Publications

March 2001 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Virgin.com

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Kerry Herman

Describes the evolution of Virgin's dot-com organization and the decision it faced in mid-2000--whether to consolidate several separate dot-com ventures into one larger venture or, instead, to allow each to run independently. Also contains a history of Virgin's... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Motivation and Incentives; Internet and the Web; Consolidation

Find at Harvard

January 1992
Case

Johnson & Johnson: Hospital Services

The main issue has to do with the lack of fit or incompatibility between the early environmental requirements for strategy and the cultural constraints on the organization. Describes the internal resistance to the proposed changes and top management's efforts to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Management Systems; Environmental Sustainability; Conflict and Resolution

March 2004 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Jack Smith (C): Becoming a Toyota Manager (II)

Jack Smith had a stellar career at Chrysler managing major design teams and manufacturing plants before deciding to join industry leader and benchmark Toyota. It is his first day on the job; what will his orientation entail? Cursory walkthroughs and introductions... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Personal Development and Career; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry

March 2004 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Jack Smith (B): Becoming a Toyota Manager (I)

Jack Smith had a stellar career at Chrysler managing major design teams and manufacturing plants before deciding to join industry leader and benchmark Toyota. It is his first day on the job; what will his orientation entail? Cursory walkthroughs and introductions... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Personal Development and Career; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry

March 2004 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Jack Smith (A): Career Launch at Toyota

Jack Smith had a stellar career at Chrysler managing major design teams and manufacturing plants before deciding to join industry leader and benchmark Toyota. It is his first day on the job; what will his orientation entail? Cursory walkthroughs and introductions... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Personal Development and Career; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry

Profile

Naeill Leigh

companies, about how to set up finance and debt structures to serve multiple parties. What might people find surprising about you? If you drilled a hole straight down the earth under HBS, you’d come out about 200 miles from where I come... View Details

Keywords: Tech; Financial Services

01 Dec 2017
News

Diagnosing DC’s Dysfunction

structure is a textbook duopoly, they add, surrounded by a “political industrial complex” of special interests, donors, and lobbyists, resulting in competition that fails to deliver what citizens should expect: practical and effective... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Government

15 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 15

Returns By: Greenwood, Robin, and Dimitri Vayanos Abstract—We examine empirically how the maturity structure of government debt affects bond yields and excess returns. Our analysis is based on a theoretical model of preferred habitat in... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Mar 2009
News

A Modern-Day Classic

and “integration” to help managers grasp how an organization is an entity made up of so many modular units, and that the ideal structure of that entity depends on its way of adapting to the features of its chosen environment. “Contingency... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

Web

Capitalism and the State (CATS) - Course Catalog

seeks to explore the theory, history, and state structures of capitalism; examine its manifestations in several national contexts; and understand the ways in which systemic changes to market capitalism are likely to both demand and cause... View Details

10 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

Breakthrough Negotiation: Don’t Leave It On the Table

handful of overarching ideas about breakthrough negotiation. The seven principles that follow represent an overview of how breakthrough negotiators operate. Principle 1: Breakthrough Negotiators Shape The Structure Of Their Situations... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Watkins

August 1994
Case

Kyocera Corporation: The Amoeba Management System

Describes Kyocera's unusual approach to profit centers. The firm's basic units of operation are profit centers called "amoebas," which are sales or manufacturing units with full responsibility for their planning, decision making, and administration. Amoebas are... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Organizational Structure; Profit; Management Systems; Manufacturing Industry

August 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Kmart and ESL Investments (A)

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah Abbott

A major bankrupt retailer is poised to emerge from Chapter 11. Two activist hedge funds ("vulture investors") will own over 50% of reorganized Kmart's common stock, based on prior investments in Kmart's debt claims, and an infusion of new equity financing. The Chapter... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment; Investment Activism; Valuation; Financial Services Industry; Retail Industry; United States

December 2000 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Rise and Fall of Iridium, The

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Kerry Herman

Examines the history of Iridium Communications, a provider of mobile satellite services. Discusses the genesis of Iridium's technical design, then follows the venture through various stages of development. Describes Iridium's attempts to build a subscriber base after... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Business Model; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Structure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry

February 1988 (Revised August 2000)
Background Note

Note on the U.S. Freight Transportation Industry

By: Janice H. Hammond and John E. P. Morrison

Describes the major modes of domestic freight transportation (motor carrier, rail, air, water, and pipelines). Examines the characteristics of the transportation service that each mode provides and discusses changes in the industry that have resulted from recent... View Details

Keywords: Change; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Industry Structures; Logistics; Service Operations; Transportation; United States