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A management incentive plan is a compensation or rewards agreement between an employer and management. This blog post describes the latest innovation in management incentives and discusses the linkages between incentives and individual and firm performance MORE
Today as I was flipping through my twitter feed I came across a gem of an article on the likelihood of incentive programs to backfire by Dan and Chip Heath. When you’re designing an incentive program one of your best sources of information is sitting right outside your office door. It reminded me of the old law of unintended consequences. As a manager when you act, things happen. Some of them are things you wanted – outcomes you anticipated. MORE
Logically, it follows that a sales force can align salespeople’s effort with company profitability goals by linking incentives to profit, rather than sales metrics. Sales incentive compensation plans can play a key role in aligning sales force effort with company strategies. MORE
Incentives have been with us for a long time. As industrial age work transitioned to knowledge work, many began to question whether or not incentives would stay effective. Teresa Amabile summarized decades of research findings on incentives and creativity when she stated that extrinsic motivators like incentives could actually have detrimental effects on tasks requiring creativity, an argument later popularized by best-selling business author Daniel Pink. MORE
It’s nearly review season, and thousands of companies are going through the annual grind of filling out evaluations, budgeting for salaries, and figuring out how to keep their best people happy and engaged at work. MORE
From incentive and recognition trade shows to compensation consultants, there are a host of industry experts ready to carefully craft the perfect program that keeps employees working happily and productively. Leadership burkus incentives motivation recognition MORE
To motivate, manage, and reward B2B salespeople, many companies use sales incentive plans that link large commissions or bonuses to individual results metrics, such as territory quota achievement. As digital channels continue to reduce and redefine salespeople’s role in customer buying, these traditional sales incentive plans are becoming less effective at driving sales outcomes. The right sales incentive plan creates a double win. MORE
Incentives are a potent tool for shaping human behavior, but they’re famously tricky to get right. New research , published in Basic and Applied Social Psychology, has uncovered an alarming wrinkle that complicates incentives even more: they may make powerful people less ethical. MORE
Motivation Rewards and Incentives Setting Goals Staff Development UncategorizedToday I was reminded again that different people have different reasons for doing (or not doing) good work. It’s an easy lesson to forget when you are busy and juggling multiple priorities. MORE
Incentive compensation systems often seem just as likely to disappoint employees as to motivate them. Leadership bonus burkus Coffee & Power compensation equity HCL human resources incentives performance managementWhile it’s possible that the promise of more money will inspire an individual or team to work harder, it’s equally possible that the payment of such money will disturb a co-worker or colleague team who believed they worked harder but got less compensation. MORE
One place to start might be a fresh look at the incentive compensation structure in the pharmaceutical industry. ” The opioid epidemic is an extreme example of how development and marketing incentives drove sales, but ultimately raised the risk of potential addiction, overdose and death. MORE
Add to that individual performance incentives, where a one-year term determines a large bonus while investing in risky long-term payoffs takes a back seat. Books Business Coaching Career Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Communication Failure Safety & Security Success Tips Work life Albert Einstein cultural change decision making emotion human beings job insecurity Leading limbic system performance incentives MORE
They took something they knew I liked, such as eating dessert, and used it as incentive for me to do something I didn’t: eating vegetables. Promising me a piece of apple pie next month if I eat Brussels sprouts today is not a strong incentive. MORE
Team Dynamics incentives Leadership Organizational Dynamics RewardsNot all forms of Rewards & Recognition (R&R) are created equal. In actuality, as human beings we aren’t profoundly motivated by the tangible reward or recognition itself. It’s about the meaning behind the reward. MORE
Offering employees equity stakes and other lucrative incentives to spur innovation raises their output of mediocre ideas but does nothing to stimulate real breakthroughs, which are stubbornly rare, say Oliver Baumann of the University of Southern Denmark and Nils Stieglitz of the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management in Germany. Companies would do better to offer low-powered incentives for innovation, the researchers say. MORE
Thoughts on Charity, Foreign Aid and Market Incentives - Tanzania. Very honestly, these are all great incentives to come back to Tanzania and work. Or should everyone be a Mother Theresa, helping the neediest of the needy, with few rational incentives for oneself. MORE
