Decentralized - Publications - Faculty & Research - Harvard Business School

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2010
Working Paper

Does Product Market Competition Lead Firms To Decentralize?

By: Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

There is a widespread sense that over the last two decades firms have been decentralizing decisions to employees further down the managerial hierarchy. Economists have developed a range of theories to account for delegation, but there is less empirical evidence,... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Employees; Managerial Roles; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Asia; Europe; North America

April 1993 (Revised September 1996)
Case

ABB Deutschland (B)

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

Focuses in detail on implementing a corporate restructuring program in ABB's German subsidiary. Special attention is given to Germany's unique form of industrial governance. Two major problem areas--power plants and power transformers--are described in detail, as is a... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Restructuring; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Governance; Leadership Style; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Sales; Opportunities; Energy Industry; Germany

May 2001 (Revised May 2015)
Case

Compagnie Lyonnaise de Transport (A)

By: Michael Tushman and Michael J. Roberts

Describes the issues surrounding the funding of a centralized research service that supports two related divisions. The company has a very decentralized and financially driven culture, and the centralized service is used unequally, setting up a conflict. View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Organizational Culture; Relationships; Conflict Management; Balance and Stability; Transportation Industry; France

28 Jan 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Does Product Market Competition Lead Firms To Decentralize?

Keywords: by Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen

September 2002
Case

Seattle Public Schools, 1995-2002 (A): The Freedom Agenda

Describes efforts in Seattle Public Schools, under the leadership of Superintendent Joseph Olchefske, to replace the district's centralized budgeting process with school-level budgets. Olchefske's decentralization effort, referred to locally as the Freedom Agenda,... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Practices and Processes; Operations; Education; Education Industry; Seattle

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October 1994 (Revised November 1995)
Case

N.V. Philips Electronics - Currency Hedging Policies

By: Richard F. Meyer

Describes Philips Electronics' policies and problems relating to foreign exchange risk and hedging. Explains centralization versus decentralization of currency hedging, economic role versus transaction role, the difficulties of capturing the necessary information... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Currency Exchange Rate; International Finance; Globalization; Policy; Information Management; Management; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty

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December 2009 (Revised January 2010)
Case

Managing Talent at Bertelsmann AG (A)

By: Boris Groysberg, Nitin Nohria, Mark Maletz and Kerry Herman

Bertelsmann's EVP HR Immanuel Hermreck and his team were focused on four key HR issues. Three of these were somewhat discreet: improving Bertelsmann's employer brand; managing Bertelsmann talent across the firm's decentralized businesses; and ensuring early... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Leadership Development; Strategic Planning; Competitive Advantage; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Germany

June 1982 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Ellis Manufacturing Co.

By: Roy D. Shapiro

Ellis finds itself in a weakening competitive position largely due to the lack of rationalization in its plants. Driven by a strong traditionally decentralized sales organization, Ellis finds that all plants want control over all product lines. As a result, overall... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Cost; Analytics and Data Science; Brands and Branding; Performance Capacity; Competitive Strategy; Construction Industry

April 1984
Supplement

Johnson & Johnson (B): Hospital Services, James Burke, Video

By: Francis Aguilar

James Burke, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, discusses the decision to establish a hospital services company. The problem is that this new unit, created to serve 14 Johnson & Johnson companies, runs counter to the corporate culture where autonomy and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Health Industry

October 1997 (Revised July 1998)
Case

Cultivating Capabilities to Innovate: Booz.Allen & Hamilton

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Bret J. Baird

Describes the efforts of the president of Booz.Allen, a major consulting firm, to understand and improve the way that products, services, and processes are developed and deployed throughout the firm. Proactive management of these processes proves very difficult because... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Innovation and Management; Management Teams; Service Operations; Organizational Culture; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Making; Consulting Industry

January 1973 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Tyler Abrasives, Inc.

