Publications

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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

17 Dec 2012
Research & Ideas

Teaming in the Twenty-First Century

work done," says Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management. “Teaming is the engine of organizational learning.” The problem: Stable teams that plan first and execute later are increasingly infeasible in the... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

9 May 2011 - 11 May 2011
Conference Presentation

How Firms Respond to Mandatory Information Disclosure

By: Anil Doshi, Michael Toffel and Glen W. S. Dowell

When new institutional pressures arise, which organizations are particularly likely to resist or acquiesce? When subjected to new information disclosure mandates, an increasingly popular form of market-based government regulation, which types of organizations are... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Environmental Regulation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Change and Adaptation

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24 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: Jan. 24

expertise, defensible turf, and organizational support. We demonstrate that these elements must be combined in specific pathways for knowledge-based innovative structures to emerge and embed. These pathways... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Dec 2023
Book

HBS Faculty Books of 2023: Find Happiness, Fix Things, and Fail Well

mobilize organizational change quickly, untangle digital strategy, and reflect on socially responsible leadership. Take a look back at some of the books by Harvard Business School faculty members that hit the market this year: Economic... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

January 1990 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Cray Research, Inc.: Preparing for the 1990s

By: Francis Aguilar

Describes the major changes Cray Research faced from 1985 (the time of the original case) to 1990. The dramatic decision to divide the company into two separate firms sets the stage for an analysis of the major strategic and organizational challenges facing senior... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Management Systems; Change Management; Technology Adoption; Business Units; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Management Teams; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology

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June 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Tennant Company: Innovating Within and Beyond the Core

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Toby E. Stuart and James Weber

Tennant, a leading producer of floor cleaning equipment, must determine the business model to use for its new chemical-free cleaning technology. In 2005, Tennant Company had developed an innovative, environmentally friendly cleaning technology that could potentially... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Disruptive Innovation; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Value Creation; Consumer Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry

January 2011
Case

Founder-CEO Succession at Acer

By: Noam T. Wasserman, Michael Shih-ta Chen and Keith Chi-ho Wong

Stan Shih, founder-CEO of Acer, Inc., had proactively chosen and transitioned the "perfect" successor as CEO, but was now faced with major problems. Over the last two years, his heir apparent, Leonard Liu, had made the changes he had been hired to make, including... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Management Style; Management Succession; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Conflict Management

Program

Strategy for Health Care Delivery—Virtual

Summary When you improve value, everyone wins—your patients, your organization, and the global health care ecosystem. This live online program examines the latest strategies and organizational models for transforming the way health care... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care

27 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

How the FBI Reinvented Itself After 9/11

organizational units, one for law enforcement and one for domestic intelligence, seeking what scholars call “structural ambidexterity.” Two, the FBI could have pursued “contextual ambidexterity” wherein senior management establishes... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

September 1991
Case

Momenta Corp. (B)

Momenta is a one-year-old corporation that has sought to build a distinct culture and identity through a structured process and organized rituals. The company is seeking to be a major player in the highly competitive pen-based computer market and has attracted... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture; Business Startups

17 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

What the Stockdale Paradox Tells Us About Crisis Leadership

immediate and long-term goals in mind. One respondent summed up the challenge in a particularly apt way: “Shifting existing organizational structures from ‘peacetime’ value creation to ‘wartime/survival’ in... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

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

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March 1999
Case

City of Charlotte (B)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

This case shows how two operating departments-transportation and police-translate the high-level corporate scorecard for the city into departmental balanced scorecards. The transportation department follows a highly structured approach designed to link initiatives... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Global Strategy; National Security; Balanced Scorecard; Organizational Design; Technology Adoption; Public Administration Industry; Transportation Industry

July 2009 (Revised January 2014)
Case

Sustainability at Millipore

By: Michael W. Toffel and Katharine Lee

This case describes Millipore Corporation's approach to becoming a more environmentally sustainable company. As he prepared for his quarterly meeting with the CEO, the Director of Sustainability needed to develop positions on several issues. Tactically, he needed to... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Corporate Disclosure; Operations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Structure; Natural Environment; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants

27 Apr 2009
Research & Ideas

Building Businesses in Turbulent Times

can think strategically about where the business will be and how they might build for the future. A great example is Lou Gerstner (HBS MBA '65). When he took the helm at IBM, he had to take $7 billion out of the company's cost structure... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

Research Summary

The Toyota Production System: Rules for Activity, Connection, and Pathway Design and Improvement

Researchers have established that Toyota enjoys advantages in cost, quality, lead time, and flexibility when compared to its competitors in automobile assembly. Differences in generating value have been attributed to differences between the Toyota Production System... View Details

November 2012 (Revised January 2014)
Case

The LEGO Group: Envisioning Risks in Asia (A)

By: Anette Mikes and Dominique Hamel

On January 1, 2012, the LEGO Group announced a major new initiative to enhance its market penetration in Asia. Later in the year, a cross-functional group of senior managers gathered at company headquarters to discuss the status of the Asian initiative and the risks... View Details

Keywords: LEGO; Toy Industry; Fashion And Creative Industries; Organizational Structure; Risk Management; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Design; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Denmark; Asia

June 2005
Case

Growth and Profitability at Fresenius

By: Joel Podolny, Vincent Dessain, Monika Stachowiak and Anders Sjoman

In March 2005, Mark Schneider, CEO of Fresenius, is considering the group's strategic and organizational future. The highly decentralized 7 billion euro German health care group is active in three different business units, with the largest, FMC AG, listed separately... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Diversification; Organizational Structure; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; Germany