Publications

April 2006 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Dansko, Inc.

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Victoria Winston

For the past 18 months, Mandy Cabot had worried that the shoe business she had built into a thriving operation with $90 million in annual revenue and over 110 employees might instead be a "house of cards." The management philosophy that had guided Dansko's growth,... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Revenue; Experience and Expertise; Employee Relationship Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Management Teams; Apparel and Accessories Industry

July 1993 (Revised April 1999)
Case

ABB's Relays Business: Building and Managing a Global Matrix

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Describes the development and management of the relays business area (BA) in ABB's global matrix organization. Focuses on three levels of management--corporate, BA, and operating company. Highlights the roles and responsibilities of individuals at each level as ABB... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Business or Company Management; Business Strategy; Organizational Structure; Managerial Roles; Management Practices and Processes; Employees; Organizational Culture; Success; Manufacturing Industry

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Motivation and the Cross-Sector Alliance

sales force totaling 270,000 saleswomen—that the company called "associates" (colaboradoras). The "power of relationships," grounded on the emotional link with its brand, was the essence of Natura's organizational... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin, Ezequiel Reficco & SEKN research team

09 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Are Management Consulting Firms Failing to Manage Themselves?

interests were to be minimized. Bill Bain conceptualized his firm to serve one company per industry to ensure a focused, client-centric approach. Most firms established an unwavering culture where growth was an outcome, not the objective,... View Details

Keywords: by David Fubini; Consulting

16 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 16

horizon when assessing impact on host economies. Second, it is necessary to incorporate societal and cultural impacts alongside more traditional measures of economic impact. Third, there is weak historical evidence that multinationals... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, October 3, 2017

change in organizational culture and structure, committing to 100% renewables while placing an emphasis on growth in middle-income countries and capturing and new revenue sources from energy management... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

June 2010 (Revised November 2011)
Case

Zensar: The Future of Vision Communities (A)

By: David A. Garvin and Rachna Tahilyani

Zensar is a rapidly growing, mid-sized Indian IT services company with a collaborative management philosophy and innovative HR policies. One of its practices, Vision Communities, is an inclusive forum for innovation and strategy formulation. As the company grows,... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Cooperation; Information Technology Industry; India

21 Feb 2007
Op-Ed

What a U.N. Partnership with Big Business Could Accomplish

access to local partners and opportunities in developing nations that could benefit their future activities. There is growing evidence that companies that have innovated to ensure effective environmental safeguards, greater eco-efficiency, better View Details

Keywords: by George C. Lodge & Craig Wilson

December 2019 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Mãe Terra and Unilever (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Priscilla Zogbi

The case concerns the sale of Mãe Terra, one of Brazil's leading brands for packaged organic foods, to the consumer goods giant Unilever in 2017. Working with Unilever management, Mãe Terra’s CEO Alexandre Borges must determine whether and how to keep Mãe Terra's B... View Details

Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Brand Management; Sustainability; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Environmental Sustainability; Organizational Culture; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil; Latin America

December 2006 (Revised October 2016)
Case

eClinicalWorks: The Paths to Growth

By: Robert F. Higgins and Mark Rennella

In January 2006, eClinicalWorks (eCW) had an acquisition opportunity that could fundamentally change the way they had done business since the inception of the company in 1999. eClinicalWorks was a privately run business in the healthcare information technology field... View Details

Keywords: Young Companies; Strategic Revelation; Strategy And Execution; Strategy Development; Strategy And Leadership; Financing Strategy; Financing Risk; Financing; Expansion; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Culture; Financing and Loans; Customer Focus and Relationships; Acquisition; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Health Industry; Massachusetts

15 Jan 2008
First Look

First Look: January 15, 2008

explore the role of assumptions underlying knowledge creation within the field of organizational studies, and investigate how incompatible assumptions across subgroups may inhibit the generation of multidisciplinary knowledge. While View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 1997
Case

ABB Germany

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

Describes Europe's most famous postwar multinational merger between Asea of Sweden and Brown Boveri of Switzerland. Gives background on both companies and focuses particularly on BBC's geographic organization, its corporate culture, and the relationship between its... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Multinational Firms and Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Culture; Performance Improvement; Geographic Location; Rank and Position; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Sweden; Switzerland; Germany

Find at Harvard

March 2008 (Revised October 2009)
Case

IBM in the 21st Century: The Coming of the Globally Integrated Enterprise

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Members of IBM's fifth Integration and Values Team (IVT5) were close to finishing their deliberations. Convened by Sam Palmisano, Chairman and CEO, and sponsored by Jon Iwata, Senior VP of Corporate Communications and Marketing, and John E. Kelly III, Senior VP and... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Innovation and Management; Leadership Development; Management Teams; Organizational Culture; Integration

27 Aug 2013
First Look

First Look: August 27

jointly develops an offshore tract-performs relative to a solo firm. I employ a regression discontinuity strategy based on bids in first-price sealed-bid auctions for the rights to develop leases. By focusing on leases where one View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: ‘Talk, Inc.’

Boris Groysberg and communications professional Michael Slind discuss the power of talk as a way to recapture high levels of employee engagement and strategic alignment. This excerpt identifies four elements critical to creating flourishing View Details

Keywords: Re: Boris Groysberg

22 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 22

constraints. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/download.aspx?name=14-097.pdf The Organizational and Geographic Drivers of Absorptive Capacity: An Empirical Analysis of Pharmaceutical R&D Laboratories By:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

CNOOC: Building a World-Class Energy Company

By: Joseph L. Bower, Nancy Hua Dai and Michael Shih-ta Chen

Fu Chengyu is the fifth CEO to lead China National Offshore Oil Company - an SOE founded in 1982 to exploit Chinese offshore deposits. In 2010 he is trying to decide how to drive further growth in a company that has grown 556 times in less than 30 years, with profits... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Leadership Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Resource Allocation; Organizational Culture; State Ownership; Competitive Strategy; Energy Industry; China