HEC (HEC) • Management

These notes provide a clear and structured introduction to the legal and institutional nature of the European Union, as discussed in Lecture 1 of the Law and European Economic Policies course taught by Professor Steinbach. They explain how the EU is a sui generis legal and political entity—neither a traditional international organization nor a full-fledged federal state—and describe the sources of its legitimacy: both through national governments (via interstate treaties and the Council of t...

These notes provide a thorough explanation of the Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Map, two widely used tools for translating strategy into measurable objectives across an organization. Originally developed to move beyond narrow financial metrics, the Balanced Scorecard integrates financial and non-financial performance indicators into a unified framework that helps manage and align strategy across departments and responsibility centers. The notes cover the four core perspectives of the Balanc...

These notes offer a clear and detailed explanation of how organizations identify, assess, and manage risk, as taught in the Strategic Performance Management course at HEC Paris. They begin by framing risk as an unavoidable part of organizational life, made worse by globalization, complex supply chains, brand fragility, and short-term financial pressure. Through real-life examples—from the NASA Challenger disaster to COVID-19 and Goldman Sachs during Hurricane Sandy—the notes explore how misj...

These notes provide a thorough and clearly structured overview of transfer pricing, as introduced in the second session of the Strategic Performance Management course at HEC Paris. The content explains what transfer pricing is—setting internal prices for goods, services, or intangibles exchanged between divisions of the same company—and shows how it affects incentives, performance evaluation, and taxation across responsibility centers. The notes begin by linking transfer pricing to differ...

These notes provide a detailed and structured summary of the second session in the Strategic Performance Management course, focusing on budgeting as both a planning and control tool in decentralized organizations. It begins by examining the dual role of budgets: aligning operational plans with strategic goals, and serving as a mechanism to evaluate managerial performance through budgetary targets. The class notes define what a budget is and explain how it functions within decentralized struct...

This document provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to the principles of strategic performance management, as covered in the first session of the course. It explains the core problem of control in organizations and introduces the three main forms of control: action control, personnel control, and results control. Through real-world examples—such as the Wells Fargo scandal, the Ford Pinto case, and scenes from The Wire—the notes highlight how performance targets can lead to unintend...