Publications

03 Jun 2015
What Do You Think?

Is the Time Right for Self-Management?

increasing complexity and unpredictability of our world is such that only a highly distributed decision-making structure will be able to adapt and respond effectively, she continued. "Most of us don't think a centralized planning... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

01 Oct 2000
News

Books

Baldwin and Dean Kim Clark remind readers in their new book, Design Rules: The Power of Modularity. Baldwin and Clark are intrigued by the underlying structure of these human-designed products and systems... View Details

December 1994 (Revised March 1996)
Case

Ciba Consumer Pharmaceuticals' Acutrim: Challenges and Opportunities in Today's Diet Industry

By: Nancy F. Koehn and Rebecca Voorheis

Since its introduction in 1983, Acutrim has been a major player in the U.S. appetite suppressant market and in the broader diet industry. This case focuses on the strategic, regulatory, marketing, and financial challenges this product and the rapidly changing diet... View Details

Keywords: Product Marketing; Market Design; Industry Structures; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities; Food and Beverage Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

09 Mar 2021
Blog Post

New BEI Director: Lynn Schenk

Initiative in which she leveraged her structured finance background and expertise from her tenure at Citigroup to focus on issues ranging from the financial structuring of renewable energy and infrastructure... View Details

Web

Field Course: Ideation and Prototyping for Innovation - Course Catalog

contrarian views are wrong most of the time, due to the wisdom of crowds. How can you know if you are too far out on a limb? Course Content and Structure The course will be structured into modules on problem... View Details

2008
Working Paper

The Flattening Firm and Product Market Competition: The Effect of Trade Liberalization

By: Maria Guadalupe and Julie Wulf

This paper establishes a causal effect of competition from trade liberalization on various characteristics of organizational design. We exploit a unique panel dataset on firm hierarchies (1986-1999) of large U.S. firms and find that increasing competition leads firms... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Managerial Roles; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy

Read Now

20 Nov 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, November 20, 2018

structure may affect borrowing costs. Corporate legal structure refers to the legal fragmentation of a firm into multiple, separately incorporated entities. This fragmentation is bound to be a factor when... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

25 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

More Than the Sum of Its Parts: The Impact of Modularity on the Computer Industry

a problem of nightmarish proportions [because of] the growing complexity of the systems and the interdependent structure of their designs. Each new computer system had to be designed from the ground up, and... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Computer; Consumer Products; Technology

2009
Book

High Commitment, High Performance: How to Build a Resilient Organization for Sustained Advantage

By: Michael Beer

Integrating knowledge from strategic management, performance management, and organization design, strategic human resource expert and Harvard Business School Professor Michael Beer outlines what the high-commitment, high-performance organization looks like and provides... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Leadership; Management; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Performance; Practice; Business Strategy; System

Find at Harvard

September 1984 (Revised September 1993)
Case

Nestle S.A.: International Marketing (A)

By: John A. Quelch

A senior manager at Nestle's headquarters is reviewing the role of the central marketing staff with respect to Nestle's operating companies around the world. Two specific examples of the role of the central staff in guiding the advertising and packaging decisions of... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Marketing; Operations; Advertising; Management Teams; Food and Beverage Industry; Health Industry; Switzerland

01 Oct 2000
News

After the Revolution: Putting the Internet in Perspective

Microsoft and Cisco, Nolan said the mature business model of a hierarchical organizational structure with a "make-and-sell" strategy can't be adapted to the virtual, information-enabled world of dot-coms. There, the real-time speed,... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

Web

Strategy Execution - Course Catalog

franchise. Spurring innovation: You will learn how to design systems and structures to push people out of their comfort zone, foster creative tension, and drive innovation and entrepreneurial behavior.... View Details

November 2003 (Revised July 2006)
Case

STAR 2003

By: Thomas R. Piper

A shift in strategy from broadcasting standardized programs throughout its footprint to localized programming necessitates a review of STAR's organizational structure. Growing complexity and a need for local responsiveness point toward adoption of a country-based... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Organizational Structure; Management Teams; Decision Choices and Conditions; Organizational Design; Complexity; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Service Industry

August 2018
Background Note

Note on Hackathons

By: Ethan Bernstein

Organizations have often sought to meet the pressures of rapid change through novel ways of managing human capital to boost innovation and productivity. Hackathons have emerged as one of the latest approaches to do just that. How can those responsible for managing... View Details

Keywords: Hackathon; Crowdsourcing; Hack; Innovation; Productivity; Minimum Viable Product; Time; Transparency; Bootcamp; Design; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Management; Organizational Structure; Performance Productivity; Technology; Technology Industry