Publications

January 2003 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Office Depot, Inc.: Business Transformation (A)

By: James L. Heskett, Dan Maher, Daniel F. OBrien, Thomas Watson and Jeffrey F. Rayport

The company's management is considering the possibility of launching a rebranding campaign around the promises "What you need. What you need to know." The questions are whether and when to launch the campaign in view of the large number of training efforts and... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Advertising Campaigns; Brands and Branding; Business Strategy; Technology Adoption; Transformation; Market Timing; Growth and Development; Training; Retail Industry

August 2002
Case

Trilogy University

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Michael Paley

In early 2001, Trilogy Software faced a slowdown in its business, a large number of unsuccessful customer deployments, and an overall weakening in the enterprise software market. In response, the company revamped its business model and restructured the organization.... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Alignment; Restructuring; Organizational Structure; Change Management; Business Strategy; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Information Technology Industry

October 2001 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Perlegen Sciences

By: Linda A. Hill and Nicole Tempest

As a biotech start-up company involved in studying human genomes, Perlegen needed to develop an organization that fostered innovation and teamwork among a group of highly trained professionals from both the science and technology fields. Perlegen's CEO, Brad Margus,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Leadership; Groups and Teams; Management Teams; Problems and Challenges; Business Startups; Genetics; Talent and Talent Management; Innovation Strategy; Biotechnology Industry

February 2001 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Wipro Technologies (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Suma Raju

The new general manager of Wipro's software services division has been brought on board from General Electric to develop the division into a leading provider of software services to the world's largest corporations. A native of India who received management training in... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Transformation; Change Management; Human Resources; Software; Information Technology Industry; India

2001
Chapter

Publicly Funded Science and the Productivity of the Pharmaceutical Industry

By: Rebecca Henderson and Ian Cockburn

U.S. taxpayers funded $14.8 billion of health related research last year, four times the amount that was spent in 1970 in real terms. In this paper we evaluate the impact of these huge expenditures on the technological performance of the pharmaceutical industry. While... View Details

Keywords: Public Sector; Science-Based Business; Research and Development; Sovereign Finance; Pharmaceutical Industry

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July 2000
Case

Dawn Riley at America True (C1)

By: Linda A. Hill and Kristin Doughty

This version of the (C) case can be taught independently of the (A) and (B) cases. Dawn Riley, CEO/Captain of America True, the first coed syndicate to race for the America's Cup, is based in Auckland, New Zealand, where racing will begin in six weeks. Riley has built... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Leadership; Groups and Teams; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Gender; Management Teams; Sports; Business Startups; New Zealand; North and Central America

February 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Boston.com

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Jon K Rust

How aggressively should an incumbent move when developing an online business that threatens its core product? With Internet competitors taking direct aim at the traditional print newspaper business model, the Boston Globe fought back with its own web initiative,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Change Management; Internet and the Web; Customer Relationship Management; Competitive Strategy; Publishing Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

December 1998
Article

Entrepreneurs and Business Performance in Nineteenth Century France

By: Tom Nicholas, Elisa Boccaletti and James Foreman-Peck

A popular explanation for the supposed "delayed industrialisation" of the nineteenth century French economy has been the inappropriate attitudes and actions of the managerial classes and family firms. To address these claims we model the supply and demand for... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Performance; Economy; Management; Success; Opportunities; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Saving; Higher Education; Training; Demand and Consumers; France

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April 1998 (Revised November 1999)
Case

CitySoft, Inc.

By: Myra M. Hart, Marco Iansiti, Andrea H. Chermayeff and Diana S. Gardner

Two entrepreneurs are discussing how to scale-up their new company. They face a variety of issues, ranging from hiring and training to strategy and focus. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Business Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Selection and Staffing; Internet; Web Services Industry

March 1998 (Revised June 1999)
Case

DigitalThink: Building a Sales Force

By: Michael J. Roberts, Joseph B. Lassiter III and Christina L. Darwall

A broad set of issues faces a young company in the Internet-based training business as it begins to sell its product to corporate customers. Issues include: profile of attractive candidates, compensation, definition of territory, definition of quotas, and role of... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Salesforce Management; Business Startups; Service Industry

February 1998 (Revised June 1999)
Case

DigitalThink: Startup

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Christina L. Darwall

Describes a recent Berkeley MBA's attempts to start a business aimed at corporate training via the Internet. Describes the very early efforts at finding an attorney, accountant, and financing, and the interrelationships among these choices. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Problems and Challenges; Business Startups; Service Industry

January 1998
Case

Connecticut Spring and Stamping Corp. (C)

By: H. Kent Bowen, Massimo Russo and Steven J. Spear

Andy Youmans, executive vice president of CSSC, joins a group of U.S. executives on a tour of Japanese factories that practice the TPS. Three of the factories produce products similar to CSSC's, and even though they use similar equipment, they are significantly more... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Performance Improvement; System; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Productivity; Training; Quality; Business Ventures; Competency and Skills; Production; Adoption

March 1996 (Revised February 1997)
Case

Change Agent Program at Siemens Nixdorf, The

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, John F. McGuire and Afroze A Mohammed

To change its culture, the German computer giant Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems launched a program to train 21 "change agents" who would lead entrepreneurial projects designed to get results and to serve as models of a new style. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Organizational Culture; Training; Leadership Development; Programs; Human Resources; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Computer Industry; Germany

May 1994 (Revised August 1994)
Case

Motorola-Penang

By: Shoshana Zuboff and Janis Lee Gogan

S.K. Ko managed Motorola's Penang, Malaysia factory, producing telecommunications components and equipment. As a female manager of a multi-ethnic and labor-intensive plant in Asia, Ko faced a number of challenges. She had already promoted quality circles and quality... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Transformation; Decision Making; Ethnicity; Gender; Training; Leading Change; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Problems and Challenges; Technology Industry; Malaysia

June 1990 (Revised March 1991)
Case

Jonah Creighton (A)

By: Anne Donnellon and Joshua D. Margolis

How do you manage yourself and your interaction with others when you feel your personal values challenged? What should you be aware of as you proceed with sensitive, ethical issues? Jonah Creighton coordinates the company's fast-track training program, and when he... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Human Resources; Selection and Staffing; Problems and Challenges

April 1989 (Revised March 1990)
Case

Burlington Northern (B)

By: Janice H. Hammond

Describes the experiences of a seasoned Burlington Northern (BN) sales representative after the introduction of ShipSmart, a decision support system developed by the BN to help its employees and customers analyze logistics problems. After a brief description of a... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Expansion; Rail Transportation; Logistics; Distribution Channels; Truck Transportation; Innovation and Invention; Sales; Rail Industry; United States

Forthcoming
Article

Government, Business and Making China an Educational Powerhouse Since the 1980s

By: Geoffrey Jones, Yuan Jia-Zheng, Yuhai Wu and Qianru Wang

This article examines how China successfully built a highly competent K-12 education system since the 1980s achieving high literacy rates, broad basic education and gender equality. It argues that this success was driven by a strategy of blending public and private... View Details

Keywords: Early Childhood Education; Secondary Education; Literacy; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Business and Government Relations; Policy; Education Industry; China