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How to Pay Your Sales Force
Motivating people Magazine ArticleUsing the results of a survey of 380 companies in 34 industries, this author examines three basic types of compensation plans: salary, commission, and combination (salary plus commission). Most companies in the study favored a combination plan, but such plans have some disadvantages to offset their obvious attractiveness. The author sets out the possible reasons […] -
What PwC Learned from Its Policy of Flexible Work for Everyone
Flex time Digital ArticleWorking parents aren’t the only ones who need flex time. -
What Counts Most in Motivating Your Sales Force?
Motivating people Magazine ArticleFor decades the difficulty of motivating salespeople has been frustrating sales and marketing managers. To the most effective ones, two things are clear: one, the job is difficult; two, there is no one simple solution. Believing that “good salespeople are born, not made,” many managers recognize that recruiting is important. Others holding that “if you […] -
The Most Desirable Employee Benefits
Compensation and benefits Digital ArticleHealth insurance, flexible hours, and vacation time. -
Graduates of Elite Universities Get Paid More. Do They Perform Better?
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleCompanies pay a premium for prestigious degrees. Should they? -
The Experts in Your Midst
Human resource management Magazine ArticleTom Bennett, owner of a growing high-tech enterprise with sales of $30 million, has decided to go public. His ratios are right and his product is good, but the fine points of his strategy are not quite in place. Early Monday morning before the regular staff meeting, he sits lost in thought about product image, […] -
Best-Laid Incentive Plans (HBR Case Study and Commentary)
Organizational Development Magazine ArticleHiram Phillips couldn't have been in better spirits. The CFO and chief administrative officer of Rainbarrel Products, a diversified consumer-durables... -
When the CEO Can't Let Go (Commentary for HBR Case Study)
Leadership & Managing People Magazine ArticleEvery morning, Paul Marsh, the chairman, president, and CEO of Kansas-based Coltrane Farm Equipment & Manufacturing, climbs the six flights of stairs... -
Designing Work That People Love
Organizational Development Magazine ArticleResignations are at an all-time high, and companies desperate to fill vacancies are trying everything from pay raises to trendy perks. But those interventions... -
Marketing Performance—What Do You Expect?
Project management Magazine ArticleA good plot, good friends, and full of expectation; an excellent plot, very good friends. Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part I Special Report When trying to assess performance, there is no business function top executives worry about more than marketing. Most of them look at the marketers in their companies as something between vacuum-cleaner salespeople […] -
What Health Consumers Want
Organizational Development Magazine ArticleConsumers of health care constitute a highly diverse market, but the idea that companies might segment customers and profit by addressing their varied... -
When Inflation Rises, Health Outcomes Fall
Compensation and benefits Digital ArticleEmployers need to help people afford and access the care they need. -
Surprising Economics of a "People Business"
Organizational Development Magazine ArticleWhen people are your most important asset, some standard performance measures and management practices become misleading or irrelevant. This is a danger... -
Why His Merit Raise Is Bigger Than Hers
Organizational Development Magazine ArticleWhen you work for an organization that proudly touts its pay-for-performance ethos, you can be sure you'll get a fair shake, right? Not necessarily. In... -
Why Charities Should Ask for Intellect, Not Just Funds
Compensation and benefits Digital ArticleAn Orlando news reporter was recently stirring up controversy over nonprofit CEO salaries. She asked Charity Navigator’s CEO Ken Berger, “Do you think these [nonprofit] CEOs deserve these big salaries?” Here’s the video of Ken’s reply: “…if you’re talking about big, like $150,000 — then I would say yes. If you’re talking about half a […] -
Incentives Don’t Help People Change, but Peer Pressure Does
Compensation and benefits Digital ArticleResults from a study on hand hygiene at a hospital. -
How to Prevent Experts from Hoarding Knowledge
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleMitigate the impact of big egos. -
When Salaries Aren't Secret (HBR Case Study)
Organizational Development Magazine ArticleThe day before Treece McDavitt was to leave RightNow!, an off-price women's fashion retailer, the 26-year-old computer wizard accessed HR's files and... -
Do Your Company’s Abortion Benefits Cover Your Most Vulnerable Workers?
Compensation and benefits Digital ArticleContractors, who are more likely to be women of color, often aren’t eligible for employer-sponsored coverage. -
Gay Men Used to Earn Less than Straight Men; Now They Earn More
Compensation and benefits ResearchResearchers aren’t sure why. But the possibilities are fascinating.
