Publications

January 2014 (Revised May 2014)
Case

Rethinking Cities: Chicago on the Move

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

It is impossible to discuss national competitiveness without considering cities and the regions they anchor. Cities are transportation hubs, centers of commercial exchange, and the locus of lives. They thrive by the ways they connect to the world. Demographic changes... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Management; Strategy; Infrastructure; Innovation and Invention; Chicago

October 2010 (Revised June 2014)
Case

Volkswagen do Brasil: Driving Strategy with the Balanced Scorecard

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

A new management team at VW do Brazil develops and deploys a strategy map and Balanced Scorecard to accomplish a turnaround and cultural change after eight consecutive years of financial losses and market share declines. The team uses the strategy map to align... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Developing Countries and Economies; Management Teams; Leadership; Balanced Scorecard; Strategic Planning; Balance and Stability; Motivation and Incentives; Communication Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Auto Industry; Brazil; Germany

03 Jan 2018
What Do You Think?

In the Wake of #MeToo, Should Corporate Boards Hire Compliance Officers?

SUMMING UP Would More Women in Leadership Help Mitigate #MeToo Concerns? If a good case study is one that splits a class down the middle on an important issue while surfacing creative responses, this month's column on how best to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

March 2008
Article

Is Yours a Learning Organization?

By: David A. Garvin, Amy C. Edmondson and Francesca Gino

This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. An organization with a strong learning culture faces the unpredictable deftly.... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Learning; Surveys; Leading Change; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Culture

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27 Jun 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, June 27

they overcame huge obstacles to execute their strategies in industries as diverse as renewable energy, organic food, natural beauty, eco-tourism, recycling, architecture, and finance. The pioneering efforts to build certification schemes... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2014
Supplement

Ingrid Johnson: Reflections on Leading Change

By: Michael Tushman

This case discusses the issue of leading change at the business banking division of Nedbank, a prominent South African bank, between 2005 and 2009. (This timeframe, beginning just 11 years after Apartheid's end, covers Ingrid Johnson's leadership of this division... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Restructuring; Personal Development and Career; Commercial Banking; Banking Industry; South Africa

20 Mar 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, March 20, 2018

Harvard Business Review Beating the Odds: Leadership Lessons from Senior African-American Women By: Roberts, Laura Morgan, Anthony Mayo, Robin Ely, and David Thomas Abstract—Any list of top CEOs reveals a stunning lack of diversity. Among... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2008 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Nestle

By: David E. Bell and Mary Louise Shelman

In April 2008, Paul Bulcke took over as CEO of the world's largest food and beverage company. His predecessor, Peter Brabeck, had delivered 12 years of outstanding results while moving the company toward a new vision of health, nutrition, and wellness. Bulcke's... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Organizational Culture; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

02 Apr 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Making the Move to General Manager

to go in the future." Launched in autumn 2006, GMP is a new executive education comprehensive leadership program designed to address the needs and concerns of precisely these managers. GMP's innovative... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

April 2012
Article

How Many Direct Reports?

By: Gary L. Neilson and Julie Wulf

If senior executives are feeling ever more pressed for time, why would they add more to their plates? It might sound counterintuitive, but research by Booz & Company's Gary L. Neilson and me shows that over the past 20 years the CEO's average span of control, measured... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Governance Controls; Managerial Roles; Adaptation; Personal Development and Career; Cooperation; Management Teams

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Read Now

August 2018
Supplement

Garanti Payment Systems: Digital Transformation Strategy (B)

By: Shelle M. Santana and Esel Çekin

Supplements the (A) case. Işıl Akdemir Evlioğlu, executive vice president of marketing at Garanti Payment Systems (GPS), a subsidiary of Garanti Bank, is grappling with three questions. First, should GPS create its own mobile app for credit card customers or leverage... View Details

18 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Looking in the Mirror: Questions Every Leader Must Ask

the executives most in need of feedback in many organizations are very senior," he says. "They may have become isolated or not realize that their direct reports have constructive advice regarding specific changes they need to... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

20 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

How CEOs Sustain Higher-Ambition Goals

and help build a better world while we are still striving to deliver high performance for the enterprise. Managing that tension is difficult." HBS invited the executives to the second Higher Ambition CEO View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

29 Apr 2020
Book

The Key to Powerful Social Change: Small Villages

Who will solve the great problems facing humanity, a list of critical issues that only begins with the current pandemic? In the interview below, Rosabeth Moss Kanter discusses her recent book, Think Outside the Building, and her view that solutions are most likely to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

08 Nov 2024
HBS Case

What Wartime Service Taught These Historic Leaders

during military conflicts. As countries such as the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom honor their veterans this month, Harvard Business School Professor Robert Simons reflects on how service during wartime shaped the executive... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Entertainment & Recreation

August 2006
Background Note

Analyzing Work Groups

By: Linda A. Hill and Michel Anteby

Work groups are the building blocks of organizations. They are found in all areas of an organization, from research and development to customer service, and at all levels, from the executive suite to the factory floor. Some are incredibly successful, while others are... View Details

Keywords: Framework; Leadership Style; Service Operations; Organizational Culture; Performance Effectiveness; Groups and Teams; Research and Development; Behavior