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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(2,009)
- People (3)
- News (319)
- Research (1,197)
- Events (3)
- Multimedia (8)
- Faculty Publications (513)
- 2016
- Working Paper
The Mirroring Hypothesis: Theory, Evidence and Exceptions
By: Lyra J. Colfer and Carliss Y. Baldwin
The mirroring hypothesis predicts that organizational ties within a project, firm, or group of firms (e.g., communication, collocation, employment) will correspond to the technical patterns of dependency in the work being performed. A thorough understanding of the... View Details
Keywords: Modularity; Innovation; Product And Process Development; Organization Design; Design Structure; Organizational Ties; Mirroring Hypothesis; Industry Architecture; Product Architecture; Complex Technical Systems; Information Technology; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Relationships; Innovation and Invention; Product Development
Colfer, Lyra J., and Carliss Y. Baldwin. "The Mirroring Hypothesis: Theory, Evidence and Exceptions." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 16-124, April 2016. (Revised May 2016.)
- May 2012
- Article
Herbert A. Simon on What Ails Business Schools: More than A Problem in Organizational Design
By: Rakesh Khurana and J.C. Spender
We critically examine Herbert Simon's 1967 essay, "The Business School: A Problem in Organizational Design." We consider this essay within the context of Simon's key ideas about organizations, particularly those closely associated with the 'Carnegie perspective' on... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Design; Perspective; Innovation and Invention; Business Education; Research; Management Practices and Processes; Teaching
Khurana, Rakesh, and J.C. Spender. "Herbert A. Simon on What Ails Business Schools: More than A Problem in Organizational Design." Journal of Management Studies 49, no. 3 (May 2012): 619–639.
- 2013
- Article
The Strategic Fitness Process: A Collaborative Action Research Method for Developing Organizational Prototypes and Dynamic Capabilities
By: Michael Beer
Organizations underperform and sometimes fail because their leaders are unable to learn the unvarnished truth from relevant stakeholders about how the design and behavior of the organization is misaligned with its goals and strategy. The Strategic Fitness Process (SFP)... View Details
Keywords: Organization Alignment; Dynamic Capabilities; Organization Design; Organizational Prototyping; Organizational Silence; Organizational Learning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Organizational Design
Beer, Michael. "The Strategic Fitness Process: A Collaborative Action Research Method for Developing Organizational Prototypes and Dynamic Capabilities." Journal of Organization Design 2, no. 1 (2013).
- Article
Exploring the Duality Between Product and Organizational Architectures: A Test of the 'Mirroring' Hypothesis
By: Alan MacCormack, Carliss Y. Baldwin and John Rusnak
A variety of academic studies argue that a relationship exists between the structure of an organization and the design of the products that the organization produces. Specifically, products tend to "mirror" the architectures of the organizations in which they are... View Details
Keywords: Organization Design; Architecture; Modularity; Open Source Software; Communication; Design; Governance; Management Practices and Processes; Open Source Distribution; Product Design; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Structure; Performance; Problems and Challenges; Behavior; Software
MacCormack, Alan, Carliss Y. Baldwin, and John Rusnak. "Exploring the Duality Between Product and Organizational Architectures: A Test of the 'Mirroring' Hypothesis." Research Policy 41, no. 8 (October 2012): 1309–1324.
- August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
- Supplement
Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (B)
By: Willy Shih
This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Henry Ford's Model T was a car for the masses. After considerable experimentation, Ford Motor... View Details
Keywords: Innovation; Exploration; Dominant Design; Business Growth and Maturation; Business History; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan
Shih, Willy. "Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 614-011, August 2013. (Revised November 2013.)
