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- All HBS Web (397)
- Faculty Publications (195)
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- August 2024
- Case
Zipline: Expanding the World's Largest Autonomous Drone Delivery Network
By: Tarun Khanna and George Gonzalez
Zipline initially established the world's largest logistics network in Rwanda and Ghana by delivering medical supplies to hospitals via automated drones from a centralized hub. The company is now looking to expand to the U.S. home delivery market and designed a... View Details
Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Logistics; Expansion; Air Transportation; Business Model; Rwanda; Ghana; United States
Khanna, Tarun, and George Gonzalez. "Zipline: Expanding the World's Largest Autonomous Drone Delivery Network." Harvard Business School Case 725-381, August 2024.
- October 1996 (Revised April 1998)
- Case
Mobil USM&R (D): Gasoline Marketing
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Mobil US Marketing & Refining has shifted from a centralized staff-driven organization to decentralized business-units. Staff functions now must negotiate service agreements with a buyer's committee consisting of representatives from the profit-center business units.... View Details
Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Management Teams; Human Resources; Agreements and Arrangements; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Customers; Situation or Environment; Business Units; Energy Industry; Mining Industry; United States
Kaplan, Robert S. "Mobil USM&R (D): Gasoline Marketing." Harvard Business School Case 197-028, October 1996. (Revised April 1998.)
- November 2003 (Revised July 2006)
- Case
STAR 2003
By: Thomas R. Piper
A shift in strategy from broadcasting standardized programs throughout its footprint to localized programming necessitates a review of STAR's organizational structure. Growing complexity and a need for local responsiveness point toward adoption of a country-based... View Details
Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Organizational Structure; Management Teams; Decision Choices and Conditions; Organizational Design; Complexity; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Service Industry
Piper, Thomas R. "STAR 2003." Harvard Business School Case 204-014, November 2003. (Revised July 2006.)
- January 1983 (Revised May 1984)
- Case
Beliefs of Borg-Warner
Shows how the Borg-Warner Corporation developed a statement of values and beliefs under the leadership of its chief executive officer, James F. Bere. The "Beliefs," a set of general principles intended to guide business behavior, now must be given operational meaning... View Details
Goodpaster, Kenneth E., and Dekkers L. Davidson. "Beliefs of Borg-Warner." Harvard Business School Case 383-091, January 1983. (Revised May 1984.)
- May 1994 (Revised November 1994)
- Case
PepsiCo: A View from the Corporate Office
Describes the three business segments of PepsiCo (beverages, snack foods, and restaurants). It then explores the competitive environment within each segment and the response of PepsiCo's businesses. It seeks to show how PepsiCo CEO, D. Wayne Calloway, in a very... View Details
Keywords: Business Divisions; Change; Governance Controls; Management Style; Organizational Structure; Situation or Environment; Competitive Strategy; Value; Food and Beverage Industry
Applegate, Lynda M., and Leonard A. Schlesinger. "PepsiCo: A View from the Corporate Office." Harvard Business School Case 694-078, May 1994. (Revised November 1994.)
- April 2009 (Revised January 2011)
- Case
Gucci Group: Freedom within the Framework
By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez, Elena Corsi and Vincent Marie Dessain
Gucci Group's CEO had to decide if his decentralized management style was the most effective philosophy in an economic downturn. The sharing of customer information across units and its use in the creative process are key initiatives analyzed in the case. CEO Robert... View Details
Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Globalized Firms and Management; Knowledge Sharing; Leadership; Management Style; Management Systems; Brands and Branding; Apparel and Accessories Industry
Martinez-Jerez, Francisco de Asis, Elena Corsi, and Vincent Marie Dessain. "Gucci Group: Freedom within the Framework." Harvard Business School Case 109-079, April 2009. (Revised January 2011.)
- September 1989 (Revised July 1992)
- Case
Pepsi-Cola U.S. Beverages (A)
Responding to changes in Pepsi-Cola's competitive environment, Roger Enrico, president and CEO of PepsiCo Worldwide Beverages, formed a task force to investigate a possible reorganization of Pepsi's domestic soft drink business. The task force recommends reorganizing... View Details
Pearson, Andrall E. "Pepsi-Cola U.S. Beverages (A)." Harvard Business School Case 390-034, September 1989. (Revised July 1992.)
- May 2005 (Revised April 2010)
- Case
GlaxoSmithKline: Reorganizing Drug Discovery (A)
By: Robert S. Huckman and Eli Strick
Describes the reorganization of drug discovery at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) following the formation of GSK from the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. This reorganization placed nearly 2,000 research scientists into six centers of excellence in drug discovery... View Details
Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Operations; Organizational Structure; Performance Improvement; Research and Development; Pharmaceutical Industry
Huckman, Robert S., and Eli Strick. "GlaxoSmithKline: Reorganizing Drug Discovery (A)." Harvard Business School Case 605-074, May 2005. (Revised April 2010.)
- 20 Jan 2010
- First Look
First Look: Jan. 20
Decentralize? Authors:Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun, and John Van Reenen Abstract There is a widespread sense that over the last two decades firms have been decentralizing decisions to employees further down the managerial hierarchy.... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
- July 1994 (Revised August 1994)
- Case
Pacific Bell: Centrex Reengineering
Describes the redesign and rollout of the new order-fulfillment process for a flagship product at Pacific Bell. Pacific Bell is one of the Regional Bell Operating Companies comprised of seven regional business units. Rather than implement the new process, roles, and... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Information Technology; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Telecommunications Industry
Stoddard, Donna B., and Sirkka Jarvenpaa. "Pacific Bell: Centrex Reengineering." Harvard Business School Case 195-098, July 1994. (Revised August 1994.)
