Publications

Find at Harvard

23 Feb 2016
First Look

February 23, 2016

their reforms are the common goals of reducing bureaucracy, streamlining decision making, and, most importantly, creating a unified culture that, to date, the company has been missing. CEO Pedro Faria... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Tim Ferriss: What Might This Look like If It Were Easy?

By: Reza Satchu and Denise Koller

In April 2024, writer-podcaster Tim Ferriss—celebrated as the “Oprah of audio” for his billion-download show and known for NYT-bestsellers like The 4-Hour Workweek—found himself at a crossroads. Despite generating a multi-million-dollar annual revenue with just three... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Personal Development and Career; Business Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Media and Broadcasting Industry

December 2007 (Revised July 2011)
Case

Leadership in Energy: Jim Rogers at Cinergy

By: Boris Groysberg, Nitin Nohria, Colleen Kaftan and Geoff Eckman Marietta

Jim Rogers, CEO of the energy company Cinergy, has led the company from the brink of bankruptcy to one of the premier energy companies through selecting a focused strategy, aligning the organization to support it, and mobilizing all the employees to implementation. The... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Alignment; Corporate Strategy; Energy Industry

22 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 22

self-sorting, and manager-directed joint learning. It shows that such culture will be stronger among more important employees and in older and more successful firms where employees make important decisions and the manager has strong... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

03 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 3, 2007

"decouple" payments to European farmers. Explores the logic behind agricultural supports, with a focus on the economic, political, and cultural context of French farming. Discusses efforts to reform the CAP in the context of the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

04 Apr 2005
What Do You Think?

Can an Organization’s “Deep Smarts” Be Preserved?

that "those companies that are in the hands of accountants will shrink from ... [preserving deep smarts] because they will not be able to quantify the benefits in business terms." C. J. Cullinane elaborates on this in commenting... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Suraj Srinivasan

Suraj Srinivasan is the Philip J. Stomberg Professor of Business Administration, a member of the Accounting and Management faculty unit, and chair of the View Details

Keywords: accounting industry; financial services

May 2022
Case

Executive Decision-Making at Zola

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Michael Roberto

In April 2020, Rachel Jarrett, President and COO of wedding technology company Zola, called a meeting with the organization’s key decision-makers. The company had previously launched three business expansions: a vendor marketplace, a wedding apparel division, and a... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Voting; Decision Choices and Conditions; Management Skills; Management; Management Style; Organizations; Organizational Culture; Technology Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

January 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

School of Rock: Tuning into Structured Empowerment (A)

By: Tatiana Sandino, Jeffrey Rayport, Samuel Grad and Stacy Straaberg

In summer 2021, School of Rock was a youth-oriented music education company with 291 franchise- and company-owned schools globally. Before CEO Rob Price’s hire in 2017, School of Rock’s nonconformist rock ‘n’ roll culture led to variability in teaching styles,... View Details

08 Mar 2016
First Look

March 8, 2016

about how companies could focus on “doing well by doing good,” and they jointly initiated four projects on which they could collaborate. Ahmed planned to leverage these projects to transform Fujitsu’s innovation View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 1997
Supplement

WPP--Integrating Icons (Video)

By: Joseph L. Bower and Sonja Ellingson Hout

Interviews with Martin Sorrell, Chairman of WPP Group plc, and also with the heads of several companies that are owned with WPP. Discusses corporate culture, strategies for the future, and how the various companies interact. View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Relationships; Communication; Strategy

28 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

How Workplace Wellness Programs Can Give Employees the Energy Boost They Need

While companies may tout their wellness programs as a way of investing in their employees’ well-being, many are overly focused on reducing healthcare costs, so they tend to offer step challenges and gym discounts that workers don’t have... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson

Program

Transforming Customer Experiences

approach to service design, execution, and transformation, this customer experience management program prepares you to create an exceptional service culture that supports employees, delights customers, and drives organizational... View Details

May 2017
Case

Fresh to Table

By: Gautam Mukunda and Brooks C. Holtom

After the contentious firing of an office manager, the leadership at Fresh to Table, a software-as-a-service provider for luxury hotels and restaurants, make an unpleasant discovery. While reviewing the office manager's internal electronic communications, company... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Resignation and Termination; Organizational Culture; Values and Beliefs; Leadership

03 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 3

Business School Case 515-001 Disrupting the Meat Industry: Tissue Culture Beef Dr. Mark Post and his team at Maastricht University were perfecting their tissue culture beef product-made entirely from muscle... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Dec 2006
Op-Ed

India Needs to Encourage Trade with China

mistake to dismiss such cultural links as being too far back in history to matter, since they inform historical memories in the two countries. Scholars suggest that Buddhism and trade were mutually reinforcing millennia ago, and... View Details

Keywords: by Tarun Khanna

Gerald Zaltman

*Joined Harvard Faculty: 1991
Prior Faculty Appointments: Northwestern University, 1968-75;
University of Pittsburgh, 1975-91

*Doctoral Degree in Sociology Received from: The John Hopkins University;
MBA Degree Received from: The University of... View Details

Keywords: advertising; apparel; automotive; beverage; biotechnology; consumer products; entertainment; financial services; food; health care; marketing industry; pharmaceuticals; retailing; sports; telecommunications

January 2015 (Revised November 2016)
Case

La Martina: Leveraging Polo's Luxury Lifestyle

By: Anat Keinan, Maria Fernanda Miguel and Sandrine Crener

Founded in 1984 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, La Martina has grown from a high-end polo equipment company into a global fashion brand with operations in 56 countries. Polo, which is not only a sport but also a way of life, is at the core of the brand DNA. Polo is a... View Details