Publications

December 2023 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Research In Motion: Launching and Scaling the World's First Smartphone Empire (A)

By: Tatiana Sandino and Samuel Grad

In 2005, Research In Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry smartphone was a sensation. After its launch in 1999, the groundbreaking BlackBerry had captured the hearts and minds of corporate America through its secure wireless email service. The device was so addictive and... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Management Style; Product Development; Managerial Roles; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry; United States; Canada

March 2022 (Revised March 2024)
Case

DaVita Responds to COVID

By: Susanna Gallani and David Lane

Early in August 2021, DaVita CEO Javier Rodriguez was assessing the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on his firm, which provided life-sustaining kidney dialysis to roughly 240,000 people. Effective infection control practices and information sharing had ensured... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Change Management; Communication; Talent and Talent Management; Fairness; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Accountability; Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Human Resources; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Wages; Working Conditions; Leadership Style; Crisis Management; Organizational Culture; Health Industry; United States

06 Aug 2021
Book

Steve Jobs and the Rise of the Celebrity CEO

In the 1950s, most Americans probably couldn’t name the CEOs of the largest companies in the United States, including General Motors, United States Steel, and Standard Oil. But these days, some of the most successful businesses have shifted from being faceless... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

July 2007
Case

Kroger Union Negotiations 2005

By: Dennis A. Yao and Mary L. Shelman

A stylized version of the negotiations between Kroger Company and its local unions during 2005. Management faces a sequence of individual negotiations with local unions in addition to meeting the new competitive challenges presented by Wal-Mart's expansion in the... View Details

Keywords: Labor and Management Relations; Labor Unions; Reputation; Wages; Management; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Style; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry

16 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restaurant Revolution: How the Industry Is Fighting to Stay Alive

inside The future of the restaurant industry is especially of concern to us. We collectively share 35 years of restaurant and food industry experience, navigating our way through as waitstaff and bartenders, as managers and senior leaders... View Details

Keywords: by Michael S. Kaufman, Lena G. Goldberg, and Jill Avery; Food & Beverage

09 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

It’s Time to Reset Decision-Making in Your Organization

James Lemoine, an assistant professor in the Organization and Human Resources Department of the School of Management at the University at Buffalo, have written extensively on VUCA, and argue, “If VUCA is seen as general, unavoidable, and... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

June 2006 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Howard Schultz: Building Starbucks Community

By: William W. George and Andrew N. McLean

In 2006, Howard Schultz reflects on his leadership at Starbucks in light of its continued growth plans. Provides information on the leadership development of the protagonist, tracing his youth and education, his early business career, his acquisition of Starbucks, and... View Details

Keywords: Education; Biography; Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Personal Development and Career

21 Mar 2019
HBS Case

The Ferrari Way

comfortable car on the market, but the best combination of the two...” When Thomke, who teaches and writes about the management of innovation, received an email from Ferrari out of the blue asking if he wanted to study the company, he... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Auto

March–April 2017
Article

Hiring an Entrepreneurial Leader: What to Look For

By: Timothy Butler

Aspiring to be innovative and agile, companies of all shapes and sizes want to recruit entrepreneurial managers. But most firms lack a scientific way to separate the true entrepreneurs from other candidates. To address that problem, Butler compared the psychological... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Leadership Style; Attitudes

Find at Harvard

August 2001 (Revised June 2002)
Case

IBM Software Solutions (A)

By: Michael L. Tushman, Charles A. O'Reilly III and Robert Chapman Wood

Executives and managers of key IBM software units struggle to make IBM a top player in the post-mainframe era. When one software unit introduces a visionary product with potential to create a new leadership position for the firm, the result is an epic conflict in the... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Managerial Roles; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Conflict Management; Information Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

December 2007
Background Note

Tools and Tactics for Transformation: Three "Whats" and Three "Hows"

By: James K. Sebenius and Stephen Friedman

Important transformation at Goldman Sachs, where one of the authors was Chairman, required analysis, political leadership, and management in order to fundamentally shift the strategy, people, and culture on a sustainable basis. After describing the actions needed to... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Tactics; Business Strategy; Organizational Culture; Transition; Strategic Planning; Core Relationships; Multinational Firms and Management; Leadership Style; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Private Equity

June 1992 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Concordia Casting Company

By: F. Warren McFarlan

Describes five years of development in a centralized data processing activity serving a highly decentralized corporation. Data processing manager discovers that a major software system conversion is a full year behind schedule, and subsequently makes several managerial... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Applications and Software; System; Information Technology; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Human Resources; Conflict and Resolution; Supply Chain Management; Accounting; Auto Industry

November 1993 (Revised June 2007)
Case

Jack Thomas

By: John P. Kotter and Andrew P. Burtis

This redisguised version of an earlier case, Tom Levick, provides an updated setting but does not change the teaching objectives. Chronicles the first six weeks of experience on the job for a recent business school graduate. Emphasis is on managing... View Details

Keywords: Power and Influence; Behavior; Leadership Style; Strategy; Rank and Position; Publishing Industry

05 Jul 2006
What Do You Think?

How Important Is “Executive Intelligence” for Leaders?

and Street expectations I'll take the manager with his nose deep in a book any day." Akram Boutros, along with many others, argued for balance in our assessment of the importance of EI, pointing out that "both executive... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

April 2019
Case

Coup or Crime? The Case of Carlos Ghosn

By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and Puneet Brar

This case explores the interplay of global corporations, management styles, and local traditions through the high profile arrest of auto industry icon, Carlos Ghosn, in November 2018. The case allows students to debate opposing theories that led to the arrest and... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Globalized Markets and Industries; Problems and Challenges; Ethics; Governance Controls

01 Nov 2021
Op-Ed

Team Success Starts with the Individual—and with Love

If you’re a fan of American football, you probably know that Seattle Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll is one of only three coaches in National Football League history to win both a Super Bowl and a college national championship. Researching Carroll and his methods, I... View Details

Keywords: by Ranjay Gulati; Sports

September 2019
Case

Netflix: A Creative Approach to Culture and Agility

By: Ranjay Gulati, Allison Ciechanover and Jeff Huizinga

By 2018, Netflix had been credited for revolutionizing how viewers consumed entertainment—shifting from ad-fueled linear network programming to a highly personalized, on-demand, all-you-can-consume, ad-free model. The company was riding a long wave of revenue and... View Details

Keywords: Digital Technologies; Streaming; Video On Demand; International Expansion; Leadership; Information Technology; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Leadership Style; Management Style; Organizational Culture; Entertainment; Media; Change Management; Expansion; Technology Industry; United States

October 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Supplement

DLA Piper and Christie's International (B)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Dilyana Karadzhova

Nigel Knowles, joint CEO and Managing Partner of international law firm DLA Piper, responds to Christie's complaint that the relationship between the two organizations has major shortcomings and needs to be improved or will otherwise be terminated. A number of actions... View Details

Keywords: Law; Leadership Style; Organizations; Relationships; Trust; Attorney and Client Relationships; Legal Services Industry

August 2011 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Danielle Marcoux at AdNet2Win Technologies

By: Anthony J. Mayo and Joshua D. Margolis

Danielle Marcoux, Director of Web Design at AdNet2Win Technologies, must decide how best to confront Charles Davide, the Chief Technology Officer and leader of the design team charged with overseeing a major upgrade of the company's proprietary customer loyalty... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Management Teams; Interpersonal Communication; Creativity; Status and Position; Web Services Industry