Publications

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December 1986 (Revised February 1993)
Case

Scandinavian Airlines System

Discusses the fostering of entrepreneurship and innovation in the large corporation. It traces the development and history of Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) from 1946 to the present with particular emphasis on the leadership of Jan Carlzon, CEO from 1981 to the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Innovation and Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Air Transportation Industry; Scandinavia

01 Dec 2017
News

2017 in Education: Investing in the Next Generation of Workers

Business needs to care about the performance of students in the public education system, from preschool through college. It is the primary source of future employees for every business. It’s also where the vast majority of teachers of their future employees will come... View Details

Keywords: Amy McIntosh (MBA 1984) , associate vice chancellor for academic strategy, The City University of New York

23 Apr 2016
News

Tipping His Cap to Open Source

As COO at Delta Airlines, Jim Whitehurst (MBA 1994) helped bring the legacy carrier back from the brink of bankruptcy in 2006 while fending off a takeover bid by US Airways. That feat accomplished, he moved on to lead Red Hat, which builds open-source software products... View Details

January 2025
Case

Shifting Winds: DEI in Corporate America

By: Clayton S. Rose, Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon and David Lane

In the 2020s, intense and conflicting social and political pressures challenged organizational leaders around the world. Prominent among these were powerful competing views on workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion programs (DEI) in the United States. Public... View Details

24 Jun 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Don’t Just Survive—Thrive: Leading Innovation in Good Times and Bad

Keywords: by Lynda M. Applegate & J. Bruce Harreld

March 2019
Supplement

KITEA (E): IKEA's Opening Day

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in 2016 as Amine Benkirane, CEO of the furniture retailer KITEA, observes KITEA’s dormant sales on the day IKEA opens its first store in Morocco. It then provides information on IKEA’s Morocco store, as well as a detailed pricing comparison between IKEA... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Strategy; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; Africa; North Africa; Morocco

November 2009 (Revised January 2010)
Case

Zara: Managing Stores for Fast Fashion

By: Zeynep Ton, Elena Corsi and Vincent Marie Dessain

Pablo Isla, the CEO of Zara, wanted to improve operational efficiencies in managing its store network. In particular, he wanted to improve labor productivity at the stores. He considered outsourcing certain store operations to third parties, changing the way store... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Managerial Roles; Service Operations; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Efficiency; Performance Productivity; Retail Industry

September 1999 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Deloitte & Touche (B): Changing the Workplace

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

Deloitte & Touche women's initiative changed the workplace culture at the firm, solved retention problems, and brought external benefits. Now a new CEO must decide how to take this a step further as competition for talent was even stronger, young people had different... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Organizational Culture; Accounting; Gender; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Loss; Change Management; Jobs and Positions; Resignation and Termination; Accounting Industry; United States

September 1999 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Deloitte & Touche (A): A Hole in the Pipeline

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

Deloitte & Touche was losing talented women, and CEO Mike Cook wanted to stop the loss, especially as the accounting and consulting fields became more competitive. The firm commissioned an analysis of the situation; now it had to consider the results and develop a plan... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Organizational Culture; Accounting; Gender; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Loss; Change Management; Jobs and Positions; Resignation and Termination; Accounting Industry; United States

15 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 15, 2017

China, Hong Kong, and the world, but in a very different global context. President Peter Mathieson believed that HKU still had an important role to play but knew that HKU needed to adapt to China's growing global presence and the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Past Projects | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

recent candidates and new hires, and BPS leadership, I identified the main concerns and three key opportunities for improvement. The recommendations focused on a dual approach of technical (e.g., process standardization) and adaptive... View Details

Web

Online Creating Brand Value Course | HBS Online

strategy and value. This course has been very informative and has provided me with valuable insights into brand management, storytelling strategies, relationships, and the importance of adapting to changing market conditions. Overall, I... View Details

08 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, August 8, 2017

if any, should be made to adapt to a chosen market. Given high levels of piracy in the music industry, students are not only able to explore the value creation aspects of AKB48, but also the value-capture features of its business model.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 May 2016
First Look

May 10, 2016

Identity and Reputation Matrix (CBIRM), introduced here for the first time. Eight key reputation elements adapted from the literature and enriched by the case study are incorporated within an existing corporate brand identity framework.... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

03 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 3

making the concept of enterprise architecture more operational, improving a firm's ability to analyze its architecture, understand its performance implications, and adapt and improve it in the future. Download working paper:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 29

provides an opportunity to understand how private equity investors need to adapt to emerging markets. Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/search/213043-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 814-019 Building Life Science Businesses Fall... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Nov 2012
Op-Ed

Stop Talking About the Weather and Do Something: Three Ways to Finance Sustainable Cities

The wrath of Hurricane Sandy has illuminated a fundamental question: How do we ensure that our cities are resilient in the face of inevitable future disasters? A destroyed city is not a sustainable city. I'm making the case that it's time to stop complaining about... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Construction; Real Estate; Energy; Utilities

12 Apr 2018
Blog Post

Reading Between the Lines: How to Spot the Skills You Need Among the Resumes You Get

correspondences between previous jobs and the position at hand, but has to rely on clues for the “right mindset.” For Tamblyn, that means rigorous analytical skills, a data driven approach to problem solving, and a capacity to adapt to... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

April 2025
Case

Thrivent: From Insurance Agents to Financial Advisors

By: Hubert Joly, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Tom Quinn

Thrivent, a midwestern financial services company with a centuries-long history rooted in Lutheranism, had reached $10 billion in revenue mostly by selling life insurance. In the 2020s, however, CEO Terry Rasmussen began a transformation process centered around the... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Talent and Talent Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Forecasting and Prediction; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Job Design and Levels; Human Capital; Leading Change; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Insurance Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States; Minneapolis