Publications

December 1971 (Revised December 1994)
Background Note

Capital Structure Decision: Underlying Theory

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Demonstrates hypothetically and numerically the share price valuation impact of changes in a firm's capital structure. View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Decisions

Educators

20 Jan 2009
Research & Ideas

Risky Business with Structured Finance

In the wake of the financial crisis, many once-esoteric investment terms have become a familiar part of our vocabulary. The role of structured finance securities such as collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), for example, and the part... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Banking; Financial Services

February 2018
Article

Structural GARCH: The Volatility-Leverage Connection

By: Robert F. Engle and Emil N. Siriwardane

During the financial crisis, financial firm leverage and volatility both rose dramatically. Consequently, institutions are being asked to reduce leverage in order to reduce risk, though the effectiveness depends upon the role of capital structure in volatility. To... View Details

Keywords: Leverage; Credit Risk; Crisis Management; Equity; Volatility; Credit; Risk Management; Financial Crisis

08 Dec 2023
News

New Leadership Role and Structure

MESSAGE FROM ANGELA CRISPI AND DEAN SRIKANT DATAR To: HBS Faculty and Staff From: Angela Crispi and Srikant Datar Re: New Leadership Role and Structure We are delighted to announce that effective January 1, 2024, Jana Kierstead will... View Details

April 2012
Article

Change Agents, Networks, and Institutions: A Contingency Theory of Organizational Change

By: Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro

We develop a contingency theory for how structural closure in a network, defined as the extent to which an actor's network contacts are connected to one another, affects the initiation and adoption of change in organizations. Using longitudinal survey data supplemented... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Theory; Organizations; Change

Read Now

1997
Working Paper

Sticky Ties and Bad Attitudes: Relational and Individual Basis of Resistance to Changes in Organizational Structure

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Tracy A. Thompson

1998
Chapter

Sticky Ties and Bad Attitudes: Relational and Individual Bases of Resistance to Changes in Organizational Structure

By: K. L. Valley and T. A. Thompson

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Attitudes; Prejudice and Bias; Motivation and Incentives; Relationships

Read Now

2013
Book

Constructing Green: The Social Structures of Sustainability

By: Rebecca Henn and Andrew J. Hoffman

Buildings are the nation's greatest energy consumers. Forty percent of all our energy is used for heating, cooling, lighting, and powering machines and devices in buildings. And despite decades of investment in green construction technologies, residential and... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Green Building; Transition; Social Issues

Forthcoming
Article

Transitioning Into Retirement: The Interplay of Self and Life Structure

By: Marcy Crary, Douglas T. (Tim) Hall, Kathy E. Kram, Teresa M. Amabile and Lotte Bailyn

This paper explores the psychological, social, and behavioral ways in which professionals end their corporate careers and reorient themselves and their lives in the transition from employment to retirement. Framed within life course theory, specifically the adult... View Details

Keywords: Retirement; Behavior; Transition; Identity

08 Feb 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Team Scaffolds: How Minimal In-Group Structures Support Fast-Paced Teaming

Keywords: by Melissa A. Valentine & Amy C. Edmondson

1981
Chapter

Multinational Structural Change: Evolution versus Reorganization

By: C. A. Bartlett

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure

2021
Article

How Top Managers Use the Entrepreneurial Gap to Drive Strategic Change

By: Robert L. Simons and Antonio Davila

Prior research provides strong evidence for the association between business strategy and the design and use of management control systems. We complement this research by examining the role of management control systems in situations of strategic change. We report the... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Accountability; Strategic Change; Organization Change And Adaptation; Organizational Performance; Management Systems; Organizational Structure; Corporate Accountability; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance

01 Mar 2023
News

Step Change

Arab Spring swept through Cairo. Many of her friends from Cairo University were activists. “When they told me there was a sit-in on January 25, honestly, I didn’t believe it was going to be a thing,” she recalls. Enan also wanted to see View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photographed by Abdelrahman Gabr – Koree; entrepreneurship; women; venture capital; Egypt; developing economies; Finance

June 2010
Article

Change for Change's Sake

By: Freek Vermeulen, Phanish Puranam and Ranjay Gulati

No one disputes that firms have to make organizational changes when the business environment demands them. But the idea that a firm might want change for its own sake often provokes skepticism. Why inflict all that pain if you don't have to? That is a dangerous... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Innovation and Invention; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Creativity; Power and Influence; Adaptation

October 2004 (Revised July 2006)
Background Note

Ownership Structure in Professional Service Firms: Partnership versus Public Corporation

By: Ashish Nanda

This case reviews the relative merits of partnership and public ownership structures in professional services firms. It also evaluates the various rationales for converting partnership professional services firms to publicly owned firms. Finally, the case highlights... View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; Transition; Partners and Partnerships; Public Ownership; Service Industry

Educators

Article

Team Scaffolds: How Mesolevel Structures Enable Role-based Coordination in Temporary Groups

By: M. Valentine and A. C. Edmondson

This paper shows how meso-level structures support effective coordination in temporary groups. Prior research on coordination in temporary groups describes how roles encode individual responsibilities so that coordination between relative strangers is possible. We... View Details

Keywords: Fluid Personnel; Team Scaffolds; Team Effectiveness; Role-based Coordination; Multi-method; Service Delivery; Organizational Structure; Groups and Teams; Performance Efficiency

12 Apr 2023
News

Step Change

startup scene. In addition to moving home, she'd had open heart surgery and changed jobs several times. Meanwhile, Egypt had become a hotbed of startup activity. Last fall, Enan stepped into the role of partner at San Francisco-based VC... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; entrepreneurship; women; venture capital; Egypt; developing economies; Finance

01 Dec 2008
News

Designing Change

know.” The goal of presenting Muzak as a hip, unified entity is complicated by the firm’s structure as an organization composed of company-owned and independent affiliates, many of which use different, uncoordinated marketing materials.... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

January 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

School of Rock: Tuning into Structured Empowerment (A)

By: Tatiana Sandino, Jeffrey Rayport, Samuel Grad and Stacy Straaberg

In summer 2021, School of Rock was a youth-oriented music education company with 291 franchise- and company-owned schools globally. Before CEO Rob Price’s hire in 2017, School of Rock’s nonconformist rock ‘n’ roll culture led to variability in teaching styles,... View Details

Educators