Publications

September 2017 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Careem: Raising a Unicorn

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Alpana Thapar

This case follows two ex-McKinsey consultants, Magnus Olsson and Mudassir Sheikha, who in search of their true purpose decide to found Careem, a Dubai-based ride-hailing service. Following its launch in July 2012, Careem experiences rapid growth of 30% per month in the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Information Technology; Organizational Culture; Decision Making; Growth Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry; Middle East; North Africa; United Arab Emirates

March 2001
Case

Yvette Hyater-Adams and Terry Larsen at CoreStates Financial Corp.

By: David A. Thomas, Nancie Zane PHD and Emily Heaphy

Yvette Hyater-Adams, senior VP of CoreStates Bank, and CEO Terry Larsen reflect on their five-year mentor-protege relationship. They describe how building a relationship across both race and gender was challenging and ultimately highly rewarding. Their relationship... View Details

Keywords: Race; Gender; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Management Teams; Relationships; Banking Industry

October 2003 (Revised January 2009)
Case

Transforming Matsui Securities

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Masako Egawa, Jamie Ladge and Haruki Umezawa

Michio Matsui, president and CEO of Matsui Securities, transformed a small regional securities company into a leading player in the online broking industry in Japan. Discusses how he transformed the business model and culture of the company and took advantage of the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Innovation and Invention; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Model; Organizational Culture; Financial Markets; Competitive Advantage; Japan

July 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Mary Kay Inc.: Enriching Women's Lives while Embracing Change

By: Elie Ofek, K. Shelette Stewart and Julia Kelley

In December 2020, Mary Kay Inc. Chief Marketing Officer Sheryl Adkins-Green considered several strategic dilemmas. Founded in 1963 by Mary Kay Ash, Mary Kay was a direct sales company whose Independent Beauty Consultants purchased its beauty and cosmetics products at... View Details

April 2025
Supplement

Joe Mazzulla and the Boston Celtics (B)

By: Linda A. Hill, James I. Cash and Lydia Begag

This case is a supplement to “Joe Mazzulla and the Boston Celtics” (A) and is set against the backdrop of the 2024 NBA Finals. It describes the impact of Mazzulla’s decision to rally his team with an aggressive “go for the kill” mindset instead of choosing language... View Details

August 2002
Case

Trilogy University

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Michael Paley

In early 2001, Trilogy Software faced a slowdown in its business, a large number of unsuccessful customer deployments, and an overall weakening in the enterprise software market. In response, the company revamped its business model and restructured the organization.... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Alignment; Restructuring; Organizational Structure; Change Management; Business Strategy; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Information Technology Industry

Program

The Women's Leadership Forum

successfully, you will emerge reenergized about your career and empowered with a realistic agenda for change in your company—and in your own approach to leadership. Details Help your organization achieve key business goals Improve your ability to drive change and help... View Details

December 2011 (Revised January 2012)
Supplement

Pierre Frankel in Moscow (B): Plowing Ahead

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Matthew Bird

After several months into his turnaround of a global technology company's Russia subsidiary, a young and upcoming French executive reflected on how to institutionalize the subsidiary's transformation by further driving cultural change and breaking down internal silos.... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Business Subsidiaries; Leadership; Manufacturing Industry; Russia

2010
Book

Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads

By: Srikant M. Datar, David A. Garvin and Patrick Cullen

"Business Schools Face Test of Faith." "Is It Time to Retrain B-Schools?" As these headlines make clear, business education is at a major crossroads. For decades, MBA graduates from top-tier schools set the standard for cutting-edge business knowledge and skills. Now... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges

Find at Harvard

Web

Faculty & Research

field of negotiation, shows you how to negotiate successfully today by adapting proven negotiation principles and strategies to the challenging new contexts you face—from negotiating across cultural and... View Details

January 2018
Case

Scaling Swagbucks (A)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Matthew G. Preble

In early 2014, Chuck Davis (HBS '86) has joined Swagbucks as its first professional CEO to scale a successful and profitable brand promotion and consumer research business. Davis came into the job while serving as a venture partner at TCV, a growth stage VC firm,... View Details

Keywords: Loyalty Management; Scaling; Scale; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Leading Change; Growth Management; Religion; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Transition; Leadership; Web Services Industry; Technology Industry

03 Oct 2023
What Do You Think?

Do Leaders Learn More From Success or Failure?

led us to a useful conclusion: that a strong culture logically could lead to either success or failure. It was, instead, the presence of values and behaviors—components of its culture—that encouraged openness and View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

October 2002 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Union Corrugating Company (A)

By: Paul W. Marshall and Julia Stevens

Lauri Union graduates from Harvard Business School and takes over her family's steel-corrugated roofing and siding manufacturing firm, which her mother has most recently run. The industry is mature, entry barriers to competitors are low, and the company is over 50... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Family Business; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Family Ownership; Gender; Manufacturing Industry; Steel Industry; Industrial Products Industry

14 Jan 2014
First Look

First Look: January 14

Publications January 2014 Harvard Business Review IDEO's Culture of Helping By: Amabile, Teresa, Colin M. Fisher, and Julianna Pillemer Abstract—Leaders can do few things more important than encouraging helping behavior within their... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Oct 2023
Book

Yes, You Can Radically Change Your Organization in One Week

The biggest, thorniest organizational problems can be solved in just one week, say Frances Frei and Anne Morriss, coauthors of the new book Move Fast and Fix Things. Armed with decision-making power and the right change-management toolkit, leaders don’t need to work... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

August 1996 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Suzanne de Passe at Motown Productions (A1)

By: Linda A. Hill and Jaan Elias

Illustrates: 1) the impact of a manager's leadership style on corporate culture, direction, and performance; 2) the concept of fit between leadership style and the requirements of situations in which managers find themselves; and 3) the need for managers to adapt their... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Race; Organizational Culture; Success; Leadership Style; Gender; Management Teams; Change Management; Situation or Environment; Creativity; Relationships; Music Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

05 Jul 2023
HBS Case

What Kind of Leader Are You? How Three Action Orientations Can Help You Meet the Moment

Because change is the only constant, leadership is never one-size-fits-all. Different challenges require different leadership styles. A recent note from Harvard Business School suggests that an organization’s success rides on the ability of its leaders to View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

Program

Leadership for Senior Executives

improve your competitive position in the marketplace. Details Build your contextual intelligence Analyze how the environmental context influences how your organization operates and competes Sharpen your contextual intelligence on a micro level (e.g., View Details

November 2018 (Revised August 2020)
Case

The Reinvention of Kodak

By: Ryan Raffaelli and Christine Snively

The Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) was a name familiar to most Americans. The company had dominated the film and photography industry through most of the 20th Century and was known for making affordable cameras (and the “Kodak Moment”) and supplying the movie industry... View Details

Keywords: CEO; Leadership; Asset Management; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy