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12 Nov 2018
Research & Ideas

'Always On' Isn't Always Best for Team Decision-Making

collaboration encouraged by today’s communication tools like Slack and Skype good or bad for finding the best answer? “I don’t want there to be zero communication, but I do think that transparency and View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

2020
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 3 Transaction Free Zones

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

In Chapter 2 we saw that the most economical locations for transactions in a task network are the so-called thin crossing points—places where transfers are easy to define, count and pay for. However, in many places in the task network, transfers of material, energy,... View Details

Keywords: Modularity; Information Technology; Organizations

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25 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

The Powerful Strategic Tool Companies Should Not Try to Control

cultivate, support, or even just observe their fan groups stand to gain valuable insights and build loyalty at a much lower cost." In a new working paper, Why Do User Communities Matter for Strategy?, Nagle and Shah discuss the... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

26 Oct 2021
Blog Post

Tap into Top Talent with the HBS Leadership Fellows Program

for and understanding of the complexities of leading in the social sector. To achieve this goal, HBS partners with government and nonprofit organizations to offer one-year high-impact roles to a select number of graduating students.... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise

17 Sep 2024
Research & Ideas

Advice for the New CEO: Talk to Your Employees Early and Often

CEOs have never had so many ways to communicate with their employees. But despite the availability of Slack, internal newsletters, and virtual town hall meetings, organizations can still go quiet. One of the most common culprits: Major... View Details

Keywords: by Ami Albernaz

2013
Report

Lasting Impact: A Business Leader's Playbook for Supporting America's Schools

By: Jan Rivkin, Sara Allan, Allen Grossman and Nithya Vaduganathan

This booklet provides a practical approach for business leaders seeking to understand the complex issues involved in transforming PK-12 education. It lists actions that businesses can take, as well as best practices that they can follow, to help educators create... View Details

Keywords: PK - 12 Education; U.S. Competitiveness; Competition; Education; Business and Community Relations; Cooperation; United States

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2010
Book

One Strategy: Organization, Planning, and Decision Making

By: Steven Sinofsky and Marco Iansiti

Learn from the concepts, capabilities, processes, and behaviors that aligned around one strategy with the hard-won, first-person wisdom found in One Strategy. Challenging traditional views of strategy and operational execution, this book - written by Microsoft... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Organizations; Planning; Decision Making

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October 2023 (Revised November 2023)
Teaching Note

The Miccosukee Tribe and the Battle to Save the Everglades: A Miami Climate Action Story

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 324-002. "Miccosukee" explores the challenges of coordinating actions to solve a complex systems problem—from individuals, small organizations, and coalitions of multiple organizations. The case discusses the impact of climate change and... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Leading Change; Natural Environment; Florida; Everglades National Park

September–October 2015
Article

Facts and Figuring: An Experimental Investigation of Network Structure and Performance in Information and Solution Spaces

By: Jesse Shore, Ethan Bernstein and David Lazer

Using data from a novel laboratory experiment on complex problem solving in which we varied the structure of 16-person networks, we investigate how an organization's network structure shapes performance of problem-solving tasks. Problem solving, we argue, involves both... View Details

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September 2006
Supplement

Brainard, Bennis & Farrell (B)

By: Joseph L. Bower

Brainard, Bennis and Farrel is a short case designed to explore the challenge of establishing appropriate compensation from a general management/CEO perspective. Brainard (B) is a one-page handout that is designed to show how an already difficult problem is made more... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Compensation and Benefits; Executive Compensation; Relationships; Strategy

January 2024 (Revised February 2024)
Exercise

Travelogo: Understanding Customer Journeys

By: Eva Ascarza, Nicolas Padilla and Oded Netzer

In late May 2023, Sarah Merino, the newly appointed manager of the Customer Insights group at Travelogo—an online travel booking platform—initiates a comprehensive analysis of clickstream data to understand the varied behaviors and needs of their users. In preparation... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Analysis; Analytics and Data Science; Marketing Strategy; Segmentation; Consumer Behavior; Travel Industry; United States

June 2005 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Covisint (A): The Evolution of a B2B Marketplace

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth Collins

Ford Motor Co., General Motors, and DaimlerChrysler--the three original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that dominated the automotive industry throughout the 20th century--launched Covisint in February 2000 as an industry supply chain exchange that would drive out cost... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Supply Chain Management; Business Startups; Management Teams; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; United States

30 Nov 2015
HBS Seminar

Soroush Saghafian, Assistant Professor of Public Policy - Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University

Research Summary

Overview

By: Ethan S. Bernstein

I have spent my career studying novel talent management practices and their effect on collaboration and performance. My core research focuses on two interrelated organizational trends that have become salient in the 21st century: workplace transparency (who gets to... View Details

Benjamin C. Esty

Benjamin Esty is the Roy and Elizabeth Simmons Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Over the years, he has taught a variety of courses ranging from advanced corporate finance and project finance to competitive strategy and leadership. He... View Details

Keywords: banking; asset management; investment banking industry; consumer products; shipping; wine; financial services

January 2014
Case

Social Strategy at Cisco Systems

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Daniel Malter and Aaron Smith

In April 2013, Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn, vice president and general manager for Learning@Cisco Systems, was planning the future of the Cisco Learning Network, an online platform hosted at Cisco.com. Since its launch in 2008, the Cisco Learning Network provided content to... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Competency and Skills; Learning; Web Services Industry

June 2011
Case

CA Technologies: Bringing the Cloud to Earth

By: Marco Iansiti and Kerry Herman

Adam Famularo, general manager, Cloud Computing business, CA Technologies, and David Dobson, WVP and group executive, Customer Solutions Group, were preparing for a presentation on communicating and positioning CA Technologies' new strategy for cloud computing.... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Product Positioning; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption

2010
Working Paper

The Mirroring Hypothesis: Theory, Evidence and Exceptions

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

The mirroring hypothesis predicts that the organizational patterns of a development project (e.g. communication links, geographic collocation, team and firm co-membership) will correspond to the technical patterns of dependency in the system under development. Scholars... View Details

Keywords: Infrastructure; Product Design; Organizational Design; Practice; Groups and Teams; Social and Collaborative Networks; Information Technology

January 2002 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Space Data Corporation

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Jay Wynn

Space Data Corp. plans to partner with the U.S. National Weather Service to place transceivers on weather balloons and thereby create a national mobile communications network. The company is in the late development stages and is planning to launch a regional test that... View Details

Keywords: Wireless Technology; Business Startups; Business Processes; Adaptation; Partners and Partnerships; Opportunities; Telecommunications Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States