Publications

March 2024
Case

Funderbeam: Teaming Up or Going Alone?

By: Paul A. Gompers, Elena Corsi and Orna Dan

Funderbeam, a global platform founded in Estonia to enable start-ups to run private syndications and secondaries while offering liquidity for private equity investors, was at a crossroads. Over its ten-year run, the company had expanded its services and areas of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Business Exit or Shutdown; Transition; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Law; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financing and Loans; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Ownership Stake; Expansion; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; Estonia; Republic of Ireland; United Kingdom; Singapore

2002
Casebook

General Management: Processes and Action: Text and Cases

By: David A. Garvin

Keywords: General Management; Learning Organizations; Implementation; Management; Cases; Strategic Planning; Decision Making; Change Management; Leadership Style; Organizational Culture

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July 2020
Supplement

Sesame Workshop (B): Celebrating 50 Years of Helping Kids Grow Smarter, Stronger, and Kinder

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joyce J. Kim

In 2019, Sesame Workshop celebrated its 50th anniversary while on a winning streak of social impact, innovation, and peak media and financial results. Over the past four years, CEO Jeff Dunn and his turnaround team exhibited values-driven leadership, instituted... View Details

Keywords: Social Impact; Children; Media; Television Entertainment; Education; Innovation and Invention; Change Management; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Education Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

01 Nov 2024
In Practice

Layoffs Surging in a Strong Economy? Advice for Navigating Uncertain Times

support, benefits continuation, and visa support are all indications to remaining employees and future hires of how they might be treated in the future. Intuit managed communication well: By 9 a.m. PT, all employees impacted by the View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology; Information Technology

25 Aug 2015
First Look

First Look Tuesday

G. Abstract—Vicarious learning-a process of individual belief and behavior change that occurs through being exposed to, and making meaning of, another's experience-has long been recognized as a key driver of individual, team, and View Details

01 Jun 2017
News

The Exchange: Venture Forth

and its place in the business ecosystem has changed significantly in the intervening decades. Two recent working papers explore those changes—Gompers’s survey of decision-making at hundreds of VC firms and Professor Ramana Nanda’s study... View Details

Keywords: April White

21 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Lessons for Retailers from the Rebirth of Indie Bookstores

Raffaelli, a professor in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. “All the ingredients were there for the independent sector to see the end of its days.” Something miraculous started happening in 2009, however. After... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Entertainment & Recreation

May 2004 (Revised December 2004)
Case

Slingshot Technology, Inc. (A)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth Collins

Slingshot Technology Inc. (STI) is a privately held software start-up founded in 1995 focused on identifying emerging spaces in the IT services industry and partnering with vendors selling promising but unproven technologies in those spaces. The vendors used STI to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Private Ownership; Opportunities; Partners and Partnerships; Entrepreneurship; Applications and Software; Intellectual Property; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry

23 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Market Research Meets the “People Factor”

impact that it should. The professors offer suggestions for both groups, so that both sides can better understand the other's point of view and use research more effectively. Even favorable surprises imply a change in the status quo,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

1998
Chapter

Commentary: Strategic Flexibility, Firm Organization, and Managerial Work in Dynamic Models

By: C. A. Bartlett

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Management Practices and Processes

July 1999
Case

Restructuring General Motors North America (A): Pay-for-Performance

By: Malcolm S. Salter

Presents the new pay-for-performance scheme adopted by General Motors (GM) in its 1999 reorganization of its sales and marketing organization. Once in operation, many administrative problems developed requiring a reconsideration of the scheme's basic architecture. View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Compensation and Benefits; Marketing; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Auto Industry; North America

November 1990 (Revised September 1991)
Case

First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A)

Presents the human resource challenges associated with First Chicago Corp.'s strategy in the corporate banking market. They want to maintain strong "relationships" with customers, while also developing strong investment banking capabilities. They face three problems:... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Human Resources; Commercial Banking; Banking Industry; United States

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May 2022
Case

What to Propose?

By: David G. Fubini

Two audit and financial services firms, one of which your consulting firm has supported extensively, have merged to create one of the largest audit firms in the world. The audit firm's Executive Team has requested proposals aimed at re-evaluating their internal... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Professional Services; Governance; Presentations; Organizational Structure; Transition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Consulting Industry

February 2001 (Revised November 2009)
Case

Amazon.com (D)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Dickson Louie and William A. Sahlman

At the end of 1999, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos--just named Time Magazine's Man of the Year--ponders the next moves for his company. Having expanded into numerous categories in 1999, ranging from Z-shops to Auctions to E-cards as well as increasing the number... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Online Technology; Retail Industry

April 1992 (Revised July 1992)
Case

U.S. Robotics, Inc.

U.S. Robotics (USR) is a fast-growing $80 million computer communications company with the aggressive growth target of becoming a $500 million company by 1995. It is widely accepted as the technology leader in its market, and relies strongly on its ability to bring... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Product Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Computer Industry; Communications Industry; United States

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November 2013 (Revised September 2014)
Case

Man Jit Singh at Sony Entertainment Television (A)

By: Linda A. Hill, Dana M. Teppert and Allison J. Wigen

Explores the role of CEO Man Jit Singh and his senior management committee in leading Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd. (formerly SET Pvt. Ltd.), a leading television broadcaster in India. Describes Singh's decision to evaluate employees based on values as well as... View Details

Keywords: Performance Appraisals; Performance Management; Performance Evaluation; Leadership Style; Managerial Roles; Organizational Culture; Groups and Teams; Management Teams; Change Management; Decision Making; Emerging Markets; Media and Broadcasting Industry; India