less salary and more incentive pay in the form of commissions or bonuses) is not necessarily a bad idea. What is troubling about the vast majority of sales force incentives, however, is that they are tied to short-term, individual, results-focused metrics (e.g. MORE
Many companies go to great lengths to provide workers with the tools, culture and environment to work productively, but workers still form habits that are killing their … Continue reading → Leadership focus incentives platform productivityHow leaders rise above the distractions The corporate world is full of distractions. MORE
Hiring Rewards and Incentives Basics Building Relationships challenge Communication culture Get Started Goals IT Management leadership Management Tip Motivation New Manager Self Evaluation Team trustIt’s nearly review season, and thousands of companies are going through the annual grind of filling out evaluations, budgeting for salaries, and figuring out how to keep their best people happy and engaged at work. MORE
In the five years since the advent of Dodd-Frank regulation, corporate governance groups, with their policies requiring at least half of long-term incentives to be “performance-based,” have pushed companies to replace options with multi-year, performance plans. MORE
Leadership Development boldness constraints experiment ideas incentives Innovation innovative lead Leadership management risk testingPosted in Leadership Development This post is the fourth in a series that began here summarizing the findings of a one-year study of workforce leadership. Through that process, we identified six practices next-generation leaders use to be effective; a new model of leadership we call WEadership, in a nod to its collaborative nature. The Speed of Life For [.] MORE
Should incentives be used to encourage fewer sick days? Reply by Prof Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe is a Chartered Organisational Psychologist, a Patron of Women in Management and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. You are not watching this post, click to start watching MORE
Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner William Morrow/An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers (2014) How and why mastering the economic approach will produce better answers to questions and better solutions to problems In their latest book, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner cite […]. MORE
The Intersection of Blog and Life – More About Motivation → Pigeons, Superstitions and Effective Incentive Programs Posted on January 12, 2010 by Katy To get a degree in psychology, you have to spend a fair amount of time learning about pigeon behavior. Survive Your Promotion! MORE
Laura Putnam is an author and CEO of Motion Infusion, a well-being training and consulting firm that provides creative solutions in the areas of engagement, behavior change, human performance, and building healthier, happier, and more innovative organizations. Laura is a frequent keynote speaker, provides training workshops nationally and internationally and has worked with Fortune 500… Read More Laura Putnam: An interview by Bob Morris. MORE
Today as I was flipping through my twitter feed I came across a gem of an article on the likelihood of incentive programs to backfire by Dan and Chip Heath. When you’re designing an incentive program one of your best sources of information is sitting right outside your office door. It reminded me of the old law of unintended consequences. As a manager when you act, things happen. Some of them are things you wanted – outcomes you anticipated. MORE
Books Influence Leadership Learning economics incentives By Uri Gneezy and John List This is an interesting book on many levels. MORE
Offering employees performance-based incentive pay is one common approach, and it usually takes one of two forms: bonuses are offered to individuals based on assessments of their performance, or bonuses are offered as organization-wide incentives, such as profit-related pay or share ownership. Sometimes, these incentives work in ways managers intended them to. But our results regarding work intensity and individual-based incentive pay should give managers pause. MORE
In this article (and the embedded presentation included below) Alfie Kohn explores how misuse of incentives, driven by a failure to understand the psychology of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation leads to failure: Cash Incentives Won’t Make Us Healthier. MORE
About Portfolio Resources eBuzz Blog Home Blog Main Page Dis-Incentives to keep things simple… RSS Feed Dis-Incentives to keep things simple… By Rajesh Setty on Mon 08 Sep 2008, 1:55 PM - View Comments I saw this notice at the TechCrunch50 conference (which is simply awesome) It says: “$500 replacement fee for lost badges. Or simply announce a powerful (dis)incentive to make sure that they ARE careful with the badges Have a great afternoon! MORE
Influence Leadership Learning coaching feedback incentives recognition This picture takes me instantly back to my kidhood. The homework or test is handed back to me from the teacher with a grade, and if you did well and got really lucky, it might have one of these stars on it. MORE
