Customer Focused Organization - Publications - Faculty & Research

24 Jul 2017
Blog Post

Transitioning to Product Management at HBS

plethora of tech-focused courses in EC year), to student clubs (the Tech Club is ones of the largest student clubs and does a phenomenal job organizing an annual tech conference and treks to tech companies on both coasts and many in... View Details

14 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

The Business Case for Becoming a Jack-of-All-Trades

stuff, then having some generalists to bring new ideas into the organization and say, ‘Here’s a thing that’s going on in aeronautics that might be interesting to what you are doing in biotech,’ might be helpful. Of course, you’d still... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

01 Mar 2004
News

Derek Ferguson

Music, a retailer based in the Midwest. “Its biggest profit drivers were rap and hip-hop,” he remarks. “I remember thinking that there was a real opportunity to cater more directly to that customer base.” To learn more about the business,... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

January 2025
Case

GE Appliances 2025: Energizing Change

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

At the turn of 2025, Kevin Nolan, CEO of GE Appliances following its acquisition by Chinese appliance giant Haier in 2016, is reviewing progress toward his net zero carbon vision for homes, which would otherwise exacerbate the global warming climate crisis. An... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Transformation; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Product Development; Organizational Culture

Citation

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25 Mar 2015
HBS Case

Tate’s Digital Makeover Transforms the Traditional Museum

exhibitions. As they began to see the benefits, staff members increasingly generated content themselves. "They were able to sell the idea of digital throughout the organization and get people to see it as an opportunity, not a... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Education

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Frequently Asked Questions - Creating Emerging Markets

Frequently Asked Questions Who is selected for interviews? We select leaders who have built organizations of lasting value. For the most part, these are founders of businesses, though they also include numerous significant not-for-profit... View Details

04 Dec 2023
Blog Post

My Summer of Joy with the National Parks Service

memories took place in national parks. I spent 80% of the pandemic going up and down parks along the Pacific Coast Highway. Using business skills to give back to an organization that had provided so much joy sounded too good to be true. I... View Details

15 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Businesses Beware: The World Is Not Flat

popular then, the globalization of markets (rather than production), because customers everywhere were supposed to increasingly want the same products and services. As a result, Goizueta embarked on a strategy that involved View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

09 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 9, 2018

press Compensation & Benefits Review Winning the War for Talent: Modern Motivational Methods for Attracting and Retaining Employees By: Thibault-Landry, Anais, Allan Schweyer, and Ashley V. Whillans Abstract—Given the struggle that many View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

08 Mar 2022
Blog Post

Recalling My First Cold Call: A Conversation with Second-Year Students

logic-and-analysis backed argument. In my next role I’ll be consulting for senior or executive leaders—they will have many questions and I must have organized answers. With the case method I have been exposed to different disciplines in... View Details

03 Jul 2008
What Do You Think?

Are Followers About to Get Their Due?

difference between a great leader and a great follower in the business world is the opportunities they have had to better themselves." Eric Johnson Wildbear concurred, saying that "Followership ends up being the same as leadership, only from a different... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

03 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Dealing with the ‘Irrational’ Negotiator

consortium of nonprofit organizations whose mission it was to lobby for an increase in food aid to disadvantaged countries! What explains such seemingly irrational and self-defeating behavior? Why would this group oppose legislation that... View Details

Keywords: by Deepak Malhotra & Max H. Bazerman

October 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Wilderness Safaris: Impact Investing and Ecotourism Conservation in Africa

By: James E. Austin, Megan Epler Wood and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard

In 2018 the majority ownership of publicly owned Wilderness Safaris, the leading high-end ecotourism company in Africa with safari operations in eight countries, was acquired by The Rise Fund, one of the world’s largest private social impact investing funds, and by FS... View Details

Citation

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20 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

Rocket-tunity: Can Private Firms Turn a Profit in Space?

more optimistic than in prior years about the future of human space exploration via non-government firms. Mission Statement: VIRGIN GALACTIC “Our mission, to be the Spaceline for Earth, means we focus on using space for good while delivering an unparalleled View Details

Keywords: by Scott Wallask; Aerospace; Tourism; Transportation

22 Feb 2022
News

A World of Difference

understand what to do. For organizations that want to change, it’s completely accessible. You see both the capability and the motivation, whereas before maybe you had the motivation but not the capability. And now the business case for... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

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Organizational Behavior Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Data, Algorithms and AI (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022) with Paul Leonardi. Ryan L. Raffaelli : Runner-up for the 2024 Best Entrepreneurship Paper Award from the Academy of Management, Organization and Management Theory Division,... View Details

19 May 2022
Blog Post

HKS Policy Analysis Exercise Showcase

consultant to a public or nonprofit sector organization and develop solutions to a policy or management issue. Students and their clients work together to define specific issues, design research strategies, gather data, formulate and... View Details

27 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Build 'Scaffolds' to Improve Performance of Temporary Teams

efficiency on a temporary team. What they call a team scaffold is fixed while individual team members flow through the structure. “The big 'aha' was how very little structure this is” The paper, published in the March-April 2015 edition of View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Health

01 Aug 1998
News

High Honors

Executive Vice President,The Seagram Company Ltd. During Ellen Marram's distinguished 28-year career in the packaged-goods industry, "growth" has always been the operative word. Whether she has focused on growing profits, expanding... View Details

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Agents of Change: The Founding of the AASU - The Value of Business Education

historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) as well as Harvard College. They were among the earliest students in the country to earn an MBA. The first known African American graduate of HBS was Wendell Thomas Cunningham (MBA '15). View Details

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