Publications

June 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Case

Team Rubicon: Bridging the Gap from Startup to National Organization

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Dan Nidess

Team Rubicon, a military veteran volunteer disaster relief organization, has experienced significant success in attracting attention and support in its first four years of operation. The challenges of managing the volunteer base, the cost of responding to disasters,... View Details

Keywords: Growth Strategy And Execution; Disaster Relief; NGO; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Non-Governmental Organizations

December 2005 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Polaroid Entering Digital Imaging

Focuses on Polaroid's attempt to respond to the changes to its competitive environment that are entailed by the rise of digital imaging. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technological Innovation; Competition; Consumer Products Industry; Technology Industry

March 1999
Case

Merck & Co., Inc.: Corporate Strategy, Organization and Culture (A)

By: Michael Beer and Perry Fagan

In the early 1990s, Merck faced a series of challenges because of significant changes in its competitive and regulatory environment (e.g., growth in power of pharmaceutical buyers like managed care organizations led to price pressures and President Clinton's review of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Management Practices and Processes; Competitive Strategy; Management Teams; Health Care and Treatment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Situation or Environment; Alignment; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

March 2001 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Corning 1983-1996: Transition at the Top

By: Michael J. Roberts and Michael L. Tushman

Focuses on Jamie Houghton's efforts to revitalize Corning from 1983-1996, including the development of a very strong set of values and culture. The issue centers around Roger Ackerman's rise to president, then chairman/CEO, and his drive to both change the business... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Management Teams; Strategy

04 Aug 2009
First Look

First Look: August 4

insufficient labor levels, which, in turn, degrades profitability. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-040.pdf Cases & Course MaterialsCompass Box Whisky Company Harvard Business School Case 108-032 Compass Box Whisky Company is facing a View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 1995
Case

Ernst & Young United Kingdom (B)

By: John J. Gabarro and Samantha Graff

Discusses progress made by mid-1995 on the three challenges identified by the change leadership at the end of 1993. First, it describes the decision-making process that resulted in a general consensus to reorganize the huge London office, and it highlights certain... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Leading Change; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Restructuring; Problems and Challenges; Decision Making; Adaptation; Perspective; United Kingdom; London

June 1983
Background Note

Note on the Paper Machinery Industry

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Describes the major structural changes taking place in the paper industry in the 1970s: major oil and pulp price increases, pollution legislation, a shift in industry development from OECD countries to LDCs and NICs and the technological revolution in paper making.... View Details

Keywords: Engineering; Price; Global Strategy; Growth and Development; Industry Structures; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Pollutants; Competition; Pulp and Paper Industry

Program

Strategy: Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage

geography Distinguish between short-run gains and lasting competitive advantage Adapt your strategy to market shifts and your organization's changing ambitions Transform ideas into successful action plans Know when to initiate a strategy... View Details

January 2021
Article

Turbulence, Firm Decentralization and Growth in Bad Times

By: Philippe Aghion, Nicholas Bloom, Brian Lucking, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

What is the optimal form of firm organization during “bad times”? We present a model of delegation within the firm to show that the effect is ambiguous. The greater turbulence following macro shocks may benefit decentralized firms because the value of local information... View Details

Keywords: Decentralization; Growth; Turbulence; Great Recession; Organizational Design; System Shocks; Economic Growth; Performance

Read Now

August 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Leaders Who Make a Difference: Sam Palmisano's Smarter IBM: Day 1

By: Joseph L. Bower and Sonja Ellingson Hout

Sam Palmisano became CEO of IBM in 2002. He dramatically energized the organization through portfolio changes and a values driven approach to managing the company. View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Multinational Firms and Management; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Information Technology Industry; New York (state, US)

25 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

More Proof That Money Can Buy Happiness (or a Life with Less Stress)

happiness that money can bring, I think we are missing something,” says Jachimowicz, an assistant professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at HBS. “We also need to think about all of the worries that it can... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

December 2009 (Revised September 2014)
Case

TD Canada Trust

By: Dennis Campbell and Brent Kazan

The case illustrates the role of performance measurement and analytics in translating TD-Canada Trust's service model of "comfortable banking" into operational terms. In 2000, in a banking market where consumers and regulators were typically hostile to mergers and... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Commercial Banking; Profit; Balanced Scorecard; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Banking Industry; Canada

October 2015 (Revised November 2024)
Case

A Challenger's Strategy: Pinar Abay at ING Bank Turkey

By: Paul Healy, Gautam Mukunda and Esel Çekin

In 2013, Pinar Abay was appointed as the CEO of ING Bank Turkey. At 34, she was the youngest bank CEO in Turkey's history. Her appointment raised eyebrows because of her youth and because her career at McKinsey had given her no day-to-day bank management experience.... View Details

July 2022
Teaching Note

Arçelik (A), (B): From a Dealer Network to an Omnichannel Experience

By: Ayelet Israeli, Fares Khrais and Menna Hassan

Arçelik Turkey, the country’s market leader in household appliances, was at an omnichannel crossroads in January 2020. Arçelik was a B2B player utilizing a dealership network with an umbrella of brands and had one of the largest brick-and-mortar store networks in... View Details

May 2021 (Revised May 2022)
Supplement

Odebrecht's 'Transformation Journey' (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Pedro Levindo

The case describes the changes in Odebrecht’s board of directors while the company had to file for court-supervised reorganization and cope with an ongoing feud within its founding family, and the new challenges that the Group’s leadership has to face. The changes in... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Misconduct; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Reputation; Mission and Purpose; Business and Government Relations; Engineering; Family Business; Emerging Markets; Construction Industry; Brazil; Latin America

October 2017
Article

Elevating Repositioning Costs: Strategy Dynamics and Competitive Interactions

By: Anoop R. Menon and Dennis Yao

This paper proposes an approach for modeling competitive interactions that incorporates the costs to firms of changing strategy. The costs associated with strategy modifications, which we term “repositioning costs,” are particularly relevant to competitive interactions... View Details

Keywords: ＂Repositioning Costs; Strategy Dynamics; Strategic Interaction; Capabilities; Cost; Strategy; Change; Game Theory; Organizational Change and Adaptation