Publications

12 May 2015
News

A Flash of Insight

When American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center on the bright, sunny morning of September 11, 2001, it set off a chain of dark events that would kill 3,000 people and change forever the way many Americans... View Details

Keywords: Robert S. Benchley; 9/11; Hospitals; Health, Social Assistance

January 2023
Case

Thomas Buberl: Refounding AXA

By: Hubert Joly, Mihir Desai and Amram Migdal

In 2022, AXA and its CEO Thomas Buberl faced new types of challenges, including systemic risks such as climate change, geopolitical instability, public health crises, and social tensions caused by economic risks. AXA was one of the world’s largest insurers. Since... View Details

April 2018
Case

Cisco Systems and OpenDNS: Strategic Integration

By: Andy Wu, George Gonzalez and David Wang

With more than 72,000 employees and revenues approaching the $50B mark, Cisco Systems is one of the largest information technology and networking firms globally. As the company grew and expanded into different lines of businesses, Cisco consistently looked outwards for... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Corporate Strategy; Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Information Technology Industry

July 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Case

Diageo and East African Breweries Ltd.: Tapping New Markets for Social Good

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Matthew Bird

James Musyoki, Lemmy Mutahi, and Ken Kariuki, all from East African Breweries Limited (EABL), a subsidiary of London-based Diageo, heard the disheartening news in the first week of December 2008. For the second time in six months, the Kenyan Finance Ministry had raised... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Innovation and Management; Emerging Markets; Taxation; Price; Food and Beverage Industry; Kenya; United Kingdom

September 2000 (Revised April 2001)
Case

Kana Communications

Kana is a young Internet software company wondering how it should react to the rapid emergence of Application Service Providers (ASPs), firms that host software applications for customers who can reach those via the Internet. ASPs may be a new channel of distribution... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Distribution Channels; Web Services Industry

16 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Weighing Digital Tradeoffs in Private Equity

When private equity (PE) firms buy a company, they typically follow a standard playbook to create value—streamlining operations, restructuring debt, changing management, and cutting costs. However, as digital technologies and artificial... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

2023
Other Unpublished Work

If 3 Was 9

By: Randolph B. Cohen

One determinant of where economies and markets are headed is how well we handle the climate crisis. Headlines on the climate tend to emphasize two points. First, average global temps are rising, with it being the hottest summer in 1,000 centuries per some estimates.... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Measurement and Metrics

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Article

What to Do When Industry Disruption Threatens Your Career

By: Boris Groysberg, Eric Lin and Whitney Johnson

This article discusses how to diagnose the risks that disruptive industry forces pose to individual careers and offers suggestions on how to mitigate such threats. Recommendations are based on analyses of individuals’ career histories in the professional services... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Personal Development and Career; Strategy

Article

Good Markets (Really Do) Make Good Neighbors

By: Scott Duke Kominers

This article gives a (very) brief exposition of what market design is, along with four examples of market design in action. Loosely themed after Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall,” the examples demonstrate ways in which market design can break barriers—physical,... View Details

Keywords: Market Design; Economics; Theory; Change; Society

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February 2018
Teaching Note

Still Leading Series—Issues in Transitioning to New Forms of Service Later in Life

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Rakesh Khurana, James Honan and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

The Still Leading case series includes an introductory note, “Still Leading (A): Issues in Transitioning to New Forms of Service Later in Life” and 10 supplementary cases that cover the transition of highly accomplished and prolific leaders (Hon. Robert McDonald, Hon.... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Transition

September 18, 2017
Article

Should You Agitate, Innovate, or Orchestrate?

By: Julie Battilana and Marissa Kimsey

The article provides a framework for understanding the roles that individuals and organizations can play in a movement for social change. View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Social Issues; Change

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2015
Chapter

Corporate and Integrated Reporting: A Functional Perspective

By: Robert G. Eccles and George Serafeim

In this chapter, we present the two primary functions of corporate reporting (information and transformation) and why currently isolated financial and sustainability reporting are not likely to effectively perform these functions. We describe the concept of integrated... View Details

Keywords: Information; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Transformation

SSRN

September 2007
Case

Still Leading (B9): Hon. Colin Powell—A Portfolio for Powerful Impact

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Lance P. Pierce

Describes the post-career leadership issues for former General and Secretary of State Colin Powell. View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Transition; Leadership; Public Administration Industry

1995
Book

Leading Product Development: The Senior Manager's Guide to Creating and Shaping the Enterprise

By: S. C. Wheelwright and K. B. Clark

Keywords: Leading Change; Product Development

Find at Harvard

01 Oct 2018
News

Larry Culp Jr. Named New GE Chairman And CEO

October 2019
Case

Engaging the Nationwide Workforce

By: Ethan S. Bernstein, Jessica Gover and Sarah Mehta

Nationwide is “on your side,” but did employees feel that way? CAO Gale King and CEO Steve Rasmussen, starting in 2008, invested heavily in a human capital strategy centered around “engagement” at the Ohio-based Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. Set in 2014, this... View Details