Publications

2008
Working Paper

Wellsprings of Creation: How Perturbation Sustains Exploration in Mature Organizations

By: David James Brunner, Bradley R. Staats, Michael L. Tushman and David M. Upton

Organizations struggle to balance simultaneous imperatives to exploit and explore, yet theorists differ as to whether exploitation undermines or enhances exploration. The debate reflects a gap: the missing mechanism by which organizations break free of old routines and... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Innovation and Management; Business Processes; Opportunities; Creativity

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May 1996 (Revised May 1997)
Case

Colliers International Property Consultants, Inc.: Managing a Virtual Organization

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In less than 20 years, the real estate firm Colliers International expanded into a federation of 180 offices with close to 4,500 professionals in over 30 countries. Because Colliers expanded by signing up existing firms strong in their local markets, its leaders had to... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Globalized Firms and Management; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Strategy; Budgets and Budgeting; Real Estate Industry

2022
Chapter

Coordinating Marketing and Sales in B2B Organizations

By: Frank V. Cespedes

This chapter focuses on the topic of coordinating marketing and sales in Business-to-Business (B2B) organizations. It provides an historical overview, indicating that this is not a new issue facing firms, that the business press has outlined a recurring set of... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Practice; Research; Sales

September 2019
Case

Starling Trust Sciences: Measuring Trust in Organizations

By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and James Weber

Stephen Scott needed to decide whether to keep his behavioral analytics startup in the people analytics sector or shift his company into the RegTech sector. Starling had develop technology that enabled its customers to anticipate and shape the behavior of their... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Analytics; Financial Institutions; Banks and Banking; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Banking Industry; Consulting Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States; United Kingdom

Article

Exploration and Exploitation within and across Organizations

By: Dovev Lavie, Uriel Stettner and Michael Tushman

Jim March's framework of exploration and exploitation has drawn substantial interest from scholars studying phenomena such as organizational learning, knowledge management, innovation, organizational design, and strategic alliances. This framework has become an... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Framework; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge Management; Organizational Design; Outcome or Result; Alliances; Behavior

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13 Apr 2016
Blog Post

3 Reasons Why Company Conversations Might Be Right For Your Organization

Participating in HBS recruiting events builds brand awareness and provides organizations the opportunity to connect with students. Here are 3 reasons why Company Conversations can be an effective recruiting... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

04 Jan 2021
What Do You Think?

How Do We Sustain Organization Diversity?

wavebreakmedia Last month, the venerable organization Coca-Cola publicly announced that a project to hire more Black employees that stemmed from the settlement of a 2000 discrimination lawsuit had failed to achieve its objectives. Along... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2009
Book

Commentaries and Cases on the Law of Business Organization

By: William T. Allen, Reinier H. Kraakman and Guhan Subramanian

Updated throughout, the Third Edition of Commentaries and Cases on the Law of Business Organization continues to provide a refreshingly accessible economic analysis perspective. The distinguished team of authors introduces and explains economic concepts in a way... View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; Economics; Law

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2017
Working Paper

Creating the Market for Organic Wine: Sulfites, Certification, and Green Values

By: Geoffrey Jones and Emily Grandjean

This working paper examines the history of organic wine, which provides a case study of failed category creation. The modern organic wine industry emerged during the 1970s in the United States and Western Europe, but it struggled to gain traction compared to other... View Details

Keywords: Product Launch; Failure; Problems and Challenges; Complexity; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

SSRN

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2022
Chapter

Coordinating Marketing and Sales in B2B Organizations

By: Frank V. Cespedes

This Handbook is targeted at academics and graduate students who want an overview of the academic state of the business-to-business marketing domain and at B2B practitioners who want to be aware of the current state of knowledge in their domains. This chapter examines... View Details

Keywords: B2B Marketing; Marketing

09 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

It’s Time to Reset Decision-Making in Your Organization

[Editor’s note: This is the third installment of a continuing series on issues that 600 CEOs told us keeps them awake at night. Today's topic: The challenges of making organizational decisions in this uncertain environment.] While we may be living in unprecedented... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

Research Summary

Customer-Centricity as a Vehicle for Organic Growth

By: Ranjay Gulati

This body of work examines the mechanics of how firms grow profitably in commoditizing markets. Underlying the "customer-centricity" that many firms embrace today is a factor that will determine their success with this effort: enabling collaboration across... View Details

29 Sep 2020
Blog Post

New Life for Old Tech: Startup Provides Network Security Solutions for Obsolete Devices

specific legacy device. The company is one of 20 startups selected to compete in the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield. “Every organization has a really old device that they think they can’t part with. They feel a responsibility to keep it... View Details

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

A Perfect Fit: Aligning Organization & Strategy

when they report their findings. Our research shows that their assessment of the organization is valid and insightful. Senior executives have observed that having employees provide the feedback motivated... View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

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

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02 Aug 2017
What Do You Think?

Summing Up: Why Can’t Organizations Engage Their Employees?

Engaged workers are more productive. (iStock) iStock SUMMING UP: How Can We Prepare Leaders to Engage Their Associates? This month’s column elicited a number of reasons on why organizations around the world do such a poor job of engaging... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

06 Oct 2023
Book

Yes, You Can Radically Change Your Organization in One Week

provide business leaders with what they call “the secret memo” for quick, effective organizational change. The book, which is their third together, and Morriss’s recent TED Talk, are loaded with tactical tips and concrete examples from... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

30 Jan 2022
News

Rahul Bajaj: “To Provide Continuity, That Is What an Owner Does”

September 2013
Case

Management Levels at Staples (A): Company and Organization (Abridged)

By: David A. Garvin

Abridged version of one of six cases that describe the roles and responsibilities of managers at each of the hierarchical levels of management within the U.S. Stores business unit of Staples, the world's largest office supply company. Together, the cases form a... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Managerial Roles; Organizational Design; Management Practices and Processes; Job Design and Levels; Business Processes; Consumer Products Industry; United States