Publications

17 Dec 2001
Research & Ideas

Risks and Rewards of the Intrapreneur

levels of the company, particularly from the CEO. Evaluate the company's other start-up efforts and how it handled projects that failed in some regard, said Jim Barron, vice president of Innosight L.L.C., a consulting firm specializing in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

06 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

Renewable Energy: Winds at Our Back?

When American energy entrepreneur Jim Gordon envisioned the first offshore wind farm lining the horizon a few miles off the coast of the eastern United States, he perhaps did not factor in blowback from almost every angle. Gordon's nearly 10-year battle to gain... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

20 May 2016
Op-Ed

World Health Organization Lacks Leadership to Combat Pandemics

public advisories, and it is regarded as more of a policeman than a partner by national governments. Its many dedicated scientists produce useful reports on the global state of public health, but the WHO's bureaucracy impedes the decisive... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Health

07 Feb 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Creating the Founders’ Dilemmas Course

to deal with the big risks introduced by that decision; and Jim Triandiflou, founder and CEO of Ockham Technologies, who worries about losing control of the company as he and his cofounder consider various... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

19 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

How Mercadona Fixes Retail’s ’Last 10 Yards’ Problem

impact on profits." Adopting Mercadona's approach also requires a leader with a strong backbone. Ton notes that Jim Sinegal, CEO of Costco, another retailer with good labor practices, had been criticized View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Food & Beverage

March 2007 (Revised March 2012)
Case

Edward Jones in 2006: Confronting Success

By: David J. Collis and Troy Smith

When Jim Weddle took over as Managing Partner of Edward Jones in January 2006, the brokerage firm was at a critical juncture. The firm's distinctive strategy had enabled it to grow from its roots in small-town America to become the 4th largest broker in the U.S. Weddle... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Performance; Competitive Advantage; Financial Services Industry; United States

24 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

How Kayak Users Built a New Industry

from these standards. By the same token, the dominant design of rodeo kayaks (as of about 2000) involves a short, center-buoyant, planing hull made of molded plastic. Bill Abernathy of HBS and Jim Utterback... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation

November 2008 (Revised January 2010)
Case

Stone Finch, Inc.: Young Division, Old Division

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Elizabeth Collins

CEO Jim Billings wants to attract energetic, entrepreneurial talent to Stone Finch, Inc., which comprises an older division that fabricates products like piping and tanks for water and wastewater processing plants, and a much newer division that develops biochemical... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Human Resource Management; Motivation; Business Growth; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership; Business Subsidiaries; Innovation Strategy; Resource Allocation; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Retention; Operations; Recruitment; Integration; Business Growth and Maturation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Growth and Development Strategy; Manufacturing Industry

27 Sep 2004
Research & Ideas

How Leaders Build Winning Streaks

official responsibility for Continental Airlines' decision to keep flying during the power blackout in August 2003, but that decision was foreordained by the actions of all the other people who claimed leadership on the ground, and knew... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

12 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Solving COVID'S Mental Health Crisis

who need them, especially among vulnerable populations. Racial inequities, laid bare by the pandemic, and social unrest provoked by recent police killings have escalated tensions. In the course of writing... View Details

Keywords: by Howard Stevenson and Shirley Spence; Health

September 2008 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Ocean Tomo: Building a Market for Intellectual Property

By: Peter A. Coles, Andrei Hagiu and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Ocean Tomo's management team sought to turn the company into the leading intermediary for intellectual property. Despite its increasingly important role in the global marketplace, IP remained a notoriously illiquid asset—difficult to value, harder to trade, and often... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Intellectual Property; Resource Allocation; Auctions; Market Design; Service Operations

June 2016 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Boys & Girls Clubs of America: Driving Impact

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Lisa C. Cox

With $1.8 billion in 2015 revenues, Boys & Girls Club of America had evolved over its 155-year-old history to occupy the lead position in the Youth Development space in the United States. Its new CEO Jim Clark had initiated yet another change process in 2015 to ensure... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Strategy; Planning Process; Transformative Impact; Nonprofit Organizations; Strategic Planning; Change Management; Growth Management

January 2005 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Stonewall Kitchen

By: Myra M. Hart, Victoria Winston, Kristin Lieb, Kenna Wyllie Baudin, Alison Bell and Leslie Simmons

Jonathan King and Jim Stott, the founders of Stonewall Kitchen, started out in 1992 with a simple business selling jams and jellies at local farmers' markets. By 2004, they had grown the company into a $25 million organization with 250 employees. They expanded their... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Food; Expansion; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

21 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

The Pandemic Conversations That Leaders Need to Have Now

Their Organizations, by Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind, explores how companies’ outreach strategies evolved from top-down, command-centric communiques to something more informal, immediate, and personal—from a C-suite monologue to a... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Robin Abrahams, and Katherine Connolly Baden

April 2011 (Revised May 2012)
Case

City Year: The Journey

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and James Weber

Throughout its first two decades, City Year, a non-profit organization, was dedicated to recruiting young adults to give a year of public service. It had passed through several growth phases but by 2010 a new challenge, and opportunity, had arisen when City Year and... View Details

Keywords: Education; Service Operations; Nonprofit Organizations; Growth and Development Strategy; Performance Efficiency; Resource Allocation

October 2016 (Revised February 2019)
Case

PTC: A Transformation to IoT

By: Rajiv Lal and Sarah McAra

In the 2010s, PTC, a leading provider of software for discrete manufacturers, faced maturing markets and changing customer needs as smart, connected products took hold—the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT). PTC saw a first mover advantage in entering the IoT space... View Details

Keywords: Internet Of Things; IoT; Smart; Connected Products; Business Organization; Transformation; Customer Relationship Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Marketing; Product Development; Service Operations; Strategy; Competition; Technology Industry