The Incentive Performance Center (www.incentivecentral.org) has made its mark in recent months by informing the general business public about the value of incentives and their effect on performance.

In the last year alone, the IPC, under the management of Bruce Bolger, has placed nearly three dozen articles in a variety of business magazines, including Forbes and Business 2.0. The publicity campaign included a supplement in Human Resources Executive magazine on the research-based benefits of noncash awards.

In addition, the IPC has launched a Web site, www.peopleperformanceusa.org, where the public can nominate companies for their people performance practices — either good (plums) or bad (raspberries). Companies can also nominate themselves. Reports on the nominations are published quarterly in The Forum for People Performance Measurement and Management's Performance Executive newsletter, available at www.performanceforum.org. The Forum also gives out annual Performance Through People awards; previous winners have included Marriott, Nordstrom, and Dell.

The FPPMM, which was founded by IPC along with several performance improvement companies, the Incentive Marketing Association, and the SITE Foundation, has completed a research study, “The Interaction Between Marketing & Human Resources and Employee Measurement & Incentives.” Three additional studies on the effect of performance improvement strategies on the bottom line, branding, and organizational performance will be published in late 2004.

Also significant is the creation of a course in People Performance Management and Measurement at the Department of Integrated Marketing Communications of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. There will be a Summit on the topic November 10 at Northwestern. For more information, e-mail info@performanceforum.org.