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Generative AI Will Change Your Business. Here's How to Adapt.
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleThe race is on to see which brands can deliver. -
Putting the Balanced Scorecard to Work
Balanced scorecard Magazine ArticleWhat do companies like Rockwater, Apple Computer, and Advanced Micro Devices have in common? They’re using the scorecard to measure performance and set strategy. -
Appraisal of What Performance?
Organizational Development Magazine ArticlePresent performance appraisal techniques evaluate behavior by making subjective and impressionistic judgments rather than quantitative judgments and providing... -
Office of Strategy Management
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleThere is a disconnect in most companies between strategy formulation and strategy execution. On average, 95% of a company's employees are unaware of,... -
Social-Impact Efforts That Create Real Value
Sustainable business practices SpotlightThey must be woven into your strategy and differentiate your company. -
Generative AI Will Enhance — Not Erase — Customer Service Jobs
Technology and analytics Digital ArticleCompanies should start looking now for creative ways to tap the power of human-machine collaboration. -
Contribution Margin: What It Is, How to Calculate It, and Why You Need It
Accounting Digital ArticleDo you know what your most profitable product is? -
Reinventing Performance Management
Employee performance management Magazine ArticleHow one company is rethinking peer feedback and the annual review, and trying to design a system to fuel improvement -
Ending the War Between Sales and Marketing
Sales & Marketing Magazine ArticleSales departments tend to believe that marketers are out of touch with what's really going on in the marketplace. Marketing people, in turn, believe the... -
Building a Learning Organization
Organizational Development HBR BestsellerContinuous improvement programs are proliferating as corporations seek to better themselves and gain an edge. Unfortunately, however, failed programs... -
Overselling Sustainability Reporting
Sustainable business practices Magazine ArticleWe’re confusing output with impact. -
No-Nonsense Guide to Measuring Productivity
Operations strategy Magazine ArticleA few years ago, a major manufacturing-based conglomerate asked a gifted mathematician to join its corporate staff. One of his first assignments was to design a system that senior managers could use to evaluate the operating efficiency of the company’s various divisions. He devoted many months to the assignment and also tapped the knowledge of […] -
AI Isn’t Ready to Make Unsupervised Decisions
Decision making and problem solving Digital ArticleToday’s algorithms still largely lack empathy, ethics, and the ability to see the bigger picture. -
How to Give Meaningful Feedback
Differentiate luck from skill when measuring performance. -
Lean Service Machine
Technology & Operations Magazine ArticleJefferson Pilot Financial (JPF), a life insurance and annuities firm, was looking for new ways to grow. Its top managers recognized that JPF needed to... -
Understanding What Your Sales Manager Is Up Against
Sales & Marketing Magazine ArticleEvery year, the research firm CSO Insights publishes the results of its Sales Performance Optimization survey, an online questionnaire given to more than... -
Designing High-Performance Jobs
Organizational Development Magazine ArticleTales of great strategies derailed by poor execution are all too common. That's because some organizations are designed to fail. For a company to achieve... -
Coming Up Short on Nonfinancial Performance Measurement (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleIncreasingly, companies are measuring customer loyalty, employee satisfaction, and other nonfinancial areas of performance that they believe affect profitability.... -
Don't Let Metrics Undermine Your Business
Organizational Development Magazine ArticleEvery day, at almost every company, strategy is being hijacked by numbers. Because strategy is abstract, employees often mentally replace it with the... -
The Hierarchy of Objectives
Performance indicators Magazine ArticleThere are objectives within objectives, within objectives. They all require painstaking definition and close analysis if they are to be useful separately and profitable as a whole.
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Responsibility Centers and Performance Measurement
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Introduces the concepts of responsibility centers and performance measurement. Expense centers, financial responsibilities such as profit centers, and... -
Assembling Smartphones: Takt Time ≠ Cycle Time?
