Publications

November 15, 2021
Article

Putting Your Corporate Purpose to Work

By: Hubert Joly

Making a company purpose come to life is an arduous journey that requires a multi-pronged and sustained approach. Yet as hard as it is, the journey is well worth it and will yield positive transformation not only for the company, but also for the people who work there.... View Details

Keywords: Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Business and Stakeholder Relations

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01 Dec 2011
News

Faculty Books

organizational performance is substantial and quantifiable. An effective business culture can account for up to half of the performance differential between organizations in the same business. Drawing on field research and case studies,... View Details

Keywords: Utilities

Web

Online Learning Track Programs | HBS Online

foundation for practically applying high-integrity, humanistic organizational leadership and management, which is invaluable in today’s rapidly-changing, technology-focused world. Elena Bowes Certificate of Specialization in Leadership... View Details

April 2013 (Revised October 2013)
Case

National Instruments

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Keri Pearlson and Natalie Kindred

This case explores the use of social media to support product design, customer support, marketing and HR activities at National Instruments (NI). Based in Austin, Texas, with over $1 billion in 2011 sales, NI designs, produces, and sells software and hardware platforms... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Applications and Software; Organizational Culture; Technological Innovation; Digital Platforms; Innovation and Management; Media; Management Systems; Social and Collaborative Networks; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry; Texas

October 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Supplement

Procter & Gamble in the 21st Century (B): Welcoming Gillette

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Matthew Bird

A.G. Lafley and P&G leaders decided to approach the Gillette integration differently from previous mergers. Using P&G's purpose, values, and principles (PVP) it treated the acquisition as a merger that sought to take the "best of both" from each company. In the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Change Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Management Skills; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Integration

17 May 2004
Research & Ideas

Why We Don’t Study Corporate Responsibility

this information would help managers better understand their big-picture role and perhaps lead to more ethical conduct in business. Manda Salls: What did you learn from your look at organizational research,... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

April 2003
Case

IBM Canada: Global Services (A)

By: Michael L. Tushman, David Kiron and Wendy Smith

IBM Canada Global Services is losing shares in a stagnant information technology market. A new leader must overcome a senior team rife with internal conflict and change internal processes to drive innovation streams. The leader struggles to build an ambidextrous... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Management Teams; Innovation and Management; Conflict Management; Groups and Teams; Service Industry; Canada

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10 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 10

Business School Supplement 311-031 Sam Palmisano became CEO of IBM in 2002. He dramatically energized the organization through portfolio changes and a values driven approach to managing the company. The "Day 1" case describes... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2006 (Revised May 2007)
Case

King Arthur Flour

By: Thomas J. DeLong, James Holian and Joshua Weiss

Steve Voigt, the CEO of King Arthur Flour, must determine how the company can continue to grow, whilst preserving its unique culture. In 1996, the company was sold to employees in as ESOP transaction. The following decade saw significant growth, despite declining sales... View Details

Keywords: Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture; Employee Ownership

25 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 25

stay with the old technology as a rational, proactive choice rather than as a mark of managerial and organizational failure. We then consider the distinctive challenges and organizational dynamics that arise... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Career Coach

Sasha Grinshpun

have the conversation around, "What do you really want?!" Sasha graduated from the Harvard Business School, with a concentration in innovation, organizational behavior and design thinking. She finished Yale, with a BA in... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Startup - Founder; Entrepreneurship; Startup - Joiner; Entrepreneurship; Technology

2019
Book

The Wise Company: How Companies Create Continuous Innovation

By: Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi

High-velocity change is the fundamental challenge facing companies today. Few companies, however, are prepared to continuously innovate—because they focus on the short-term and do not emphasize the wisdom needed to make sure that their interests are aligned with those... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge; Wise Leadership; Leaders; Innovation; Knowledge Management; Leadership; Innovation and Invention; Organizational Change and Adaptation

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May 2002
Case

Aspen Financial

By: Arthur I Segel and Melissa Yin-Yin Lam

Jack and Bruce Aspen must decide how they want to grow their commercial real estate finance company during a time of tremendous change in the industry. View Details

Keywords: History; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Growth and Development; Real Estate Industry

April 2019
Supplement

C3: Driven to Succeed

By: Robert L. Simons

This video series, which is intended to be used with C3: Driven to Succeed (119-004), shows founder and CEO Tom Siebel addressing a class of MBA students. In eight short video clips, he discusses how he selects customers and employees, creates a high-energy culture,... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Customers; Employees; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Culture; Performance; Success

01 Jun 2009
News

Insights from the Post-Macho Workplace

ELY: Drilling down for valuable perspectives on how gender issues affect efficiency, safety, and productivity in the workplace. Field-based research can take HBS faculty members to some unusual places. Professor Robin Ely’s recent working paper, “Unmask-ing Manly Men:... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Oil and Gas Extraction; Mining

01 Aug 1998
News

Year-End Roundup: Dean's Award, Other Honors Conferred as Class of '98 Graduates

participation of 28 sponsoring companies and 120 other firms. Schaeffer and Terry's organizational and team-building skills were judged to be emblematic of the leadership and service that the Dean's Award seeks to honor. Other Dean's... View Details

October 2018 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Safecast: Bootstrapping Human Capital to Big Data

By: Ethan Bernstein and Stephanie Marton

On March 11, 2011, at 2:46pm, a 9.1-on-the-Richter-scale, six-minute long earthquake unleashed a tsunami that ravaged the Tohoku region of Japan, damaging the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power facility and releasing sufficient radioactive material into the air and ocean... View Details

March 2011
Case

Grand Circle Travel: Where Risk Comes with the Territory

By: Herman B. Leonard

A worldwide travel company is intrinsically exposed to risks of natural and man-made disasters. How do you organize a business for success when it must on a nearly daily basis cope with hazards ranging from minor mishaps to large-scale catastrophes? Alan and Harriet... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Transportation; Organizational Design; Decision Choices and Conditions; Organizational Structure; Mission and Purpose; Competitive Advantage; Travel Industry