More from these Authors

• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | November 2020

  Social Salary Setting at Spiber

  Ashley Whillans and John Beshears

  This case tells the story of Spiber, a Japanese technology start-up company. To reflect the company’s values, the leadership team implemented a new and unique salary-setting process: each employee had the authority to choose their own salary. In the course of discussing the case, students are asked to contemplate the challenges that managers face when incentivizing innovation and are invited to brainstorm methods for motivating the behaviors that drive innovation. Students consider the merits of Spiber’s new compensation system and reflect on issues of pay equity. The case allows for a rich discussion regarding the design of effective and fair compensation systems, with a special emphasis on exploring how organizational culture and the broader social and cultural context in which an organization is embedded shape employees’ responses to compensation systems.

  Keywords: compensation; general management; employee benefits; happiness; incentives; motivation; negotiation;

  Citation:

  Whillans, Ashley, and John Beshears. "Social Salary Setting at Spiber." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 921-014, November 2020.  View Details

  CiteView Details

  Related

• Case | HBS Case Collection | September 2020 (Revised November 2020)

  Gong: Resonating Conversational Insights

  Alison Wood Brooks and Trevor Spelman

  In 2015, Amit Bendov was struck by a realization about a new technology that might be able to transcribe musical notation in real-time, which eventually became known as Gong. Gong’s business proposition was simple: provide software that automatically captures, understands, and analyzes written and spoken sales conversations (not music) to help sales teams sell more effectively. It was a compelling idea with the potential to create significant value for its users. There were, however, many questions. Could the technology live up to its promises? What could salespeople learn from their own conversations and from the best - and worst - salespeople among them? Could leveraging conversational insights make a measurable impact on a company’s bottom line? And how could Gong defend against competitors, both now and in the future?

  Keywords: Software; Communication; Sales;

  Citation:

  Brooks, Alison Wood, and Trevor Spelman. "Gong: Resonating Conversational Insights." Harvard Business School Case 921-015, September 2020. (Revised November 2020.)  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducators

  Related

• Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2016 (Revised September 2020)

  T-Mobile in 2013: The Un-Carrier

  John Beshears, Francesca Gino, Jonathan Lee and Sean (Yixiang) Wang

  By 2013, the U.S. wireless industry was in the midst of a costly transition. As consumers began to embrace more sophisticated mobile devices, the industry's four main players spent heavily to improve their infrastructures for providing reliable high-speed data services. T-Mobile, the smallest of the four major carriers, lacked the scale of its competitors and risked falling further behind in the contest for market share. Faced with this daunting business environment, T-Mobile's new CEO declared war on the rest of the industry, decrying competitor pricing practices and upending the traditional contract-based business model. This case provides background information on the state of the wireless industry in 2013 and follows T-Mobile's early steps to transform its market position.

  Keywords: Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Product Positioning; Competition; Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry; United States;

  Citation:

  Beshears, John, Francesca Gino, Jonathan Lee, and Sean (Yixiang) Wang. "T-Mobile in 2013: The Un-Carrier." Harvard Business School Case 916-043, February 2016. (Revised September 2020.)  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase

  Related