Publications

September 1983 (Revised October 1984)
Case

Syntex Laboratories (A)

A consulting project involving a mathematical model of the sales force indicates that Syntex Labs should nearly double the size of their sales force and drastically alter their allocation of sales effort to the product line and physician specialties. The questions are... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Salesforce Management; Pharmaceutical Industry

March 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Background Note

Physical Climate Risk

By: Michael W. Toffel, Spencer Glendon and Alison Smart

This note describes how managers can identify and manage their company’s physical climate risks, which can increase their operations and supply chain costs and risks, and affect demand for their goods and services. Can be paired with the video “Preparing business... View Details

Keywords: Resilience; Maps; Climate Risk; Climate Impact; Modeling And Analysis; Climate Change; Risk Management; Demand and Consumers; Supply Chain; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Disruption

10 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 10

Business School Supplement 311-031 Sam Palmisano became CEO of IBM in 2002. He dramatically energized the organization through portfolio changes and a values driven approach to managing the company. The "Day 1" case describes... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

2015 Symposium - Race, Gender & Equity

Discrimination: Joint versus Separate Decision Making Corinne Moss-Racusin , Skidmore College Testing Interventions to Reduce Gender Bias in STEM Fields Emilio Castilla , Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management Achieving Meritocracy in the... View Details

Web

2015 Symposium - Race, Gender & Equity

influence, including classroom teaching; practitioner-oriented publishing; using research to inform organizations; and conducting organizational interventions as venues for creating change through... View Details

12 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

Rocket Science Retailing: A Practical Guide

often need organizational change that the retailer is reluctant to make. Implementing analytic skills might require collaboration across multiple functions. Analytics are simply not "fun" for many... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Retail; Auto

08 May 2013
Research & Ideas

A Company’s Evolving View of Gender Equity

This article is part of a continuing series on faculty research and teaching commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first women to enter Harvard Business School's two-year MBA program. As the first longitudinal examination of the relationship between societal and... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Accounting

11 Jul 2006
First Look

First Look: July 11, 2006

large or small); and what changes to make to pricing terms and product features. Purchase this case:http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=806188 Best Buy Co., Inc.: Customer-Centricity Rajiv Lal,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2025
Case

Ontra: Embracing GenAI in the Legal Technology Industry

By: Christopher Stanton and George Gonzalez

Ontra built a network of legal professionals to enable financial institutions to outsource contract negotiations. The rise of generative AI inspired the company to build software solutions to streamline its processes through automation. Now company leadership must... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Business Strategy; Technology Industry; Legal Services Industry; United States

January 2008 (Revised July 2008)
Case

The Allstate Corporation

By: John R. Wells

In 2007, Allstate was the number two property and casualty insurer in the USA and had enjoyed five years of rapid profit improvement. The question facing CEO Thomas J. Wilson was how to maintain the momentum. This case tracks the evolution of Allstate's strategy over... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Financial Institutions; Insurance; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Financial Services Industry

1997
Chapter

The Imagination to Innovate, the Professionalism to Perform, and the Openness to Collaborate: The Leading the Change-Adept Organization

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Keywords: Creativity; Innovation and Invention; Performance Expectations; Cooperation; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation

August 2020
Teaching Note

Sesame Workshop (B): Celebrating 50 Years of Helping Kids Grow Smarter, Stronger, and Kinder

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joyce J. Kim

Teaching Note for Case No. 321-015. In 2019, Sesame Workshop celebrated its 50th anniversary while on a winning streak of social impact, innovation, and peak media and financial results. Over the past four years, CEO Jeff Dunn and his turnaround team exhibited... View Details

Keywords: Social Impact; Innovation; Television; Children; Media; Television Entertainment; Education; Innovation and Invention; Change Management; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Education Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

March 2006 (Revised December 2013)
Case

Hexcel Turnaround — 2001 (A)

By: Paul W. Marshall, James Quinn and Reed Martin

Hexcel's new CEO is faced with deciding how to "take out" $60 million in cash costs in fiscal 2002, as two of the company's end markets—electronics and commercial aerospace—are expected to decline precipitously. Options include closing plants, exiting a business, or... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Negotiation; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Change Management; Crisis Management; Borrowing and Debt; Aerospace Industry; Electronics Industry; United States

January 2011 (Revised November 2015)
Case

The National Geographic Society (A)

By: David A. Garvin and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In January 2010, John Fahey, president, CEO, and chairman of the board of trustees' executive committee of the Washington, D.C.-based National Geographic Society (NGS), must decide how best to organize the 121-year old mission-driven organization for a world of... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Information Publishing; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Managerial Roles; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Internet; Publishing Industry

1981
Chapter

Multinational Structural Change: Evolution versus Reorganization

By: C. A. Bartlett

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure

March 2007
Teaching Note

Understanding Customer Profitability at Charles Schwab (TN)

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez

Teaching note to 106002. View Details

Keywords: Customers; Profit; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Decision Making; Cost; System; Transformation; Budgets and Budgeting; Performance Evaluation; Financial Services Industry; Web Services Industry