Publications

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June 2025
Case

Transforming a Titan (A)

By: George Serafeim and Lena Duchene

Dimitri Papalexopoulos, fourth-generation CEO of TITAN Cement, must decide whether to keep leading the 120-year-old, family-controlled firm or hand the reins to new management. Over 26 years he has turned TITAN from a domestic player into an internationally diversified... View Details

November 2008
Teaching Note

Royal DSM N.V.: Information Technology Enabling Business Transformation (TN)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Deborah Soule

Teaching Note for [807167]. View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Information Technology; Transformation; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

October 2001
Case

Transforming Singapore's Public Libraries

By: Roger H. Hallowell, Neo Boon Siong and Carin-Isabel Knoop

The Singapore Public Library system was transformed from being mediocre at best to world class using information technology, progressive human resources management, and marketing approaches unusual for governmental agencies. View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Marketing Strategy; Information Technology; Transformation; Books; Human Resources; Government and Politics; Public Administration Industry; Singapore

September 2002 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Transformation at the IRS

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Frances X. Frei and Corey B. Hajim

Describes the service transformation occurring at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Plagued by a history of poor service, enormous complexity, and an insular employee base, the 100,000-person organization grapples with a turnaround process that attempts to change... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Service Operations; Organizational Structure; Taxation; Organizational Culture; Transformation; Public Administration Industry; United States

January 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Commercial Sales Transformation at Microsoft

By: Doug J. Chung

Industry leaders should adapt to changes in the business context and consider different ways to grow. Advances in technology had shifted software demand to the cloud. As a result, Microsoft announced a strategic shift in direction from its existing ‘Windows first’... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Strategy; Transformation

January 1994
Case

ABC Sales and Service Division: A Case Study of Personal and Organizational Transformation

By: D. Quinn Mills, Brock W. Orwig, Janet M. Pumo, Todd C. Stilson and Richard C. Wei

In the midst of dramatic changes in the information systems industry and declining profits at the ABC Co., the vice president in charge of the sales and service division, Jeff, and his managers attempt to transform their division. The transformation gets off to a good... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Motivation and Incentives; Resignation and Termination; Communication; Business or Company Management; Information Technology Industry

Blog

Leading Successful Digital Transformation

transformation in large organizations for three main reasons: Focus on optimization and efficiency: Many companies use technology to cut costs, improve efficiency, or enhance the productivity of their... View Details

1995
Chapter

Information-enabled Organization Transformation and Outsourcing

By: F. W. McFarlan

Keywords: Information Management; Knowledge Management; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Organizational Change and Adaptation

October 2004 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Transforming Singapore's Public Libraries (Abridged)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Roger H. Hallowell

The Singapore Public Library system was transformed from being mediocre at best to world class using information technology, progressive human-resources management, and marketing approaches unusual for government agencies. View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Service Delivery; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Human Resources; Information Technology; Nonprofit Organizations; Public Administration Industry; Singapore

2014
Article

Information und Transformation - CSR-Berichterstattung in Europa und den USA

By: Birgit Spiesshofer and Robert G. Eccles

Keywords: Business Ethics; Ethics

August 1995 (Revised September 1995)
Background Note

Designing and Managing the Information Age IT Architecture

By: Lynda M. Applegate

The co-evolution of technology, work, and the workforce over the past 30 years has dramatically influenced our concept of organizations and the industries within which they compete. No longer simply a tool to support "back-office" transactions, IT has become a... View Details

Keywords: Design; Management; Organizations; Information Technology

April 1993 (Revised May 1994)
Case

General Dynamics and Computer Sciences Corporation: Outsourcing the IS Function (A)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Katherine Seger

Designed to generate discussion on the issues of outsourcing from the perspective of a firm thinking about turning over its IS activities to a third-party vendor. View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Management Style; Information Technology; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Business Strategy; Economic Systems; Business or Company Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Processes; Employment; Emerging Markets; Activity Based Costing and Management; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

15 Aug 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Liquidity Transformation in Asset Management: Evidence from the Cash Holdings of Mutual Funds

Keywords: by Sergey Chernenko and Adi Sunderam; Financial Services

April 1993 (Revised December 2001)
Case

General Dynamics and Computer Sciences Corporation: Outsourcing the IS Function (B)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Katherine Seger

Designed to look at outsourcing from the perspective of a major computer services company trying to get into the business. View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Business Startups; Business Plan; Business Strategy; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Financial Management; Management Teams; Communication Strategy; Organizational Design; Product Design; Accounting; Activity Based Costing and Management; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

Article

Partially Verifiable Information and Mechanism Design

By: Jerry R. Green and Jean-Jacques Laffont

In a principal-agent model with adverse selection, we study the implementation of social choice functions when the agent's message space is a correspondence which depends on this true characteristic. We characterize such correspondence for which the Revelation... View Details

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March 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Case

LULA: Transforming Transport and Mobility (A)

By: Siko Sikochi and Hayley (Le) Ma

Based in Cape Town, LULA was founded to create and operate a Mobility-as-a-Service platform with the aim to integrate different modes of transport through a one-ticket solution. LULA was “easy” in isiZulu, a language spoken in South Africa. Yet, it wasn’t easy for LULA... View Details

Keywords: Mobility; Transportation; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities; South Africa

1994
Chapter

The Role of Technology in an Information Age: Transforming Symbols into Action

By: R. L. Nolan and S. H. Haeckel

Keywords: Information Technology; Information; Knowledge

November 2008 (Revised June 2009)
Case

Sole-Sourcing the Intel 386: A Company and Industry Transformed

By: Richard S. Tedlow and David Ruben

Intel's precedent-breaking decision not to second-source its groundbreaking 386 microprocessor in 1986 propelled Intel to new heights and fundamentally transformed the computer industry. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Technological Innovation; Production; Information Infrastructure; Transformation; Brands and Branding; Product Development; Computer Industry; United States