Publications

August 2020
Teaching Note

Sesame Workshop (B): Celebrating 50 Years of Helping Kids Grow Smarter, Stronger, and Kinder

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joyce J. Kim

Teaching Note for Case No. 321-015. In 2019, Sesame Workshop celebrated its 50th anniversary while on a winning streak of social impact, innovation, and peak media and financial results. Over the past four years, CEO Jeff Dunn and his turnaround team exhibited... View Details

Keywords: Social Impact; Innovation; Television; Children; Media; Television Entertainment; Education; Innovation and Invention; Change Management; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Education Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

2015
Chapter

How Leaders Use Values-based Guidance Systems to Create Dynamic Capabilities

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Matthew Bird, Ethan Bernstein and Ryan Raffaelli

How do strategic leaders create change-adept organizations? Based on qualitative field research, this chapter argues that well-defined institutionalized purpose, values, and principles act as an organizational guidance system that integrates and strengthens the... View Details

Keywords: Dynamic Capabilities; Field Research; Intrinsic Motivation; Organizational Identity; Ecosystem; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Motivation and Incentives; Research; Management Systems; Change

Find at Harvard

November 1992 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Process Control at Polaroid (A)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Steven C. Wheelwright

Describes the initial efforts at a film production plant to shift from a traditional QC inspection mentality to a worker-based process control mentality. Students can prepare SPC charts, propose actions needed, and combine steps into an overall action plan. View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Operations; Quality; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Processes; Change Management; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry

June 1992 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Concordia Casting Company

By: F. Warren McFarlan

Describes five years of development in a centralized data processing activity serving a highly decentralized corporation. Data processing manager discovers that a major software system conversion is a full year behind schedule, and subsequently makes several managerial... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Applications and Software; System; Information Technology; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Human Resources; Conflict and Resolution; Supply Chain Management; Accounting; Auto Industry

09 Jul 2019
News

The Road to Impact

Rwanda. In 2008, the government of Rwanda changed the language of instruction from French to English, which presented a problem, he says, because many of the instructors did not speak English, including the teacher whose class he visited.... View Details

Keywords: Lisa Scanlon Mogolov; Educational Support Services; Educational Services; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Health, Social Assistance

1993
Chapter

The Law of the Sea Conference: Lessons for Negotiations to Control Global Warming

By: James K. Sebenius

Keywords: Negotiation; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Agreements and Arrangements; International Relations

September 2007 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Still Leading (B2): Hon. Michael Bloomberg—From Mogul to Mayor

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Lance Pierce

Describes how New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg took his leadership skills from the business world to the challenges of government. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Leading Change; Personal Development and Career; Government and Politics; Transition; New York (city, NY)

May 2005
Supplement

Otis Elevator: An Interview with Ari Bousbib (video)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Brian DeLacey

CEO Ari Bousbib talks about how IT is transforming Otis and the practical challenges they are overcoming. Visibly demonstrates what appropriate CEO involvement is in an IT-enabled business transformation. View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Construction Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry

February 2004 (Revised November 2004)
Case

Golden Age of Home Video Games, The: From the Reign of Atari to the Rise of Nintendo

Details events in the home video-game industry from the late 1970s until the early 1990s. Tells the story of the rise and fall of Atari Corp., the dominant player in arcade and home video games in the 1970s and early 1980s. During this period, Atari became the fastest... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Value Creation; Change Management; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Video Game Industry

October 2010
Case

The iPhone at IVK

By: Richard L. Nolan and Robert D. Austin

The CIO addresses a decision to replace salesmen netbook PC's with iPhones, including converting the company's sales and customer applications to the iPhone platform View Details

Keywords: Mobile and Wireless Technology; Digital Platforms; Salesforce Management; Transition; Technology Adoption; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Change Management

01 Mar 2014
News

3-Minute Briefing: Frank Blethen (PMD 35, 1978)

growth of female athletes in amateur sports, we found that sexual abuse of these young, female athletes by male coaches was quite widespread. It was an incredible series that changed the reporting laws in Washington State. PRACTICING... View Details

Keywords: Hanna, Julia; Seattle Times Company; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information; Information

08 Aug 2018
News

Getting Life Back in Balance

wife also tend to 20 sheep, two alpacas, three dogs, and a cat. The couple grow their own produce and are awaiting the spoils of a recently planted truffle orchard. Gower says his time at HBS gave him the clarity to take that leap and View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Myers

16 Sep 2015
News

Built for Speed

path toward peace and sustainable change than just a good business idea. “I mean, I almost cried uncle 10 times in the first month.” “I mean, I almost cried uncle 10 times in the first month.” Making things that move was in his DNA. His... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; Machinery Manufacturing; Manufacturing

01 Dec 2020
News

In Review

rest of Harvard? We have fundamentally changed Harvard Business School’s engagement with the rest of the University. It began with the i-Lab, which helped catalyze the entrepreneurial energy that exists across the entire University. The... View Details

June 2005
Case

Transformation of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. 2005 (A)

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Yukihiko Endo

The company, once an outstanding Japan-based global leader in electronics and major appliances, suffered poor performance during the 1990s. Kunio Nakamura became CEO in 2001 and sought to transform the company in a fundamental way. Examines the company's history,... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Business History; Leading Change; Management Systems; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Performance Improvement; Electronics Industry; Japan