Publications

January 2015 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Mauboussin

By: Anat Keinan, Sandrine Crener and Audrey Azoulay

Mauboussin is a French jewelry brand founded in 1827 in Paris. In the 1920s, the company earned a huge notoriety for capturing the aesthetic and emotional dimension of the Art Deco movement in its design and gained a worldwide reputation for innovation and expertise in... View Details

July 2001 (Revised December 2001)
Case

WeServeHomes.com

ServiceMaster, a Fortune 500 supplier of home services such as Terminex, Trugreen (lawn care), and MerryMaids, has a 50% interest in an Internet start-up designed to attract new customers to its services and help service providers improve quality and lower costs.... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Service Industry

09 Feb 2016
First Look

February 9, 2016

Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=39907 Does 'What We Do' Make Us 'Who We Are'? Organizational Design and Identity Change at the Federal Bureau of Investigation By:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 25

scale and influence in the technology industries that fall under the incidence of their assets. We also discuss some efficiency issues raised by the growing prominence of patent merchants. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-023.pdf Engaging Supply... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Right from the Start: Common Traps for the New Leader

authority until people feel like they know you." Coming In With The Answer New leaders who show up with a single answer for complex organizational problems usually do so out of arrogance or insecurity, or because they believe they... View Details

Keywords: by Dan Ciampa & Michael D. Watkins

Article

Strategies and Tactics in NGO-Government Relations: Insights from Slum Housing in Mumbai

By: Ramya Ramanath and Alnoor Ebrahim

Relationships between nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and government agencies have been variously described in the nonprofit literature as cooperative, complementary, adversarial, confrontational, or even co-optive. But how do NGO-government relationships emerge... View Details

Keywords: Cooperative Ownership; Housing; Corporate Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Nonprofit Organizations; Change Management; Business Strategy; Growth and Development; Non-Governmental Organizations; Accommodations Industry; Mumbai

Find at Harvard

14 Apr 2015
First Look

First Look: April 14

Additionally, labor quality and the structure of demand and a long tradition of work in organizational behavior suggests that the successful adoption of productivity enhancing managerial practices requires complementary View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 1999 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Marshall Industries

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Confounding predictions that the Internet would "disintermediate" commerce, making "middle man" companies all but obsolete, Marshall Industries, a leading electronics distributor, used the Internet and digital technologies to reinvent itself. Marshall continued to sell... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain; Emerging Markets; Customer Focus and Relationships; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry

May 1998 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Taco Bell Inc. (1983-1994)

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Dave DeLong

Details the actions of John Martin, newly named CEO, as he leads Taco Bell through a decade of incremental and radical changes. By the end of the case, total system sales within Taco Bell, a Mexican style fast-food restaurant chain and a division of PepsiCo, have grown... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Transformation; Economic Growth; Food; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Design; Performance Effectiveness; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; Mexico

12 Jan 2009
Research & Ideas

The Value of a ‘Portable’ Career

are not so different from organizational teams in other fields of life, including business. And watching the career moves of football stars may shed light on how you, too, can plan your next step. That's the message of new research by HBS... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Sports

10 Apr 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 10, 2018

purpose-driven leader, and the case allows for a rich discussion of the degree to which this changes both his strategic and his organizational options. Purchase this case:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

1998
Chapter

Commentary: Strategic Flexibility, Firm Organization, and Managerial Work in Dynamic Models

By: C. A. Bartlett

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Management Practices and Processes

July 1999
Case

Restructuring General Motors North America (A): Pay-for-Performance

By: Malcolm S. Salter

Presents the new pay-for-performance scheme adopted by General Motors (GM) in its 1999 reorganization of its sales and marketing organization. Once in operation, many administrative problems developed requiring a reconsideration of the scheme's basic architecture. View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Compensation and Benefits; Marketing; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Auto Industry; North America

November 1990 (Revised September 1991)
Case

First Chicago Corp.: Global Corporate Bank (A)

Presents the human resource challenges associated with First Chicago Corp.'s strategy in the corporate banking market. They want to maintain strong "relationships" with customers, while also developing strong investment banking capabilities. They face three problems:... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Human Resources; Commercial Banking; Banking Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

25 Jul 2006
First Look

First Look: July 25, 2006

bring a gentler capitalism to post-apartheid South Africa. Like her other colleagues on the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) Commission, Charnley believed that each black business executive had a responsibility to effect positive change... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

A Clear Eye for Innovation

the key to creating breakthrough innovations. Still others have claimed that a company may be able to shift back and forth between different organizational models, focusing on exploitation for a period and then moving into exploration... View Details

Keywords: by Charles A. O'Reilly III & Michael L. Tushman

17 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

The 10 Most Popular Stories of 2020

the large team of researchers looking at COVID-19’s impact on issues of work and organizational psychology, prompting changes for practitioners and human resources professionals. Impact Investing: A Theory... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

September 2024
Case

Navigating Digital Transformation at Carrefour

By: Sunil Gupta and Emilie Billaud

In 2023, Elodie Perthuisot, Carrefour’s Executive Director for e-commerce and digital transformation, met with CEO Alexandre Bompard to discuss strategies for the company’s digital initiatives. Carrefour, a global retail giant with over 14,300 stores across 40... View Details