Publications

June 2012
Case

Microsoft IT India

By: Willy C. Shih, Margaret Pierson, Alexander Down, William Gustave Jair-Shemuel Jurist, Diego Medicina and Helen Wang

Raj Biyani faced tough challenges managing Microsoft IT India: leading a remote development organization in which key decisions were made in Redmond, and managing an organization that was perceived as less strategic than its sister Microsoft India Development Center... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Development; Cross-functional Management; Foreign Subsidiaries; Strategy Alignment; Organizational Behavior; Indian Software Development; Global Distributed R＆D; Software Industry; Organizational Structure; Research and Development; Operations; Leadership; Globalized Firms and Management; Business Subsidiaries; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Technology Industry; India

October 1993 (Revised September 1996)
Case

BANC ONE - 1993

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven and Myra M. Hart

From a small local bank, Banc One has grown to one of the largest and most profitable banks in the United States under the leadership of its CEO, John B. McCoy. It has an impressive track record of improving the performance of its acquisitions while retaining the... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Acquisition; Organizational Culture; Policy; Adaptation; Business Growth and Maturation; Strategy; Performance Improvement; Industry Structures; Banking Industry; United States

December 2010 (Revised March 2012)
Teaching Note

Alibaba Group

By: Julie M. Wulf

Teaching Note for 710436. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Business Subsidiaries; Competition; Motivation and Incentives; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Structure; Retail Industry; China

January 2001 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Ford Motor Company's Value Enhancement Plan

By: Andre F. Perold

In April 2000, Ford Motor Co. announced a shareholder Value Enhancement Plan (VEP) to significantly recapitalize the firm's ownership structure. Ford had accumulated $23 billion in cash reserves and under the VEP would return as much as $10 billion of this cash to... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Forecasting and Prediction; Capital Structure; Cash; Financial Liquidity; Policy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value; Auto Industry

May 1991 (Revised April 2008)
Case

The Japanese Facsimile Industry in 1990

Japanese firms dominate the facsimile machine industry, accounting for more than 90% of worldwide sales. This case explores the reasons for this dominance. View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Industry Structures; Business and Government Relations; Competition; Telecommunications Industry; Japan

Web

Strategy Execution - Course Catalog

unpredictable macro and political shocks, execution is more critical (and difficult) than ever. Course Content Instead of focusing on how to formulate a great business strategy, this course focuses on how to implement that strategy. In... View Details

Career Coach

Sarah Zia

Sarah is a veteran of the media & entertainment / tech industry (corporate and content strategy) and a career switcher (finance). She is particularly well-equipped to help students interested in tech / media strategy, finance, or who are still unsure what they want... View Details

July – August 2009
Article

Organizational Ambidexterity: Balancing Exploitation and Exploration for Sustained Performance

By: Sebastian Raisch, Julian Birkinshaw, Gilbert Probst and Michael Tushman

Organizational ambidexterity has emerged as a new research paradigm in organization theory, yet several issues that are fundamental to this debate remain controversial. We explore four central tensions here: Should organizations achieve ambidexterity through... View Details

Keywords: Change; Innovation and Invention; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Research; Integration

Find at Harvard

09 May 2022
News

Green House

In the Observatory Hill neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Betsy Harper (MBA 1984) has built an oxymoron: a brand-new, historic home. The recently completed structure combines traditional architecture and the latest in... View Details

November 2013
Supplement

Arch Wireless, Inc. (B): Food for Vultures

By: Stuart C. Gilson

In 2002, a hedge fund investor acquires the distressed bank debt of a bankrupt wireless paging company and converts his holding into common stock of the reorganized entity. Determining his likely return from this investment is challenging, given that the entire... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy Reorganization; Distress Investing; Capital Structure; Restructuring; Investment Funds; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Borrowing and Debt; Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry

15 Aug 2024
Op-Ed

Post-CrowdStrike, Six Questions to Test Your Company's Operational Resilience

team. Incorporate unanticipated, random complications and consider scheduling exercises during peak and non-peak business hours. Ensure the dissemination of clear crisis management procedures to provide View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and Anita Lynch

02 Aug 2004
What Do You Think?

For Greater Transparency, Is Section 404 an Effective Response?

intense exposure to news of business leaders' alleged (and in some cases proven) acts to deliberately mislead investors, employees, and others, we are naturally interested in greater transparency. And it applies equally importantly to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

December 1996 (Revised July 1997)
Case

USG Corporation

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Tara L. Nells

In 1988, USG was the world's largest gypsum producer and one of the world's largest building-products companies. On May 2, 1988, USG's board of directors announced a proposed leveraged recapitalization plan to thwart a hostile cash tender offer by Desert Partners. With... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Governance; Valuation; Cash Flow; Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; United States

10 Sep 2021
Blog Post

Perspectives on Anti-Racism in the HKS Curriculum

these learnings in the business context at HBS. Austin: If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that structural racism isn’t just a public policy problem. Changing the policies, practices, and... View Details

Samuel Insull

Insull centralized utility delivery and created a new business model called customer ownership, or people’s capitalism. This utility delivery approach rapidly spread throughout the country during the 1920s and had a profound impact on the... View Details

Keywords: Utilities & Energy

02 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Mapping Your Corporate Strategy

Since the 1990s, the Balanced Scorecard system has cut a path in business as a more rigorous way to measure performance by quantifying what had been considered intangible assets, such as human capital, information, and culture. The system... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

March 2011 (Revised March 2013)
Supplement

a-connect: In Search of Talent Partners (B)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Penelope Rossano

The a-connect: In Search of Talent Partners (B) case updates company changes since the (A) case. Key updates include leadership and management appointments and organizational changes. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Selection and Staffing; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Consulting Industry

July 1993 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Millipore Corporate Strategy

By: Nitin Nohria and V. Kasturi Rangan

Millipore, a $750 million (sales) company with three divisions, had been growing at a rate of 20% in the 1970s, but this growth rate had slowed considerably in the 1980s. CEO John Gilmartin was looking for ways to reenergize the organization and redirect its strategy... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Corporate Strategy; Restructuring; Growth and Development Strategy; Goals and Objectives; Business Processes; Organizational Structure