Publications

Program

Growing as a Purposeful Leader

Summary Leaders today have to lead in the context of extraordinary changes and challenges. The demands of today's stakeholders have risen significantly, and what is expected of senior leaders is quickly evolving in terms of their mission... View Details

July 2002 (Revised August 2002)
Case

Washington Hospital Center (B): The Power of Insight

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Michelle Heskett

Dr. Craig Feied considers how to take a major technical innovation beyond his own department into a large hospital system. Reviews how proprietary information systems became indispensable in the department of emergency medicine and what it took to introduce the change... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Health Care and Treatment; Nonprofit Organizations; Medical Specialties; Organizational Culture; Crisis Management; Technological Innovation; Higher Education; Adoption; Health Industry; District of Columbia

31 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

Where Can Digital Transformation Take You? Insights from 1,700 Leaders

to do this successfully becomes the pressing question—one we will try to answer in this three-part series: first, to describe what it means to be a digitally mature company; second, to outline what it takes to create one; and finally, probing how leaders must View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards

July 2002 (Revised August 2002)
Case

SIG Beverages (A)

SIG Beverages, a leading supplier of bottling and packaging systems for the beverage industry, has recognized an opportunity in providing services for its product end users. Management's challenge is to develop a service portfolio to address end users' needs, while... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Production; Service Delivery; Manufacturing Industry; Italy

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11 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

The First 90 Hours: What New CEOs Should—and Shouldn't—Do to Set the Right Tone

additional changes three months in. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress. Signal your values. You might see mountains of food go to waste at your welcome receptions and decide that all food budgets should be slashed in half.... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

04 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Is Your Org Chart Stuck in a Rut? Try a Scientific Experiment

Digital Initiative and the HBX Live virtual classroom, the o-Lab aims to help businesses solve their problems by changing the way their company is organized, and to make that change by introducing a more... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

May 2008 (Revised June 2008)
Case

Kenny Kahn at Muzak (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Stecker

Founded in 1934, Muzak pioneered the industry of background music. Equipped with propriety technology and a vast music library, over the ensuing decades the Muzak franchise organization expanded geographically. Despite a history of innovation, by the late 1990s Muzak... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Design; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Brands and Branding; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Franchise Ownership; Music Industry

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Stephen A. Greyser is Richard P. Chapman Professor (Marketing/Communications) Emeritus, of the Harvard Business School, specializes in brand marketing, advertising, corporate communications, the business of sports, and nonprofit management. A... View Details

Keywords: sports

September 2023
Teaching Note

Patagonia: 'Earth Is Now Our Only Shareholder'

By: Brian Trelstad, Nien-hê Hsieh, Michael Norris and Susan Pinckney

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 323-057. Patagonia’s change of ownership from a privately held company to a perpetual purpose trust and 501(c)(4) nonprofit in order to use the company’s profit to fight the environmental crisis and be a model for future businesses. View Details

17 Feb 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Breaking Them In or Revealing Their Best? Reframing Socialization around Newcomer Self-Expression

Keywords: by Dan Cable, Francesca Gino & Brad Staats

Article

Moving Forward from COVID-19: Organizational Dimensions of Effective Hospital Emergency Management

By: Mariam Krikorian Atkinson, Nicholas Cagliuso, John Hick, Sara Singer, Elizabeth Bambury, Tuna Cem Hayirli, Masha Kuznetsova and Paul Biddinger

Federal investment in emergency preparedness has increased notably since the 9/11 attacks, yet it is unclear if and how U.S. hospital readiness has changed in the 20 years since then. In particular, understanding effective aspects of hospital emergency management... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Hospital Preparedness/response; Urban/rural Hospitals; Emergency Management; National Strategy; Health Pandemics; Crisis Management; Performance Effectiveness; Governance; Policy; United States

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Program

Designing and Executing Corporate Revitalization

transformation. If your company is at an inflection point, how do you proceed? Will your business be held back by old ways of thinking or is it willing to embrace new frontiers? Will your company be static and hesitant in the face of a View Details

September 2018 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Careem: Base Camp or Mountain Peak? Designing an OS for Scaling

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Gamze Yucaoglu and Alpana Thapar

This case focuses on designing a fast growing organization. It is part of a two-case set that is taught together to cover the scaling journey.
Careem, a Dubai-based ride-hailing service aimed to ‘simplify and improve the lives of people, and build an awesome... View Details

Keywords: Scale; Values; Rights; Operating Systems; Business Startup; Transportation; Organizational Design; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Organizational Culture; Values and Beliefs; Decision Making; Managerial Roles; Dubai; United Arab Emirates; Middle East

April 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.

By: Robert G. Eccles and David Lane

As CEO of leading executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles for the past 18 months, Kevin Kelly was pleased with his accomplishments so far but concerned about threats he perceived to Heidrick's position at the highest levels of the executive search business. In... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Recruitment; Disruptive Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Employment Industry; Service Industry

March 2015
Supplement

Sanford C. Bernstein CEO Robert van Brugge

By: Linda A. Hill and Allison J. Wigen

Sanford C. Bernstein CEO (and former Global Director of Research) Robert van Brugge answers questions about organizational culture, change management, and collaboration, in this video supplement to the HBS case series "Global Expansion at Sanford C. Bernstein." Sanford... View Details

Keywords: Organization Behavior; Organizational Culture; Financial Services Industry