Publications

April 2002
Case

Contingent Workforce Planning at Motorola, Inc.

Details the rationale for and design of a unique organizational response by Motorola to the challenges of contingent staffing at its semiconductor facility in Austin, Texas. The new outsourcing strategy is built on principles of supply chain management and business... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Semiconductor Industry; Texas

Ranjay Gulati is the Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration and the former Unit Head of the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. His pathbreaking research, which focuses on unlocking organizational and unleashing... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; computer; financial services; industrial goods; information technology industry; pharmaceuticals; professional services; retailing

October 1993
Case

Wertheim Schroder/Schroders

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Kalman D. Applbaum, Lisa Gabriel and Pamela A. Yatsko

In 1986, Wertheim & Co. of New York entered into a joint venture with Schroders plc of London to form the investment bank Wertheim Schroder. By 1993, there were numerous successes as the partners pursued joint opportunities, but there were also areas in which... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Investment Banking; Partners and Partnerships; Alliances; Horizontal Integration; Outcome or Result; Balanced Scorecard; New York (city, NY); London

Article

Beyond Magic Bullets: True Innovation in Health Care

By: Vaibhav A. Narayan, Marco Mohwinckel, Gary Pisano, Michael Yang and Husseini Manji

The molecular medicine revolution—based on advances in fields such as genomics and network modeling in the decade since the human genome sequence was completed—has changed the way we think about, study, and approach the development of novel therapies. However, these... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Business Model; Organizational Structure; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Pharmaceutical Industry

October 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Restructuring the U.S. Steel Industry

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Focuses on the competitive decline of the integrated steel producers in the United States from 1970 to 2002. Issues include: Should the U.S. government impose tariffs to try to protect the industry? What should labor unions do, if anything, to protect jobs and wage... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Jobs and Positions; Labor Unions; Wages; Business and Government Relations; Integration; Steel Industry; United States

JOSEPH L. BOWER, Donald K. David Professor Emeritus, has been a leader in general management at Harvard Business School for 51 years. He also served on the faculty of the Harvard Kennedy School during its first decade. He has served in many administrative roles... View Details

Keywords: banking; chemical; electronics; financial services; home appliances; hotels ＆ motels; information technology industry; insurance industry; private equity (LBO funds); retailing

January–February 2017
Article

Africa's New Generation of Innovators

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Efosa Ojomo and Derek van Bever

With a young, urbanizing population, abundant natural resources, and a growing middle class, Africa seems to have all the ingredients necessary for huge growth. Nevertheless, a number of multinationals have recently left the continent, discouraged by widespread... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Economic Growth; Africa

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08 Feb 2000
Research & Ideas

Building Effective R&D Capabilities Abroad

World View: Global Strategies for the New Economy is a collection of Harvard Business Review articles edited by Jeffery E. Garten, Dean of the Yale School of Management. At the dawn of the new century, says Garten, "globalization has... View Details

Keywords: by Walter Kuemmerle

February 1998 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Teradyne, Inc.: Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III

Alexander d'Arbeloff, Teradyne's founder and CEO, is launching his company into the software and network testing business. He has acquired three external start-ups and is beginning to integrate them with the rest of the company. While Teradyne's core... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Success; Horizontal Integration

October 1999
Case

CIBC Corporate and Investment Banking (A): 1987-1992

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Raynor

In 1992, CIBC CEO Al Flood faced the short-term operational challenge of saving Wood Gundy, the troubled investment bank CIBC had purchased five years earlier. At the same time he had to tackle the long-term strategic challenge of integrating Gundy's investment banking... View Details

Keywords: Investment Banking; Banks and Banking; Corporate Strategy; Integration; Problems and Challenges; Mergers and Acquisitions; Banking Industry

01 Feb 2008
What Do You Think?

How Sustainable Is Sustainability in a For-Profit Organization?

sustainability is more achievable "if the concept is integrated into the business model at inception." And as Laura Howard put it, "This works best in small companies who can design their entire business and brand around a... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

Research Summary

Overview

By: Antonio Moreno

Professor Moreno’s research explores how digital technologies are reshaping operational processes, with a particular focus on retail and service industries. His early work examined omnichannel retail—the integration of online and offline channels to create seamless... View Details

Keywords: Omnichannel; Omni-channel; Omnichannel Retail; Omnichannel Retailing; Retail; Operations; Supply Chain Management; Digital Transformation; Digital Strategy; Retail Industry; Technology Industry; Service Industry; Europe; Spain; Latin America

March 2013 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Corporate Solutions at Jones Lang LaSalle (2001) (A)

By: Ranjay Gulati and Luciana Silvestri

This case describes the strategic and organizational challenges that Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) faced at the turn of the millennium. Until then, JLL sold piecemeal commercial real estate services to its corporate clients, who maintained relationships with a variety of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Strategy; Integration; Real Estate Industry; North America; South America; Central America

June 2014 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Molycorp: Financing the Production of Rare Earth Minerals (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

Molycorp, the western hemisphere's only producer of rare earth minerals, was in the middle of a $1 billion capital expenditure project in its effort to become a vertically integrated supplier of rare earth minerals, oxides, and metals. Yet it had just reported lower... View Details

2008
Chapter

The Evidence Does Not Speak for Itself: Expert Witnesses and the Organization of DNA-Typing Companies

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

During the past 15 years, new biotechnology companies have promoted DNA typing as a sophisticated criminal and paternity identification technique. Private testing laboratories produce results that link individuals with crime scenes and fathers to their children.... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Courts and Trials; Organizational Structure; Practice; Genetics; Science-Based Business; Trust; Commercialization; Vertical Integration

2012
Working Paper

Information Technology and Boundary of the Firm: Evidence from Plant-Level Data

By: Chris Forman and Kristina McElheran

We study the relationship between different margins of information technology (IT) use and vertical integration using plant-level data from the U.S. Census of Manufactures. Focusing on the short-run decision of whether to allocate production output to downstream plants... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Production; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Vertical Integration; Supply Chain; Manufacturing Industry; United States

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March 1998 (Revised December 1999)
Case

Bronner Slosberg Humphrey

By: David E. Bell and Donald M Leavitt

Bronner Slosberg Humphrey has succeeded by providing integrated direct marketing solutions for major service companies such as AT&T, American Express, and FedEx. A new CEO takes over from the company's founder and is wondering how to grow the company. Options include... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Leading Change; Global Strategy; Service Operations; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology; Salesforce Management; Marketing Communications; Service Industry

December 2001
Case

Qwest Communications International Inc.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Christopher Hackett

Describes the evolution of Qwest from a small fiber-optic construction firm in 1996 to a global telecommunications giant in 2001. Focuses on Qwest's pivotal acquisition of "Baby Bell" US West, a regional Bell operating company many times Qwest's size. Discusses the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Asset Pricing; Business History; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Organizational Culture; Partners and Partnerships; Vertical Integration; Telecommunications Industry