Publications

December 1999
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A): An Enterprise of Change

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

In 1999, Sun Microsystems, Inc., was claiming a leadership position in the burgeoning world of e-commerce and networking computers. Its goal: "to dot-com the world." What was it about Sun's culture that made it so conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship? And how... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Leading Change; Innovation Leadership; Information Infrastructure; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Global Strategy; Experience and Expertise; Technology Industry; Computer Industry

March 1996
Case

Ernst & Young United Kingdom (A) (Abridged)

By: John J. Gabarro and Samantha Graff

Intended to be a robust example of the challenges encountered during the early stages of a large-scale organizational transformation effort in a professional service firm. Describes a massive change program initiated and led by the new managing partner along with a... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Leading Change; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Restructuring; Problems and Challenges; United Kingdom; London

Find at Harvard

Great business leaders possess more than celebrated traits like charisma and an appetite for risk. They have "contextual intelligence"—a profound ability to understand the Zeitgeist of their times and harness it to create successful organizations. Based on a... View Details

October 2009
Case

Don Soderquist: Negotiating the Wal-Mart-P&G Relationship (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Ellen Knebel

This case describes the negotiations and strategic choices of Don Soderquist, who as Chief Operating Officer of Wal-Mart, helped to forge a major partnership with P&G in the 1980s and 1990s. The case chronicles the challenging barriers to success along with several of... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Style; Partners and Partnerships; Leadership; Value Creation; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Retail Industry

Joseph Fuller is a Professor of Management Practice in General Management and Entrepreneurship. He founded and co-leads the school’s project, Managing the Future of Work, as well as the Harvard Project on the Workforce. He currently leads the FIELD Global Capstone... View Details

April 2021
Case

Glass-Shattering Leaders: Barbara Hackman Franklin

By: Boris Groysberg and Colleen Ammerman

Barbara Hackman Franklin was one of the first women to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School. She went on to break barriers in the private and public sectors, rising to leadership positions in business and government. In the 1970s, she led a successful White House... View Details

Keywords: Glass Ceiling; Leadership; Gender; Power and Influence

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

October 2002
Case

New Leaders for New Schools

Describes the founding, early growth, and expansion plans of New Leaders for New Schools, a nonprofit public education venture that recruits, trains, places, and supports principals in U.S. urban school districts. This case presents the strategic, financial, and... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Education; Education Industry

WILLIAM (WILLIS) EMMONS is Senior Lecturer and Director of the C. Roland Christensen Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard Business School, a position he has held since 2004. As Director of the Christensen Center, Emmons oversees programs to... View Details

Keywords: airline; infrastructure industry; pharmaceuticals; telecommunications; utilities

July–August 2014
Article

How the Other Fukushima Plant Survived

By: Ranjay Gulati, Charles Casto and Charlotte Krontiris

In March 2011, Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was devastated by three reactor explosions and two core meltdowns in the days following a 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami that produced waves as high as 17 meters. The world is familiar with Daiichi's fate; less... View Details

Find at Harvard

10 Feb 2016
News

Gap Year: Harvard And Stanford Help Boomers Find A Second Act With Purpose

August 2017
Case

Boston Public Schools' Long Term Financial Plan

By: C. Fritz Foley, Victor Wu and F. Katelynn Boland

In the fall of 2016, the senior leadership team of Boston Public Schools prepared a report indicating that costs were expected to grow faster than revenues for many years to come. They faced questions about whether the projections would be believed and about how to... View Details

Keywords: Financial Planning; Education Reform; Education; Budgets and Budgeting; Corporate Finance; Public Administration Industry; United States; Boston

02 Oct 2014
News

The Transparency Paradox: Why We're Less Productive When We Know Someone is Watching

24 Nov 2011
News

To be successful, ask questions

June 2003
Case

Memphis City Schools

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Kevin Morris

Associate Superintendent Marieta Harris needs a plan for continuing the momentum of systemic change in this urban school district while facing shifts of leadership and curriculum philosophy, uneven progress on reforms, new tests that put a high proportion of schools on... View Details

Keywords: Curriculum and Courses; Leading Change; Transition; Education Industry

June 2003 (Revised July 2003)
Case

Union City Schools: Sustaining The Turnaround

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ryan Raffaelli

Under the leadership of Superintendent Thomas Highton, Union City Schools, New Jersey, underwent a 14-year turnaround. In 1989, the Union City School District was the second-worst-performing district in New Jersey. As Mr. Highton prepared to retire, 2002 student test... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Leading Change; Performance Consistency; Change Management; New Jersey