Publications

Alan MacCormack is the MBA Class of 1949 Adjunct Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, a member of The Digital, Data, and Design (D^3) Institute at Harvard, and a core faculty member... View Details

Keywords: automotive; communications; computer; e-commerce industry; electronics; high technology; information technology industry; internet; semiconductor; software; telecommunications; venture capital industry

02 Apr 2018
News

Practice Makes Perfect: Why Chinese Manufacturers Have A Production Advantage

March 2017
Teaching Note

Sales Compensation Vignettes

By: Frank V. Cespedes

This Teaching Note supports the case study comprising two vignettes about startup companies considering whether and how to change their sales compensation plans. The case allows students to compare and contrast the objectives, structure, and process of sales incentives... View Details

Keywords: Compensation; Sales; Strategy; Compensation and Benefits

October 1989 (Revised May 1996)
Case

Xerox Corp.: Leadership Through Quality (A)

By: Todd D. Jick and Leonard A. Schlesinger

Describes the "Leadership Through Quality" effort undertaken by Xerox in the 1980s. Includes the history of Xerox in the 1970s and its need to make major changes in quality by the 1980s. Most of the remainder of the case details the step-by-step process by which Xerox... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Quality; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Service Industry; Electronics Industry

Article

Organizational Ambidexterity in Action: How Managers Explore and Exploit

By: Charles A. O'Reilly III and Michael L. Tushman

Dynamic capabilities have been proposed as a useful way to understand how organizations are able to adapt to changes in technology and markets. Organizational ambidexterity, the ability of senior managers to seize opportunities through the orchestration and integration... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Management Practices and Processes; Resource Allocation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Opportunities

Find at Harvard

September 1984 (Revised March 1993)
Background Note

Marketing Planning and Organization

By: Robert J. Dolan

Presents guidelines for effective marketing planning. Provides a general outline of the contents of a typical marketing plan, the process by which the plan is developed, and considers the benefits successful firms reap from their planning efforts and the problems that... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Planning; Design

20 Nov 2019
News

Factories without walls: How Autodesk is redesigning the work of architecture, construction, and manufacturing

11 May 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Creating an R&D Strategy

Keywords: by Gary P. Pisano

23 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

The Strategy-Focused Organization

illustrate how major organizations have used the Scorecard to create an entirely new performance management framework that puts strategy at the center of a company's key management processes and systems. Mobil North America Marketing and... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton

September 2009
Module Note

Leading Teams Note

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer

This note, which describes the architecture and processes that characterize effective teams, begins by detailing the steps involved in designing a team, from diagnosing the complexity, interdependence, and objectives of the task to harnessing the key resources teams... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Experience and Expertise; Decision Choices and Conditions; Knowledge Sharing; Leadership; Business Processes; Groups and Teams

2007
Working Paper

What Have We Learned From Market Design?

By: Alvin E. Roth

This essay discusses some things we have learned about markets, in the process of designing marketplaces to fix market failures. To work well, marketplaces have to provide thickness, i.e. they need to attract a large enough proportion of the potential participants in... View Details

Keywords: Market Design; Market Participation; Market Transactions; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety

Read Now

September 2016 (Revised January 2018)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 4: Organizing for Performance

By: Robert Simons

This module reading explores the implications of different business models on organization design. After discussing the distinction between units focused on work processes and those devoted to markets, the analysis provides insight as to when to organize businesses by... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Customer Focused Organization; Specialization; Span Of Control; Span Of Accountability; Span Of Attention; Strategy; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure

Alison Wood Brooks is the O'Brien Associate Professor of Business Administration and Hellman Faculty Fellow in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit at Harvard Business School. She teaches a cutting-edge course in the MBA elective curriculum called "How... View Details

November 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Liz Claiborne and the New Working Woman

By: Anthony Mayo and Mark Benson

At age 47, with two decades of experience as a lead designer for a Fortune 500 fashion company, Liz Claiborne put her life savings on the line to form Liz Claiborne, Inc., a partnership that included her husband. A decade later, in 1986, Claiborne was CEO of her own... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Entrepreneurship; Business History; Leadership; Gender; Brands and Branding; Personal Development and Career; Apparel and Accessories Industry

July 2002 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Restructuring Bulong's Project Debt

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane

Preston Resources, a small Australian gold mining company, bought the Bulong nickel mine for A$319 million in November 1998 and financed the acquisition by issuing a US$185 million (A$294 million) project bond. At the time, mining had been underway for several months,... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Projects; Restructuring; Bonds; Borrowing and Debt; Business Startups; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Valuation; Mining Industry; Australia

21 May 2014
News

Harvard Historian Nancy Koehn On The Cashless Society

14 Aug 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Improving Patient Outcomes: The Effects of Staff Participation and Collaboration in Healthcare Delivery

Keywords: by Ingrid M. Nembhard, Anita L. Tucker, Jeffrey D. Horbar & Joseph H. Carpenter; Health

13 Nov 2008
Working Paper Summaries

The Effect of Labor on Profitability: The Role of Quality

Keywords: by Zeynep Ton

February 2003
Background Note

Leading Teams

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer

This note which describes the architecture and processes that characterize effective teams, begins by detailing the steps involved in designing a team, from diagnosing the complexity, interdependence, and objectives of the task to harnessing the key resources teams... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Decision Making; Leadership; Managerial Roles; Performance Effectiveness; Groups and Teams