Publications

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30 Oct 2007
First Look

First Look: October 30, 2007

more than 20 case studies and other readings that offer a powerful and transformative approach to advancing and sustaining the work of school... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 1994 (Revised June 1996)
Case

Problems at InSpeech

By: Lynn S. Paine

InSpeech, Inc., the largest U.S. provider of speech, occupational, and physical therapists to nursing homes and hospitals, is faltering badly. The company is having trouble retaining its frontline employees--the clinicians who deliver its services--and its customers.... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Health Care and Treatment; Crisis Management; Mission and Purpose; Values and Beliefs; Health Industry

01 Jun 2000
News

Capturing Human Capital

Confronted with the fundamental changes that are transforming today's global business environment, a number of firms are finding it necessary to reevaluate their organizational... View Details

December 2010
Supplement

Rackspace Hosting (2000)

By: W. Earl Sasser, James L. Heskett and Tom Ryder

The leadership team of Rackspace, faced with accommodation of its service offering and dwindling financial reserves, decides to make customer focus the rallying cry of its new strategy. View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Planning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Service Delivery; Strategy; Finance; Information Technology Industry

04 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

Best of HBS Working Knowledge 2009

Download the PDF. Accelerated organizational transformation faces a host of obstacles well-documented in the change management literature, according to HBS professor emeritus... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

30 Jan 2018
First Look

January 30, 2018

at the circumscribed scale, achieving transformative impact. Lastly, quadrant #4, refers to organizations that have both expanded reach and created comprehensive change in the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 27

Intervention Method, Empirical Evidence, and Theory Author:Michael Beer Publication:In Research in Organizational Change and Development. Vol.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2, 2020
Article

How to 'Re-engineer' Your Business for Safety

By: Hubert Joly

Process reengineering was a massive trend in the 1990s. By focusing on improving either cost, quality, or service, a company could gain benefits in all three categories. Today, the principles that underpin process reengineering can be applied anew, with safety as a... View Details

Keywords: Re-engineering; COVID; Safety; Performance Improvement; Organizational Change and Adaptation

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September 2019
Case

Shell: A Company of Opportunity?

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Emer Moloney

The Opportunity Hub was a cloud-based platform that enabled managers to market projects they were working on and associated resourcing needs as “Opportunity Owners” and employees, or “Opportunity Seekers,” to browse these statements of need and engage when they had... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Change Management; Competency and Skills; Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Energy; Energy Sources; Non-Renewable Energy; Renewable Energy; Human Resources; Employees; Retention; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Jobs and Positions; Job Design and Levels; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Labor; Human Capital; Labor Unions; Leading Change; Resource Allocation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Evaluation; Performance Productivity; Strategic Planning; Projects; Motivation and Incentives; Business Strategy; Social and Collaborative Networks; Technology Platform; Chemical Industry; Energy Industry; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United Kingdom; Netherlands

January 2017 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Delivering the Goods at Shippo

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Jeffrey F. Rayport and Olivia Hull

Laura Behrens Wu, CEO of software start-up Shippo, prepares her pitch for a Series A funding round following a successful seed round. Customer adoption of Shippo’s e-commerce dashboard application, which allows small and medium retailers to compare delivery rates... View Details

September 1983 (Revised November 1984)
Case

Syntex Laboratories (B)

The recommendations of the consultants require a number of assumptions and modifications to be implemented by Syntex Labs. Presents the initial implementation plan of the company. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Salesforce Management; Pharmaceutical Industry

July 1999
Case

Restructuring General Motors North America (A): Pay-for-Performance

By: Malcolm S. Salter

Presents the new pay-for-performance scheme adopted by General Motors (GM) in its 1999 reorganization of its sales and marketing organization. Once in operation, many administrative problems developed requiring a reconsideration of the scheme's basic architecture. View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Compensation and Benefits; Marketing; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Auto Industry; North America

29 Jun 2022
Blog Post

Four Elements for Finding the Right Career Path

When people contemplate a career change, astute thinking alone won’t necessarily take them in the right direction. Instead, when career changes and other huge life-changing experiences are at stake, people... View Details

June 2010
Article

The China Rules: A Practical Guide for CEOs Managing Multinational Corporations in the People's Republic

By: Lynn S. Paine

To achieve growth and profitability in the world's third-largest economy, multinationals need strong leadership--but China is tough on top executives. Pulsating with opportunity, China attracts foreigners, yet HR professionals continue to rank it as one of the most... View Details

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Multinational Firms and Management; Leadership; Management Skills; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Adaptation; China

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19 Apr 2016
Blog Post

First Minutes are Critical in New-Employee Orientation

just by changing something minor in the onboarding process." Identity Experiments In the field experiment, the researchers divided batches of new call agents into an individual identity group, an View Details

Keywords: All Industries

08 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Who Is the Chief Sustainability Officer?

than biting off more than they can chew at once. And they should keep in mind that sustainability goals will change over time. Edelman says his approach is "evolutionary, not revolutionary." IKEA... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Manufacturing

October 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Teaching Note

BWX Technologies

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Yuan Zou

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 124-071. View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Communication Intention and Meaning; Business and Shareholder Relations; Valuation; Diversification; United States; Canada

May 2022
Case

What to Propose?

By: David G. Fubini

Two audit and financial services firms, one of which your consulting firm has supported extensively, have merged to create one of the largest audit firms in the world. The audit firm's Executive Team has requested proposals aimed at re-evaluating their internal... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Professional Services; Governance; Presentations; Organizational Structure; Transition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Consulting Industry