Publications

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2020
Book

Think Outside the Building: How Advanced Leaders Can Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Over a decade ago, renowned innovation expert Rosabeth Moss Kanter co-founded and then directed Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative. Her breakthrough work with hundreds of successful professionals and executives, as well as aspiring young entrepreneurs, identifies... View Details

Keywords: Leaders; Advanced Leadership; Advanced Leadership Initiative; Community; Change Leadership; Innovation; Problem Solving; Cross-sector Collaboration; Institutional Change; Leadership; Change; Leading Change; Communication; Innovation Leadership; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business and Community Relations; Civil Society or Community

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16 Feb 2018
Video

Sachin Jain: Pursuing Revolutionary Change

2022
Book

Win from Within: Build Organizational Culture for Competitive Advantage

By: James Heskett

There is significant evidence that an effective organizational culture provides a major competitive edge—higher levels of employee and customer engagement and loyalty translate into higher growth and profits. Many business leaders know this, yet few are doing much to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Competitive Advantage; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership

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2025
Working Paper

Threat and Assimilation: Evidence from Refugees in Germany

By: Philipp Jaschke, Sulin Sardoschau and Marco Tabellini

This paper studies the effects of local threat on the cultural assimilation and economic integration of refugees, exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in their allocation across German regions between 2013 and 2016. We use representative survey data and... View Details

Keywords: Assimilation; Threat Hypothesis; Migration; Cultural Change; Refugees; Culture; Identity; Germany

01 Dec 2008
News

Designing Change

Stecker. “Muzak has a huge music library, and many employees came to the company because they love music. Making music an integral, daily aspect of company culture enabled employees to better deliver on their goal of creating value for... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Breaking the Code of Change

reorganized itself around a market by function matrix structure intended to focus on customers. Compensation systems were aligned with culture change objectives. A skill-based pay system was installed in all... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer & Nitin Nohria

15 Nov 2024
News

Driving Change

and other pressing issues. The diverse audience emphasized the universal nature of the challenges and opportunities facing women in business today, while fostering rich discussions across cultural and generational lines. Dean Srikant... View Details

February 2020 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Managing Blackout at Aluminum Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) (A)

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Gamze Yücaoğlu and Youssef Abdel Aal

The case opens in 2017 as Tim Murray, CEO of Aluminum Bahrain (Alba), the largest single-site aluminum smelter in the world outside China and a major contributor to the Bahraini economy, was contemplating the recovery options as the company was facing the most severe... View Details

Keywords: Aluminum; General Management; Cultural Change; Change Management; Crisis Management; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Safety; Leadership; Emerging Markets; Bahrain; Middle East

12 Apr 2023
News

Step Change

startup scene. In addition to moving home, she'd had open heart surgery and changed jobs several times. Meanwhile, Egypt had become a hotbed of startup activity. Last fall, Enan stepped into the role of partner at San Francisco-based VC... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; entrepreneurship; women; venture capital; Egypt; developing economies; Finance

June 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Suzhou Good-Ark Electronics: Creating and Implementing a Sage Culture

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Nien-he Hsieh, Susan J. Winterberg, Nancy Hua Dai and Shalene Gupta

Suzhou Good-Ark, a Chinese semiconductor implemented "Sage Culture" management based on traditional Chinese philosophy. Productivity doubled, turnover decreased, and employee satisfaction shot up. By 2015, more than 2,000 companies had toured Wu’s factories, and Wu had... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Philosophy; Leadership; Management Style; Organizational Culture; Transformation; Performance; Semiconductor Industry; China; Singapore

01 Mar 2013
News

Making Change

must learn the ins and outs of a specific client, sector, and geography. This involves understanding how decisions are made, the culture of the decision-makers, and the historical context of the topic. We learn to push boundaries and... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; housing; gay rights; diabesity; disability; Construction of Buildings; Construction; Educational Services; Social Assistance; Health, Social Assistance; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information; Real Estate

17 Sep 2019
Cold Call Podcast

How a New Leader Broke Through a Culture of Accuse, Blame, and Criticize

Keywords: Re: Amy C. Edmondson; Health

September 2003
Case

Driving Change at Seagate

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Douglas A Raymond and Lyn Baranowski

A new CEO, Steve Luczo, together with COO Bill Watkins, have led a turnaround of Seagate, raising productivity dramatically and increasing innovation through teamwork, cross-functional collaboration, and other transformations in the culture of this manufacturer of disk... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Transformation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Groups and Teams; Performance Productivity; Initial Public Offering; Going Public; Information Technology Industry

Portrait Project

Leo Chang

Cultural Revolution. My baton is dusty from my parents' long journey to America, where the former engineers humbly washed dishes and delivered takeout on a loaned bicycle to make ends meet. Every time I put on a suit, present in a... View Details

September 2013
Case

Vogue: Defining the Culture of Fashion

By: Anita Elberse, Joseph Ferrer, Elizabeth Gough and Victoria Katsarou

In March 2013, Susan Plagemann, vice president and publisher of Vogue—widely regarded as the world's most influential fashion magazine, and publishing conglomerate Condé Nast's marquee title—is seeking answers to two questions. First, how she can best approach the... View Details

Keywords: Creative Industries; Fashion; Publishing; Digital Technology; Entertainment; Product Portfolio Management; Magazines; Journals and Magazines; Internet and the Web; Change Management; Resource Allocation; Creativity; Media; Advertising; Fashion Industry; Publishing Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

15 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

Women Leaders and Organizational Change

risky—read: highly masculine—workplace, or, at least they have traditionally been. What we have learned to our astonishment, however, is that, over the past ten years, these workplaces have undergone a self-conscious change in View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

Research Summary

Cultural Entrepreneurship and the Business of the Arts

By: Rohit Deshpande

A more recent research program focuses on creating and managing ventures connected with the arts and culture. This research extends the concept of Customer-Centricity into the context of Audience Engagement. This primarily case-based work explores how successful... View Details

February 2020
Case

Leading Change in Talent at L'Oréal

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Vincent Dessain and Emer Moloney

Jean-Claude Le Grand just stepped into a new role as Executive Vice-President for Human Resources at the global cosmetics company, L’Oréal. He is now responsible for the hiring, development, promotion, and retention of 83,000 employees worldwide. The highly successful... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Business Headquarters; Business Divisions; Business Organization; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Competency and Skills; Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Demographics; Diversity; Gender; Nationality; Multinational Firms and Management; Human Resources; Employees; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Management; Jobs and Positions; Employment; Human Capital; Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Personal Development and Career; Planning; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Networks; Social Psychology; Attitudes; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Business Strategy; Advertising Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; France; Paris