Publications

October 2013
Teaching Note

Teaching Note IBM and the Reinvention of High School (A): Proving the P-TECH Concept

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Keywords: Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Education; Innovation and Invention; Education Industry; United States

September 2013 (Revised June 2017)
Supplement

IBM and the Reinvention of High School (B): Replicating & Scaling P-TECH and Partners

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

IBM's Corporate Citizenship office created an innovation in public education through a business-school partnership for widespread replication and diffusion. In 2012, while P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School) was still in its first year operating,... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Partnerships; Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Partners and Partnerships; Social Entrepreneurship; Education; Business and Community Relations; Innovation and Invention; Growth Management; Chicago; Idaho

Fall 2024
Article

The Three Traps That Stymie Reinvention: Organizational Identity, Architecture, and Collaboration Can Be Either Assets or Liabilities to Pursuing Growth in New Sectors

By: Ryan Raffaelli

In more than a decade of researching innovation, I have observed how organizations respond to new opportunities, technological changes, or unexpected market shifts that threaten to upend their current business model. This process, which I call reinvention, may occur... View Details

Keywords: Innovation And Strategy; Change Leadership; Collaboration; Architecture; Transformation; Disruption; Leading Change; Innovation Strategy; Identity; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure

October 2013
Teaching Note

Teaching Note IBM and the Reinvention of High School (B): Replicating & Scaling P-TECH and Partners

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Keywords: Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Education; Innovation and Invention; Education Industry; United States

06 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Technology Re-Emergence: Creating New Value for Old Innovations

seemingly archaic products including the fountain pen and the vinyl record. "What this research suggests is that it is possible to prolong the life of some technologies, along with the organizations and communities that support them," says Raffaelli, an... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Apparel & Accessories; Technology; Consumer Products

September 2005
Case

Whitbread PLC (A)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

Describes the change process Whitbread employed in transforming its organization and culture from a single underperforming business operating in a relatively stable environment to a multibusiness, high-commitment, and high-performance corporation operating in more... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Business or Company Management; Leadership; Diversification

18 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

The Essentials for Enlightened Experimentation

R&D systems for performing experiments that will generate the information needed to develop and refine products quickly. The challenges are managerial as well as technical: Organize For Rapid Experimentation Examine and, if necessary, revamp entrenched routines,... View Details

Keywords: by Stefan Thomke

01 Nov 2021
What Do You Think?

How Long Does It Take to Improve an Organization’s Culture?

(iStockphoto/skynesher) Most CEOs recognize the power of organizational culture and the impact that it can have on the bottom line. They acknowledge the importance of shared values and behaviors that influence the way an organization... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

March 1998 (Revised July 1998)
Case

United Way Community Services

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Describes in detail the fund development and distribution system of United Way Community Services. A key question is how to measure the outcome/impact of the work done by the agencies that receive United Way funding. A follow-on question is how to reinvent the... View Details

Keywords: Capital; Management Systems; Measurement and Metrics; Distribution Channels; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Outcome or Result; Nonprofit Organizations

23 Jun 2023
HBS Case

This Company Lets Employees Take Charge—Even with Life and Death Decisions

back to our organizations?’ And as companies face employee reductions in this economic climate, perhaps they should consider doing so in a way that removes layers of organizational structure as well.” How Buurtzorg works Jos de Blok, one... View Details

Keywords: by Annelena Lobb; Health

October 2023
Case

Driving Sustainability at AB InBev

By: Ethan Rouen and Antonio Manuel Oftelie

It was the height of the summer in 2022, and Michel Doukeris, the CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), and Peter Kraemer, the company’s Chief Supply Officer, gazed across the vast desert surrounding Zacatecas, Mexico. They were visiting their Grupo Modelo Brewery,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Transformation; Decisions; Environmental Sustainability; Leading Change; Growth Management; Business Model; Food and Beverage Industry; Mexico

2010
Book

Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads

By: Srikant M. Datar, David A. Garvin and Patrick Cullen

"Business Schools Face Test of Faith." "Is It Time to Retrain B-Schools?" As these headlines make clear, business education is at a major crossroads. For decades, MBA graduates from top-tier schools set the standard for cutting-edge business knowledge and skills. Now... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges

09 Jan 2020
Book

Rethinking Business Strategy in the Age of AI

fundamental in fact, Iansiti and Lakhani argue that it’s crucial for firms to reinvent themselves around these new technologies and capabilities to not only grow, but compete and survive. ”It’s not disruption. Rather, it’s a completely... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

May 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Case

Justice-as-a-Service at RightNow

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Amir Reza Rezvani

The case examines the focus of an early stage company, and how an unexpected external incidence can threaten or void the business model. It encompasses issues such as minimal viable product, defining and pivoting a business model, organizational requirements for a... View Details

Keywords: Legacy Business; Teams; Startup; Business Models; Pivot; Entrepreneurship; Law; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Legal Services Industry; Germany

September 2020
Case

Disrupting Justice at RightNow: Persevere, Pivot or Perish

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Amir Reza Rezvani

The case examines the focus of an early stage company, and how an unexpected external incidence can threaten or void the business model. It encompasses issues such as defining and pivoting a business model, organizational requirements for a pivot, investor relations,... View Details

Keywords: Legal Aspects Of Business; Startup; Teams; Pivot; Financing; Entrepreneurship; Law; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Financing and Loans; Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Legal Services Industry; Germany

2023
Book

Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader's Guide to Solving Hard Problems

By: Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss

Speed has gotten a bad name in business, much of it deserved. When Facebook made "Move fast and break things" an informal company motto, it fueled a widely held belief that we can either make progress or take care of people, one or the other. That a certain amount of... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Performance Improvement; Problems and Challenges; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture

09 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 9, 2018

research to understand when and for whom cash and non-cash rewards increase intrinsic motivation, organizational commitment, and optimal functioning in order to improve the design and implementation of existing reward programs.... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

2020
Book

Competing in the Age of AI: Strategy and Leadership When Algorithms and Networks Run the World

By: Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani

In industry after industry, data, analytics, and AI-driven processes are transforming the nature of work. While we often still treat AI as the domain of a specific skill, business function, or sector, we have entered a new era in which AI is challenging the very... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Technological Innovation; Change; Competition; Strategy; Leadership; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; AI and Machine Learning

May 1999 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Marshall Industries

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Confounding predictions that the Internet would "disintermediate" commerce, making "middle man" companies all but obsolete, Marshall Industries, a leading electronics distributor, used the Internet and digital technologies to reinvent itself. Marshall continued to sell... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain; Emerging Markets; Customer Focus and Relationships; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry