Publications

April 1993 (Revised June 1993)
Background Note

Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change

Provides a conceptual framework for understanding business process redesign and change management. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Information Technology; Business Processes

14 Mar 2023
Blog Post

How Inclusive Managers Create Glass-Shattering Organizations

acts as a resource they can recommend to their male colleagues. If enough people assume responsibility for making the changes that research shows can reduce inequities, they say, the results will benefit View Details

March 2021 (Revised June 2022)
Case

Bill Wilson: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Max Saffer

This case describes the life choices of Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. A young man with tremendous potential, Wilson hit rock bottom as a drunk. An epiphany, coupled with his personal drive, led him to build a worldwide organization that has helped... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Nonprofit Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Values and Beliefs; Personal Characteristics; Leadership Style; Work-Life Balance; Personal Development and Career

Article

Corporate Headquarters in the Twenty-first Century: An Organization Design Perspective

By: Sven Kunisch, Markus Menz and David J. Collis

The corporate headquarters (CHQ) of the multi-business enterprise, which emerged as the dominant organizational form for the conduct of business in the twentieth century, has attracted considerable scholarly attention. As the business environment undergoes a... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Business Headquarters

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2023
Working Paper

LALIGA—From a Soccer Competition Organizer to a Global Player in the Sports and Entertainment Industry

By: Stephen A. Greyser, Kenneth Cortsen and Juan Fuentes Fernández

LALIGA, the first- and second-tier professional soccer league (known as “football” outside of the U.S. and Canada) in Spain, enters its 100th soccer season later this decade. The most popular game in the world (Giulianotti, 2012) has gone through many changes since... View Details

Keywords: Soccer; ＂Sports Organizations,; Business History; Strategy; Brands and Branding; Technology Adoption; Sports Industry

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01 Jun 2015
News

Creating Change

anyone seeking to change an organization from within, says Professor Kathleen McGinn, who recently presented on the topic to the HBS Women’s Association of New England. She outlines four steps to creating... View Details

Keywords: April White

01 Oct 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Responding to Public and Private Politics: Corporate Disclosure of Climate Change Strategies

Keywords: by Erin M. Reid & Michael W. Toffel

April 2008
Class Lecture

Can Complex Organizations Learn? (FSS)

By: Amy C. Edmondson

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation

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June 2023 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Albert Einstein: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

This case traces the rise of Albert Einstein from a small town in Germany to a towering intellectual leader who revolutionized the field of physics. The case describes his early education and his penchant for individual thinking and non-conformity. A committed... View Details

Keywords: Science; Research; Personal Characteristics; Mission and Purpose; Success; Work-Life Balance; Higher Education; Power and Influence

September 2023
Case

FoodCloud: Tackling Food Insecurity and Climate Change in One Bite

By: Brian Trelstad and Emer Moloney

In 2013, Aoibheann O’Brien and Iseult Ward founded FoodCloud, a non-profit social enterprise that aimed to address food waste and food insecurity issues. Through its technology platform, Foodiverse, FoodCloud connected surplus food from retailers with community groups... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Expansion; Technological Innovation; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Growth and Development Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Republic of Ireland; Europe

September 2011 (Revised October 2014)
Case

Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A)

By: Michael Tushman and David Kiron

In 2005, Ganesh Natarajan, CEO of Zensar, a Pune, India-based software company, and his senior management team are considering consolidating staff and resources at the firms. Natarajan proposes an additional, possible controversial business unit to the proposed new... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Product Launch; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Information Technology Industry

December 2014 (Revised August 2024)
Case

HomeAway: Organizing the Vacation Rental Industry

By: Rory McDonald, Feng Zhu and Cheng Gao

In less than 10 years, cofounders Brian Sharples and Carl Shepherd had transformed HomeAway from just another Internet startup into the world's leading vacation-rental marketplace—a global online platform that links customers seeking vacation-home rentals to the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Innovation; Technology; Acquisitions; Operations Management; Digital Platforms; Acquisition; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Disruptive Innovation; Disruption; Accommodations Industry

19 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

How Charitable Organizations Can Thwart Excuses for Not Giving

describes in a new working paper, The Better Is the Enemy of the Good. In fact, Exley argues that based on her research, people look for any excuse to avoid giving a donation and then rationalize their skinflint behavior to avoid feeling... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

April 11, 2017
Article

Systems Change in a Polarized Country

By: Mark R. Kramer

A growing number of U.S. foundations are adopting practices based on systems change to achieve their goals in the current political environment. View Details

Keywords: Political Polarization; Foundations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; United States

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March 2020
Technical Note

Intrapreneurship: Leading Innovation Efforts in Established Organizations

By: Karen G. Mills and Annie Dang

“Intrapreneurship” is the use of entrepreneurial management techniques within established companies to create new environments that foster innovation. Mature firms have consistently faced risk of elimination from competitors, shifting consumer preferences, and... View Details

Keywords: Intrapreneurship; Innovation; Corporate Venture Capital; Accelerators; Incubators; Lean Startup; Hypothesis Testing; Business Ventures; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Leadership; Framework; Disruption

November–December 2023
Article

Storytelling That Drives Bold Change

By: Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss

When tackling urgent organizational problems, leaders usually work hard to identify underlying causes, tap a wide range of knowledge, and experiment with solutions. But once they’ve mapped out a plan, there’s one more crucial step they must take: crafting a story so... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Emotions; Communication Strategy

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13 May 2020
News

Virus will change workspaces — and their emissions

January 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

iOpenEye: Theater and #MeToo in Nigeria

By: Caroline Elkins, Tarun Khanna and Joyce J. Kim

In 2014, Ifeoma Fafunwa, an award-winning playwright and director, founded iOpenEye, a commercial production company dedicated to driving social change through performance art. iOpenEye’s flagship theatrical production was called “Hear Word! Naija Woman Talk True,”... View Details

Keywords: Theatre; Social Change; Entrepreneurship; Social Enterprise; Arts; Entertainment; Social Issues; Health Pandemics; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Model; Nigeria