- 2010
- Other Unpublished Work
Fashioning an Industry: Cognitive Processes and the Construction of Worth in the Institutionalization of a New Industry
By: Mukti Khaire
This inductive study of the high-end fashion industry in India explores how the worth of a new industry is constructed. Interviews with entrepreneurs and constituents of the field revealed that the worth of the industry was constructed through framing by early... View Details
- February 2015
- Article
'Open' Disclosure of Innovations, Incentives and Follow-on Reuse: Theory on Processes of Cumulative Innovation and a Field Experiment in Computational Biology
By: Kevin J. Boudreau and Karim R. Lakhani
Most of society's innovation systems―academic science, the patent system, open source, etc.―are "open" in the sense that they are designed to facilitate knowledge disclosure among innovators. An essential difference across innovation systems is whether disclosure is of... View Details
Keywords: Open Innovation; Cumulative Innovation; Incentives; Search; Disclosure And Access; Knowledge Sharing; Motivation and Incentives; Collaborative Innovation and Invention
Boudreau, Kevin J., and Karim R. Lakhani. "'Open' Disclosure of Innovations, Incentives and Follow-on Reuse: Theory on Processes of Cumulative Innovation and a Field Experiment in Computational Biology." Research Policy 44, no. 1 (February 2015): 4–19.
- 2019
- Working Paper
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 16 Capturing Value by Controlling Bottlenecks in Open Platform Systems
The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the means by which firms capture value in open platform systems. I begin by arguing that the surplus value created by complementarities within a technical system will be split among the owners of the unique and essential... View Details
Keywords: Open Platforms; Bottlenecks; Flow Production; Value Capture; Disintermediation; Production; Management; Digital Platforms
Baldwin, Carliss Y. "Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 16 Capturing Value by Controlling Bottlenecks in Open Platform Systems." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-054, November 2019.
- 01 Jun 2024
- News
The Bookshelf: Try As One Might
A professor of management at the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia and a leading expert on design thinking, Jeanne Liedtka (MBA 1981) helps people make better decisions through experimentation. The concept sounds simple enough in the... View Details
- April 2012
- Case
Bayonne Packaging, Inc.
By: Roy D. Shapiro and Paul E. Morrison
A printer and paper converter produces customized packaging used by industrial customers to deliver promotional materials, software, luxury beverages, and gift food and candy. The company specializes in creating innovative packaging solutions for its customers and... View Details
Keywords: Production Controls; Manufacturing; Capacity Analysis; Quality Control; Performance Management; Process Analysis; Quality; Production; Performance Productivity; Performance Capacity; Business Processes; Manufacturing Industry
Shapiro, Roy D., and Paul E. Morrison. "Bayonne Packaging, Inc." Harvard Business School Brief Case 124-420, April 2012.
- 1996
- Chapter
When to Learn How and When to Learn Why: Appropriate Organizational Learning Processes as a Source of Competitive Advantage
By: A. Edmondson and B. Moingeon
Keywords: Learning; Competitive Advantage; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design
Edmondson, A., and B. Moingeon. "When to Learn How and When to Learn Why: Appropriate Organizational Learning Processes as a Source of Competitive Advantage." In Organizational Learning and Competitive Advantage, by B. Moingeon and A. Edmondson. London: Sage Publications, 1996.
- January 1987
- Article
Posterior Implementability in a Two-person Decision Problem
By: Jerry R. Green and Jean-Jacques Laffont
When a decision rule is implemented using a Bayesian incentive compatible mechanism in which the messages are publicly observable, the players' information is augmented by their observation of each others' strategies. In this paper we study the set of Bayesian... View Details
Green, Jerry R., and Jean-Jacques Laffont. "Posterior Implementability in a Two-person Decision Problem." Econometrica 55, no. 1 (January 1987): 69–94.
- November 2012
- Case
CSIRO: The Light Metals Flagship Decision
By: Willy Shih, Margaret P. Pierson and Dawn Lau
This case explores the challenge of investing in basic research as a public good. CSIRO was Australia's leading science and research agency, and it was chartered to enhance national prosperity through R&D. Its Flagships program was designed to align research interests... View Details
Keywords: R&D; Basic Research; Government-funded Research; Public Goods; Extractive Industries; Metals; Metals Processing; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Technology Adoption; Technology Platform; Manufacturing Industry; Mining Industry; Oceania; Australia
Shih, Willy, Margaret P. Pierson, and Dawn Lau. "CSIRO: The Light Metals Flagship Decision." Harvard Business School Case 613-029, November 2012.
