Publications

09 Feb 2017
Cold Call Podcast

Black Business Leaders Series: Putting Diversity to Work

Keywords: Re: Robin J. Ely

04 Oct 2018
Research & Ideas

Diversity Boosts Profits in Venture Capital Firms

partner played in college such as tennis and squash, which are played by predominantly white athletes, compared to basketball or football, to see if exposure to diverse teammates leads VCs to hire more underrepresented minorities.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Banking; Financial Services

November 26, 2019
Article

Tackling Diversity in Case Discussions: Advice for Creating a Culture of Dialogue and Equity in Business Classrooms

By: Colleen Ammerman, Zoe Kinias and Nien-hê Hsieh

10 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

The Little Understood Problem Confronting Diverse Workplaces

Knitting together a workforce with diverse backgrounds, cultures, and other demographic differences is challenging even for experienced managers, who must socialize those employees into the organization and also help them form new work... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

August 2009
Case

Meeting the Diversity Challenge at PepsiCo: The Steve Reinemund Era

By: David A. Thomas and Stephanie Creary

This case profiles PepsiCo's diversity journey under the leadership of former chairman and CEO Steve Reinemund who instituted diversity as one of the company's strategic imperatives. It demonstrates the ways in which Reinemund partnered with his leadership team and... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Performance Effectiveness; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

October 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Monitor Company: Personal Leadership on Diversity

Several members of a consulting firm work to develop ways to build and nurture a more diverse work environment while reflecting on personal experiences that help them to become leaders in issues of diversity. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Organizational Culture; Diversity Characteristics; Consulting Industry

November 2004
Case

IBM's Diversity Strategy: Bridging the Workplace and the Marketplace

By: David A. Thomas and Ayesha Kanji

Explores how IBM incorporated diversity into its business strategy, making the case that workforce diversity is critical to marketing its products and services to its customers. In the early 1990s, Ted Childs, vice-president of Workforce Diversity, proposed to CEO Lou... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Diversification; Business Strategy; Integration; Global Strategy; Organizations; Markets; Information Technology Industry; United States

August 2006 (Revised November 2007)
Background Note

A Framework for Pursuing Diversity in the Workplace

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Michael Brookshire

Assesses the costs and benefits of pursuing diversity and pinpoints the primary barriers to creating diverse workplaces. It also proposes some options for advancing diversity in an organization. View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Diversity

May 2014
Case

Building a High Performance Culture at IDFC

By: V.G. Narayanan and Vidhya Muthuram

IDFC was set up in 1997 to direct private finance to infrastructure projects in India. Over the years, it expanded its capabilities to become a 'complete solutions provider' offering financing solutions including debt and equity, investment banking, brokerage and asset... View Details

August 2021
Case

Zoom Video Communications: Building a Culture of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion During COVID-19

By: Karen G. Mills, Scott Duke Kominers, Christopher Stanton, Andy Wu, George Gonzalez and Gabriella Elanbeck

Keywords: Diversity Management; Diversity Training; Cultural Change; Cultural Diversity; Inclusion; Inclusive Growth; Inclusive Hiring; Hiring; Hiring Of Employees; Recruiting; Performance Management; Change Leadership; Race And Ethnicity; Racial Bias; Racial Disparity; Racial Injustice; Racial Tensions; Racism; Organization; Organization Process; Organization Structure; Structural/institutional Racism; Leadership And Change Management; Leadership And Managing People; Leading; Gender Bias; Discrimination; Inequalities; Inequality; Social Change; Employee Attitude Development And Empowerment; Employee Bonding; Employee Empowerment; Employee Engagement; Employee Fairness; Employee Morale; Employee Performance Management; Employee Relations; Company Culture; Company Values; Values; COVID-19 Pandemic; Demographics; Diversity; Age; Ethnicity; Gender; Business Processes; Change Management; Change; Race; Human Capital; Human Resources; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Jobs and Positions; Job Interviews; Leadership; Leading Change; Management; Management Teams; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Style; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Culture; Happiness; Prejudice and Bias; Satisfaction; Equity; Identity; Leadership Style; Values and Beliefs; Technology Industry; United States