Technology & Operations Case Study14.00View Details The case was prepared to be used as part of a process review in the first year Technology and Operations Management course at HBS. It offers students... -
Atlanta Schools: Measures to Improve Performance
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details The widespread cheating scandal that rocked the Atlanta public school system in 2010 and 2011 illustrates how high-stakes performance pressure, without... -
Headspace in 2018
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95View Details Headspace in 2018 examines the company as it charts a new trajectory. The case follows the point of view of Randhir Vieira, Head of Product at Headspace,... -
Activity Based Management at W.S. Industries (B)
Finance & Accounting Case Study5.00View Details ... -
Owens & Minor, Inc. (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details A forward-thinking manager at Owens & Minor (O&M), a large national medical and surgical distribution company, enlisted the help of both logistics and... -
Strategy Execution Module 1: Managing Organizational Tensions
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95View Details This module reading lays the foundation for executing strategy using performance measurement and control systems. Properly applied, these systems can... -
Cross Country Group: A Piece of the Rock (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details A new MBA graduate joins a privately held family business and sets ambitious growth goals for the next five years. To enhance motivation, he proposes... -
Johansen's: The New Scorecard System
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95View Details Johansen's has just completed its first year under a new scorecard system for evaluation of manager performance. The manager of Store 51 has traditionally... -
Medtronic: Patient Management Initiative (B)
Sales & Marketing Case Study5.00View Details The (B) case provides the denouement to the (A) case about Medtronic's introduction of the Chronicle and remote monitoring business. -
Primer on Multiples Valuation and Its Use in Private Equity Industry
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details This note explores the mechanics of multiples, different types of multiples, when and how to use them, and common pitfalls associated with multiples valuation.... -
Incentive Pay for Portfolio Managers at Harvard Management Co.
Organizational Development Case Study6.95View Details This case describes the compensation system for portfolio managers at Harvard's portfolio management company, including its formulaic and bonus bank features.... -
Evaluating Microsavings Programs: Green Bank of the Philippines (A)
Global Business Case Study14.00View Details Green Bank of the Philippines was known for its product innovation and its ability to bring new products to market. In 2002, Green Bank designed an untested... -
Catanese and Vulcan (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details A small CPA firm puts in a new performance measurement system, and profits increase by 350% in less than a year. This case illustrates the reasons for... -
360 Feedback
Organizational Development Case Study8.95View Details In most organizations, the employee appraisal process causes more tension than any other aspect of personnel management. Despite the good intentions behind... -
Sonoco Products Co.: Interview With Cindy Hartley, Video
Organizational Development Case Study150.00View Details Video interviews Cindy Hartley, the VP of HR, and describes the steps taken in revamping an HR function that was non-cooperative and at times competitive,... -
LifeSpan Inc.: Abbott Northwestern Hospital
Sales & Marketing Case Study8.95View Details Raises the powerful issues of measuring marketing performance in a not-for-profit services setting. Also raises several interesting ethical issues. LifeSpan... -
Texas Instruments: Cost of Quality (B)
Finance & Accounting Case Study5.00View Details A division questions whether to retain, modify, or abandon its cost of quality system now that more direct measures of quality have been adopted. Discusses... -
Matthew A. Hunter
Organizational Development Case Study8.95View Details Matthew Hunter, CEO of a second-generation family business, must manage the performance of a key manager in his company. Looks at the impact of family... -
Measurement and Management at CitySoft
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details CitySoft is a very small software developer that is grappling with issues of cost measurement and management.
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Generative AI Will Change Your Business. Here's How to Adapt.
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleThe race is on to see which brands can deliver. -
Putting the Balanced Scorecard to Work
Balanced scorecard Magazine ArticleWhat do companies like Rockwater, Apple Computer, and Advanced Micro Devices have in common? They’re using the scorecard to measure performance and set strategy. -
Appraisal of What Performance?
Organizational Development Magazine ArticlePresent performance appraisal techniques evaluate behavior by making subjective and impressionistic judgments rather than quantitative judgments and providing... -
Office of Strategy Management
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleThere is a disconnect in most companies between strategy formulation and strategy execution. On average, 95% of a company's employees are unaware of,... -
Social-Impact Efforts That Create Real Value
Sustainable business practices SpotlightThey must be woven into your strategy and differentiate your company. -
Generative AI Will Enhance — Not Erase — Customer Service Jobs
Technology and analytics Digital ArticleCompanies should start looking now for creative ways to tap the power of human-machine collaboration. -
Contribution Margin: What It Is, How to Calculate It, and Why You Need It
Accounting Digital ArticleDo you know what your most profitable product is? -
Reinventing Performance Management
Employee performance management Magazine ArticleHow one company is rethinking peer feedback and the annual review, and trying to design a system to fuel improvement -
Ending the War Between Sales and Marketing
Sales & Marketing Magazine ArticleSales departments tend to believe that marketers are out of touch with what's really going on in the marketplace. Marketing people, in turn, believe the... -
Building a Learning Organization
Organizational Development HBR BestsellerContinuous improvement programs are proliferating as corporations seek to better themselves and gain an edge. Unfortunately, however, failed programs...