Publications

10 Feb 2020
In Practice

6 Ways That Emerging Technology Is Disrupting Business Strategy

involving artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, and the Internet of Things are changing the way business leaders think about strategy. Here’s what they said: 1. Talent and data are more critical than... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

2016
Working Paper

Pivoting Isn't Enough: Principled Pragmatism and Strategic Reorientation in New Ventures

By: Rory McDonald and Cheng Gao

New technology ventures often experience deviations from their original plans that oblige them to reorient in pursuit of better fit between their evolving products and target customers. Yet research is largely silent on how entrepreneurs explain and justify their... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Reorientation; Technology Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Product Development Processes; Organizational Adaptation; Qualitative Methods (General); Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Communication; Entrepreneurship; Alignment; Innovation and Invention; Product Development

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

Organizational psychologists have long held that monitoring workers saps them of their autonomy and thereby reduces their effectiveness. Yet technology has intensified such surveillance in recent years: Managers now track everything from clinicians’ handwashing to... View Details

01 Oct 2000
News

Silent Killers: Overcoming Barriers to Organizational Learning

In their HBS working paper "Overcoming the 'Silent Killers' to Strategy Implementation and Organizational Learning," HBS professor Michael Beer and Russell A. Eisenstat,... View Details

Keywords: Judith A. Ross

January 1999
Case

State Street Corporation: Leading with Information Technology (B)

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Kelley Porter

With Multi-currency HORIZON, a real-time multi-currency accounting system that replaced the traditional batch-oriented single-currency accounting system, successfully launched, State Street Corp. (State Street) began to focus on growing the scope of its business... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Trends; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry

August 2008 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Consumer Payment Systems — United States

By: Benjamin Edelman and Andrei Hagiu

In 2008, the U.S. consumer payments landscape was characterized by the ongoing prevalence of credit and debit card networks, the decline of checks, the rise of stored value cards, and the growth of new payment methods such as PayPal, Bill Me Later, and decoupled debit.... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Personal Finance; Digital Platforms; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Strategy; Internet and the Web; United States

Article

Moving Forward from COVID-19: Organizational Dimensions of Effective Hospital Emergency Management

By: Mariam Krikorian Atkinson, Nicholas Cagliuso, John Hick, Sara Singer, Elizabeth Bambury, Tuna Cem Hayirli, Masha Kuznetsova and Paul Biddinger

Federal investment in emergency preparedness has increased notably since the 9/11 attacks, yet it is unclear if and how U.S. hospital readiness has changed in the 20 years since then. In particular, understanding effective aspects of hospital emergency management... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Hospital Preparedness/response; Urban/rural Hospitals; Emergency Management; National Strategy; Health Pandemics; Crisis Management; Performance Effectiveness; Governance; Policy; United States

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May 2011 (Revised March 2013)
Supplement

Marshall & Gordon: Designing an Effective Compensation System (B)

By: Heidi K. Gardner and Kerry Herman

CEO Kelly Browne wrestles with the design and roll-out of a new compensation system to promote the collaboration necessary for supporting her firm's new strategy. Marshall Gordon International, a global public relations (PR) firm, has recently expanded its service... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Executive Compensation; Management; Organizational Culture; Performance; Groups and Teams; Behavior; Corporate Strategy; System

October 2009 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Emotiv Systems Inc.: It's the Thoughts that Count

By: Elie Ofek, Jason Riis and Paul Hamilton

Emotiv is getting ready to launch its innovative brain-computer interfacing (BCI) technology. The company has developed a special headset, called EPOC, and highly sophisticated software that can translate a person's emotions, cognitive thoughts, and facial expressions... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Sales; Technological Innovation; Demand and Consumers; Marketing Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Entrepreneurship; Forecasting and Prediction; Product Launch; Business Startups; Technology Industry

July 2005 (Revised February 2007)
Exercise

Family Business System Action Planning Worksheet

By: John A. Davis

Assist in thinking critically about facilitators and inhibitors to goals and preparing for change in a family business system. View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Change Management; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Change and Adaptation

Web

5.1 Information Technology | MBA

5.1 Information Technology Access to HBS networks, applications, computers, and other electronic resources (“the Resources”) is a privilege. HBS reserves the right to revoke access at any time at its sole... View Details

September 2022
Article

Experimentation and Start-up Performance: Evidence from A/B Testing

By: Rembrand Koning, Sharique Hasan and Aaron Chatterji

Recent scholarship has argued that experimentation should be the organizing principle for entrepreneurial strategy. Experimentation leads to organizational learning, which drives improvements in firm performance. We investigate this proposition by exploiting the... View Details

Keywords: Experimentation; A/B Testing; Data-driven Decision-making; Organizational Learning; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Business Startups; Learning; Performance; Decision Making

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Web

Strategic Plan | Information Technology

into the future. 3. Modernize Foundational Technology for Digital Transformation We modernize and enhance our strategically critical enterprise systems to ensure the business... View Details

15 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Apple Pay’s Technology Adoption Problem

Only about 10 percent of retailers use NFC readers, and at least one retailer—Best Buy—stopped using them because they were too expensive. Officials with both Best Buy and Walmart have said the retailers... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Technology; Technology

1994
Chapter

Beyond Strategy, Structure, and Systems to Purpose, Process, and People: Reflections on a Voyage of Discovery

By: C. A. Bartlett and S. Ghoshal

Keywords: Strategy; Organizational Structure; System; Mission and Purpose; Human Needs

May 1993 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Vanity Fair Mills: Market Response System

Describes the "Quick Response" program developed by Vanity Fair Mills (VFM), a division of the VF Corp. Beginning in 1989, VFM reorganized its manufacturing systems, invested heavily in computer and telecommunications equipment, and formed "partnership" agreements with... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Logistics; Distribution Channels; Manufacturing Industry