August 2021
Case

Andreessen Horowitz’s Cultural Leadership Fund (A)

By: Anita Elberse, Briana Richardson and Cydni Williams

In May 2020, Chris Lyons, a partner at leading venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz receives the news that his company has reached a verbal agreement with one of Silicon Valley’s hottest social-media startups to lead its ‘Series A’ funding round, in a deal that... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Talent Management; General Management; Inclusion; Talent and Talent Management; Diversity; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Networks; Nonprofit Organizations

16 Feb 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Diversity and Team Performance in a Kenyan Organization

Keywords: by Benjamin Marx, Vincent Pons, and Tavneet Suri; Public Administration; Public Relations

March 2009
Article

Risk Management and Calculative Cultures

By: Anette Mikes

Enterprise risk management (ERM) has recently emerged as a widespread practice in financial institutions. It has been increasingly codified and encrypted into regulatory, corporate governance and organisational management blueprints. A burgeoning literature of... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Practice; Banks and Banking; Corporate Governance; Value; Business and Shareholder Relations; Managerial Roles; Culture; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business or Company Management; Financial Services Industry

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January 2020
Article

Gifts of the Immigrants, Woes of the Natives: Lessons from the Age of Mass Migration

By: Marco Tabellini

In this paper, I jointly investigate the political and the economic effects of immigration and study the causes of anti-immigrant sentiments. I exploit exogenous variation in European immigration to U.S. cities between 1910 and 1930 induced by World War I and the... View Details

Keywords: Political Backlash; Age Of Mass Migration; Cultural Diversity; Immigration; History; Economy; Attitudes; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Diversity

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Read Now

04 Nov 2015
What Do You Think?

Why Does Gender Diversity Improve Financial Performance?

Does Gender Diversity in Management Enhance Performance? Why? A variety of explanations for the positive correlation between gender diversity and better business performance found in a recent McKinsey study... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

31 Aug 2020
What Do You Think?

Why Don’t More Organizations Understand the Power of Diversity and Inclusion?

(iStock) iStock SUMMING UP Does Diversity Really Enhance Performance? As I’ve pointed out in the past, a tenet of the MBA classroom is that if a case problem splits the class, it will produce a good discussion. This appears to have been... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

December 2013
Article

The Costs of Ambient Cultural Disharmony: Indirect Intercultural Conflicts in Social Environment Undermine Creativity

By: Roy Y.J. Chua

Intercultural tensions and conflicts are inevitable in the global workplace. This paper introduces the concept of ambient cultural disharmony—indirect experience of intercultural tensions and conflicts in individuals' immediate social environment—and demonstrates how... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Culture

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August 2021
Supplement

Andreessen Horowitz’s Cultural Leadership Fund (B): Kevin Hart and Clubhouse

By: Anita Elberse, Briana Richardson and Cydni Williams

In May 2020, Andreessen Horowitz secures an agreement with Clubhouse, one of Silicon Valley’s hottest startups, to lead its ‘Series A’ funding round. One of the factors that insiders saw as pivotal in the race to be Clubhouse’s VC firm of choice was Andreessen... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Talent Management; General Management; Inclusion; Talent and Talent Management; Diversity; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Networks; Nonprofit Organizations

August 2022
Teaching Note

BTS & ARMY

By: Doug J. Chung and Kay R. Koo

Industry leaders must define a particular outcome of interest (i.e., an objective) to establish an organization’s strategy. BTS’s initial objective was to increase brand recognition and to acquire a solid fanbase. The proliferation of social network platforms... View Details

Keywords: Cultural Diversity; Brand Equity; Go-to-market Strategy; Social Network; Entertainment Industry; Brands and Branding; Customer Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior; Social and Collaborative Networks; Social Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Digital Marketing; Music Industry