Publications

Keywords: Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Culture; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Performance Productivity; Problems and Challenges; Management Practices and Processes; Business Divisions; Information Management; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States

February 1991 (Revised February 1992)
Case

Appex Corp.

By: Nitin Nohria

1990 Business Week named Appex Corp. the fastest growing high-technology company in the United States. Appex provided management information systems and intercarrier network services to cellular telephone companies. During its rapid growth, the company went through... View Details

24 Oct 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Startup or Established Company? Which Is Best for You?

organizational structure that requires political and communication savvy. You may have to sacrifice title and maybe some salary to get a foot into larger institutions who may view your past role, which may have been very senior at a... View Details

Keywords: by Julia B. Austin

January 2006 (Revised February 2015)
Case

Innovation at Timberland: Thinking Outside the Shoe Box

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ryan Raffaelli

Innovation was linked to Timberland's heritage. In 2005, CEO Jeff Swartz and COO Ken Pucker hoped the Invention Factory, an advanced concept lab, would develop new breakthrough products and reinvigorate the company's culture of innovation. Since the 1960s, Timberland... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Organizational Culture; Change Management

16 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Can Decades of Military Overspending be Fixed?

Editor's note: Even with recent disclosures about out-of-control spending on corporate perks and government agency parties, the US military is frequently held up as the exemplar of organizational largesse run wild. In the new book Defense... View Details

Keywords: by J. Ronald Fox; Service

05 Sep 2023
Book

Thriving After Failing: How to Turn Your Setbacks Into Triumphs

Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson experienced her first big-stakes professional failure when she was just starting out in her academic career, some 30 years ago, after a decade working in engineering and consulting. Little did she know at the time, but... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

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

04 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

How Female Stars Succeed in New Jobs

to stars when they change jobs. Equity analysts are an ideal population to study: Their performance is objectively measured every year, there is a lot of demographic and organizational data on them and their employers, and many things are... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

March 2020 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Performance Management at Afreximbank (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Siko Sikochi and Josh Steimle

Based in Cairo, Afreximbank was founded in October 1993 as a specialized continental financial institution designed to address the low level of intra-African trade, the decline in financial flows to Africa, the worsening external debt situation of many African... View Details

Keywords: Performance Management; Balanced Scorecard; Performance Expectations; Performance Evaluation; Performance Improvement; Organizational Culture; Strategy; Banking Industry; Africa; Egypt

February 2022 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Winning Business at Russell Reynolds (C)

By: Ethan Bernstein and Cara Mazzucco

In an effort to make compensation drive collaboration, Russell Reynolds Associates’ (RRA) CEO Clarke Murphy sought to re-engineer the bonus system for his executive search consultants in 2016. As his HR analytics guru, Kelly Smith, points out, that risks upsetting—and... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Talent and Talent Management; Compensation and Benefits; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Consulting Industry

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

16 Nov 2021
HBS Case

How a Company Made Employees So Miserable, They Killed Themselves

on the chopping block themselves. One manager who had overseen 200 workers was accused of “professional incompetence” and abruptly relocated across the country. “I have no work anymore,” he reportedly said. “I am not even in the View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

March 2022
Supplement

Winning Business at Russell Reynolds (B)

By: Ethan Bernstein and Cara Mazzucco

In an effort to make compensation drive collaboration, Russell Reynolds Associates’ (RRA) CEO Clarke Murphy sought to re-engineer the bonus system for his executive search consultants in 2016. As his HR analytics guru, Kelly Smith, points out, that risks upsetting–and... View Details

01 May 2024
What Do You Think?

Have You Had Enough?

organization performance, then on to China trade policies (2012), the importance of immigration (beginning in 2003), women in leadership (2013), the need for an AI czar (2019), and remote work and organizational View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

12 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 12, 2017

forthcoming Research in Organizational Behavior Self-Managing Organizations: Exploring the Limits of Less Hierarchical Organizing By: Lee, Michael Y., and Amy C. Edmondson Abstract—Fascination with organizations that eschew the... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

29 Mar 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Entrepreneurs, Firms, and Global Wealth since 1850

Keywords: by Geoffrey G. Jones

October 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Brightview Senior Living

By: Lynda M. Applegate and James Weber

Marilynn Duker, CEO, was exploring how to grow the company while maintaining the culture that made it a leader in the field of senior housing. Brightview constructed and operated senior living apartment communities that offered independent living, assisted living, and... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Employee Relationship Management; Real Estate Industry; United States