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Brush with AIDS (A)
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details A product manager at a health products company is responsible for marketing sharps containers, which hospitals use to store used needles in order to protect... -
Multifactor Models
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Students evaluate the performance of four mutual funds and compute the cost of capital for two companies using fixed benchmarks, the CAPM, and a multifactor... -
Innovation Strategy at Microsoft: Clouds on the Horizon
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Microsoft employs 90,000 people and its products affect millions of users around the world every day. Developing the next version of Windows or Office... -
UpDown: Confidential Instructions for GEORG
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study5.00View Details Michael Reich is having severe doubts about how he split the equity with his co-founders two months ago, when they completed a one-page "November Agreement."... -
Performance Pay at Safelite Auto Glass (B)
Finance & Accounting Case Study5.00View Details Supplements the (A) case. -
Brush with AIDS (B)
Leadership & Managing People Case Study5.00View Details Supplements the (A) case. -
AM FRESH in 2020
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details -
School of Rock: Tuning into Structured Empowerment (A)
Management Case Study11.95View Details In summer 2021, School of Rock was a youth-oriented music education company with 291 franchise- and company-owned schools globally. Before CEO Rob Price's... -
The Proxy Fight at ADP
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details In July 2017, shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) surged 12% following a report that the activist investor Bill Ackman had acquired a sizable... -
Understanding Customer Profitability at Charles Schwab
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details Charles Schwab is transforming into a customer-centric organization. Central to this cultural and organizational change is the utilization of customer... -
Sears Auto Centers (B)
Leadership & Managing People Case Study5.00View Details Sears's CEO responds to the allegations. -
Supply Chain Close-Up: The Video Vault
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details The owners of the Video Vault struggle to determine the optimal stocking levels of home videos in an industry fraught with new technology, new pricing... -
The Management of Berkshire Hathaway
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details Berkshire Hathaway is known to many as the investment vehicle of Warren E. Buffett. To some extent, this reputation is well founded, given the investment... -
Jollibee Foods Corp. (A): International Expansion
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details Noli Tingzon, newly-appointed international division VP at Jollibee, the Philippines-based hamburger chain, is faced with the challenge of expanding fast... -
Massachusetts Financial Services (Abridged)
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details This case describes the compensation and performance evaluations at an investment management company. The senior management team of Massachusetts Financial... -
Sales Force Management at Nobel Ilac
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details Nobel Ilac was a Turkish generic pharmaceutical company marketing more than 100 drugs in 20 countries and, as of 2017, had over 2,500 employees worldwide.... -
Austral Group SAA: Human Resource Integration in the Traditional Fishing Industry
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details In June 2021, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Peruvian-based Austral Group S.A.A. (Austral), one of the six largest producers and traders in... -
Hamptonshire Express
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details Presents a series of problems that face a newspaper publisher, including inventory level, effort level, subsidy for unsold inventory, and commission for... -
Martin Smith: January 2002
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details An MBA student must choose between offers from three private equity organizations. Each organization has distinct strengths and weaknesses, and different... -
Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots (A)
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details What happens when an MBA buys a football team and hires a bunch of MBAs and a coach with an economics degree to run it? In this case, a historic three...
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Brush with AIDS (A)
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details A product manager at a health products company is responsible for marketing sharps containers, which hospitals use to store used needles in order to protect... -
How to Pay Your Sales Force
Motivating people Magazine ArticleUsing the results of a survey of 380 companies in 34 industries, this author examines three basic types of compensation plans: salary, commission, and combination (salary plus commission). Most companies in the study favored a combination plan, but such plans have some disadvantages to offset their obvious attractiveness. The author sets out the possible reasons […] -
What PwC Learned from Its Policy of Flexible Work for Everyone
Flex time Digital ArticleWorking parents aren’t the only ones who need flex time. -
Multifactor Models
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Students evaluate the performance of four mutual funds and compute the cost of capital for two companies using fixed benchmarks, the CAPM, and a multifactor... -
What Counts Most in Motivating Your Sales Force?
Motivating people Magazine ArticleFor decades the difficulty of motivating salespeople has been frustrating sales and marketing managers. To the most effective ones, two things are clear: one, the job is difficult; two, there is no one simple solution. Believing that “good salespeople are born, not made,” many managers recognize that recruiting is important. Others holding that “if you […] -
Innovation Strategy at Microsoft: Clouds on the Horizon
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Microsoft employs 90,000 people and its products affect millions of users around the world every day. Developing the next version of Windows or Office... -
The Most Desirable Employee Benefits
Compensation and benefits Digital ArticleHealth insurance, flexible hours, and vacation time. -
Graduates of Elite Universities Get Paid More. Do They Perform Better?
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleCompanies pay a premium for prestigious degrees. Should they? -
UpDown: Confidential Instructions for GEORG
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study5.00View Details Michael Reich is having severe doubts about how he split the equity with his co-founders two months ago, when they completed a one-page "November Agreement."... -
The Experts in Your Midst
Human resource management Magazine ArticleTom Bennett, owner of a growing high-tech enterprise with sales of $30 million, has decided to go public. His ratios are right and his product is good, but the fine points of his strategy are not quite in place. Early Monday morning before the regular staff meeting, he sits lost in thought about product image, […]