Publications

January 1996 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition

By: David J. Collis and Melinda B. Conrad

Bob Holland takes over as CEO of this iconoclastic ice cream company in February 1995 when it faces a major crisis. Holland must now develop a strategy that both adapts to the external environment and is consistent with the company's unique heritage. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Strategy; Adaptation; Crisis Management; Organizational Culture; Food and Beverage Industry

May 2014
Case

Groupon, Inc.

By: Krishna G. Palepu, Blythe J. McGarvie and James Weber

Internet coupon site "Groupon" grew revenues rapidly and went public, but struggled to impress investors or operate profitably. Did it have a sustainable business model? Groupon sold coupons called Groupons which purchasers used to acquire goods or services at... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Corporate Governance; Entrepreneurship; Financial Management; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Organizational Culture; Strategy; Web Services Industry; United States

04 Oct 2021
What Do You Think?

How Do We Make Sure the Right People End Up with Power in Organizations?

in his upcoming book, Win From Within: Build Organizational Culture for Competitive Advantage, available in January 2022. References: Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro, Power, for All: How It Really Works... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

18 Apr 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, April 18, 2018

though the effects vary with liberal/conservative ideological orientation. Polynomial regression analyses reveal that the fit relationship between individual and organizational political ideology deviates from the idealized congruence... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

How Hormones Foretell Whether People Will Cheat

of whether someone will behave unethically. Two, among those who do cheat, cheating reduces levels of the hormone associated with psychological stress. In other words, people may use cheating as a means of relieving stress. The good news is that corporate View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

15 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

GM: What Went Wrong and What’s Next

was not—doing. As company leaders rolled out this daring strategy, they also created an organizational structure and culture developed to support a multi-product, vertically integrated enterprise. By the mid... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Auto

August 2012
Case

Jess Westerly at Kauflauf GmbH

By: John J. Gabarro and Colleen Kaftan

Jess Westerly is the assistant product owner of CRM applications for computer and office supply wholesalers and retailers at Kauflauf, a fast-growing provider of subscription enterprise software headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany. Only months into her job, outsider... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Leading Change; Behavior; Salesforce Management; Social and Collaborative Networks; Planning; Web Services Industry; Germany

28 Jan 2020
Book

Advanced Leadership Requires More Than Outside-The-Box Thinking

innovation lie in moving outside the walls of disciplines and departments to help leaders gain the creativity of multiple perspectives so they could create high-impact social ventures, whether for-profit or not-for-profit. The issue isn’t the View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

30 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Are You Supporting Your B Players?

are unique because: They battle against what DeLong called a natural gravitational pull toward alienation within organizational life. "In other words, if you ignore your employees over time, they will start to feel left out and... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

October 2009 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Ingrid Johnson and Nedbank Business Banking

By: Michael Tushman and David Kiron

This case discusses the issue of leading change at the business banking division of Nedbank, a prominent South African bank, between 2005 and 2009. (This timeframe, beginning just 11 years after Apartheid's end, covers Ingrid Johnson's leadership of this division... View Details

Keywords: Leadership And Change Management; Leadership; Leading Change; Banks and Banking; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Change Management; Leadership Style; Banking Industry; South Africa

17 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

Amazon, Whole Foods Deal a Big Win for Consumers

Source: 400tmax Editor's Note. Online retailing behemoth Amazon announced June 16 that it would acquire upscale grocery chain Whole Foods Market in a deal valued at more than $13 billion. Though the company has dabbled with the idea of a brick-and-mortar footprint in... View Details

Keywords: by Jose Alvarez and Len Schlesinger; Retail

15 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Managing the Family Business: It Takes a Village

ultimate leader of the business, ownership, and family is the natural choice for most families (and most nonfamily groups) around the world. The preference for one leader seems only slightly culturally driven; it's very common in Italy,... View Details

February 2015
Case

BlackRock: Diversity as a Driver for Success

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly

In July 2014, the Global Executive Committee (GEC) for BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, held a two-day offsite to discuss the state of talent within the firm. A year prior, in 2013, Chairman and CEO Laurence (Larry) Fink had asked Global Head of HR Jeff... View Details

Keywords: Women And Leadership; Diversity; General Management; Leadership; Change Management; Human Capital; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Financial Services Industry; United States

22 Nov 2016
First Look

November 22, 2016

centuries of animosity. The “shadow of the law” relevant to the substance of the negotiation may be ill-defined or easily misunderstood. Finally, significant cultural differences may obscure common ground that could facilitate a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

How Leaders Can Navigate Politicized Conversations and Inspire Collaboration

New research sheds light on implications of using politically correct and incorrect speech and identifies five techniques to increase persuasiveness and diffuse conflict. Insights from two recent studies in an emerging field—the psychology of conversation—are aimed at... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

18 Nov 2002
Research & Ideas

Where Morals and Profits Meet: The Corporate Value Shift

a "turn to values,"—focusing on ethics, values, and examining company culture—but for varied reasons including risk management, organizational functioning, market positioning, and civic positioning. In your view, do you expect... View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

16 May 2005
Research & Ideas

Nonprofit Networking: The New Way to Grow

always lead to the benefits the organizations had anticipated. For example, many organizations anticipated that fundraising would be easier once they were larger. In fact, fundraising did not necessarily become easier with organizational... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

27 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

How Remote Work Changes What We Think About Onboarding

New-Employee Orientation Cultural Disharmony Undermines Workplace Creativity How New BofA Executives Learn its ’Deep Smarts’ What do companies not understand about onboarding? Share your insights below. View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg

February 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Roche's Acquisition of Genentech

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Bo Becker and Vincent Marie Dessain

Franz Humer, CEO of the Roche Group, must decide whether to mount a hostile tender offer for the publicly-owned shares of Roche's biotechnology subsidiary, Genentech. The case provides opportunities to analyze Roche's strategy with respect to Genentech, the pros and... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Subsidiaries; Negotiation Offer; Organizational Culture; Corporate Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Switzerland