Publications

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September 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Zurich Insurance: Zurich Oxygen

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly

Zurich Insurance was undergoing organizational change after implementing five new people practices focused on manager development, diversity and inclusion, job model and data analytics, recruitment, and talent pipeline. The case “Zurich Insurance: Fostering Key People... View Details

Keywords: Managing Change; Management Development; Leadership; Organization Behavior; Management Skills; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Leadership Development; Human Capital; Human Resources; Insurance; Insurance Industry

July 2011 (Revised August 2011)
Supplement

Renewing GE: The Africa Project (B)

By: David A. Thomas and Stephanie J. Creary

This case continues the story of the evolution of GE's business initiatives Africa. Between November 2010 and March 2011 several significant structural changes and leadership appointments were announced at GE, which reflected the company's commitment to global growth... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Restructuring; Multinational Firms and Management; Developing Countries and Economies; Consumer Products Industry; Hong Kong; Africa; Republic of Ireland

February 1990 (Revised July 1990)
Case

Internal Revenue Service: Automated Collection System

By: Nitin Nohria

Describes how the IRS's collection operations changed from a largely manual system (COF) to an automated system (ACS). A central aspect of ACS was the electronic scheduling and maintaining of work. While with ACS the IRS accomplished significant improvements in the... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; Revenue; Information Technology; Taxation; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Human Resources; Public Administration Industry; United States

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Ground-Floor Opportunities for Retail in India

helped raise equity for two retail food chains, Café Coffee Days and Barista. "It's possible to adapt successful U.S. strategies to India," said Raheja, "but you need a sustainable competitive advantage to survive."... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Consumer Products; Retail

23 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

The Future of the Venture Capital Cycle

volume have highlighted, much is still not yet known about the venture capital industry. The extent to which the U.S. venture model will spread overseas and the degree to which the American model will — or can — be successfully adapted... View Details

Keywords: by Paul A. Gompers & Josh Lerner; Financial Services

22 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 22, 2007

about whether organizations can adapt—and if so how. One perspective, organizational ecology, presents evidence suggesting that most organizations are largely inert and ultimately fail. A second perspective argues that some firms do learn and View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Feb 2016
First Look

February 2, 2016

Aspiring Minds Computer Adaptive Test (AMCAT), used machine-learning algorithms to evaluate the abilities of job seekers and provide feedback by measuring not only skills and knowledge, but also personality and behavior traits. Since its... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Dec 2015
First Look

December 8, 2015

These platforms provide notable benefits including reducing transaction costs, improving allocation of resources, and creating information and pricing efficiencies. Yet they also raise questions of regulation, including how regulation should View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Jun 2014
First Look

First Look: June 24

this father-son team learned in their 20 years of doing business in China? Would ASC make the transition from being a family-run business to a part of Suntory Holdings and still thrive? Could ASC under its leadership continue to adapt to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Dec 2007
First Look

First Look: December 11, 2007

review classical and contemporary research from organizational theory, sociology and economics that have focused on geographic influences on organizations. We adapt Scott's (2001) influential three pillars model, including regulative,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2018 (Revised August 2020)
Background Note

Continuous Software Development: Agile's Successor

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Samuel Clemens and Olivia Hull

In recent years, the twin software development methodologies of continuous delivery and continuous deployment have risen to prominence in the start-up world and beyond. These methods have enabled technology companies large and small to accelerate their product... View Details

August 1995
Background Note

Managing in an Information Age: IT Challenges and Opportunities

By: Lynda M. Applegate

The co-evolution of technology, work, and the workforce over the past 30 years has dramatically influenced our concept of organizations and the industries within which they compete. No longer simply a tool to support "back-office" transactions, IT has become a... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Information Management; Restructuring; Technological Innovation; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology Industry

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July – August 2011
Article

The Enabling Role of Social Position in Diverging from the Institutional Status Quo: Evidence from the U.K. National Health Service

By: Julie Battilana

This study examines the relationship between social position, both within the field and within the organization, and the likelihood of individual actors initiating organizational changes that diverge from the institutional status quo. I explore this relationship using... View Details

Keywords: Status and Position; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Projects; Leading Change; Managerial Roles; Relationships; Power and Influence; Health Industry; United Kingdom

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October 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Supplement

Procter & Gamble in the 21st Century (B): Welcoming Gillette

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Matthew Bird

A.G. Lafley and P&G leaders decided to approach the Gillette integration differently from previous mergers. Using P&G's purpose, values, and principles (PVP) it treated the acquisition as a merger that sought to take the "best of both" from each company. In the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Change Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Management Skills; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Integration

2009
Working Paper

Taking a 'Deep Dive': What Only a Top Leader Can Do

By: Howard H. Yu and Joseph L. Bower

Unlike most historical accounts of strategic change inside large firms, empirical research on strategic management rarely uses the day-to-day behaviors of top executives as the unit of analysis. By examining the resource allocation process closely, we introduce the... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Resource Allocation; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure

SSRN

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2009
Working Paper

Don't Just Survive - Thrive: Leading Innovation in Good Times and Bad

By: Lynda M. Applegate and J. Bruce Harreld

Battered by contracting markets and frozen credit, many businesses today are fighting for survival. Indeed, the current global financial crisis provides a mandate for restructuring. But survival is not the end goal. In fact, cost cutting and restructuring are simply... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Risk Management; Leading Change; Innovation and Management; Crisis Management; Growth and Development Strategy

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20 Aug 2013
First Look

First Look: August 20

make it the norm. August 2013 Management Science Pareto Efficiency in Robust Optimization By: Iancu, Dan, and Nikolaos Trichakis Abstract—This paper formalizes and adapts the well-known concept of Pareto e ciency in the context of the... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

11 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

The New International Style of Management

very ecumenical, flexible, and open to new ideas and people. It learns from best practices in other countries, and it adapts accordingly. A prime example is America's absorption of Japanese manufacturing techniques in the 1980s."... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

February 2010 (Revised November 2011)
Case

International Agribusiness in China: Charoen Pokphand Group

By: William C. Kirby, Michael Shih-ta Chen, Tracy Manty and Yi Kwan Chu

The world's leading Thai agribusiness corporation and largest agribusiness investor in China, CP Group, is facing another crossroads in China as the country starts to undergo rural reform. The issues at hand for Chairman Dhanin Chearavanont is how CP can balance its... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; SWOT Analysis; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Rural Scope; Agribusiness; Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; China