” That speaks to why they did this in the first place: To meet sales quotas and earn incentives. In these and many other similar (but often less high-profile) cases, much of the blame gets placed on the sales goals and incentives. Many companies have great success using incentives and stretch goals to motivate the sales force and drive revenue. We called it “Is Your Sales Force Addicted to Incentives?” MORE
Incentive programs continue to be one of the most debated topics in management. Sometimes incentive programs work well. You’ve implemented a new incentive program and results go down? The post Why Isn’t This Incentive Program Working? performance Recognition bonus employee motivation incentive programs incentives recognition SPIFFsSometimes they do not. Leadership can make a difference. Have you ever experienced any of these scenarios? MORE
In a recent study conducted in a California hospital, I found that that the type of incentive matters. Communication about the initiative made it very clear that this was a one-time incentive. In other words, while the specific goal and monetary incentive was new, as was the frequency of feedback, the information workers had access to about the effects of neglecting hand hygiene, and the way compliance was monitored, was not. What motivates people to change the way they work? MORE
But as this story of the Soviet Union’s most prolific athlete shows, sometimes our incentive system can do the … Could Your Incentive System Be Hindering Performance? The post Could Your Incentive System Be Hindering Performance? MORE
Incentive: any factor (financial or non-financial) that enables or motivates a particular course of action, or counts as a reason for preferring one choice to the alternatives. The missing piece is incentives. In the past what incentives made change possible? MORE
Check out our unique incentives to keep your employees excited to be working with you. Offering incentives has to be a big part of your budget. You just finished reading Unique & Creative Employee Incentives You Could Be Offering ! MORE
Communication Recognition Relationships Results conditinal rewards incentives leadership recognition recongition rewards My husband and I approached the hotel for a wedding. MORE
Our first two books were animated by a relatively simple set of ideas: Incentives are the cornerstone of modern life. If there is one mantra a Freak lives by, it is this: people respond to incentives People do “bad things” when there is an incentive to do so (e.g., “The The Cobra Effect” — The “Cobra” […]. Randy''s blog entries MORE
This model has two steps: a method that estimates the propensity for each customer to defect, and a method that targets potential churners with retention incentives. Techology business Communication customer churn rate incentives retention SaaS Guest post by Ryan Harrison. SaaS (software as a service) sales teams often focus on bringing in new clients; however, they often miss the key fact that existing clients pay more dividends in the long run. MORE
The concept is the same – in most businesses, salespeople cannot directly affect costs, yet their margin-based incentives and compensation are heavily tied to costs. Incentives on Volume. The Failing Second Sales Incentive Strategy Element. Other Sales Incentives to Consider. MORE
First up, I’d like to share the news of a new monthly column called “Real Leadership” which I’ll be co-writing with S Max Brown for Incentive magazine. They say that March comes in roaring like a lion and that certainly seems to be the case on my end as I have two exciting news items to share with my readers. Our first piece can be found in this month’s issue and it’s called “ Real Leadership: The Power of a Compliment ”. MORE
How many times have you seen an incentive system produce the exact opposite of the desired behavior? Here was the height of insanity — an incentive system that succeeded only in defeating its original purpose. Frustrated citizens, lost revenue and increased costs all thanks to the incentive system and the driver's desire to maximize his individual gain. But even the best designed incentive systems can only go so far. MORE
Incentives Related Topics 
RapidStart Leadership
MAY 31, 2018
But as this story of the Soviet Union’s most prolific athlete shows, sometimes our incentive system can do the … Could Your Incentive System Be Hindering Performance? The post Could Your Incentive System Be Hindering Performance?
Let's Grow Leaders
JANUARY 18, 2013
Incentive programs continue to be one of the most debated topics in management. Sometimes incentive programs work well. You’ve implemented a new incentive program and results go down? The post Why Isn’t This Incentive Program Working? performance Recognition bonus employee motivation incentive programs incentives recognition SPIFFsSometimes they do not. Leadership can make a difference. Have you ever experienced any of these scenarios?
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RapidStart Leadership
DECEMBER 27, 2016
They took something they knew I liked, such as eating dessert, and used it as incentive for me to do something I didn’t: eating vegetables. Promising me a piece of apple pie next month if I eat Brussels sprouts today is not a strong incentive.
Strategy Driven
JANUARY 25, 2018
Check out our unique incentives to keep your employees excited to be working with you. Offering incentives has to be a big part of your budget. You just finished reading Unique & Creative Employee Incentives You Could Be Offering !
LDRLB
AUGUST 13, 2012
Incentives have been with us for a long time. As industrial age work transitioned to knowledge work, many began to question whether or not incentives would stay effective. Teresa Amabile summarized decades of research findings on incentives and creativity when she stated that extrinsic motivators like incentives could actually have detrimental effects on tasks requiring creativity, an argument later popularized by best-selling business author Daniel Pink.
Survive Your Promotion
JANUARY 12, 2010
The Intersection of Blog and Life – More About Motivation → Pigeons, Superstitions and Effective Incentive Programs Posted on January 12, 2010 by Katy To get a degree in psychology, you have to spend a fair amount of time learning about pigeon behavior. Survive Your Promotion!
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Survive Your Promotion
MARCH 19, 2013
Today as I was flipping through my twitter feed I came across a gem of an article on the likelihood of incentive programs to backfire by Dan and Chip Heath. When you’re designing an incentive program one of your best sources of information is sitting right outside your office door. It reminded me of the old law of unintended consequences. As a manager when you act, things happen. Some of them are things you wanted – outcomes you anticipated.
Mike Cardus
OCTOBER 14, 2011
Incentive: any factor (financial or non-financial) that enables or motivates a particular course of action, or counts as a reason for preferring one choice to the alternatives. The missing piece is incentives. In the past what incentives made change possible?
Mills Scofield
AUGUST 27, 2012
Thoughts on Charity, Foreign Aid and Market Incentives - Tanzania. Very honestly, these are all great incentives to come back to Tanzania and work. Or should everyone be a Mother Theresa, helping the neediest of the needy, with few rational incentives for oneself.
The Kini Group
JUNE 7, 2016
The concept is the same – in most businesses, salespeople cannot directly affect costs, yet their margin-based incentives and compensation are heavily tied to costs. Incentives on Volume. The Failing Second Sales Incentive Strategy Element. Other Sales Incentives to Consider.
Survive Your Promotion
MARCH 19, 2013
Today as I was flipping through my twitter feed I came across a gem of an article on the likelihood of incentive programs to backfire by Dan and Chip Heath. When you’re designing an incentive program one of your best sources of information is sitting right outside your office door. It reminded me of the old law of unintended consequences. As a manager when you act, things happen. Some of them are things you wanted – outcomes you anticipated.
First Friday Book Synopsis
SEPTEMBER 23, 2014
Our first two books were animated by a relatively simple set of ideas: Incentives are the cornerstone of modern life. If there is one mantra a Freak lives by, it is this: people respond to incentives People do “bad things” when there is an incentive to do so (e.g., “The The Cobra Effect” — The “Cobra” […]. Randy''s blog entries
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CQ Net - Management skills for everyone!
JANUARY 24, 2018
A management incentive plan is a compensation or rewards agreement between an employer and management. This blog post describes the latest innovation in management incentives and discusses the linkages between incentives and individual and firm performance
Tanveer Naseer
MARCH 9, 2011
First up, I’d like to share the news of a new monthly column called “Real Leadership” which I’ll be co-writing with S Max Brown for Incentive magazine. They say that March comes in roaring like a lion and that certainly seems to be the case on my end as I have two exciting news items to share with my readers. Our first piece can be found in this month’s issue and it’s called “ Real Leadership: The Power of a Compliment ”.
Lead Change Blog
MARCH 2, 2016
Team Dynamics incentives Leadership Organizational Dynamics RewardsNot all forms of Rewards & Recognition (R&R) are created equal. In actuality, as human beings we aren’t profoundly motivated by the tangible reward or recognition itself. It’s about the meaning behind the reward.
Kevin Eikenberry
MAY 19, 2014
Influence Leadership Learning coaching feedback incentives recognition This picture takes me instantly back to my kidhood. The homework or test is handed back to me from the teacher with a grade, and if you did well and got really lucky, it might have one of these stars on it.
