Publications

April 2021
Case

Transforming BlackBerry: From Smartphones to Software

By: Ranjay Gulati and Nicole Tempest Keller

On the verge of failure, BlackBerry brought in John Chen as CEO in 2013 to orchestrate a bold turnaround of the company. Once an iconic leader in the smartphone market, BlackBerry was best known for its tactile QWERTY keyboard, strong security, and a focus on business... View Details

Keywords: Pivot; Managing Change; Turnaround; Smartphone; Change Management; Leading Change; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Platforms; Change; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Competitive Strategy; Cybersecurity; Technology Industry; Transportation Industry; Canada

April 2019 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Raksul

By: Scott Duke Kominers, Masahiro Kotosaka, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

Raksul, 2018 Forbes Japan "Startup of the Year," ran an e-commerce platform drawing upon thousands of individual suppliers. Launched as a business-to-business printing services marketplace, Raksul had recently expanded to operate both a logistics/delivery marketplace... View Details

Keywords: Marketplace Design; B2B; Platform Strategy; Printing; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Logistics; Advertising; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; E-commerce; Web Services Industry; Japan

06 Oct 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

18 Tips Managers Can Use to Lead Through COVID's Rising Waters

software deployments, and new coordinated routines across teams. The best can use this as an opportunity to experiment and learn where technology can deliver service or enable more flexible work arrangements. To learn more, read Are View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Web

Investing in Emerging Industries | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

opened a branch office in Chicago in the 1930s and another in Los Angeles in the 1940s. Manhattan: William Street, 1923. The New York Public Library Digital Collections. Digital Equipment Corporation.... View Details

01 Sep 2023
News

Global Outposts Expand HBS’s Intellectual Footprint

Since taking over as CEO of Tata Steel in 2013, T. V. Narendran had sought to transform India’s oldest steel manufacturing firm to ready it for a rapidly evolving business world. He instilled financial discipline, acquired new businesses, and launched View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

23 Mar 2022
Blog Post

Learning Curve: The Brother-and-Sister Team Behind a New Edtech Nonprofit

approximately 150 million children ages 3 to 8, making it an ideal partner for working at scale. Rocket develops and delivers digital training materials focused specifically on boosting the skills of this group of public-sector educators.... View Details

21 Jun 2022
HBS Case

Free Isn’t Always Better: How Slack Holds Its Own Against Microsoft Teams

end in a draw. “You can imagine a number of different scenarios, where Slack turns out to be very successful in certain segments—engineering, IT—and Teams is more successful in others,” he says. “That’s a very reasonable scenario.” Related Reading: Why View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Information Technology; Technology

26 Jul 2022
Research & Ideas

Burgers with Bugs? What Happens When Restaurants Ignore Online Reviews

constituting a 1.8 to 3.2 percent reduction in sold-out probability. "I hope regulators will start seeing all these pieces of digital data as useful in helping them do a better job." They also compared hygiene compliance across... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage; Retail

January 2025
Case

GE Appliances 2025: Energizing Change

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

At the turn of 2025, Kevin Nolan, CEO of GE Appliances following its acquisition by Chinese appliance giant Haier in 2016, is reviewing progress toward his net zero carbon vision for homes, which would otherwise exacerbate the global warming climate crisis. An... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Transformation; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Technological Innovation