Publications

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June 2016
Teaching Note

N12 Technologies: Building an Organization and Building a Business

By: David A. Garvin

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

February 2016 (Revised September 2020)
Case

T-Mobile in 2013: The Un-Carrier

By: John Beshears, Francesca Gino, Jonathan Lee and Sean (Yixiang) Wang

By 2013, the U.S. wireless industry was in the midst of a costly transition. As consumers began to embrace more sophisticated mobile devices, the industry's four main players spent heavily to improve their infrastructures for providing reliable high-speed data... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Product Positioning; Competition; Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry; United States

April 2015
Supplement

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp: Redefining Success in the U.S. (B)

By: Gautam Mukunda, Thomas DeLong and Aldo Sesia

This (B) case describes the actions André Wyss, president of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, took in early 2012 to transform the company's General Medicines group and build its specialty medications, marketing the selling capabilities in the face of falling... View Details

Keywords: LEAD; Leadership And Change Management; Talent Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Change Management; Talent and Talent Management; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

September 2004 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Hancock Land Company and Hancock Lumber Company (A)

By: John A. Davis, Dwight B. Crane and Kelly M. Mulderry

After inheriting the leadership of their family's land and lumber companies, Matt and Kevin Hancock struggled with how to revise their internally focused governance system. View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Governance; Leadership Style; Growth Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation

February 2003
Case

Whitbread Hotel Company (B)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Integration; Business or Company Management; Strategy

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2007
Chapter

Disrupting Gender, Revising Leadership

By: D. E. Meyerson, R. Ely and Laura Wernick

In this chapter, we present a case study of men on two off-shore oil platforms—a workplace that has traditionally rewarded men for their masculine displays of bravado and their interactions centered on proving masculinity—in which such displays and interactions were... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Safety; Leadership; Interpersonal Communication; Practice; Gender; Business Processes; Energy Industry

August 1993
Case

Ford: Petersen's Turnaround

By: Nitin Nohria and Sandy Green

Discusses the changes that Donald Petersen made to turnaround Ford during his tenure, first as president then as CEO. Describes his major initiatives, including the new emphasis on quality. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership Style; Management Teams; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry

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November 1994 (Revised May 1996)
Case

Walt Disney's Dennis Hightower-- Taking Charge

By: Ashish Nanda

In 1987, Dennis Hightower, was recruited from outside for a newly created position as head of Disney Consumer Products European operations. Hightower has to win initial acceptance of entrenched country managers, integrate the company's diverse subsidiaries closer... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Change Management; Corporate Strategy; Personal Development and Career; Consumer Products Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Europe

11 Apr 2023
News

Companies Need to Normalize Healthy Turnover

11 Oct 2022
News

Righting the Ship

When Ross Stuckey (PLDA 21, 2016) joined the NAVSEA Warfare Centers—a part of the naval research labs responsible for developing science and tech for national defense—as their capital improvement program (CIP) manager in 2016, he was charged with doling out $80 million... View Details

Keywords: Maureen Harmon

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Building Competitive Advantage Through Operations

extraordinarily difficult to transfer to other operations. We'll look at why that is so and extract some of the ideas that may be adapted for use in other operations. We will also look at AT&T's Universal credit card business, which... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

16 Aug 2011
First Look

First Look: August 16

adapt to the behavioral biases of employees to "sort in" ("sort away") attractive (unattractive) employees; such schemes may also reduce a firm's wage bill. Consequence-Cause Matching: Looking to the Consequences of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 May 2013
Blog Post

The Art of Naming a Start-up

between. It was sad and frustrating, to practice for months and love the music while knowing that I could never experience it fully. A few months ago when I discovered Music+1, as it was previously called, I felt my dream was actually possible again – in a different... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship

04 Oct 2016
Blog Post

The Peek Weekend Stem Cohort Experience

definitely had those perceptions change after the weekend. That was tremendous for me because I saw how my mindset can adapt and be constantly flexible to incorporate new information and new learning. Professor Frances Frei gave us a talk... View Details

Web

Modern Corporate Strategy: Revitalizing the Corporation - Course Catalog

manage a multi-business corporation?" to engender entrepreneurship and adaptability while maintaining control and realizing economies. All companies, whether large, diversified multinationals or small entrepreneurial startups, wrestle... View Details

01 Jun 2003
News

South Florida and Minnesota Launch Community Programs

can adapt it to their situation,” she observes. “It’s a question of managing the projects and assembling strong groups of volunteers to achieve quality output for each project.” Twenty–seven volunteers staffed five projects for the... View Details

Keywords: Alumni groups; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

2001
Chapter

Bankruptcy, Boards, Banks, and Blockholders: Evidence on Changes in Corporate Ownership and Control When Firms Default

By: S. C. Gilson

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Ownership; Governing and Advisory Boards; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

April 2024
Case

Qualcomm, Inc. in 2024

By: David B. Yoffie and Sarah von Bargen

Qualcomm was facing a new era in 2024. After a judge’s adverse anti-trust decision almost destroyed Qualcomm’s business model, the company was victorious on appeal. The new CEO was optimistic about new growth opportunities in technologies such as 5G, AI, and augmented... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Lawsuits and Litigation; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Valuation; Business Strategy; Technology Industry; United States; China