Involves multinational pricing policy. Should a multinational industrial products supplier, with plants on several continents, grant a single worldwide price on given products to multinational customers who purchase on several continents? If so, what should the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Marketing Strategy; Price; Multinational Firms and Management; Sales; Industrial Products Industry

2015
Working Paper

On the Increasing Centralization of US Money and Credit

By: Amar Bhidé

My current work on the debt market liquidity (Bhidé 2015) and antecedent book (Bhidé 2010) critiques the de facto centralization of credit extension in the U.S. This essay examines how the increased centralization of credit maps into a decline in the decentralized... View Details

Keywords: Centralization; Money; Credit; United States

02 Apr 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Monitoring and the Portability of Soft Information

Keywords: by Dennis Campbell & Maria Loumioti; Banking

June 1992 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Concordia Casting Company

By: F. Warren McFarlan

Describes five years of development in a centralized data processing activity serving a highly decentralized corporation. Data processing manager discovers that a major software system conversion is a full year behind schedule, and subsequently makes several managerial... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Applications and Software; System; Information Technology; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Human Resources; Conflict and Resolution; Supply Chain Management; Accounting; Auto Industry

January 1988 (Revised February 1991)
Case

Intercon Japan

Describes the many international sourcing initiatives in a multinational connector manufacturing company from the standpoint of an independent and very successful subsidiary in Japan. Students can explore the conflicts inherent in the situation and thus the more... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Multinational Firms and Management; Supply Chain Management; Manufacturing Industry; Japan

October 2011
Case

Raleigh & Rosse: Measures to Motivate Exceptional Service

By: Robert Simons and Michael Mahoney

In January 2010, U.S. luxury goods retailer Raleigh & Rosse is being sued by its employees for encouraging "off the clock" hours. At the center of the class action lawsuit is the famous Raleigh & Rosse performance measurement system previously thought to be the core of... View Details

Keywords: Control Systems; Performance Measurement; Goal Setting; Compensation; Incentives; Motivation; Sales Compensation; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Growth Management; Lawsuits and Litigation; Organizational Culture; Management Systems; Customer Focus and Relationships; Employees; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Retail Industry; United States

March 1999 (Revised April 1999)
Case

Environmental Risk Management at Chevron Corporation

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Monica M Mandelli and Jennifer Burns

Chevron Corp., headquartered in San Francisco, manages a worldwide, vertically integrated value chain from the oil well to the gasoline station. Mishandling of oil at any stage of production can damage the natural environment, human health, corporate profitability, or... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Generation; Supply Chain Management; Metals and Minerals; Management Systems; Management Teams; Trade; Vertical Integration; Energy Industry; Mining Industry

August 2024
Case

Zipline: Expanding the World's Largest Autonomous Drone Delivery Network

By: Tarun Khanna and George Gonzalez

Zipline initially established the world's largest logistics network in Rwanda and Ghana by delivering medical supplies to hospitals via automated drones from a centralized hub. The company is now looking to expand to the U.S. home delivery market and designed a... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Logistics; Expansion; Air Transportation; Rwanda; Ghana; United States

October 1996 (Revised April 1998)
Case

Mobil USM&R (D): Gasoline Marketing

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Mobil US Marketing & Refining has shifted from a centralized staff-driven organization to decentralized business-units. Staff functions now must negotiate service agreements with a buyer's committee consisting of representatives from the profit-center business units.... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Management Teams; Human Resources; Agreements and Arrangements; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Customers; Situation or Environment; Business Units; Energy Industry; Mining Industry; United States

November 2003 (Revised July 2006)
Case

STAR 2003

By: Thomas R. Piper

A shift in strategy from broadcasting standardized programs throughout its footprint to localized programming necessitates a review of STAR's organizational structure. Growing complexity and a need for local responsiveness point toward adoption of a country-based... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Organizational Structure; Management Teams; Decision Choices and Conditions; Organizational Design; Complexity; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Service Industry

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