Kevin Eikenberry
MAY 18, 2014
Books Influence Leadership Learning economics incentives By Uri Gneezy and John List This is an interesting book on many levels.
Let's Grow Leaders
AUGUST 27, 2013
Communication Recognition Relationships Results conditinal rewards incentives leadership recognition recongition rewards My husband and I approached the hotel for a wedding.
Survive Your Promotion
OCTOBER 2, 2017
It’s nearly review season, and thousands of companies are going through the annual grind of filling out evaluations, budgeting for salaries, and figuring out how to keep their best people happy and engaged at work.
Harvard Business Review
AUGUST 3, 2017
To motivate, manage, and reward B2B salespeople, many companies use sales incentive plans that link large commissions or bonuses to individual results metrics, such as territory quota achievement. As digital channels continue to reduce and redefine salespeople’s role in customer buying, these traditional sales incentive plans are becoming less effective at driving sales outcomes. The right sales incentive plan creates a double win.
Lead on Purpose
APRIL 25, 2016
Many companies go to great lengths to provide workers with the tools, culture and environment to work productively, but workers still form habits that are killing their … Continue reading → Leadership focus incentives platform productivityHow leaders rise above the distractions The corporate world is full of distractions.
Lead Change Blog
OCTOBER 21, 2011
Leadership Development boldness constraints experiment ideas incentives Innovation innovative lead Leadership management risk testingPosted in Leadership Development This post is the fourth in a series that began here summarizing the findings of a one-year study of workforce leadership. Through that process, we identified six practices next-generation leaders use to be effective; a new model of leadership we call WEadership, in a nod to its collaborative nature. The Speed of Life For [.]
Chartered Management Institute
AUGUST 9, 2011
Should incentives be used to encourage fewer sick days? Reply by Prof Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe is a Chartered Organisational Psychologist, a Patron of Women in Management and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. You are not watching this post, click to start watching
Harvard Business Review
MARCH 9, 2016
Incentives are a potent tool for shaping human behavior, but they’re famously tricky to get right. New research , published in Basic and Applied Social Psychology, has uncovered an alarming wrinkle that complicates incentives even more: they may make powerful people less ethical.
Survive Your Promotion
OCTOBER 2, 2017
Hiring Rewards and Incentives Basics Building Relationships challenge Communication culture Get Started Goals IT Management leadership Management Tip Motivation New Manager Self Evaluation Team trustIt’s nearly review season, and thousands of companies are going through the annual grind of filling out evaluations, budgeting for salaries, and figuring out how to keep their best people happy and engaged at work.
Harvard Business Review
MAY 6, 2016
In the five years since the advent of Dodd-Frank regulation, corporate governance groups, with their policies requiring at least half of long-term incentives to be “performance-based,” have pushed companies to replace options with multi-year, performance plans.
Survive Your Promotion
NOVEMBER 18, 2011
Motivation Rewards and Incentives Setting Goals Staff Development UncategorizedToday I was reminded again that different people have different reasons for doing (or not doing) good work. It’s an easy lesson to forget when you are busy and juggling multiple priorities.
Lead on Purpose
FEBRUARY 8, 2014
This model has two steps: a method that estimates the propensity for each customer to defect, and a method that targets potential churners with retention incentives. Techology business Communication customer churn rate incentives retention SaaS Guest post by Ryan Harrison. SaaS (software as a service) sales teams often focus on bringing in new clients; however, they often miss the key fact that existing clients pay more dividends in the long run.
LDRLB
MAY 15, 2013
From incentive and recognition trade shows to compensation consultants, there are a host of industry experts ready to carefully craft the perfect program that keeps employees working happily and productively. Leadership burkus incentives motivation recognition
Coaching Tip
MAY 25, 2016
Add to that individual performance incentives, where a one-year term determines a large bonus while investing in risky long-term payoffs takes a back seat. Books Business Coaching Career Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Communication Failure Safety & Security Success Tips Work life Albert Einstein cultural change decision making emotion human beings job insecurity Leading limbic system performance incentives
Harvard Business Review
FEBRUARY 21, 2013
How many times have you seen an incentive system produce the exact opposite of the desired behavior? Here was the height of insanity — an incentive system that succeeded only in defeating its original purpose. Frustrated citizens, lost revenue and increased costs all thanks to the incentive system and the driver's desire to maximize his individual gain. But even the best designed incentive systems can only go so far.
