Publications

August 2015 (Revised May 2016)
Case

Riot Games: Can Culture Survive Growth?

By: Boris Groysberg and Michael Norris

In 2015, Riot Games, the maker of the top PC game League of Legends, considers its growth strategy as it moves into a new campus in Los Angeles. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Culture; Organizational Behavior; Video Games; Culture; Strategy; United States

August 2015 (Revised February 2017)
Background Note

Performance feedback is crucial to a career in the information-rich global economy. However, feedback is psychologically stressful to both give, and hear. This teaching note explains why feedback is both valuable and difficult, and goes on to summarize research on... View Details

Keywords: Feedback; Performance Evaluation; Organizational Culture

July 2015 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Erin L. Henry, Andreas Georgoulias and Natalie Bartlett

Building Strong Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank details the development of the bank's new Office of Outreach Partnerships to sustain a culture of innovation through maintaining and generating partnerships in order to fulfill the bank's greater... View Details

July 2015
Article

Executives' 'Off-the-Job' Behaviors and Financial Reporting Risk

By: Robert Davidson, Aiyesha Dey and Abbie Smith

We examine how executives' behavior outside the workplace, as measured by their ownership of luxury goods (low “frugality”) and prior legal infractions, is related to financial reporting risk. We predict and find that chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Behavior; Personal Characteristics; Crime and Corruption; Governance Compliance; Financial Reporting; Organizational Culture

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2015
Chapter

Institutional Innovation: Novel, Useful, and Legitimate

By: Ryan Raffaelli and Mary Ann Glynn

This chapter advances the theoretical construct of institutional innovation, which we define as novel, useful and legitimate change that disrupts, to varying degrees, the cognitive, normative, or regulative mainstays of an organizational field. Institutional... View Details

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March 2015
Teaching Note

McKinsey & Co.—Protecting its Reputation (A) and (B)

By: Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague

McKinsey & Co—Protecting its Reputation (A&B) is a field case written from the perspective of the Firm's Managing Director Dominic Barton. The two cases describe the actions McKinsey & Co took to protect the firm's reputation after the Rajat Gupta matter.
The... View Details

Keywords: Consulting Firms; Leadership & Corporate Accountability; Leadership And Change Management; Leadership And Managing People; Leading A Global Business; Corporate Culture; Professional Service Firms; Professional Service Firm; Leadership; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Consulting Industry; United States

March 2015
Case

Clifford Chance: Women at Work

By: Boris Groysberg, Katherine Connolly and Stephanie Marton

It was October 2013, and global law firm Clifford Chance was coming under fire for the second time in less than a year for reputedly failing to provide a supportive work environment for its female associates. A memo entitled "Speaking Effectively" was just issued to... View Details

Keywords: Women; Law; Fairness; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Human Capital; Organizational Culture; Performance Expectations; Work-Life Balance; Public Opinion; Problems and Challenges; Legal Services Industry; United States

March 2015
Supplement

McKinsey & Co. - Protecting its Reputation (A) and (B)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Emily McTague

The presentation supplement is designed to be used in conjunction with the case "McKinsey & Co. - Protecting its Reputation (A) and (B)," HBS No. 414-021 and 414-022. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability; Leadership; Leadership & Corporate Accountability; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Organizational Culture; Construction Industry; North America

March 2015 (Revised May 2018)
Case

JPMorgan Chase: Tapping an Overlooked Talent Pool

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly

By the spring of 2014, the pilot had come to an end for JPMorgan Chase's ReEntry Program, a program designed for women coming back to the workforce after a period of time away. Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO of Asset Management, and her team had to evaluate whether or not... View Details

Keywords: Women; Training; Leadership; Motherhood; Talent and Talent Management; Experience and Expertise; Diversity; Gender; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Human Capital; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Programs; Financial Services Industry; United States

March 2015
Supplement

Sanford C. Bernstein CEO Robert van Brugge

By: Linda A. Hill and Allison J. Wigen

Sanford C. Bernstein CEO (and former Global Director of Research) Robert van Brugge answers questions about organizational culture, change management, and collaboration, in this video supplement to the HBS case series "Global Expansion at Sanford C. Bernstein." Sanford... View Details

Keywords: Organization Behavior; Organizational Culture; Financial Services Industry

February 2015 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Delhaize Group: Developing Leaders

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

Delhaize Group, the Belgian-based global food retailer, was focused on competing in the food retailing industry by developing leading positions in key markets via localized retailing strategies. Delhaize was committed to offering its customers superior value while... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Organizational Alignment; Talent Management; Leadership Development; Globalized Firms and Management; Human Capital; Talent and Talent Management; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Culture; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Belgium

February 2015 (Revised April 2015)
Case

The Board of Directors at Market Basket

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Emily McTague

The firing of Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas by his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas, and directors affiliated with him set off employee protests throughout the grocery store chain. Industry specialists estimated that Market Basket was losing close to ten million... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Shareholder Votes; Board Of Directors; Board Dynamics; Board Decisions; Boards; Grocery; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Business and Shareholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Food and Beverage Industry; New England

February 2015
Case

Transforming Verizon 2015: Going Above the Network

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Daniel Fox

In 2015, the Chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications reflects on his four years leading the company and considers strategic repositioning for the future. Meanwhile, a rising leader within the organization, Marni Walden, leads change with a new, company-wide product... View Details

February 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Case

CrossFit (A)

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Ali Huberlie and Christopher Payton

The case provides a sense of motivations of venture capital firms, the pivotal role that founders play, and explores the limits of founder-driven growth.
CrossFit (CF) describes the approach taken by its founder Greg Glassman in setting up one of the most... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Venture Capital; Strategy; Organizational Culture; Entrepreneurship; Franchise Ownership; Innovation and Invention; United States; North America

February 2015
Case

BlackRock: Diversity as a Driver for Success

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly

In July 2014, the Global Executive Committee (GEC) for BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, held a two-day offsite to discuss the state of talent within the firm. A year prior, in 2013, Chairman and CEO Laurence (Larry) Fink had asked Global Head of HR Jeff... View Details

Keywords: Women And Leadership; Diversity; General Management; Leadership; Change Management; Human Capital; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Financial Services Industry; United States

2015
Book

Leading Sustainable Change: An Organizational Perspective

By: Rebecca Henderson, Ranjay Gulati and Michael Tushman

The business case for acting sustainably is becoming increasingly compelling—reducing our global footprint to sustainable levels is the defining issue of our times, and it is one that can only be addressed with the active participation of the private sector. However,... View Details

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2015
Chapter

Staying the Same While Changing: Organizational Identity in the Face of Environmental Challenges

By: Mary Ann Glynn, Christi Lockwood and Ryan Raffaelli

We explore the role of organizational identity in the adoption of new sustainability practices, focusing on how identity functions as a driver of (or sometimes a drag on) adoption. Drawing on illustrations from the U.S. hotel industry, we examine how sustainability... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Environmental Sustainability; Adoption; Accommodations Industry; United States

December 2014 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Iz-Lynn Chan at Far East Organization (Abridged)

By: Linda A. Hill, Anthony J. Mayo and Dana M. Teppert

This case describes how to champion and implement organizational change from the middle by recounting the experiences of Iz-Lynn Chan at Far East Organization. View Details

December 2014 (Revised January 2018)
Background Note

Troubled Marriages

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Daniel Fox

Compilation of articles looking at merger integration strategies: "business marriages." Problems of culture, management style, and business goals are revealed. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Goals and Objectives; Management Style; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges