Publications
Publications
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(7,891)
- Faculty Publications (1,845)
- Article
Reflections: Toward a Normative and Actionable Theory of Planned Organizational Change and Development
By: Michael Beer
A normative and actionable theory of planned organizational change and development is proposed based on fifty years of engagement by the author as a scholar-consultant. Five principles are central features of the theory and practice proposed: 1) Organizations are... View Details
- January–February 2021
- Other Article
Stand-up Meetings Inhibit Innovation
By: Andy Wu and Dagny Dukach
An interview with Harvard Business School professor Andy Wu is presented. Wu discusses the usefulness of stand-up meetings, their role in agile management practices, and their impact on innovations and creativity by the participants. View Details
- December 2020 (Revised April 2021)
- Case
IBM Watson at MD Anderson Cancer Center
By: Shane Greenstein, Mel Martin and Sarkis Agaian
After discovering that their cancer diagnostic tool, designed to leverage the cloud computing power of IBM Watson, needed greater integration into the clinical processes at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, the development team had difficult choices to make. The Oncology... View Details
Keywords: Decision Making; Innovation Strategy; Knowledge Management; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Operations; Failure; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Health Care and Treatment; Product Development; Health Industry; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Houston; Texas
- 2020
- Working Paper
The Evolutionary Nature of Breakthrough Innovation: Re-Evaluating the Exploration vs. Exploitation Dichotomy
By: Dominika K. Sarnecka and Gary P. Pisano
Over the past few decades, a consensus has emerged that breakthrough innovations emerge from exploration of novel terrain while more routine innovations are the product of exploitation. In this paper, we revisit this explore versus exploit dichotomy with an analysis... View Details
- December 2020 (Revised March 2025)
- Case
Responsive Working at PepsiCo UK (A): Designing a Turnaround
By: Amy C. Edmondson and Nancy Boghossian Staples
Facing a significant decline in revenues in 2016, David Gwilliam, Head of Transformation at PepsiCo UK introduced a new way of working (“Responsive Working”), which encompasses a set of work practices and some new team structures. The work practices comprise a set of 9... View Details
- December 2020
- Supplement
France Télécom (C): An Unprecedented Trial
In the C case we learn that former CEO Didier Lombard, Deputy Chief Executive Louis-Pierre Wenes, Human Resources Head Olivier Barberot and France Telecom itself were charged for institutional harassment by French authorities, a first for a CAC 40 company. In December... View Details
Keywords: Human Behavior; Human Dignity; Human Resource Practices; Corporate Change And Sustainability; Corporate Culture; Strategic Corporate Decisions; Strategic Change; Strategic Decision Making; Emotion; Management Challenges; Corporate Accountability; Organizational Culture; Human Resources; Crisis Management; Law; Courts and Trials; Labor; Labor and Management Relations; Management Practices and Processes; Employees; Well-being; Telecommunications Industry; Europe; European Union
- Article
Making a Difference: Developing Actionable Knowledge for Practice and Theory
By: Michael Beer
There is a widely acknowledged gap between academic research and practice. While the field of organizational studies and development has had an impact on management practice in some organizations, it has had only a modest impact on widely accepted management practice... View Details
- November 2020
- Case
Axis My India
By: Ananth Raman, Ann Winslow and Kairavi Dey
Pradeep Gupta founded Axis My India (AMI) as a printing and publishing company in 1998. In 2013, AMI expanded into consumer research and election forecasting. Although a relatively unknown entity, AMI predicted several election results accurately. Gupta describes AMI’s... View Details
- November 2020 (Revised April 2021)
- Case
Roll-Ups and Surprise Billing: Collisions at the Intersection of Private Equity and Patient Care
By: Trevor Fetter and Kira Seiger
This case describes the increasing investment by private equity (PE) firms in patient care and other healthcare services. The case focuses on investments in physician staffing firms and roll-up strategy investments in physician practice management (PPM). Included in... View Details
Keywords: Business Ventures; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Model; Change; Disruption; Fluctuation; Trends; Customers; Customer Value and Value Chain; Ethics; Fairness; Finance; Equity; Insurance; Private Equity; Geography; Geographic Scope; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Markets; Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry; Industry Structures; Ownership; Ownership Type; Private Ownership; Relationships; Agency Theory; Business and Community Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Networks; Strategy; Competition; Consolidation; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Value; Value Creation; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; United States
- November 2020 (Revised March 2021)
- Case
Amazon: Cult or Culture?
By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott and Tricia Gregg
Amazon was one of the first entrants in e-commerce. Under the leadership of founder Jeff Bezos, Amazon had expanded beyond books to manufacturing and selling a wide range of products and services globally. Bezos had built a customer-centric culture that permeated all... View Details
- November 2020
- Case
Truebird—An AlleyCorp Venture
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai
In December 2018, Kevin Ryan and Wendy Tsu faced an important decision – to finalize the CEO candidate for Truebird, an innovative, automated coffee café concept. Like many of AlleyCorp and Ryan’s companies, Truebird started with the observation of an unmet need – an... View Details
- November–December 2020
- Article
Rethinking the On-Demand Workforce
By: Joseph B. Fuller, Manjari Raman, Allison Bailey and Nithya Vaduganathan
As companies struggle with chronic skills shortages and changing labor demographics, a new generation of talent platforms, offering on-demand access to highly trained workers, has begun to help. These platforms include marketplaces for premium expertise (such as Toptal... View Details
- October 2020 (Revised December 2020)
- Case
Investing at Pivotal Ventures
By: Emil N. Siriwardane, Emily R. McComb and Eren Kuzucu
Launched in 2015 by Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Pivotal Ventures is an investment and incubation company. The company aims to support and promote transformational ideas, people and organizations, and advance social progress for women... View Details
- October 2020 (Revised February 2024)
- Case
Divesting Harvard's Endowment
By: Daniel Green, Luis M. Viceira and Holly Fetter
By early 2020 Harvard University was facing growing pressure from students, faculty, and alumni to divest its $40 billion endowment of financial stakes in fossil fuel producers. Its previous policy of avoiding the issue was quickly becoming outdated—$21 trillion of... View Details
- October 2020 (Revised March 2024)
- Case
Experimentation at Yelp
By: Iavor Bojinov and Karim R. Lakhani
Over the last decade, experimentation has become integral to the research and development processes of technology companies—including Yelp—for understanding customer preferences and mitigating innovation risks. The case describes Yelp's journey with experimentation,... View Details
- October 2020 (Revised February 2025)
- Technical Note
Reinvention
By: Ryan Raffaelli
This note is designed to introduce students to the fundamental concepts of leading innovation in established organizations. Reinvention is a process whereby organizations respond to changes in the environment that threaten their core business model, technologies,... View Details
- September 2020
- Case
Chip and Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Network
By: Anita Elberse and Julia McNicholas
Chip and Joanna Gaines, who have shot to fame as stars of the hit television show Fixer Upper, are preparing to launch their own television network. It is April 2019, a year since the home-renovation show Fixer Upper’s fifth season on cable channel HGTV ended, and more... View Details
Keywords: Entertainment; Television; Superstars; Innovation; Creative Industries; Talent; General Management; Celebrities; Television Entertainment; Entrepreneurship; Joint Ventures; Innovation and Invention; Marketing; Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry
- September 2020 (Revised July 2021)
- Case
Moderna (A)
By: Marco Iansiti, Karim R. Lakhani, Hannah Mayer and Kerry Herman
In summer 2020, Stephane Bancel, CEO of biotech firm Moderna, faces several challenges as his company races to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. The case explores how a company builds a digital organization, and leverages artificial intelligence and other digital... View Details
- September 2, 2020
- Article
What Really Prevents Companies from Thriving in a Recession
By: Ranjay Gulati and Mark Wiedman
Even in the best of times, many companies fail to fund and staff new opportunities. As decades of research have shown, leaders fear threats to their status and power and so become attached to existing businesses and budgets, regarding them as entitlements and as a... View Details
- September–October 2020
- Article
Global Supply Chains in a Post-Pandemic World: Companies Need to Make Their Networks More Resilient. Here's How.
By: Willy C. Shih
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities in the production strategies and supply chains of firms everywhere. Coupled with a rise in economic nationalism, manufacturers everywhere are going to be under pressure to rethink their sourcing and logistics... View Details