Publications

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2009
Working Paper

Taking a 'Deep Dive': What Only a Top Leader Can Do

By: Howard H. Yu and Joseph L. Bower

Unlike most historical accounts of strategic change inside large firms, empirical research on strategic management rarely uses the day-to-day behaviors of top executives as the unit of analysis. By examining the resource allocation process closely, we introduce the... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Resource Allocation; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure

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10 May 2012
Working Paper Summaries

The Flattened Firm—Not as Advertised

Keywords: by Julie Wulf

2009
Other Paper

Trade Policy and Firm Boundaries

By: Laura Alfaro, Paola Conconi, Andrew F. Newman and Harald Fadinger

We examine how trade policy affects firms' organizational choices. We embed a model of firms' vertical integration decisions into a standard perfectly-competitive international trade framework. In the model, integration decisions are driven by a trade-off... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Policy; Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Vertical Integration; Boundaries

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2016
Chapter

Envy and Interpersonal Corruption: Social Comparison Processes and Unethical Behavior in Organizations

By: Julia J. Lee and Francesca Gino

Book Abstract: Competition for resources, recognition, and favorable outcomes are all facts of life in professional settings. When one falls short in comparison to colleagues or subordinates, feelings of envy may arise. Fueled by inferiority, hostility, and resentment,... View Details

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November 2002 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Intel Corporation: 1968-2003

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, David B. Yoffie and Sasha Mattu

Describes three stages in Intel's history: the initial success and then collapse in DRAMs and EPROMs, its transition to and dominance in microprocessors, and its move to become the main supplier of the building blocks for the Internet economy. Allows a rich discussion... View Details

Keywords: History; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Industry Structures; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry

January 2002 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Chapter Enrichment Program Teams at the American Red Cross (A)

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer and Anita Williams Woolley

The American Red Cross has a system for structuring, staffing, and leading teams to review its local chapters. Mirroring professional services firms that use teams to serve clients, this system provides detailed guidelines to increase individual team member's... View Details

Keywords: Planning; Groups and Teams; Management Teams; Leadership; Organizational Structure

October 2010 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Bessemer Trust: Guardians of Capital

By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen

Henry Phipps, Jr. made his fortune in the steel industry alongside one of America's most celebrated entrepreneurs—Andrew Carnegie. His wealth was administered in the form of trusts, which he hoped would provide a stream of income for his family and their descendants... View Details

Keywords: Wealth; Asset Management; Family Business; Business History; Income; Entrepreneurship; Capital; United States

March 2013 (Revised October 2013)
Supplement

Jones Lang LaSalle (2012): Integrated Services and the Architecture of Complexity (D)

By: Ranjay Gulati and Luciana Silvestri

This case describes the strategic and organizational challenges that Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) faced between 2008 and 2012. In 2008, in order to strengthen the firm's brokerage team, JLL merged with The Staubach Company, a real estate services provider with a first-rate... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Strategy; Integration; Real Estate Industry; North America; South America; Central America

August 2008 (Revised June 2013)
Background Note

Note on the Nonprofit Coherence Framework

By: Allen S. Grossman and Stacey Childress

This note presents the Nonprofit Coherence Framework. It helps nonprofit leaders identify the key elements that support an organizational strategy focused on attaining high performance, bring those elements into a coherent relationship with the strategy and each other,... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Performance Improvement; Nonprofit Organizations; Corporate Strategy

July 9, 2013
Article

Why Fights Erupt in Family Businesses

By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer

Lack of boundaries and formal structure create potential for nasty (and lasting) disagreements. View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Conflict and Resolution; Organizational Structure

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April 2010
Course Overview Note

Managing Human Capital

By: Boris Groysberg

Managing Human Capital, a second-year elective course at Harvard Business School, seeks to create business leaders who understand human resources practices essential to firm performance and who think strategically about managing their own careers. This Managing Human... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Human Capital; Management; Outcome or Result; Personal Development and Career

November 2008
Article

Chartering New Territory: Diversification, Legitimacy and Practice Area Creation in Professional Service Firms

By: Heidi Gardner, N. Anand and Timothy Morris

Diversification into innovative domains through new practice area creation is a critical imperative for professional services firms. Using theories of organizational territoriality and corporate charters, we conceptualize professional firms as federations of distinct... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Lawfulness; Code Law; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Innovation and Invention; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

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March 2009 (Revised July 2014)
Case

PNC Financial: Grow Up Great (A)

By: Christopher Marquis, V. Kasturi Rangan and Alison Comings

In 2003, PNC Financial focused its corporate citizenship and philanthropic resources on a ten-year, $100 million investment in early childhood education called PNC Grow Up Great. The case tracks the origination of Grow Up Great, how it was developed and implemented... View Details

Keywords: Early Childhood Education; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Leadership; Brands and Branding; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Structure; Business and Community Relations

January 1971 (Revised August 1984)
Case

Dansk Designs Ltd.

Dansk Designs Ltd., a supplier of high quality, highly designed tableware products, plans to enter a new product area in housewares. Past growth and anticipated future expansion make organizational changes necessary. Overseas operations, design changes, supplier... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth Management; Expansion; Organizational Structure; Consumer Products Industry

Keywords: Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Culture; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Performance Productivity; Problems and Challenges; Management Practices and Processes; Business Divisions; Information Management; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States

February 1991 (Revised February 1992)
Case

Appex Corp.

By: Nitin Nohria

1990 Business Week named Appex Corp. the fastest growing high-technology company in the United States. Appex provided management information systems and intercarrier network services to cellular telephone companies. During its rapid growth, the company went through... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

Yusaku's interests lie in the dynamics of shared beliefs, shared values, and organizational capabilities, as well as the role of leadership in them. Of particular approach is to understand the ways in which beliefs become justified, socially, so as to become "justified... View Details

July 1996
Case

Buck & Pulleyn's Team Management

In 1993, the firm began to move from a traditional hierarchical structure to client-focused teams. The case describes the process and some consequences of this restructuring. Performance seems to be improving, but some employees preferred the structure certainty and... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Change Management; Organizational Structure; Groups and Teams