

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HBS Entrepreneurship Summit - Alumni

Programs & Events HBS Entrepreneurship Summit NOV 4-5 4-5 NOVEMBER 2022 HBS ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT: LEADING HIGH-GROWTH VENTURES IN AN UNPREDICTABLE WORLD Brought to you by the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship and Alumni Relations... View Details

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C. Roland Christensen - Christensen Center for Teaching & Learning

spanned half a century. At the time of his death in 1999, he was the Robert Walmsley University Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard. Beloved and revered by generations of HBS students, Christensen regarded... View Details

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Courses - Private Capital Project

Lecturer Jo Tango & Senior Lecturer Archie L. Jones FALL; Q1Q2 This course focuses on venture capital and private equity. It is designed for students who are either new to VCPE or interested in its strategic issues, not for those with... View Details

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Technology & Operations Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Competition Prize from the College of Behavioral Operations at the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS). Frances X. Frei : Recognized by Thinkers50 as one of the world’s leading management thinkers. View Details

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Finance Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Evidence from the Global Syndicated Loan Market” with William L. Megginson, sponsored by the Tuck Business School and the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis . Paul A. Gompers : Winner of the 2002... View Details

September 2016 (Revised January 2018)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 4: Organizing for Performance

This module reading explores the implications of different business models on organization design. After discussing the distinction between units focused on work processes and those devoted to markets, the analysis provides insight as to when to organize businesses by... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Customer Focused Organization; Specialization; Span Of Control; Span Of Accountability; Span Of Attention; Strategy; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure