Publications

SSRN

January–February 2014
Article

Building a Game-Changing Talent Strategy

By: Douglas A. Ready, Linda A. Hill and Robert J. Thomas

When most of the world's financial services giants were stumbling and retrenching in the aftermath of the 2008 recession, the asset management firm BlackRock was busy charting a course for growth. Its revenues, profits, and stock price all performed consistently... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Success; Business Strategy; Financial Crisis; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

18 Sep 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Institutional Strategies in Emerging Markets

Keywords: by Christopher Marquis & Mia Raynard

May 2016 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Pal's Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth

By: Gary P. Pisano, Francesca Gino and Bradley R. Staats

Pal's Sudden Service has developed a unique operating model and organizational culture in the quick service restaurant business. With a deep emphasis on process control and improvement, zero defects, extensive training, and a high level of employee engagement, Pal's... View Details

Keywords: Growth Strategy; Corporate Culture; Operations Strategy; Motivation; Values; Motivation and Incentives; Strategy; Values and Beliefs; Service Operations; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

19 Jan 2022
News

Author Talks: How to Gain a Competitive Edge with Organizational Culture

02 Jun 2010
What Do You Think?

How Do You Weigh Strategy, Execution, and Culture in an Organization’s Success?

sustainable without a framework of cultural values and rules." Drew Williamson pictured the relationship as "a virtuous circle that can break at any of the three points. It starts with a happy, innovative View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

08 Apr 2002
Research & Ideas

How to Negotiate “Yes” Across Cultural Boundaries

Cultural differences can influence business negotiations in significant and unexpected ways, as many a hapless dealmaker has learned. In some cases, it's a matter of ignorance or blatant disrespect, as with the American salesman who... View Details

Keywords: by James K. Sebenius

12 Jun 2024
News

How Booking.com Sustains a Culture of Innovation

October 2010 (Revised June 2014)
Case

Volkswagen do Brasil: Driving Strategy with the Balanced Scorecard

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

A new management team at VW do Brazil develops and deploys a strategy map and Balanced Scorecard to accomplish a turnaround and cultural change after eight consecutive years of financial losses and market share declines. The team uses the strategy map to align... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Developing Countries and Economies; Management Teams; Leadership; Balanced Scorecard; Strategic Planning; Balance and Stability; Motivation and Incentives; Communication Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Auto Industry; Brazil; Germany

April 2011
Article

Strategies for Learning from Failure

By: Amy C. Edmondson

Many executives believe that all failure is bad (although it usually provides lessons)--and that learning from it is pretty straightforward. The author, a professor at Harvard Business School, thinks both beliefs are misguided. In organizational life, she says, some... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Leadership; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Failure; Opportunities

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October 2016 (Revised July 2017)
Case

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra: Cultural Entrepreneurship

By: Rohit Deshpande and Annelena Lobb

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (LA Phil), under the leadership of Deborah Borda, had enjoyed great successes in the 2000s and 2010s, even as other U.S. orchestras faltered. The architecturally acclaimed Walt Disney Concert Hall had opened its doors. The... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Arts; Music Entertainment; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Music Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Los Angeles

January 2014 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Building a Social Media Culture at Dell

By: Rohit Deshpandé and Michael Norris

As Michael Dell refocused his newly-private company on services and solutions, the entire corporation was pushed to embrace social media. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Marketing Strategy; Social Media; Technology Industry; United States

31 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Japan Disaster Shakes Up Supply-Chain Strategies

The full cultural and sociological aftershocks of the earthquake in Japan—the worst disaster to hit the country since World War II—are washing like a tsunami across many industries as manufacturers and their customers scramble to replace... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Auto; Technology; Computer; Electronics

2011
Working Paper

Collaborating across Cultures: Cultural Metacognition & Affect-Based Trust in Creative Collaboration

By: Roy Y.J. Chua, Michael W. Morris and Shira Mor

We propose that managers' awareness of their own and others' cultural assumptions (cultural metacognition) enables them to develop affect-based trust with associates from different cultures, promoting creative collaboration. Study 1, a multi-rater assessment of... View Details

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Knowledge Sharing; Managerial Roles; Creativity; Prejudice and Bias; Social and Collaborative Networks; Trust; Cooperation

January 2013
Case

Zappos.com 2009: Clothing, Customer Service, and Company Culture (MM)

By: Frances X. Frei and Robin J. Ely

On July 17, 2009, Zappos.com, a privately-held online retailer of shoes, clothing, and other soft-line retail categories, learned that Amazon.com, a $19 billion multinational online retailer, had won its Board of Directors' approval to offer to merge the two companies.... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Internet and the Web; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

2009
Working Paper

Assess, Don't Assume, Part I: Etiquette and National Culture in Negotiation

By: James K. Sebenius

When facing a cross-border negotiation, the standard preparatory assessments -- of the parties, their interests, their no-deal options, opportunities for and barriers to creating and claiming value, the most promising sequence and process design, etc. -- should be... View Details

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Negotiation Process; Societal Protocols; Competitive Advantage; Cooperation

December 2023
Case

Davivienda Bank's Upskilling and Reskilling Strategy in Colombia

By: Jorge Tamayo, Raffaella Sadun and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago

Set in 2022, this case describes the digital transformation strategy of Davivienda— a leading player in Colombia’s commercial banking and one of the companies belonging to Grupo Bolívar, a major Colombian financial conglomerate—and the bank’s upskilling and reskilling... View Details

09 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Location, Location, Location: The Strategy of Place

around town, firms operating in these types of highly competitive environments need to maintain strong internal linkages between units and create a culture of collaboration among workers across distances, according to the working paper... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Article

Four Ways to Build a Productive Sales Culture

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Steven Maughan

This article distinguishes sales efficiency (SE) initiatives (e.g., CRM, training, and KPI dashboards) from sales optimization (SO) decisions (e.g., aligning sales tasks with business strategy, customer selection, and deployment of sales resources across... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Sales