Publications

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December 1992 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Becton Dickinson Division: Marketing Organization

By: Frank V. Cespedes

The marketing director for the largest division of a health care products company is reviewing the structure and staffing of the division's marketing organization. The division has authorization to hire an additional marketing manager. Hence, the immediate case... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Health Care and Treatment; Human Resources; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Managerial Roles; Product Marketing; Measurement and Metrics; Organizational Structure; Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Health Industry

Fall 2012
Article

The Flattening Firm—Not As Advertised

By: Julie Wulf

For decades, management consultants and the popular business press have urged large firms to flatten their hierarchies. Flattening (or delayering, as it is also known) typically refers to the elimination of layers in a firm's organizational hierarchy and the broadening... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Governance Controls; Decision Making

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December 2004 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Mavens & Moguls: Because Marketing Matters...

By: Myra M. Hart, Kristin Lieb and Victoria Winston

Mavens & Moguls is a virtual marketing-consulting firm of approximately 40 professionals. Examines the processes by which Paige Arnof-Fenn (an HBS grad with deep industry experience)draws on her experience and her network to create a high-quality marketing consulting... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Values and Beliefs; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Structure; Marketing; Entrepreneurship; Experience and Expertise; Growth and Development Strategy; Consulting Industry

October 1994 (Revised January 1995)
Case

Rhone-Poulenc (A) and (B) Condensed

Rhone-Poulenc, France's largest chemical firm, has achieved a major position in the United States as the result of an ambitious series of acquisitions. As it expanded in the United States from 1986 to 1990, Rhone-Poulenc management sought to take a "hands-off" approach... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Multinational Firms and Management; Organizational Structure; Chemical Industry; France; United States

September 1993
Case

Rhone-Poulenc (B)

Rhone-Poulenc, France's largest chemical firm, has achieved a major position in the United States as the result of an ambitious series of acquisitions. As it expanded in the United States from 1986 to 1990, Rhone-Poulenc management sought to take a "hands-off" approach... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Multinational Firms and Management; Organizational Structure; Chemical Industry; France; United States

29 Sep 2015
First Look

September 29, 2015

dysfunction had been tracked. Key factors for integrating outcomes measurement into the clinical workflow include ongoing communication between cross-functional teams composed of clinicians and technical professionals, an iterative design process, View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2019 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Sales Force Management at Nobel Ilac

By: Doug J. Chung and Gamze Yucaoglu

Nobel Ilac was a Turkish generic pharmaceutical company marketing more than 100 drugs in 20 countries and, as of 2017, had over 2,500 employees worldwide. Nobel had implemented a transformation strategy—more specifically, a customer segmentation plan—whereby the sales... View Details

Keywords: Sales Strategy; Compensation; Employee Retention; Recruiting; Pharmaceuticals; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Organizational Design; Human Resources; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Retention; Recruitment; Pharmaceutical Industry; Turkey

23 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 23, 2015

see a complex technical system in an abstract way and change the system's structure to manage bottlenecks and modules in conjunction with the firm's organizational boundaries and property rights. Download... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2020
Case

ZEISS Group: Organize by Customer Culture?

By: Willy C. Shih

How should ZEISS, the German manufacturer of precision optical and optoelectronic systems manage two historic businesses that operated fairly autonomously? The Industrial Quality Solutions (IQS) business sold measurement equipment to manufacturing companies in sectors... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Manufacturing Industry; Europe; Germany

March–April 2021
Article

Network-biased Technical Change: How Information Management Tools Overcome Some Biases but Exacerbate Others.

By: Gerald C. Kane and Lynn Wu

Organizations have long sought to improve employee performance by managing knowledge more effectively. In this paper, we test whether the adoption of digital tools for expertise search and access within an organization, often referred to as a support to an... View Details

Keywords: Digital Tools; Social Media; Social Networks; Transactive Memory Systems; Augmented Intelligence; Artificial Intelligence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Technology Adoption; Knowledge Management; Performance Improvement; Power and Influence; Organizational Change and Adaptation

October 14, 2019
Article

The Truth About Open Offices: There Are Reasons Why They Don't Produce the Desired Interactions

By: Ethan Bernstein and Ben Waber

It’s never been easier for workers to collaborate—or so it seems. Open, flexible, activity-based spaces are displacing cubicles, making people more visible. Messaging is displacing phone calls, making people more accessible. Enterprise social media such as Slack and... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Interpersonal Communication; Communication Technology; Design; Human Resources; Performance Productivity; Organizational Design

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20 Dec 2016
First Look

December 20, 2016

forthcoming Research in Organizational Behavior The Dynamic Componential Model of Creativity and Innovation in Organizations: Making Progress, Making Meaning By: Amabile, Teresa M., and Michael G. Pratt Abstract—Leveraging insights gained... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

March 2006
Module Note

Managing Innovation in an Uncertain World: Module 4: Sensing Opportunity

By: Alan D. MacCormack

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

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Problems and Challenges; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Projects; Opportunities; Risk and Uncertainty; Perspective; Value Creation; Networks; Alignment

July 2013 (Revised July 2013)
Case

Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation

By: Willy Shih and Chen-Fu Chien

Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation has a horizontal firm structure in an industry that is predominantly organized vertically. While it has been successful in up markets, in the current down market its strategic rationale was being tested. As a capital-intensive... View Details

Keywords: Industry Structures; Organizational Structure; Partners and Partnerships; Competition; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Semiconductor Industry; Taiwan

Research Summary

A major area of Professor Torfason's research is the behavior of individual social network structures. He studies the violation of norms – specifically the use of excessive force in conflict situations – within the empirical context of a large online... View Details

24 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 24

gas regulations are more likely to share greenhouse gas emissions levels and reduction targets. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-026.pdf The Rich Get Richer: Enabling Conditions for Knowledge Use in Organizational... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Program

Building a Legacy

with the tools to address these specific challenges and deepen your understanding of investment opportunities for high-net-worth families. You will emerge with the competence and confidence to design a wealth management strategy and View Details

June 1985 (Revised April 1989)
Case

Benetton (B)

By: James L. Heskett

The managing director of Benetton is faced with several issues concerning the adequacy of the company's organization to capitalize on the early success it has achieved in an important foreign market, the United States. Specifically, the case raises questions about... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Global Strategy; Transition; Growth and Development Strategy; Success; Business Headquarters; Business Subsidiaries; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Growth and Maturation; United States; Italy