Publications

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October 2017
Case

The Transformation of Microsoft

By: C. Fritz Foley, E. Scott Mayfield and F. Katelynn Boland

In early 2015, Amy Hood, CFO of Microsoft, and the rest of the senior leadership team faced a set of fundamental choices. The firm had opportunities to serve customers in ways that would be associated with higher growth but lower margin. Some of these opportunities... View Details

Keywords: Growth; Corporate Finance; Valuation; Growth Management; Communication Strategy; Transformation; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

Aug 2013
Conference Presentation

Brokerage Spaces: How Informal Networks Transform Formal Structure In The Pursuit Of Complex Tasks

By: Ranjay Gulati and Luciana Silvestri

Keywords: Ambiguity; Cognition; Collaboration; Networks; Organizational Design; Cognition and Thinking

July 2024
Case

Knowledge-Enabled Financial Advice: Digital Transformation at Edward Jones

By: Lauren Cohen, Richard Ryffel, Grace Headinger and Sophia Pan

Edward Jones, a wealth management advisory firm that prided itself on its interpersonal connections and face-to-face interactions, was eager to augment their services with AI capabilities. Built on 1-to-1 close-knit relationships, the firm had more than 15,000 offices... View Details

October 2015
Article

How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Companies

By: Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann

The evolution of products into intelligent, connected devices is revolutionizing business. In a November 2014 article, "How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition," Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter and PTC president and CEO James... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Operations; Business Strategy

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January 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Comcast New England: A Journey of Organizational Transformation

By: Michael Beer and Anita Arun

This case describes how Kevin Casey, Comcast's New England Region general manager, transformed a low commitment and performance organization. When he took charge of this Comcast region he inherited an organization that was bureaucratic, had low customer satisfaction,... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Interpersonal Communication; Customer Satisfaction; Employee Relationship Management; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Performance Improvement; Telecommunications Industry; New England

July 2008 (Revised December 2009)
Case

Infosys' Relationship Scorecard: Measuring Transformational Partnerships

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez, Robert S. Kaplan and Katherine Miller

This case analyzes Infosys' innovative approach to measuring performance in client relations. Infosys' strategy is evolving to build transformational partnerships from its original position as an outsourcer of end-to-end IT projects. A transformational partner helps... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Performance Evaluation; Attorney and Client Relationships; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Balanced Scorecard; Competitive Strategy; Commercialization; Competitive Advantage; Economic Growth; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; India

01 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

Companies, Cultures and the Transformation to the Transnational

as nemawashi or ringi, which institutionalized information sharing and joint decision making. These influences bound managers and corporations together into a very culturally... View Details

Keywords: by Christopher A. Bartlett & Sumantra Ghoshal

13 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

Don't Turn Your Marketing Function Over to AI Just Yet

the cell phone,” Amano says. “We don’t know how to model that, and we don’t know how to think about it, but it’s a really important question, because that informs whether you run another ad on the bus.”... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

03 Mar 2014
News

A Life Transformed

Parija had already acquired decades of business acumen, HBS was a transformational experience for him. "It taught me how to set a goal and work toward it, and it gave me the... View Details

Keywords: Robert S. Benchley; Finance; Transportation

2022
Article

Which Explanation Should I Choose? A Function Approximation Perspective to Characterizing Post hoc Explanations

By: Tessa Han, Suraj Srinivas and Himabindu Lakkaraju

A critical problem in the field of post hoc explainability is the lack of a common foundational goal among methods. For example, some methods are motivated by function approximation, some by game theoretic notions, and some by obtaining clean visualizations. This... View Details

Keywords: Mathematical Methods; Decision Choices and Conditions; Analytics and Data Science

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May 2024
Case

Pernod Ricard: Uncorking Digital Transformation

By: Iavor Bojinov, Edward McFowland III, François Candelon, Nikolina Jonsson and Emer Moloney

This case study explores the opportunities and challenges of the digital transformation journey of French wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard. As part of the transformation, the company launched four key digital programs (KDPs) aimed at using data and artificial... View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; Business Divisions; Talent and Talent Management; Global Strategy; AI and Machine Learning; Analytics and Data Science; Digital Transformation; Digital Strategy; Advertising; Sales; Organizational Culture; Product Development; Decision Making; Technology Adoption; Alignment; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry; France; Europe

2022
Working Paper

The Transformation of Self Employment

By: Innessa Colaiacovo, Margaret Dalton, Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

Over the past half-century, while self-employment has consistently accounted for around one in ten of the United States workforce, its composition has changed. Since 1970, industries with high startup capital requirements have declined from 53% of self-employment to... View Details

Keywords: Self-employment; Startup Investment; Occupational Choice; Financing; Small Business; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Financing and Loans

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01 Sep 2003
News

Transforming Baker Library

researchers, as well as a multimedia discussion and conference space called “The Exchange,” intended for spirited debate and collaboration. The core library functions will also... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools

September 2004 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Otis Elevator: Accelerating Business Transformation with IT

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Brian DeLacey

Focuses on a major transformation of Otis Elevator's infrastructure. Led by the CEO, this transformation represents a remarkable long-term reengineering of all the processes of the firm to drive its operating costs down and service image up. The transformation is the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Cost Management; Infrastructure; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology

June 2018
Teaching Note

The Transformation of Microsoft

By: C. Fritz Foley and F. Katelynn Boland

Teaching Note for HBS No. 218-048. In early 2015, Amy Hood, CFO of Microsoft, and the rest of the senior leadership team faced a set of fundamental choices. The firm had opportunities to serve customers in ways that would be associated with higher growth but lower... View Details

Keywords: Growth; Corporate Finance; Valuation; Growth Management; Communication Strategy; Transformation; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States