- September 2015 (Revised March 2017)
- Technical Note
FIELD Global Immersion: Developing Customer Empathy
By: Jill Avery
The Design Thinking process begins with empathizing with potential customers. Empathizing, being aware of, interpreting, and understanding the thoughts of others, as well as being able to vicariously experience them oneself, requires the careful and deliberate study of... View Details
- 2017
- Article
Making Transparency Transparent: The Evolution of Observation in Management Theory
By: Ethan Bernstein
Observation is key to management scholarship and practice. Yet a holistic view of its role in management has been elusive, in part due to shifting terminology. The current popularity of the term “transparency” provides the occasion for a thorough review, which finds... View Details
Keywords: Transparency; Privacy; Observation; Tracking; Monitoring; Surveillance; Learning; Control; Disclosure; Process Visibility; Organizations; Theory; Information Technology; Relationships; Measurement and Metrics; Management Practices and Processes; Leadership; Law; Knowledge; Human Resources; Communication
Bernstein, Ethan. "Making Transparency Transparent: The Evolution of Observation in Management Theory." Academy of Management Annals 11, no. 1 (2017): 217–266.
- January 2014
- Technical Note
Learning From Extreme Consumers
By: Jill Avery and Michael Norton
Traditional market research methods focus on understanding the average experiences of average consumers. This focus leads to gaps in our knowledge of consumer behavior and often fails to uncover insights that can drive revolutionary, rather than evolutionary... View Details
Keywords: Market Research; Ethnography; Design Thinking; Innovation; New Product Development; Research; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Innovation and Invention
Avery, Jill, and Michael Norton. "Learning From Extreme Consumers." Harvard Business School Technical Note 314-086, January 2014.
- July–August 2019
- Article
Coupling Labor Codes of Conduct and Supplier Labor Practices: The Role of Internal Structural Conditions
By: Yanhua Bird, Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel
Exploitive working conditions have spurred companies to pressure their suppliers to adopt labor codes of conduct and to conform their labor practices to the standards set forth in those codes. Yet little is known about whether organizational structures such as codes... View Details
Keywords: Organization Theory; Economic Sociology; Social Responsibility; Sustainability; Auditing; Process Improvement; Organizational Structure; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Supply Chain; Labor; Working Conditions
Bird, Yanhua, Jodi L. Short, and Michael W. Toffel. "Coupling Labor Codes of Conduct and Supplier Labor Practices: The Role of Internal Structural Conditions." Organization Science 30, no. 4 (July–August 2019): 847–867. (Best Paper Award at ComplianceNet Conference 2019, 2020 Responsible Research in Management Award Finalist.)
- April 6, 2023
- Article
A New NFT Launch Strategy: The Wave Mint
By: Scott Duke Kominers and 1337 Skulls Sers
In an NFT project, the mint—the process by which tokens are initially allocated—largely determines who your community is and how they and the broader market view the project going forward. In this piece, we review a new minting strategy recently introduced by 1337... View Details
Keywords: NFTs; Mechanism Design; Sales Management; Sales Model; Crypto Economy; Non-fungible Tokens; Networks; Product Launch; Auctions; Market Design
Kominers, Scott Duke, and 1337 Skulls Sers. "A New NFT Launch Strategy: The Wave Mint." a16zcrypto.com (April 6, 2023).
- January 2013 (Revised April 2013)
- Case
OSI in China
By: David E. Bell and Mary Shelman
OSI, one of the world's largest suppliers of processed meats to McDonald's and other QSRs, was in the middle of a $400M expansion in China that included backward integration into poultry production. However, its current customers took only a portion of each bird... View Details
Keywords: China; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Competitive Positioning; Organizational Design; Channels Of Distribution; Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; China
Bell, David E., and Mary Shelman. "OSI in China." Harvard Business School Case 513-045, January 2013. (Revised April 2013.)
- September 2016 (Revised March 2017)
- Module Note
Strategy Execution Module 3: Using Information for Performance Measurement and Control
By: Robert Simons
This module reading explains how managers use information to control critical business processes and outcomes. The analysis begins by illustrating how managers use information to communicate goals and track performance. Then the focus turns to the choices that managers... View Details
Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Strategy Execution; Organization Process; Feedback Model; Innovation; Uses Of Information; Big Data; Benchmarking; Decision Making; Information; Performance Evaluation; Analytics and Data Science
Simons, Robert. "Strategy Execution Module 3: Using Information for Performance Measurement and Control." Harvard Business School Module Note 117-103, September 2016. (Revised March 2017.)