Publications

05 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

Business and the Global Poor

interests align? Kash Rangan: At its core, the private sector has always been about value creation—producing goods and services valued by consumers, generating employment, and delivering profits for... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

28 May 2024
In Practice

Job Search Advice for a Tough Market: Think Broadly and Stay Flexible

is that the types of skills needed are constantly evolving, so many employers prefer workers with a strong foundation in a variety of skills. This allows them to learn quickly and adapt to whatever new... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

27 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

Want a Happy Customer? Coordinate Sales and Marketing

technology, operations, finance, etc.), different levels in the customer's organizational hierarchy, and different customer regional and line of business organizations.... View Details

Keywords: by Benson Shapiro

21 Jun 2010
Research & Ideas

Strategy and Execution for Emerging Markets

entrepreneurs in these countries to build the future. And from an intellectual perspective, emerging markets provide a lab for scholars because everything we know about management needs to be reexamined in a new context: Are ideas about... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

01 Dec 2020
News

Steady as She Goes

120,000 employees came to work concerned that best-available safety protocols would not be enough to protect them from a little-understood novel coronavirus. “But now it has evolved into a real moment of pride for us,” Weckert reflects. “We are an essential service... View Details

Keywords: April White; COVID-19; change management; leadership; women; grocery stores; Food and Beverage Stores; Food and Beverage Stores

Article

Frame Flexibility: The Role of Cognitive and Emotional Framing in Innovation Adoption by Incumbent Firms

By: Ryan Raffaelli, Mary Ann Glynn and Michael Tushman

Why do incumbent firms frequently reject nonincremental innovations? Beyond technical, structural, or economic factors, we propose an additional factor: the degree of the top management team's (TMT) frame flexibility, i.e., their capability to cognitively expand an... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Adoption; Cognition; Framing; Emotional Resonance; Incumbent Inertia; Innovation and Invention; Technology Adoption; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management

Find at Harvard

15 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Connecting Goals and Go-To-Market Initiatives

development, incentives, people management, developing a performance culture, and sustaining that culture in the face of inevitable market changes that are often outside the control of the selling company.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

2011
Other Unpublished Work

Functional Centralization and the Division of Labor in Management

By: Julie Wulf, Maria Guadalupe and Hongyi Li

This paper shows that the trend towards flatter hierarchies in large US firms since the mid-80's has been accompanied by increased centralization of activities at the top of the organization. In particular, the number of functional managers (e.g., Chief Financial... View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation; Management Teams; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Diversification; Information Technology; United States

November 1993 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Rudi Gassner and the Executive Committee of BMG International (A)

By: Linda Hill and Katherine Seger Weber

Explores the roles of CEO Rudi Gassner and the 9-person executive committee in leading BMG International. BMG International is the international music subsidiary of Bertlesmann, a German company that is the second-largest media conglomerate in the world. Describes a... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Management Teams; Decision Making; Business Plan; Growth and Development Strategy; Global Strategy; Leadership Style; Organizational Culture; Business Subsidiaries; Business Conglomerates; Cost Management; Change Management; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Germany

Web

IT Strategy: Building and Fostering Our Community and Culture | Information Technology

IT Strategy: Building and Fostering Our Community and Culture Strategic Initiative: 5.01 Build and Foster Community and Culture Across HBS IT By... View Details

October 1991 (Revised June 1992)
Case

Nigel Andrews and General Electric Plastics (A)

Describes some critical challenges involved in creating employee empowerment. In the context of General Electric's efforts to debureaucratise the company, employees were encouraged to become more "self-confident". This effort, called "Workout," was introduced all over... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Employees; Manufacturing Industry; United States

February 1996
Case

CIGNA Property and Casualty Reengineering (B)

By: Richard L. Nolan, Donna B. Stoddard, Chiara Francalanci and Elise C Martin

In 1993 CIGNA Property and Casualty embarked on a full transformation effort under a new leadership team headed by Gerry Isom. This case presents progress through September 1995. View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Leading Change; Organizational Design; Groups and Teams

October 2007 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Engineering a Renaissance: The Launch of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Dean Venky of the newly launched School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is faced with a range of opportunities and challenges as he presides over the launching of a new school of engineering at Harvard University. His opportunities include an ample endowment, a... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Engineering; Leading Change; Product Launch; Service Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Alliances; Competitive Strategy

12 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Operations and the Competitive Edge

Could you give us a snapshot of the general challenges and opportunities in each of these three areas? A: The basic theme of the book is that there isn't "one best way" to do anything—whether it's creating an View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

September 2023 (Revised October 2023)
Case

Ghassan Nuqul and the Nuqul Group: Preserving a Father's Legacy

By: Christina R. Wing, Lauren Cohen and Alpana Thapar

The Nuqul Group was established in 1952 by Elia Nuqul, a Palestinian refugee who fled his hometown in 1948 with his family to Jordan. He overcame many hardships in his initial years there, but subsequently started a trading business that grew to become one of Jordan’s... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Family Ownership; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Succession; Jordan

October 2013
Teaching Note

Teaching Note IBM and the Reinvention of High School (B): Replicating & Scaling P-TECH and Partners

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Keywords: Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Education; Innovation and Invention; Education Industry; United States

Battered by contracting markets and frozen credit, many businesses today are fighting for survival. Indeed, the current global financial crisis provides a mandate for restructuring. But survival is not the end goal. In fact, cost cutting and restructuring are simply... View Details

2009
Chapter

Entry, Exit and Labour Productivity in U.K. Retailing: Evidence from Micro Data

By: Jonathan Haskel and Raffaella Sadun

The paper investigates the U.K. retail sector using store and firm-level data between 1998 and 2003. First, we present the first exhaustive description of the U.K. retail sector using micro data sources. Second, in the spirit of Foster, Haltiwanger, and Krizan (2002),... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Market Entry and Exit; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Productivity; Retail Industry; United Kingdom

June 2013 (Revised March 2016)
Case

Estonia: Transition, EU Membership, and the Euro

By: Michael E. Porter, Christian Ketels and Örjan Sölvell

The case discusses the economic development of Estonia, covering specifically the period from regaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 until 2015. It tracks the process from the initial transition towards a market economy to becoming an EU member country,... View Details

Keywords: Economy; Macroeconomics; Microeconomics; Policy; Government and Politics; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Estonia