Publications

2011
Working Paper

Organizations in the Shadow of Communities

By: Siobhan O'Mahony and Karim R. Lakhani

The concept of a community form is drawn upon in many subfields of organizational theory. Although there is not much convergence on a level of analysis, there is convergence on a mode of action that is increasingly relevant to a knowledge-based economy marked by porous... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Sharing; Organizational Culture; Civil Society or Community; Boundaries; Information Technology; Theory; Value Creation

Read Now

13 Mar 2007
First Look

First Look: March 13, 2007

Working PapersInitiating Divergent Organizational Change: The Enabling Role of Actors' Social Position Author:Julie Battilana Abstract This study addresses the paradox of embedded human agency, or the contradiction between actors' agency and institutional... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Research Summary

International business and political risk in West Africa

This project, based on confidential corporate archives, explores the response of foreign companies to political decolonization and the threat of expropriation in Ghana and Nigeria. Foreign companies in Ghana and Nigeria, especially those from Britain, had a... View Details

14 Jun 2011
First Look

First Look: June 14

management, innovation loses out. At best, leaders of core business units dismiss innovation initiatives as irrelevancies. At worst, they see the new businesses as threats to the firm's core identity and values. Many CEOs take a backseat... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Program

Driving Digital Strategy

Summary Technology, like a relentless force of nature, is reshaping industries at an unprecedented pace. It poses a threat to those who resist and fail to adapt. But it also presents unparalleled opportunities to those audacious enough to... View Details

Web

Lifelong Learning - Alumni

2024 HBS Alumni Bulletin Leading Businesses in a Web3 World How will the next generation of the internet empower users, disrupt industries, and enable ownership of digital assets? 377 01 Mar 2024 HBS Alumni Bulletin On the Radar An early warning system for the next... View Details

January–February 2015
Article

Heroic Villains: Are Foreign Investors Problems or Solutions in the Ebola Crisis?

By: Debora L. Spar

For months, the news out of West Africa has been unrelentingly grim. As of early December, the devastating Ebola epidemic had infected a reported 17,942 people and killed 6,388, according to the World Health Organization (WHO); the actual toll, which would also account... View Details

Keywords: Ebola; Multinational Corporation; Epidemics; Foreign Investment; Extractive Industries; Multinational Firms and Management; Health Pandemics; Developing Countries and Economies; Government and Politics; Africa

Find at Harvard

May 2004 (Revised March 2005)
Case

Music Downloads

By: David B. Yoffie and Deborah Freier

Examines the competition between competing music formats. In the '90s, the MP3 format challenged the traditional means of music distribution by allowing for storage of near CD-quality recordings at 1/10th of their previous size. The threat to traditional distribution... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Music Entertainment; Legal Liability; Distribution; Competition; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Information Infrastructure; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Music Industry

Find at Harvard

Web

Placement - Doctoral

Battilana (Chair), Ya-Wen Lei , Christopher Marquis , and Michael W. Toffel Leroy Gonsalves Organizational Behavior, 2020 Placement: Boston University, Questrom School of Business Dissertation: Contentious Practices and Reputational View Details

Web

Business & Environment

increasingly scarce and the threat of climate change ever more urgent. How organizations can connect with students Alumni The Business & Environment Initiative connects alumni with students, faculty, and each other for learning, careers,... View Details

September 2017 (Revised July 2018)
Case

CyberArk: Protecting the Keys to the IT Kingdom

By: Raffaella Sadun, David Yoffie and Margot Eiran

CyberArk was the recognized leader in the Privileged Account Management (PAM) space, a cybersecurity subsegment it had essentially created to secure organizations’ IT systems and sensitive data. Over 17 years, the Israeli company had grown to a market capitalization of... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Competitive Advantage; Information Technology; Cybersecurity; Information Technology Industry; Israel; United States

September 2007 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Peter Welz: When a Marquee Prospect Plays Hardball (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Ellen Knebel

Describes the hardball tactics facing Peter Welz, who seeks to negotiate a make-or-break contract with a vastly larger potential client. Welz's counterpart team is led by Preston Spitzer, a notoriously tough player who fully understands his side's massive advantages in... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Behavior; Conflict and Resolution; Competitive Advantage

2016
Article

The Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet as a Financial-Stability Tool

By: Robin Greenwood, Samuel Gregory Hanson and Jeremy C. Stein

We argue that the Federal Reserve should use its balance sheet to help reduce a key threat to financial stability: the tendency for private-sector financial intermediaries to engage in excessive amounts of maturity transformation—i.e., to finance risky assets using... View Details

Keywords: Central Banking; Policy; Risk Management; Public Administration Industry; United States

Read Now

October 2013
Article

Ferguson's Formula

By: Anita Elberse and Sir Alex Ferguson

When Alex Ferguson took over as manager of the English football team Manchester United, the club was in dire straits: It hadn't won a league title in nearly 20 years and faced a very real threat of being relegated to a lower division. In 26 seasons under Ferguson,... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business or Company Management; Management Style; Success; Sports; Sports Industry; England

Find at Harvard

September 2011 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Brightcove, Inc. in 2007

By: Andrei Hagiu and David B. Yoffie

Brightcove, a technology and services provider to content owners in the Internet television field, aimed to become a media distribution company in its own right. On October 30, 2006, it relaunched its Website—and, in effect, its business. With its new, consumer-facing... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Diversification; Digital Platforms; Business Strategy; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Distribution; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

October 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Background Note

Plavix: Drugs in the Age of Personalized Medicine

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Mara G. Aspinall and Rachel Gordon

PIavix, one of the world's best selling drugs in 2010, appears to have a limited future. Its patent was due to expire soon, and recently new data had been discovered that indicated that a small subset of the population would be at risk for stroke, heart attack, or even... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Product Positioning; Business and Government Relations; Genetics; Competitive Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry