Publications

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May 2001 (Revised February 2002)
Case

U.S. in 2001, The: Macroeconomic Policy and the New Economy

By: Huw Pill

Presents four views of U.S. macroeconomic developments in the late 1990s: an HBS professor, the Federal Reserve, the Clinton administration, and President George W. Bush. Develops the implications of the new economy--technological and organizational change--for... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Economy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; United States

October 2017
Article

Elevating Repositioning Costs: Strategy Dynamics and Competitive Interactions

By: Anoop R. Menon and Dennis Yao

This paper proposes an approach for modeling competitive interactions that incorporates the costs to firms of changing strategy. The costs associated with strategy modifications, which we term “repositioning costs,” are particularly relevant to competitive interactions... View Details

Keywords: ＂Repositioning Costs; Strategy Dynamics; Strategic Interaction; Capabilities; Cost; Strategy; Change; Game Theory; Organizational Change and Adaptation

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March 2007
Case

Ascent Media Group (A)

Ascent Media races to adapt to the changes resulting from increasing digitalization of its business, from creative post-production services to warehousing and repurposing of old media content. Raises issues of how technology interacts with creative processes and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technology; Management; Creativity

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March 2020 (Revised May 2022)
Case

The Art of the Merger: The Museum of Modern Art and PS1

By: Dennis Yao and Hillary Greene

This case examines the organizational relationship between the Museum of Modern Art and its affiliate MoMA PS1. The relationship raises a number of business and corporate strategy questions regarding the evolution of organizational relationships and their management.... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Nonprofit Organizations; Corporate Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Disruption; Decision Making; Fine Arts Industry; United States; New York (state, US)

December 2020
Article

What Has Changed? The Impact of COVID Pandemic on the Technology and Innovation Management Research Agenda

By: Gerard George, Karim R. Lakhani and Phanish Puranam

Whereas the pandemic has tested the agility and resilience of organizations, it forces a deeper look at the assumptions underlying theoretical frameworks that guide managerial decisions and organizational practices. In this commentary, we explore the impact of the... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Information Technology; Innovation and Management; Research

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January 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Cisco Systems (2001): Building and Sustaining a Customer-Centric Culture

By: Ranjay Gulati

Customer centricity has been an important part of the culture at Cisco Systems since its inception. While part of this is attributable to values put in place by the founders and retained by subsequent management, it is also closely interwoven with its organizational... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Research and Development; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Employees; Brands and Branding; Customer Relationship Management; Business Units

2015
Working Paper

Making a Difference: Leader Evaluation, Selection, and Impact

By: Gautam Mukunda

The relationship between leader selection and impact is important to both researchers and practitioners. This paper introduces Leader Filtration Theory (LFT)—a theory from political science—to managerial audiences, applies it to organizations, and uses it to improve... View Details

Keywords: Leaders; Leader Selection; Individual Impact; Leadership; Selection and Staffing

December 2022
Technical Note

Risks and Opportunities from the Transition to a Low Carbon Economy: A Business Analysis Framework

By: George Serafeim

The transition to a low carbon economy introduces many risks and opportunities for businesses. Risks emerge from regulatory actions, such as carbon taxes and cap and trade systems, technological innovation that develop alternatives for customers making existing... View Details

Keywords: Risk Assessment; Opportunities; Environmental Sustainability; Carbon Footprint; Risk Management; Competitive Dynamics; Business Analysis; Climate Change; Accounting; Finance; Valuation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Technological Innovation; Transition; Product Positioning; Renewable Energy; Analysis

July 2024 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Shell’s Balancing Act: Resource Allocation and the Green Transition (Abridged)

By: David Collis and Haisley Wert

In mid-2023, amid pressure from climate change activists, shareholder activists, and confronting enormous uncertainty about the future demand for and price of fossil fuels, new Shell CEO Wael Sawan (Harvard MBA 2003) announced a change in strategy for the U.K. oil... View Details

Keywords: Oil ＆ Gas; Renewables; Forecasting Demand; Strategy; Energy; Climate Change; Resource Allocation; Corporate Strategy; Investment Activism; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Energy Industry

2024
Working Paper

Transforming the Federal Bureau of Investigation: Outcome and Process Framing

By: Ryan Raffaelli, Tiona Zuzul, Ranjay Gulati and Jan Rivkin

This twelve-year qualitative study examines how Director Robert Mueller and his senior team profoundly transformed the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Drawing on 138 interviews within the FBI and Mueller’s... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Transformation; Government and Politics; Organizational Change and Adaptation

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

changing aspirations. Secondly, Unilever developed strengths in the acquisition of other firms, and their subsequent "Unileverization." After the failed merger attempts of the late 1960s, Unilever... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

March 2001
Case

Yvette Hyater-Adams and Terry Larsen at CoreStates Financial Corp.

By: David A. Thomas, Nancie Zane PHD and Emily Heaphy

Yvette Hyater-Adams, senior VP of CoreStates Bank, and CEO Terry Larsen reflect on their five-year mentor-protege relationship. They describe how building a relationship across both race and gender was challenging and ultimately highly rewarding. Their relationship... View Details

Keywords: Race; Gender; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Management Teams; Relationships; Banking Industry

2018
Working Paper

When to Take the Leap: The Antecedents and Consequences of Leapfrog CEOs

By: J. Yo-Jud Cheng

Much of the prior research on CEO successions focuses on differences between CEOs appointed from within the firm and those appointed from outside; however, this dichotomy neglects significant heterogeneity in CEOs’ career trajectories. In this study, I examine the... View Details

Keywords: Management Succession; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Innovation and Management

Teaching Interest

Cities, Structures, and Climate Shocks

By: John D. Macomber

This course is about building sustainable and resilient cities, future proofing real estate and infrastructure assets, and examining how businesses and investors find opportunities in climate adaptation.

The world faces substantial challenges in the face of... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Economic Development; Climate Finance; Migration; Climate Change; Adaptation; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; Construction Industry; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry; Insurance Industry; Banking Industry

27 Oct 2020
Research & Ideas

Can Being the ‘Token’ Give Women and Minorities a Competitive Edge?

beliefs, attitudes, and demographic traits. The study, Going It Alone: Competition Increases the Attractiveness of Minority Status, will appear in the November issue of Organizational Behavior View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

2025
Working Paper

Generative AI and the Nature of Work

By: Manuel Hoffmann, Sam Boysel, Frank Nagle, Sida Peng and Kevin Xu

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology demonstrate a considerable potential to complement human capital intensive activities. While an emerging literature documents wide-ranging productivity effects of AI, relatively little attention has been paid... View Details

Keywords: Generative Ai; Digital Work; Open Source Software; Knowledge Economy; AI and Machine Learning; Open Source Distribution; Organizational Structure; Performance Productivity; Labor