Publications

11 Feb 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goal Setting

Keywords: by Lisa D. Ordóñez, Maurice E. Schweitzer, Adam D. Galinsky & Max H. Bazerman

31 Aug 2021
Book

Feeling Powerless at Work? Time to Agitate, Innovate, and Orchestrate

should do: “agitate, innovate, and orchestrate.” Ordinary people can effect change After all, people lower down the organizational ladder, who may seem to have little influence, often have far more power than they realize to change their... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

06 Jul 2016
What Do You Think?

How Do We Pay for the Costs of Globalization?

government policies, short-term corporate management thinking, the World Trade Organization (Paul saying, “Personally, I’m a long-time supporter of globalization, but the WTO decision-making process needs to be more transparent and... View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett; Manufacturing

October 31, 2022
Article

Achieving Individual—and Organizational—Value with AI

By: Sam Ransbotham, David Kiron, François Candelon, Shervin Khodabandeh and Michael Chu

New research shows that employees derive individual value from AI when using the technology improves their sense of competency, autonomy, and relatedness. Likewise, organizations are far more likely to obtain value from AI when their workers do. This report offers key... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Value; Competency and Skills

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March 1992 (Revised April 2000)
Case

Adam Opel AG (A)

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

Focuses on the strategic issue of how to approach the East German market after the Berlin wall came down in late 1989. Within an unusually rich economic-political and organizational-personal context, the chairman of GM's German subsidiary has to respond to Volkswagen's... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Government and Politics; Organizations; Business and Government Relations; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Germany

March 2021 (Revised March 2024)
Case

M-KOPA: Empowering Lives

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Wale Lawal and Pippa Tubman Armerding

The Pay As You Go solar power company in East Africa had sales of $71 million in 2019. It wished to grow to $300 million by 2025. M-KOPA, founded by three entrepreneurs in 2011, had grown nicely in Kenya and Uganda to reach nearly 750,000 households with an innovative... View Details

Keywords: Mobile Payment; Go-to-market Strategy; Business At The Base Of The Pyramid; Business Growth; Social Entrepreneurship; Renewable Energy; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Marketing Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Kenya; Uganda; Nigeria

06 Mar 2012
News

Enhance Your Overseas Experience

Achieving Individual — and Organizational — Value With AI

New research shows that employees derive individual value from AI when using the technology improves their sense of competency, autonomy, and relatedness. Likewise, organizations are far more likely to obtain value from AI when their workers do. This report... View Details

22 Jul 2014
News

What Impact? Resist Taking Credit for Results You Can't Achieve

May 2021
Case

Endeavor Kenya: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Shikhar Ghosh and Christian Godwin

In 2016, Fiona Mungai became Endeavor Kenya’s first managing director. In this role, she helped the organization build its inaugural board and select its first Endeavor entrepreneur, a fintech company called Cellulant. Throughout this process, Mungai observed the power... View Details

31 Jan 2018
Research & Ideas

American Idle: Workers Spend Too Much Time Waiting for Something to Do

says Amabile. “We wanted to investigate idle time, in part, to raise everyone’s awareness of how widespread and pernicious it can be.” “With idle time, the organization is often hurt by it, and it’s not enjoyable for employees either”... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

Is Your Company Really Set up to Innovate?

Innovation is really another word for creativity. So when a company launches an innovation program, or even goes so far as to appoint or hire someone to lead their innovation efforts, what they’re attempting to say is, “We are a creative organization that wants to... View Details

January 2008 (Revised February 2008)
Case

South Dakota Wheat Growers

By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman

As a farmer-owned cooperative, South Dakota Wheat Growers (SDWG) serves the needs of its 3,600 active farmer-members by supplying farm inputs and organizing the marketing and transportation of grain produced in the co-op's service territory. For almost 80 years, the... View Details

Keywords: Cooperative Ownership; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Production; Rail Transportation; Marketing Strategy; Expansion; Economic Growth; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; South Dakota

December 2022
Article

The Rise of People Analytics and the Future of Organizational Research

By: Jeff Polzer

Organizations are transforming as they adopt new technologies and use new sources of data, changing the experiences of employees and pushing organizational researchers to respond. As employees perform their daily activities, they generate vast digital data. These data,... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Analytics and Data Science; Technology Adoption; Employees

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March 2022 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Swvl: Smart Mobility for the Masses

By: Krishna Palepu, Esel Çekin and Menna Hassan

The case focuses on strategy and governance issues at Swvl, a tech-enabled mass mobility marketplace. It describes the journey of CEO and Chairman Mostafa Kandil on his journey from founding the company to its listing on Nasdaq. Since its founding in Egypt in 2017,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Growth and Development Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Innovation and Invention; Business Startups; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry; Middle East; North Africa

12 Jun 2014
News

The Power of Profit in Advancing Systemic Change

February 1990 (Revised July 1992)
Case

Whistler Corp. (A)

By: Gary P. Pisano

Describes the circumstances surrounding Whistler Corp.'s decision whether or not to continue manufacturing operations in the United States. The company had been experiencing severe problems in its domestic manufacturing operations and was thus unable to compete with... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Production; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

October 2014 (Revised May 2015)
Case

HandsOn Bay Area: Scaling Up Community Service

By: James Heskett

HandsOn Bay Area, an organization devoted to the performance of (and development of leaders for) community service, is undergoing a significant (and internally controversial) shift in its business model from "retail" projects involving individual volunteers to... View Details

March 2023
Case

Ransomware Attack at Colonial Pipeline Company

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni

On the morning of May 7, 2021, Colonial Pipeline Company became aware that the company had been the victim of a malicious ransomware attack that had stolen and locked up company data. The extortionists demanded 75 bitcoins (worth about $4.4 million at the time) in... View Details