Publications

Nitin Nohria served as the tenth dean of Harvard Business School from 2010-2020. He previously served as co-chair of the Leadership Initiative, Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Development, and Head of the Organizational Behavior unit.

As Dean, building on... View Details

2007
Working Paper

Competition in Modular Clusters

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and C. Jason Woodard

The last twenty years have witnessed the rise of disaggregated "clusters," "networks," or "ecosystems" of firms. In these clusters the activities of R&D, product design, production, distribution, and system integration may be split up among hundreds or even thousands... View Details

Keywords: Price; Profit; Digital Platforms; Industry Clusters; Competition; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration

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2014
Working Paper

Handshaking Promotes Cooperative Dealmaking

By: Juliana Schroeder, Jane Risen, Francesca Gino and Michael I. Norton

Humans use subtle sources of information—like nonverbal behavior—to determine whether to act cooperatively or antagonistically when they negotiate. Handshakes are particularly consequential nonverbal gestures in negotiations because people feel comfortable initiating... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Tactics; Cooperation; Societal Protocols

SSRN

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July 1993 (Revised April 1999)
Case

ABB's Relays Business: Building and Managing a Global Matrix

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Describes the development and management of the relays business area (BA) in ABB's global matrix organization. Focuses on three levels of management--corporate, BA, and operating company. Highlights the roles and responsibilities of individuals at each level as ABB... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Business or Company Management; Business Strategy; Organizational Structure; Managerial Roles; Management Practices and Processes; Employees; Organizational Culture; Success; Manufacturing Industry

August 2019
Case

Walmart's Omnichannel Strategy: Revolution or Miscalculation?

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

This case describes Walmart's omnichannel strategy in 2018 as it battled Amazon for online retail market share. The case discusses Walmart's early forays into online retail, as well as its 2018 strategy, which aimed to integrate Walmart's enormous brick and mortar... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Competition; Retail Industry; Bentonville; Arkansas; New Jersey; Seattle; United States

Research Summary

Overview

We are studying the practical application of Michael Porter's value-based strategy to reform health care by examining best practices of integrated practice units, outcome measurement, cost measurement, value-based payment, episode based payment, regionalization of... View Details

August 2024
Case

Zipline: Expanding the World's Largest Autonomous Drone Delivery Network

By: Tarun Khanna and George Gonzalez

Zipline initially established the world's largest logistics network in Rwanda and Ghana by delivering medical supplies to hospitals via automated drones from a centralized hub. The company is now looking to expand to the U.S. home delivery market and designed a... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Logistics; Expansion; Air Transportation; Business Model; Rwanda; Ghana; United States

August 2004 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Allianz (D1): The Turnaround

By: Joseph L. Bower, Anders Sjoman and Sonja Ellingson Hout

Examines the acquisition of Dresdner Bank by Allianz--the deal of the year in 2002. Examines some of the challenges posed by the turnaround of Dresdner as seen by Michael Diekmann, the new CEO of Allianz. In working with Dresdner, Allianz needed to figure out what it... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Financial Institutions; Investment Banking; Brands and Branding; Product Development; Organizational Structure; Problems and Challenges

August 1974 (Revised March 1986)
Case

Architects Collaborative, Inc.

Although internationally recognized for quality design, the collaborative's billings have been on a plateau for four years and they are losing jobs to architects with sophisticated marketing practices. The main issue is how marketing can be integrated into a design... View Details

Keywords: Design; Marketing Strategy; Creativity; Service Industry

March 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Case

LULA: Transforming Transport and Mobility (A)

By: Siko Sikochi and Hayley (Le) Ma

Based in Cape Town, LULA was founded to create and operate a Mobility-as-a-Service platform with the aim to integrate different modes of transport through a one-ticket solution. LULA was “easy” in isiZulu, a language spoken in South Africa. Yet, it wasn’t easy for LULA... View Details

Keywords: Mobility; Transportation; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities; South Africa

Awa Ambra Seck is an Assistant Professor in the View Details

Research Summary

Performance Management Systems

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Kaplan's research on performance management systems includes further applications of strategy maps and The Balanced Scorecard for effective strategy execution. His recent research... View Details

August 2018 (Revised July 2019)
Background Note

Conducting a Kaizen

By: Willy Shih

Kaizen, meaning change for the better in Japanese, is a set of activities directed at improving standardized work, equipment, and procedures for carrying out daily production or other business operations. It was popularized by Toyota as an integral part of its Toyota... View Details

Keywords: Best Practices; Continuous Improvement; Kaizen; Process Improvement; 5S; Muda; Toyota Production System; Production; Service Operations; Performance Improvement; North and Central America; Asia; Japan

February 2009 (Revised November 2016)
Exercise

Congo River Basin Project: Role for Dr. Beni

By: Kathleen L. McGinn, Anne Starks Acosta, Deborah M. Kolb and Cailin B. Hammer

The director of a research coalition and the founder/coordinator of an NGO consortium meet to discuss the possibility of jointly drafting a proposal for an integrated research and development project in the Congo River basin. Approved projects will receive an annual... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Negotiation Process; Projects; Research and Development; Non-Governmental Organizations; Cooperation; Congo Basin

04 Jun 2013
News

Corporate sustainability is not sustainable

September 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Dream: Impact Through Real Estate

By: Michael Chu and John Masko

The Canadian city of Toronto had one of the largest housing affordability problems of any city in the developed world. One company trying to address this problem was Dream, one of the largest real estate groups in Canada. In 2021, Dream had just launched a new system... View Details