Publications

2012
Working Paper

Relational Contracts and Organizational Capabilities

By: R. Gibbons and R. Henderson

A large literature identifies unique organizational capabilities as a potent source of competitive advantage, yet our knowledge of why capabilities fail to diffuse more rapidly-particularly in situations in which competitors apparently have strong incentives to adopt... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Motivation and Incentives; Management Practices and Processes; Contracts; Competency and Skills; Relationships; Complexity

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April 1999
Case

Trexel

Describes an interesting plastics technology and an entrepreneur's attempts to build a business around it. Highlights issues around managing technical and market risk. Teaching purpose: Highlights difficult decisions around building a business off of an unproven... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Business Startups; Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Information Technology; Corporate Entrepreneurship

December 1999 (Revised October 2003)
Case

BRL Hardy: Globalizing an Australian Wine Company

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Two new product launch decisions face Christopher Carson, managing director of BRL Hardy, Europe. Responsible for the European operations of a major Australian wine company, Carson has begun to globalize his strategy beyond selling the parent company's wines. After a... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Joint Ventures; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Competitive Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Negotiation Style; Food and Beverage Industry

04 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Governing the Family-Run Business

right people in a timely way to discuss and decide the big issues facing your organization—then your governance system is flawed, should be improved, and probably needs to be made more formal. Given how difficult it is for most people to... View Details

16 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Mentoring—Using the Voice of Experience

research, started in the year 2000, was aimed at understanding how an innovative team working together in a creative act managed the process of knowledge transfer between the more experienced and less experienced members of that team. The... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

February 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Microsoft Latin America

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Alberto Ballve and Antonio Davila

Mauricio Santillan, regional vice president for the Latin American division of Microsoft, has introduced a new performance measurement system to help his country managers formulate and control strategy. Microsoft Latin America's priorities are rolling out of an... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Applications and Software; Emerging Markets; Crime and Corruption; Motivation and Incentives; Management Skills; Global Strategy; Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Latin America

05 Dec 2022
What Do You Think?

How Would Jack Welch’s Leadership Style Fare in Today’s World?

years into his tenure, GE became the most valuable company in the world. Gelles and Cohan cite everything from failed acquisitions and strategies to brutal downsizing, forced ranking of managers, a poor environmental record, legal accounting practices designed to View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Industrial Products; Media & Broadcasting; Medical Devices & Supplies; Manufacturing

October 2013 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Americhem: The Gaylord Division (A-1)

By: David A. Garvin

The Gaylord Division of Americhem, a large chemical company, is in the midst of the first use of a new zero-base budgeting system. The general manager of the division leading the process is experiencing disagreement and conflict among the members of the senior... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges

December 1997 (Revised October 2008)
Case

Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-TAK (A)

By: John J. Gabarro

Wolfgang Keller, manager of the Ukrainian subsidiary of a German beer company, faces a managerial dilemma. His subordinate, Dmitri Brodsky, is a talented and experienced commercial director who is not meeting his goals expediently and often requires considerable... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Performance Evaluation; Management Style; Managerial Roles; Behavior; Conflict Management; Situation or Environment; Failure; Employee Relationship Management; Food and Beverage Industry; Ukraine; Germany

13 Jan 2021
Research & Ideas

How 'Small C' Change Can Beat Large-Scale Rebuilding

Even as COVID vaccines begin early deployment, pressure on leaders continues to mount to engage in “Big C” change: rapid course corrections through job cuts, recruiting a fresh management team, and redesigning roles and responsibilities... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Sascha L. Schmidt, and Sebastian Flegr; Sports

22 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

The Silo Lives! Analyzing Coordination and Communication in Multiunit Companies

geographic office location," Stuart says. Although the research doesn't try to answer why corporate silos are so difficult to tear down, Stuart hopes the data will help managers understand, pinpoint, and... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

February 2015
Case

Sarah Sullivan at Greater Marketing Solutions (GMS)

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Paul McKinnon and Rebecca McCue

Sarah Sullivan, the new Managing Director of Greater Marketing Solutions, faces the difficult challenge of letting seven professionals go within a short span of time. In doing so she faces two greater challenges: figuring out which individuals to let go and getting her... View Details

Keywords: Stack Ranking; Management; Performance Evaluation

21 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

How to Predict if a New Business Idea is Any Good

Operations Management unit at Harvard Business School. “They didn’t know it would turn out to be a multibillion dollar industry.” “By definition, when an investor makes an investment, it changes the probability of success” In a new... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Accommodations; Financial Services

2007
Chapter

Creativity in Product Development

Managing new product development is a key area of management, straddling strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship and macro-organizational behaviour. All of the contributors in the Handbook of New Product Developmet Management are well-known and leading exponents to... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Product Development; Problems and Challenges; Research; Creativity