Publications

2017
Article

Scaling: Organizing and Growth in Entrepreneurial Ventures

By: Alicia DeSantola and Ranjay Gulati

Entrepreneurial ventures face unique challenges related to growth, particularly in the management of internal organizations. Progress on understanding these dynamics has been constrained by fragmentation within relevant management research. In this paper, we clarify... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation

Article

What Managers Need to Know About Social Tools: Avoid the Common Pitfalls So That Your Organization Can Collaborate, Learn, and Innovate

By: Paul Leonardi and Tsedal Neeley

Workplaces have adopted internal social tools—think stand-alone technologies such as Slack, Yammer, and Chatter, or embedded applications such as Microsoft Teams and JIRA—at a staggering rate. In an ambitious study of 4,200 companies, conducted by the McKinsey Global... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Social Tools; Social and Collaborative Networks; Knowledge Sharing; Performance Improvement; Management

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20 May 2016
Op-Ed

World Health Organization Lacks Leadership to Combat Pandemics

significantly reduced. In fact, the WHO would probably be a more effective and nimble organization if it was half its current size, not double. The WHO's role in preparing for, providing early monitoring and View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Health

June 2019 (Revised November 2019)
Technical Note

Sustaining Corporate Culture in a Growing Organization

By: Dennis Campbell and Tatiana Sandino

An organization’s culture can be a significant source of sustainable competitive advantage. For the organization, it can attract job candidates who fit and align employees working in different teams around common goals. For employees, a strong culture can generate... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Growth and Development; Mission and Purpose; Values and Beliefs; Management Systems

16 Feb 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Diversity and Team Performance in a Kenyan Organization

Keywords: by Benjamin Marx, Vincent Pons, and Tavneet Suri; Public Administration; Public Relations

December 2014
Supplement

Interview with Anders Byriel and Mads Nygård: Kvadrat

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

Anders Byriel, CEO of the family-owned Danish textiles company, Kvadrat, and Mads Nygård, SVP of Strategy & Organization at Kvadrat, discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by the company. They elaborate on areas covered in the case including: 1.) Asia; 2.) Soft... View Details

Keywords: General Management; Organization Behavior; Strategy; Performance Management; Leadership; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Human Resources; Manufacturing Industry; Denmark

03 Feb 2020
What Do You Think?

Can an Organization Have Too Much 'Rebel Talent'?

box gets us new ideas. On the other hand, I cringe at the thought of effectively managing a ‘herd of cats.’” Santosh Patil added that “as much as I like the rebels in my team, it is essential for me to have order since I am very View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

May 2025
Case

Daiichi Sankyo: Steering a Global Organization

By: Tiona Zuzul, Amy C. Edmondson and Cat Huang

In the spring of 2023, Sunao Manabe, CEO of Daiichi Sankyo, reflected on a pivotal decision. A large Western pharmaceutical company had made a bid to partner with Daiichi Sankyo to develop the next three products in its oncology pipeline. Daiichi Sankyo, a 125-year old... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Culture Change; Decision-making; Leadership; Culture; Innovation; Psychological Safety

August 2021
Article

(Un)sustainability and Organization Studies: Towards a Radical Engagement

By: Seray Ergane, Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee and Andrew J. Hoffman

In this essay, we trace the evolution of the field of sustainability in management and organization studies and narrate its epistemological twists and turns. Concerned by the current trajectory that tends to diminish a focus on political concerns, we propose a new... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Perspective; Organizational Change and Adaptation

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December 1989
Background Note

Note on How Organizations Can be Structured

By: D. Q. Mills

Describes four basic organizational forms--hierarchy, division, matrix, and cluster. Diagrams of each are included. Their strengths and weaknesses under different business environment conditions are detailed. There is a table comparing the forms on several key... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure

March 2016
Case

N12 Technologies: Building an Organization and Building a Business

By: David A. Garvin and Aldo Sesia

N12 Technologies was a startup founded in 2010 that employed nanotechnology to manufacture a patented material to improve the performance of carbon fiber composites, which were used in a wide variety of products, ranging from bicycles to automobiles to aircraft parts.... View Details

Keywords: Startup; Organizational Structure; Nanotechnology; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Management Systems; Commercialization; Industrial Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Bicycle Industry; Transportation Industry; United States

2012
Book

Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy

By: Amy C. Edmondson

Continuous improvement, understanding complex systems, and promoting innovation are all part of the landscape of learning challenges today's companies face. I show that organizations thrive, or fail to thrive, based on how well the small groups within those... View Details

Keywords: Change; Interpersonal Communication; Learning; Values and Beliefs; Innovation and Invention; Management; Performance Improvement; Groups and Teams; Research; Strategy; Complexity; Value

August 2021
Case

Livongo: Scaling a Purpose-Driven Organization in Healthcare

By: Ranjay Gulati, Aseem Shukla and Reva Nohria

When seasoned entrepreneur Glen Tullman founded the chronic health care startup Livongo in 2014, it was personal. His son lived with diabetes, and Tullman knew firsthand how taxing it could be to manage such an unrelenting disease. Livongo set out to empower people... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare Industry; Scaling; Telehealth; Health Care and Treatment; Small Business; Internet and the Web; Customer Focus and Relationships; Growth and Development Strategy; Opportunities; Mergers and Acquisitions; Health Industry

May 2025
Supplement

Shore Capital Partners: 2025

By: Boris Groysberg and Kerry Herman

This supplement updates the case Shore Capital Partners: The Next Ten Years View Details

Keywords: Organization; Management; Private Equity; Leadership; Organizational Culture; United States

Teaching Interest

Managing Social Enterprise (MSE)

This course examines how to create, develop and scale high-performing social enterprises - be they nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid organizations. Unlike the business world where most stakeholders agree on the definition of success and are driven by market forces,... View Details

19 Nov 2013
News

Can Damon Silvers Save Organized Labor?

Keywords: Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Manufacturing

March 1999
Case

Merck & Co., Inc.: Corporate Strategy, Organization and Culture (A)

By: Michael Beer and Perry Fagan

In the early 1990s, Merck faced a series of challenges because of significant changes in its competitive and regulatory environment (e.g., growth in power of pharmaceutical buyers like managed care organizations led to price pressures and President Clinton's review of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Management Practices and Processes; Competitive Strategy; Management Teams; Health Care and Treatment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Situation or Environment; Alignment; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States