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- February 2008 (Revised August 2011)
- Case
Olympia Machine Company, Inc.
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Benson P. Shapiro
The management team of an industrial equipment supplier is debating the company's method of compensating salespeople. Different executives have offered different alternatives to the current method of straight salary plus expenses. Each option has different implications... View Details
- January 2008 (Revised March 2011)
- Case
Henry J. Kaiser and the Art of the Possible
By: Anthony J. Mayo, Mark Benson and David Chen
From his humble beginnings as a local salesman in New York, Henry J. Kaiser rose to become one of the leading industrialists of 20th century America. Though he had no technical engineering training, Kaiser mastered the management and execution of plans for several... View Details
Keywords: History; Mission and Purpose; Transition; Management Practices and Processes; Construction; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Business History; Business Growth and Maturation; Civil Society or Community; Business Strategy; Planning; Construction Industry; Shipping Industry; United States
- 2008
- Article
Diversification of Chinese Companies: An International Comparison
By: Joseph P.H. Fan, Jun Huang, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Troy D. Smith and Mengxin Zhao
The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic comparison of the level of business diversification in China and eight other large economies for the 2001-2005 period. The reasons why publicly listed Chinese firms are more diversified than companies elsewhere are... View Details
- January 2008
- Article
Putting Leadership Back into Strategy
In recent decades an infusion of economics has lent the study of strategy much needed theory and empirical evidence. Strategy consultants, armed with frameworks and techniques, have stepped forward to help managers analyze their industries and position their companies... View Details
- Guest Column
What Is the Purpose of Business?
By: Rakesh Khurana and Herbert Gintis
Keywords: Business Ventures
- October 2007
- Case
The AtekPC Project Management Office
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Mark Keil and John Hupp
Presents one company's efforts to implement a project management organization, or PMO, and the challenges they faced in doing so. Issues brought out in the case include defining the PMO's purpose and mission, the structure and governance of the PMO, and how to... View Details
- September 2007
- Teaching Note
Opportunity International: Measurement and Mission (TN)
By: Herman B. Leonard, Srikant M. Datar, Marc J. Epstein and Melissa Tritter
- 2007
- Working Paper
Digital Interactivity: Unanticipated Consequences for Markets, Marketing, and Consumers
By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
The digital interactive transformation in marketing is not unfolding, as many thought it would, on the model of direct marketing. That model anticipated that digital media using rich profiling data would intrude marketing messaging more deeply and more precisely into... View Details
- 2007
- Chapter
The Rationales and Performance of Public Venturing: Survey Evidence from Belgium and Finland
By: Ant Bozkaya and William R. Kerr
- April 2007 (Revised June 2008)
- Background Note
USG
By: Elie Ofek and Kerry Herman
Serves as a background note for purposes of class discussion around next-generation innovation at USG. Describes the company, its products, and competitors. Of relevance is the fact that it recently filed for Chapter 11 due to litigation over asbestos-related claims.... View Details
- March 2007 (Revised April 2007)
- Case
The University of Utah and the Computer Graphics Revolution
By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington
Computer science departments were new to universities in the 1960s, and the one created at the University of Utah by David Evans and Ivan Sutherland had a research mission to invent the field of computer graphics. Details the research process that led to many of the... View Details
- March 2007 (Revised August 2009)
- Case
Aurolab: Bringing First-World Technology to the Third-World Blind
Aurolab is the in-house producer of IOLs (required in cataract surgery) for the Aravind Eye Care System, a group of charity hospitals with the largest volume of eye surgery in the world. Aurolab's manufacturing capability and capacity had long exceeded the requirements... View Details
- January 2007
- Article
Introducing the First Management Control Systems: Evidence from the Retail Sector
By: Tatiana Sandino
Focusing on a sample of US retailers, I study the management control systems (MCS) that firms introduce when they first invest in controls, and identify four categories of initial MCS, which are defined in terms of the purposes these MCS fulfill. The first category,... View Details
- 15 Nov 2006
- Keynote Speech
Profit in Purpose: Can Corporations Make the Connection?" Panelist. "Leading in the Age of Ambiguity
By: Lynn Paine
- September 2006 (Revised October 2007)
- Case
Shinsei Bank: Developing an Integrated Firm
By: Thomas J. DeLong and Masako Egawa
Tom Pedersen, newly appointed chief learning officer (CLO) of Shinsei Bank in Japan, pondered how he could facilitate development of an integrated culture and transformation of the organization. Shinsei Bank had not developed longstanding tradition or a strong... View Details
- June 2006 (Revised January 2007)
- Case
Dana Hall: Funding a Mission (A)
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Herman B. Leonard and Melissa Tritter
Dana Hall is a private all-girls school in New England facing a crisis in its mission. As social norms shift away from single-sex education, the school's enrollment is falling and deficits are becoming the norm. At the same time, the modern vision for girls' education... View Details
- 2006
- Working Paper
On the Origin of Shared Beliefs (and Corporate Culture)
This paper shows why members of an organization often share similar beliefs. I argue that there are two mechanisms. First, when performance depends on making correct decisions, people prefer to work with others who share their beliefs and assumptions, since such... View Details
- December 2005 (Revised January 2007)
- Case
Ben & Jerry's: Preserving Mission & Brand within Unilever
By: James E. Austin and James Quinn
In the months after Ben & Jerry's was acquired by Unilever, Ben & Jerry's head social mission faces challenges and opportunities unique in the company's history, including: how to manage employee morale; whether to include synthetic ingredients to meet consumer... View Details
Keywords: Brands and Branding; Problems and Challenges; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Management Teams; Governing and Advisory Boards; Value Creation; Corporate Governance; Employee Relationship Management; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Retail Industry; United States
- October 2005 (Revised September 2006)
- Case
Sapient Corporation (Abridged)
By: Rakesh Khurana and Joel Podolny
Describes the start-up, growth, organizational design, and operations over the first 10 years of a professional services firm. Focuses on the creative use of organizational purpose and values as an integral part of strategy and alignment of organizational activities. View Details