Publications

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April 2021
Case

Codecademy: Where to Next?

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Max Mailman and Sarah Ascherman

In March 2020, Zach Sims, co-founder and CEO of online education platform Codecademy, prepared for a meeting with his Chief of Staff Kunal Ahuja to discuss the company’s goals. Codecademy billed itself as the largest online resource for computer science literacy and... View Details

Keywords: Monetization Strategy; Business Model; Change Management; Venture Capital; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Teams; Marketing Channels; Product Marketing; Network Effects; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; United States

March 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Global Sourcing at Nike

By: Nien-hê Hsieh, Michael W. Toffel and Olivia Hull

This case explores the evolution of Nike’s global product sourcing strategy, in particular ongoing efforts to improve working conditions at its suppliers’ factories. When the case opens in July 2018, Vice President of Sourcing Amanda Tucker and her colleagues in Nike’s... View Details

December 1999 (Revised May 2000)
Case

Morgan Stanley: Becoming a "One-Firm Firm"

By: M. Diane Burton, Thomas J. DeLong and Katherine Lawrence

John Mack, the newly appointed president of Morgan Stanley, feels strongly that the firm needs to change in order to compete in a changing investment banking environment. Mack and his senior team undertake initiatives in order to transform the culture and working style... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Competitive Strategy

27 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

How Remote Work Changes What We Think About Onboarding

Author's note: Over the past few weeks, I have been asking CEOs attending programs I teach at Harvard Business School a simple question: What is keeping you awake at night during this global pandemic? They've mentioned numerous complicated challenges that I have... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg

March 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Reinventing Best Buy

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

On March 1, 2017, Best Buy Company, Inc., North America’s largest retailer of consumer electronics and appliances, announced a third year of comparable-store sales increases and a 20.8% increase in domestic comparable online sales. These results were in marked contrast... View Details

Keywords: Best Buy; Hubert Joly; Renew Blue; Showrooming; Webrooming; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Marketplaces; Turnaround; Consumer Electronics; Consumer Electronics Accessories; Appliances; Stores-within-stores; Store Experience; Store Size; Store Pickup; Store Management; Delivery; Delivery Models; Amazon; Amazon.com; Pricing Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Theater Entertainment; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Cost; Selection and Staffing; Reports; Technological Innovation; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Human Capital; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Media; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Distribution Channels; Infrastructure; Product; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Programs; Groups and Teams; Sales; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Resource Allocation; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Video Game Industry; United States; Minnesota; Minneapolis; Saint Paul; St. Paul

July 1998 (Revised December 2001)
Case

Jollibee Foods Corporation (A): International Expansion

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Jamie O'Connell

Noli Tingzon, newly-appointed international division VP at Jollibee, the Philippines-based hamburger chain, is faced with the challenge of expanding fast food operations in Asia in the face of stiff competition. The case describes Jollibee's six-year international... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Motivation and Incentives; Expansion; Global Range; Global Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Philippines

January 2025
Teaching Plan

Knowledge Transfer: Toyota, NUMMI, and GM

By: Willy Shih

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 625-003. New United Motors Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) was a joint venture between Toyota and General Motors. It was an opportunity for GM to learn about the Toyota Production System, which was quite different from the mass production... View Details

Keywords: Culture Change; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Joint Ventures; Transformation; Selection and Staffing; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Sharing; Labor Unions; Management Systems; Performance Improvement; Production; Labor and Management Relations; Auto Industry; Japan; United States

18 Nov 2022
HBS Case

What Does It Take to Safeguard a Legacy in Asset Management?

Last year, the pioneering Black-owned global asset management firm Brown Capital Management found itself at a crossroads. The secret to its success had been a deliberately diverse hiring strategy, but with the looming retirement of its founder, safeguarding those... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

11 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Strategy Execution and the Balanced Scorecard

P. Norton aims to make strategy a continual process. The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage shows managers how to weave organizational principles into a more effective management system that... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

14 Oct 2021
In Practice

Reunited and It Feels (Not) So Good: Tips for Managing a Rocky Return

(@lramarajan98) is the Anna Spangler Nelson and Thomas C. Nelson Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. Prithwiraj Choudhury: Do you really need to be in the office?... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

Article

Strong Leadership and Teamwork Drive Culture and Performance Change: Ohio State University Medical Center 2000–2006

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger, Fred Sanfilippo, Neeli Bendapudi and Anthony Rucci

Several characteristics of academic health centers have the potential to create high levels of internal conflict and misalignment that can pose significant leadership challenges.

In September 2000, the positions of Ohio State University (OSU) senior vice... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Organizational Structure; Performance Improvement; Customer Satisfaction; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Service Delivery; Satisfaction; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; Ohio

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July 2020
Case

Driving Transformation at the Majid Al Futtaim Group

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Esel Çekin

The case opens with Alain Bejjani, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Holding, anticipating on the Group’s next phase in the multi-year transformation journey and reflecting on the initiatives he implemented to create the Group’s growth-oriented culture. Founded in 1995,... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; United Arab Emirates; Middle East; Dubai

06 Jan 2016
What Do You Think?

Why Do Leaders Get Their Timing Wrong?

averted pollution laws in many countries over a ten-year period. The second involves Zappos’ sudden initiative to eliminate all but one manager, the CEO. The two examples share at least one thing in common: they both involve changing View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Auto; Fashion

November 2016
Case

Transformation at Eli Lilly & Co. (A)

By: William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell

Faced with the imminent loss of 40% of its revenues due to patent expirations, pharma giant Eli Lilly sets out on a dramatic transformation process in 2009. The case considers how Lilly restructured the organization into business areas to aid better decision-making,... View Details

Keywords: Eli Lilly; Restructuring; R＆D; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Pharmaceutical Industry; Indianapolis

February 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Case

CVS Health: Prescription for Transformation

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Tuna Cem Hayirli

In 2021, new CEO Karen Lynch (named the most powerful woman in business) considered the next transformation phase for CVS Health (a Fortune 5 corporate giant. The 2018 acquisition of Aetna insurance brought her to the company as part of its long evolution from a... View Details

Keywords: COVID; Caregiving; Healthcare; Access; Change; Retail; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Health Industry; Retail Industry

2010
Book

Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads

By: Srikant M. Datar, David A. Garvin and Patrick Cullen

"Business Schools Face Test of Faith." "Is It Time to Retrain B-Schools?" As these headlines make clear, business education is at a major crossroads. For decades, MBA graduates from top-tier schools set the standard for cutting-edge business knowledge and skills. Now... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges

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