Publications

Educators

20 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

Maybe Uber isn't God's Gift to Mankind

own drivers). Uber routinely frustrates regulators as much as it pleases consumers. It has fielded cease and desist orders from governments all over the world, often continuing operation even when ordered to stop. Yet venture capitalists... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Transportation; Insurance

October 2005 (Revised October 2008)
Case

Virginia Mason Medical Center

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Erika Ferlins

In 2000, Dr. Gary Kaplan became CEO of the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. The hospital was facing significant challenges: It was losing money for the first time in its history, staff morale had plummeted, and area hospitals presented ardent... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Production; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Quality; Competition; Seattle

Educators

Article

How to Launch Your Digital Platform: A Playbook for Strategists

By: Benjamin Edelman

The ubiquity of Internet access has caused a sharp rise in the number of businesses offering platforms that connect users for communication or commerce. Entrepreneurs are particularly drawn to these platforms because they create significant value and have modest... View Details

Keywords: Platforms; Launch; Mobilization Strategy; Two-Sided Platforms; Network Effects; Adoption; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology Industry; Advertising Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Transportation Industry; Financial Services Industry

Program

Leading Professional Service Firms

clients and motivate staff, build a strong vision and implement an effective strategy, and employ the fiscal discipline to maintain a sound bottom line and maximize enterprise value. Details Design and implement View Details

Keywords: Professional Services; Professional Services

06 Jul 2015
Research & Ideas

Money and Quotas Motivate the Sales Force Best

bonuses were equal in amount—500 rupees (about $7.80) per week, or roughly 27 percent of normal pay. Positioning a Sales Bonus The researchers set up an experiment to test the effectiveness of incentive pay based on how the extra... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Retail

September 2007
Case

Collaborating to Improve

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Ingrid M. Nembhard

Madison Memorial Hospital is deciding between a variety of quality improvement strategies. Highlights quality improvement collaborative—organized programs popularized by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in which teams from multiple institutions work together to... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Performance Improvement; Quality; Groups and Teams; Cooperation; Integration; Health Industry

Educators

2020
Working Paper

Social Influence in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Community Establishments’ Closure Decisions Follow Those of Nearby Chain Establishments

By: Abhishek Nagaraj, Mathijs de Vaan, Saqib Mumtaz and Sameer Srivastava

As conveners that bring various stakeholders into the same physical space, firms can powerfully influence the course of pandemics such as COVID-19. Even when operating under government orders and health guidelines, firms have considerable discretion to keep their... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Peer Influence; Closure Decisions; Health Pandemics; Business Ventures; Decisions; Business and Community Relations

24 Jan 2012
Working Paper Summaries

What Do Development Banks Do? Evidence from Brazil, 2002-2009

Keywords: by Sergio G. Lazzarini, Aldo Musacchio, Rodrigo Bandeira-de-Mello & Rosilene Marcon; Banking

Research Summary

Level Playing Fields in International Financial Regulation

Joint work with Alan Morrison, Saïd Business School, Oxford.

We study a model of featuring two economies with adverse selection of and moral hazard by bankers. We demonstrate... View Details

2009
Other Paper

Trade Policy and Firm Boundaries

By: Laura Alfaro, Paola Conconi, Andrew F. Newman and Harald Fadinger

We examine how trade policy affects firms' organizational choices. We embed a model of firms' vertical integration decisions into a standard perfectly-competitive international trade framework. In the model, integration decisions are driven by a trade-off... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Policy; Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Vertical Integration; Boundaries

13 Oct 2015
First Look

October 13, 2015

James Heppelmann looked at how this shift is changing the structure of industries and forcing firms to rethink their strategies. In this companion article, the authors look at the effects inside firms, examining the impact that smart,... View Details

2017
Case

Uncommon Schools (A): A Network of Networks

By: John J-H Kim and Sarah McAra

In 2013, Brett Peiser, CEO of the charter school management organization (CMO) Uncommon Schools, is reassessing the nonprofit’s strategy. For nearly 10 years, Uncommon had fulfilled its mission to bring high-quality education to students in low-income, urban areas... View Details

Keywords: Charter Schools; Nonprofit Organizations; Teaching; Talent Management; Innovation; Organization Structure; Education; Early Childhood Education; Middle School Education; Organizational Structure; Performance Consistency; Strategy; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Education Industry

September 2016 (Revised January 2018)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 4: Organizing for Performance

By: Robert Simons

This module reading explores the implications of different business models on organization design. After discussing the distinction between units focused on work processes and those devoted to markets, the analysis provides insight as to when to organize businesses by... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Customer Focused Organization; Specialization; Span Of Control; Span Of Accountability; Span Of Attention; Strategy; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure

April 2013
Article

Overcoming Resistance to Organizational Change: Strong Ties and Affective Cooptation

By: Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro

We propose a relational theory of how change agents in organizations use the strength of ties in their network to overcome resistance to change. We argue that strong ties to potentially influential organization members who are ambivalent about a change (fence-sitters)... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Social and Collaborative Networks; Power and Influence; Health Industry; United Kingdom