Publications

15 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

The New Global Business Manager

in the multinational company's organizational capability. And that is where the role of the global manager is shaped. We argued that companies should not define this as an offline specialist role, but neither must they try to make... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

Article

The Business Case for Curiosity

By: Francesca Gino

Although leaders might say they value inquisitive minds, in reality most stifle curiosity, fearing it will increase risk and inefficiency. Harvard Business School’s Francesca Gino elaborates on the benefits of and common barriers to curiosity in the workplace and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Employees; Creativity; Cognition and Thinking; Learning; Decision Making; Performance Effectiveness

Find at Harvard

Register to Read

November 2008 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Nestle

By: David E. Bell and Mary Louise Shelman

In April 2008, Paul Bulcke took over as CEO of the world's largest food and beverage company. His predecessor, Peter Brabeck, had delivered 12 years of outstanding results while moving the company toward a new vision of health, nutrition, and wellness. Bulcke's... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Organizational Culture; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

November 2005
Case

Michael Ovitz and The Walt Disney Company (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Alexis Chernak

Faced with the need to hire a new president, The Walt Disney Co. pursued Michael Ovitz, a founder of the Creative Artist Agency. Although initially disinterested, Ovitz engaged in negotiations with Michael Eisner, CEO of The Walt Disney Co., in the summer of 1995... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Management Teams; Selection and Staffing; Negotiation; Organizational Culture

December 1997 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Merck Sharp & Dohme Argentina, Inc. (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Hal Hogan

Describes the efforts of the new managing director of Merck's subsidiary for Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay to transform the organization and its culture. Focuses on a critical decision: whether to offer the son of a high-ranking official in the government's national... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Ethics; Decision Making; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Leadership; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Conflict of Interests; Argentina; Uruguay; Paraguay

January 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Uncle Nearest: Creating a Legacy

By: Hise Gibson, Archie L. Jones, Nicole Gilmore and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Fawn Weaver, as a Black woman and industry outsider in a capital-intensive, highly regulated, competitive and male-dominated spirits industry, successfully overcame numerous obstacles to launch a premium American whiskey brand, Uncle Nearest in 2017, which became the... View Details

2019
Book

Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation

By: Gary P. Pisano

Creative Construction tackles the myth that larger enterprises are inherently incapable of transformative innovation and are doomed to be disrupted by nimble start-ups. If larger enterprises seem incapable of transformative innovation, it is due to how we design... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Business Growth and Maturation; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Culture; Management Systems; Creativity; Leading Change

Find at Harvard

05 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

The Accidental Innovator

spore of Penicillium notatum to drop on my culture plate... When I saw certain changes, I had not the slightest suspicion that I was at the beginning of something extraordinary.... That same mould might have dropped on [any one] of my... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

April 2023 (Revised September 2023)
Case

Levels: The Remote, Asynchronous, Deep Work Management System

By: Joseph B. Fuller and George Gonzalez

Levels is a highly innovative startup in the health care space. They intend to revolutionize health by linking behavior—eating, exercise, sleeping, etc.—to changes in metabolism. They believe metabolic health can be managed through careful monitoring of changes in... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Business Startups; Organizational Culture; Management Style; Technology Industry; United States

August 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

C3.ai—Driven to Succeed

By: Robert Simons and George Gonzalez

CEO Tom Siebel navigates his artificial intelligence (ai) startup through a series of pivots, market expansions, and even an elephant attack to become a leading platform ad service provider. The case describes his unusual management approach emphasizing employee... View Details

27 Nov 2006
What Do You Think?

What’s to Be Done About Performance Reviews?

the other side of personal development." Abbey Mutumba said, "It is better to refer to performance appraisal/reviews as 'personal development reviews' to make the process (fit) more strategically with overall organizational... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

25 Mar 2015
HBS Case

Tate’s Digital Makeover Transforms the Traditional Museum

then. Today, as entertainment becomes increasingly digital and spare time is in ever-shorter supply, art museums and cultural institutions have been put in a bind. Do they stick to their tried-and-true format and cater to loyal devotees... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Education

29 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

How Organizations Create Social Value

management and personnel, they said. What creates superior performance management? Attention to outcomes. Focus on stakeholders. (Surveys, satisfaction. How do funders and community perceive what we do?) Reversing a weak culture of... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

October 2023
Case

Making Progress at Progress Software (A)

By: Katherine Coffman, Hannah Riley Bowles and Alexis Lefort

In this case, the Human Capital team at Progress Software has identified that some employees have a hard time understanding how to advance within Progress. This realization leads the team to develop several major people-process innovations: the introduction of... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Prejudice and Bias; Personal Development and Career; Human Capital; Employee Relationship Management; Technology Industry; Bulgaria

2009
Working Paper

International Differences in the Size and Roles of Corporate Headquarters: An Empirical Examination

By: David J. Collis, David Young and Michael Goold

This paper examines differences in the size and roles of corporate headquarters around the world. Based on a survey of over 600 multibusiness corporations in seven countries (France, Germany, Holland, UK, Japan, US, and Chile) the paper describes the differences among... View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Size; Organizational Structure; Culture; Japan; France; Germany; Netherlands; United Kingdom; United States; Chile