Harvard Business Review
MARCH 15, 2017
Offering employees performance-based incentive pay is one common approach, and it usually takes one of two forms: bonuses are offered to individuals based on assessments of their performance, or bonuses are offered as organization-wide incentives, such as profit-related pay or share ownership. Sometimes, these incentives work in ways managers intended them to. But our results regarding work intensity and individual-based incentive pay should give managers pause.
Harvard Business Review
MARCH 23, 2017
In a recent study conducted in a California hospital, I found that that the type of incentive matters. Communication about the initiative made it very clear that this was a one-time incentive. In other words, while the specific goal and monetary incentive was new, as was the frequency of feedback, the information workers had access to about the effects of neglecting hand hygiene, and the way compliance was monitored, was not. What motivates people to change the way they work?
Rajesh Setty
SEPTEMBER 8, 2008
About Portfolio Resources eBuzz Blog Home Blog Main Page Dis-Incentives to keep things simple… RSS Feed Dis-Incentives to keep things simple… By Rajesh Setty on Mon 08 Sep 2008, 1:55 PM - View Comments I saw this notice at the TechCrunch50 conference (which is simply awesome) It says: “$500 replacement fee for lost badges. Or simply announce a powerful (dis)incentive to make sure that they ARE careful with the badges Have a great afternoon!
First Friday Book Synopsis
DECEMBER 2, 2015
Laura Putnam is an author and CEO of Motion Infusion, a well-being training and consulting firm that provides creative solutions in the areas of engagement, behavior change, human performance, and building healthier, happier, and more innovative organizations. Laura is a frequent keynote speaker, provides training workshops nationally and internationally and has worked with Fortune 500… Read More Laura Putnam: An interview by Bob Morris.
Harvard Business Review
JUNE 10, 2015
Logically, it follows that a sales force can align salespeople’s effort with company profitability goals by linking incentives to profit, rather than sales metrics. Sales incentive compensation plans can play a key role in aligning sales force effort with company strategies.
Harvard Business Review
JULY 11, 2011
less salary and more incentive pay in the form of commissions or bonuses) is not necessarily a bad idea. What is troubling about the vast majority of sales force incentives, however, is that they are tied to short-term, individual, results-focused metrics (e.g.
Harvard Business Review
SEPTEMBER 20, 2016
” That speaks to why they did this in the first place: To meet sales quotas and earn incentives. In these and many other similar (but often less high-profile) cases, much of the blame gets placed on the sales goals and incentives. Many companies have great success using incentives and stretch goals to motivate the sales force and drive revenue. We called it “Is Your Sales Force Addicted to Incentives?”
First Friday Book Synopsis
JUNE 8, 2014
Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner William Morrow/An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers (2014) How and why mastering the economic approach will produce better answers to questions and better solutions to problems In their latest book, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner cite […].
LDRLB
SEPTEMBER 10, 2012
Incentive compensation systems often seem just as likely to disappoint employees as to motivate them. Leadership bonus burkus Coffee & Power compensation equity HCL human resources incentives performance managementWhile it’s possible that the promise of more money will inspire an individual or team to work harder, it’s equally possible that the payment of such money will disturb a co-worker or colleague team who believed they worked harder but got less compensation.
Harvard Business Review
JUNE 13, 2016
One place to start might be a fresh look at the incentive compensation structure in the pharmaceutical industry. ” The opioid epidemic is an extreme example of how development and marketing incentives drove sales, but ultimately raised the risk of potential addiction, overdose and death.
Harvard Business Review
FEBRUARY 24, 2014
Offering employees equity stakes and other lucrative incentives to spur innovation raises their output of mediocre ideas but does nothing to stimulate real breakthroughs, which are stubbornly rare, say Oliver Baumann of the University of Southern Denmark and Nils Stieglitz of the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management in Germany. Companies would do better to offer low-powered incentives for innovation, the researchers say.
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