Publications

July–August 2013
Article

Six Ways to Sink a Growth Initiative

By: Donald L. Laurie and J. Bruce Harreld

The conventional wisdom about how best to pursue growth—launch a slew of initiatives in high-potential areas; appoint some promising young managers to lead them; locate them safely away from the established businesses—is a recipe for failure, according to the authors.... View Details

Keywords: Failure; Growth and Development Strategy

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20 Dec 2022
Blog Post

7 Resolutions for Recruiting in the New Year

Whether your company is manufacturing farming equipment, advising Fortune 500 companies, or developing the next healthcare innovation, you know that the success of your business starts with people. Great teams drive great results and to... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

August 1995 (Revised August 1995)
Case

CIGNA Property and Casualty Reengineering (A)

By: Richard L. Nolan, Donna B. Stoddard, Chiara Francalanci and Elise C Martin

Reengineering was introduced at CIGNA Corp. in 1988. CIGNA entered a second wave reengineering effort through a major project at CIGNA P&C, one of CIGNA's larger businesses. P&C was in financial crisis and as a result brought in a new executive team in 1991 to head the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Cost vs Benefits; Design; Growth and Development; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Balanced Scorecard; Financial Crisis; Crisis Management; Projects; Information Technology; Insurance Industry

2023
Book

Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader's Guide to Solving Hard Problems

By: Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss

Speed has gotten a bad name in business, much of it deserved. When Facebook made "Move fast and break things" an informal company motto, it fueled a widely held belief that we can either make progress or take care of people, one or the other. That a certain amount of... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Performance Improvement; Problems and Challenges; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture

Benson P. Shapiro is a well-known authority on marketing strategy and sales management with particular interests in pricing, product line planning, and marketing organization. He is also the Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing Emeritus at the Harvard Business... View Details

February 2025
Case

Luca de Meo at Renault Group (A)

By: Emily Truelove, Linda A. Hill and Lydia Begag

When Luca de Meo became CEO of Renault Group in 2020, the 122-year-old French automaker faced financial challenges and the double technological disruption of the automotive industry: the shift to electric vehicles (EVs) and the rise of software-defined vehicles (SDVs).... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Transition; Interpersonal Communication; Forms of Communication; Talent and Talent Management; Experience and Expertise; Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Making; Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Alternative Energy; Engineering; Global Strategy; Governance; Digital Transformation; Digital Strategy; Technology Adoption; Innovation and Invention; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Innovation Leadership; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Leading Change; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Crisis Management; Management Skills; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Performance Efficiency; Transportation; Auto Industry; Battery Industry; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; Transportation Industry; France; Europe; China

17 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Being the Boss

now-classic book is popular not just among newbies but also among leaders with decades of experience. “Unless you manage the context in which your team resides, there's no way that your team can be... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

04 May 2021
News

Legacy, Leadership and Transformation at America's National Ballet Company

February 2011 (Revised December 2012)
Case

The Ford Fiesta

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Executives at Ford wondered if social media could be the marketing solution for the launch of the youth-oriented 2010 Fiesta. But with social media came a ceding of control. Some at the company believed that if Ford was going to move beyond its conservative brand image... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Digital Marketing; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Standards; Auto Industry

September 2002 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Istituto Clinico Humanitas (A)

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Gary P. Pisano and Ning Tang

Istituto Clinico Humanitas is a newly built private hospital, south of Milan, Italy, that has attained unusual profitability while treating public system patients. The hospital was built and is managed by Techosp, a subsidiary of Techint, a global engineering and... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Systems; Infrastructure; Managerial Roles; Integration; Performance; Health Industry; Milan

2014
Teaching Note

Bluestar's Acquisition of Adisseo (B) (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donghong Li and Lei Li

This case describes the post-M&A integration of Adisseo of France in 2006 by Bluestar Group, the largest subsidiary of ChemChina (a Fortune 500 company) until 2013. Adisseo was mainly engaged in production of methionine, a feed additive, while China had no methionine... View Details

Keywords: Internationalization; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Postmerger Integration; Strategy; China; France; Chemicals; China; France

18 May 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Embracing Paradox

Keywords: Re: Michael L. Tushman

22 Mar 2016
First Look

March 22, 2016

were preordered, generating $2.6 million in sales. On one snowy morning in January, CEO Steve Chambers met with co-founder and Chief Scientist Dr. Cynthia Breazeal and newly hired VP of Consumer & Development Relations Lynda Smith to prepare for their first meeting... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2009
Article

The Definitive Guide to Recruiting in Good Times and Bad

By: Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, Boris Groysberg and Nitin Nohria

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. Few companies are thinking about hiring right now, but that's a mistake. If history... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Management Practices and Processes; Managerial Roles

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July 2015 (Revised October 2016)
Case

China Lodging Group (A)

By: Tatiana Sandino, Shelley Xin Li and Nancy Hua Dai

This case study explores the challenges of aligning middle management interests with company goals as a company navigates rapid growth in a dynamic industry. China Lodging Group, a Chinese hotel chain that opened about 2,000 hotels during its first decade in business,... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Business or Company Management; Growth Management; Balanced Scorecard; Accommodations Industry; China