Publications

16 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restaurant Revolution: How the Industry Is Fighting to Stay Alive

inside The future of the restaurant industry is especially of concern to us. We collectively share 35 years of restaurant and food industry experience, navigating our way through as waitstaff and bartenders, as managers and senior leaders... View Details

Keywords: by Michael S. Kaufman, Lena G. Goldberg, and Jill Avery; Food & Beverage

June 2015
Article

You Need an Innovation Strategy

By: Gary P. Pisano

Why is it so hard to build and maintain the capacity to innovate? The reason is not simply a failure to execute but a failure to articulate an innovation strategy that aligns innovation efforts with the overall business strategy. Without such a strategy, companies will... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy

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2012
Book

Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy

By: Amy C. Edmondson

Continuous improvement, understanding complex systems, and promoting innovation are all part of the landscape of learning challenges today's companies face. I show that organizations thrive, or fail to thrive, based on how well the small groups within those... View Details

Keywords: Change; Interpersonal Communication; Learning; Values and Beliefs; Innovation and Invention; Management; Performance Improvement; Groups and Teams; Research; Strategy; Complexity; Value

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January 1983 (Revised May 1984)
Case

Beliefs of Borg-Warner

Shows how the Borg-Warner Corporation developed a statement of values and beliefs under the leadership of its chief executive officer, James F. Bere. The "Beliefs," a set of general principles intended to guide business behavior, now must be given operational meaning... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Values and Beliefs; Business Processes

October 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Zappos.com 2009: Clothing, Customer Service, and Company Culture

By: Frances X. Frei, Robin J. Ely and Laura Winig

On July 17, 2009, Zappos.com, a privately held online retailer of shoes, clothing, and other soft line retail categories, learned that Amazon.com, a $19 billion multinational online retailer, had won its board of directors' approval to offer to merge the two companies.... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Internet and the Web; Valuation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

15 Nov 2022
Book

Stop Ignoring Bad Behavior: 6 Tips for Better Ethics at Work

for working to help “turbocharge” Purdue’s sales efforts. Bazerman describes two groups of explicit complicitors. “True partners” hold goals aligned with the unethical values of a wrongdoer. “Collaborators,” on the other hand, acquiesce... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

September 2019 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Dove and Real Beauty: Building a Brand with Purpose

By: Mark R. Kramer, Myriam Sidibe and Gunjan Veda

Unilever subsidiary Dove soap became a "brand with a purpose" and created shared value when the company decided to launch a Campaign for Real Beauty to combat the artificial media-driven stereotype of female beauty that causes appearance anxiety in women and girls... View Details

Keywords: Stereotype; Body Image; Female; Self-Esteem; Brands and Branding; Mission and Purpose; Advertising Campaigns; Gender; Resource Allocation

05 Feb 2018
What Do You Think?

Should Companies Disclose Employee Compensation?

information when it determines the value of sharing would be low and “the distraction it would cause would be significant.” This prompts the subject of our conversation today: Should compensation data be... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Financial Services

27 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Hard Work Isn't Enough: How to Find Your Edge

wrong, hold us back. Instead, we have to focus on finding our “edge”—the unique qualities that set us apart—and take strategic steps to make other people see our value and open the doors that will take us where we want to go. View Video... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

January 2005 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Kohler Co. (A)

Kohler Co., best known for its plumbing fixtures, is a large, private family firm. As part of a recapitalization aimed at preserving family ownership of Kohler Co., nonfamily shareholders, who held 4% of common stock, were required to sell their shares to the company.... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Stocks; Price; Family Ownership; Business and Shareholder Relations; Valuation

30 Nov 2018
News

Be a disruptor to avoid disruption

October 2008 (Revised November 2010)
Case

NEC Electronics

By: C. Fritz Foley, Robin Greenwood and James Quinn

Why do shares in NEC Electronics, a publicly listed subsidiary of Japan conglomerate NEC, trade at a discount to their fundamental value? Can Perry Capital, a U.S. hedge fund, restructure this subsidiary and generate significant returns? This case provides students... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Private Equity; Investment Return; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations; Financial Services Industry; Japan

May 1994 (Revised November 1994)
Case

PepsiCo: A View from the Corporate Office

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Leonard A. Schlesinger

Describes the three business segments of PepsiCo (beverages, snack foods, and restaurants). It then explores the competitive environment within each segment and the response of PepsiCo's businesses. It seeks to show how PepsiCo CEO, D. Wayne Calloway, in a very... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Change; Governance Controls; Management Style; Organizational Structure; Situation or Environment; Competitive Strategy; Value; Food and Beverage Industry

03 Jan 2023
Book

Confront Workplace Inequity in 2023: Dig Deep, Build Bridges, Take Collective Action

different races, backgrounds, and genders who share the same values and goals. The ultimate goal of bridging is not friendship, emphasizes Opie, but rather an opportunity for two parties from different... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

August 2019 (Revised July 2023)
Module Note

Demystifying the Family Enterprise: Module 1 - The Family

By: Christina R. Wing, Madeline Keulen and Vicki Morton

Module 1 of Demystifying Families in Business focuses on the Family. The Family unit forms the bedrock of the organizations that comprise the collective Family organization, specifically, the virtues that define the Family members’ rules of engagement, and the... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Family and Family Relationships; Governance; Values and Beliefs; Business Organization