Publications

December 1999
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A4): Sun Peak: Helen Yang and Mark Walden on "Running Sun on Sun"

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

SunPeak was the largest project Sun Microsystems, Inc. had ever undertaken: shifting Sun's entire business transaction system from a mainframe-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to a Sun-based system. Making the shift would be complicated and financially... View Details

Keywords: Projects; Transformation; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Complexity; Risk and Uncertainty; Success; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Technology Industry; Computer Industry

17 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 17

report's status meant it had not driven some of the organizational change it could have. Could Aegon benefit from publishing its integrated report as the official regulatory document? How could Aegon create... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2008 (Revised October 2008)
Case

AREVA T&D

By: Ananth Raman, Vincent Marie Dessain, Ane Damgaard Jensen and Gudrun Urfalino Kristinsdottir

The case explores the rapid and highly effective turnaround at AREVA's transmission and distribution (T and D) business by focusing on the division's operations. The division was struggling in 2004 when newly-appointed CEO Philippe Guillemot and his team improved... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Improvement; Environmental Sustainability

September 1996 (Revised November 1996)
Case

World Bank (A): Under Siege

By: George C. Lodge and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Describes the issues that James Wolfensohn faces when he takes over the World Bank as president in June 1995. Presents several lines of criticism of the bank's strategy, structure, and relevance. View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; International Finance; Organizational Structure; Leading Change; Situation or Environment; Decision Choices and Conditions; Strategy; Management Teams; Value; Banking Industry

Find at Harvard

12 Nov 2013
First Look

First Look: November 12

development of Kvadrat's retail sales operations, the implementation of new Human Resources practices, and the execution of a new organizational design. Was such an extensive growth, turnaround, and internal development agenda feasible?... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 6

low-quality ad-sponsored competitor. In addition to competing through adjustments of tactical variables such as price or the number of ads a product carries, we allow the incumbent to consider changes in its business model. We consider... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

06 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 6, 2007

patients' families in an ongoing organizational learning process. The two-case series is particularly distinctive in tracking an organizational change initiative for almost a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Feb 2014
First Look

First Look: February 11

Demographic Changes By: Bardhan, Pranab, Michael Luca, Dilip Mookherjee, and Francisco Pino Abstract—This paper studies how land reform and population growth affect land inequality and landlessness, focusing particularly on indirect... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 24

environmental performance. We hypothesize that key organizational characteristics reflecting visibility, such as size and environmental impact, shape this type of symbolic compliance and that these relationships are moderated by... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Aug 2024
Op-Ed

Can AI Save Physicians from Burnout?

perform. That is, AI could inadvertently serve to exacerbate the patient-volume problem, rather than relieve physician workloads and improve the patient experience. Health care is at a turning point: We need policies and organizational... View Details

Keywords: by Susanna Gallani, Lidia Moura, and Katie Sonnefeldt; Health

03 Nov 2015
First Look

November 3, 2015

Workers By: Housman, Michael, and Dylan Minor Abstract—While there has been a lot of research on finding and developing top performers in the workplace, less attention has been paid to the question of how to manage those workers who are harmful to View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2018 (Revised August 2020)
Background Note

Continuous Software Development: Agile's Successor

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Samuel Clemens and Olivia Hull

In recent years, the twin software development methodologies of continuous delivery and continuous deployment have risen to prominence in the start-up world and beyond. These methods have enabled technology companies large and small to accelerate their product... View Details

23 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas and Research: May 23, 2017

points. Pseudo-set framing changes gambling choices (Study 1), effort (Studies 2 and 3), giving behavior (Field Data and Study 4), and purchase decisions (Study 5). These effects persist in the absence of any reward, when a cost must be... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

31 Jul 2015
Research & Ideas

The Faculty Reader: Who is Reading What This Summer?

effects. Euvin Naidoo just received hardcover copies of two special books I have been looking forward to unpacking over the summer: Think Outside the Building: How Advanced Leaders Can Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time, by... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Information; Publishing

23 Jul 2018
Research & Ideas

The Open Office Revolution Has Gone Too Far

(like employee satisfaction). Those are fine for understanding individual perceptions, but aren’t so good at quantifying real behavioral responses and organizational performance outcomes from open offices. The gap between perceptions and... View Details

Keywords: Re: Ethan S. Bernstein

15 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Connecting Goals and Go-To-Market Initiatives

development, incentives, people management, developing a performance culture, and sustaining that culture in the face of inevitable market changes that are often outside the control of the selling company. And it's increasingly a bigger... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

July 2008 (Revised January 2009)
Case

Londolozi: Towards a Sustainable Business Model and Ecological Integrity in Southern Africa

By: Rawi E. Abdelal and Thomas Koelble

The Londolozi game viewing reserve in South Africa became a defining icon of ecotourism during the 1990s and early 2000s-that is, a tourist business promoting ecological land management and, at the same time, local economic development. The reserve was in a region in... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Tourism Industry; South Africa

09 Jul 2018
Research & Ideas

Overcoming the Challenges of Selling Brand New Technology (Hey, Need a 3-D Printer?)

startup figuring out how to market a 3-D printer. “You should approach a product launch as an organizational process, and start with the buyers, not the product” Although 3-D printers have been around since the 1980s, they didn’t find... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology; Consumer Products; Electronics; Industrial Products; Information Technology; Manufacturing; Medical Devices & Supplies; Retail

December 1999
Case

Agrochemicals at Ciba-Geigy AG (A)

By: Michael L. Tushman, Wendy Smith and Daniel Radov

After spending five years to develop a revolutionary product, the director of Ciba-Geigy's fungicide research department is handed an unfavorable market study. The case details the R&D process for the new product, including information on corporate partnerships,... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Research and Development; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Strategy; Product Launch; Marketing Channels; Change Management; Product Development; Business Processes; Organizational Structure; Corporate Accountability; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry