Publications

December 2003 (Revised September 2004)
Case

Managing Segway's Early Development

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and David Kiron

Describes the early development of the Segway Human Transporter and focuses on the organizational issues that arise between the parent company and the new company that is being spun out to produce and market the Segway. Key issues are the distribution of bonuses and... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Business Startups; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Resource Allocation; Organizational Design; Technology Adoption

October 2001 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Proteome Systems Limited

A Sydney-based biotechnology company is attempting to enter the fast-growing proteomics area. This case highlights choices in business design and changes in these over time. Also addresses issues in geographic location. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Geographic Location; Market Entry and Exit; Biotechnology Industry; Sydney

April 2002
Teaching Note

Managing Technology Ventures - Module Teaching Note (TN)

By: Alan D. MacCormack

Describes the conceptual foundations for a module on venture design, which forms part of an MBA course called Managing Technology Ventures. The objective of the course is to teach students how to think critically about the design of a technology venture, using cases... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Business or Company Management; Organizational Design; Risk and Uncertainty; Opportunities; Technology

April 1993 (Revised May 1994)
Case

General Dynamics and Computer Sciences Corporation: Outsourcing the IS Function (A)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Katherine Seger

Designed to generate discussion on the issues of outsourcing from the perspective of a firm thinking about turning over its IS activities to a third-party vendor. View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Management Style; Information Technology; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Business Strategy; Economic Systems; Business or Company Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Processes; Employment; Emerging Markets; Activity Based Costing and Management; Information Technology Industry; Consulting Industry

November 1983 (Revised October 1989)
Case

Procter & Gamble Europe: Vizir Launch

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Describes P&G's expansion in Europe, including the development of a strong country subsidiary management, responsive to local market differences. The launch of a new product presents strategic and organizational challenges as P&G considers making this their first... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Trade; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Launch; Emerging Markets; Organizational Design; Problems and Challenges; Expansion; Europe

18 Oct 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Racial Diversity Initiatives in Professional Service Firms: What Factors Differentiate Successful from Unsuccessful Initiatives?

Keywords: by Modupe Akinola & David A. Thomas; Service

2011
Article

How Do Networks Matter? The Performance Effects of Interorganizational Networks

By: Ranjay Gulati, D. Lavie and Ravi Madhavin

A growing body of research suggests that an organization's ties to other organizations furnish resources that bestow various benefits. Scholars have proposed different perspectives on how such networks of ties shape organizational behavior and performance outcomes, but... View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Organizational Design; Performance; Performance Effectiveness; Networks; Partners and Partnerships; Research; Perspective; Value

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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

Thomas R. Eisenmann is the Howard H. Stevenson Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School; Peter O. Crisp Faculty Chair, Harvard Innovation Labs; and Unit Head of the HBS Entrepreneurial... View Details

April 2006
Background Note

Managing Innovation in an Uncertain World: Module 1: Innovation and Uncertainty

By: Alan D. MacCormack

Describes the first module of a Harvard Business School 30-session elective course called Managing Innovation in an Uncertain World. The course helps students understand the challenges that uncertainty implies for innovation and how to overcome these challenges. The... View Details

Keywords: Design; Curriculum and Courses; Innovation and Management; Projects; Opportunities; Perspective

September 1999
Case

Trisha Wilson of Wilson & Associates

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Sarah S. Khetani

Texan entrepreneur Trisha Wilson has founded an interior design firm and watched it grow into one of the most successful firms in the hospitality design services industry. After 20 years of building a company that is truly a reflection of her own personality, Wilson... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Employees; Innovation and Management; Management; Business or Company Management; Management Succession; Organizational Culture; Strategy; Service Industry; Texas

01 Mar 2011
Working Paper Summaries

How Foundations Think: The Ford Foundation as a Dominating Institution in the Field of American Business Schools

Keywords: by Rakesh Khurana, Kenneth Kimura & Marion Fourcad; Education

2007
Casebook

Managing School Districts for High Performance: Cases in Public Education Leadership

By: Stacey Childress, Richard F. Elmore, Allen S. Grossman and Susan Moore Johnson

Managing School Districts for High Performance brings together more than twenty case studies and other readings that offer a powerful and transformative approach to advancing and sustaining the work of school improvement. At the center of this work is the... View Details

Keywords: Management; Strategy; Leadership; Public Sector; Organizational Design; Education; Performance Improvement

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Read Now

January 2023 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Adams + Beasley Associates

By: Dennis Campbell and Iuliana Mogosanu

This case illustrates how a strong culture, founder-led SME designed and used a unique performance metric—the job security index—to manage through periods of economic uncertainty. The case centers specifically on how the job security index was used in an interactive... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Measurement and Metrics; Employee Ownership; Risk and Uncertainty; Small Business; Leadership; Organizational Culture

28 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 28

Publications 2006 Journal of Organization Design The Strategic Fitness Process: A Collaborative Action Research Method for Developing Organizational Prototypes and Dynamic Capabilities By: Beer, Michael... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 1988 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Technology Transfer at a Defense Contractor

By: Linda A. Hill

At a time of great changes in the corporate environment, Larry Yoshino, a design lab manager at Parsons Controls Corp., faces a delay in a costly defense project due to the inability of one of his subordinates to gain the cooperation of engineers at Parsons'... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Conflict Management; Managerial Roles; Management Teams; Employees; Competitive Strategy; Projects

Ashish Nanda is Senior Lecturer and C. Roland Christensen Distinguished Management Educator at Harvard Business School. From 2018 to 2021, he was course head for the MBA Required Curriculum course in Strategy. Beginning in 2022, he is teaching an MBA Elective... View Details

2008
Article

Ambidexterity as a Dynamic Capability: Resolving the Innovator's Dilemma

By: Charles O'Reilly and Michael Tushman

How do organizations survive in the face of change? Underlying this question is a rich debate about whether organizations can adapt—and if so, how. One perspective, organizational ecology, presents evidence suggesting that most organizations are largely inert and... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Competency and Skills; Innovation and Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Performance Efficiency; Competitive Advantage