Tailoring incentive systems to a strategic context

The choice of proper incentives is a critical step in designing strategic planning systems. Incentives should integrate the behavior and action of managers with the objectives and strategies of their firms. The problem of inappropriate incentives in various types of organizations has been described by Kerr. While the literature on incentives is voluminous, the linkage between incentives and strategic planning has not been carefully explored. We propose a model that connects a firm's incentive systems with its strategic context, using incentives theory in the economics literature as basic building blocks.