- April 1997
- Case
Battle of Mannheim, The
By: Hugo Uyterhoeven
Focuses in detail on implementing a corporate restructuring program in ABB's German subsidiary. Special attention is given to Germany's unique form of industrial governance. Two major problem areas--power plants and power transformers--are described in detail, as is a... View Details
Keywords: Corporate Governance; Energy Generation; Salesforce Management; Business or Company Management; Restructuring; Programs; Energy Industry; Germany
Uyterhoeven, Hugo. "Battle of Mannheim, The." Harvard Business School Case 397-098, April 1997.
- May–June 2025
- Article
Centralization and Organization Reproduction: Ethnic Innovation in R&D Centers and Satellite Locations
By: William R. Kerr
We study the relationship between firm centralization and organizational reproduction in satellite locations. For decentralized firms, the ethnic compositions of inventors in satellite locations mostly resemble their host cities, with little link to the inventor... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Reproduction; Centralization; Research and Development; Innovation and Invention; Organizational Design; Ethnicity
Kerr, William R. "Centralization and Organization Reproduction: Ethnic Innovation in R&D Centers and Satellite Locations." Organization Science 36, no. 3 (May–June 2025): 1088–1109.
- 2023
- Working Paper
Centralization and Organization Reproduction: Ethnic Innovation in R&D Centers and Satellite Locations
By: William R. Kerr
We study the relationship between firm centralization and organizational reproduction in satellite locations. For decentralized firms, the ethnic compositions of inventors in satellite locations mostly resemble their host cities, with little link to the inventor... View Details
Keywords: Ethnicity; Business Offices; Research and Development; Innovation and Invention; Organizational Design
Kerr, William R. "Centralization and Organization Reproduction: Ethnic Innovation in R&D Centers and Satellite Locations." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 24-015, September 2023.
- February 23, 2022
- Article
Can WEB3 Bring Back Competition to Digital Platforms?
By: Christian Catalini and Scott Duke Kominers
Like the early Internet, blockchain and Web3 applications promise a new wave of decentralization and competition—yet at the same time, it is unclear which of the dynamics that drove concentration in online platforms and services will remain in force under the Web3... View Details
Keywords: Web3; Blockchain; Interoperability; Internet and the Web; Technological Innovation; Competition; Digital Platforms
Catalini, Christian, and Scott Duke Kominers. "Can WEB3 Bring Back Competition to Digital Platforms?" Competition Policy International (online) (February 23, 2022).
- April 2007
- Case
ABN AMRO Bank N.V.: Global Change Agents
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Lance P. Pierce and Ryan Leo Raffaelli
ABN AMRO Global Banking Group developed its risk management function in response to expansion, and increasingly focused on environmental and social risks. The head of the function needed to influence policies and business decisions in a highly decentralized context in... View Details
- September 2014
- Article
Colonial Institutions, Trade Stocks, and the Diffusion of Elementary Education in Brazil, 1889–1930
By: Aldo Musacchio, Andre C. Martinez Fritscher and Martina Viarengo
We show how the decentralization of fiscal responsibility among Brazilian states between 1889 and 1930 promoted an unequal expansion of public schooling. We document how the variation in state export tax revenues, product of commodity booms, explains improvements in... View Details
Musacchio, Aldo, Andre C. Martinez Fritscher, and Martina Viarengo. "Colonial Institutions, Trade Stocks, and the Diffusion of Elementary Education in Brazil, 1889–1930." Journal of Economic History 74, no. 3 (September 2014): 730 –766.
- 2012
- Article
Patent Policy, Patent Pools, and the Accumulation of Claims in Sequential Innovation
By: Gaston Llanes and Stefano Trento
We present a dynamic model where the accumulation of patents generates an increasing number of claims on sequential innovation. We compare innovation activity under three regimes—patents, no-patents, and patent pools—and find that none of them can reach the first best.... View Details
Llanes, Gaston, and Stefano Trento. "Patent Policy, Patent Pools, and the Accumulation of Claims in Sequential Innovation." Economic Theory 50, no. 3 (August 2012): 703–725.
- January 2022 (Revised April 2025)
- Case
Steem Versus Hive: Testing Blockchain Governance
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai
This case examines a pivotal governance conflict that occurred in 2020 when Justin Sun, founder of the TRON blockchain, acquired Steemit Inc., the company behind a popular social media platform operating on the Steem blockchain. Steem, launched in 2016 by Daniel... View Details
Keywords: Blockchain; Mergers and Acquisitions; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Governance; Organizational Culture; Social and Collaborative Networks; Technology Industry
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Steem Versus Hive: Testing Blockchain Governance." Harvard Business School Case 822-075, January 2022. (Revised April 2025.)
- June 2024
- Case
Building Innovation at VINCI
By: Dennis Campbell, Aluna Wang and Carlota Moniz
This case study explores how the VINCI Group, a French multinational operating in concessions, energy, and construction, bolstered awareness and adoption rates of new technologies within the organization. Through its separate innovation hub, Leonard, VINCI aimed to... View Details
Keywords: Business Model; Business Organization; Decisions; Business Earnings; Business Strategy; Competition; Energy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Values and Beliefs; Global Range; Global Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Corporate Accountability; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Sharing; Organizational Culture; Technology Adoption; Innovation Leadership; Organizational Structure; Construction Industry; Energy Industry; Technology Industry; France; Europe
Campbell, Dennis, Aluna Wang, and Carlota Moniz. "Building Innovation at VINCI." Harvard Business School Case 124-092, June 2024.
- September 1997
- Case
Information at the World Bank: In Search of a Technology Solution (A)
By: W. Earl Sasser, Josep Valor and Carin-Isabel Knoop
Information Technology Services Director Mohamed Muhsin planned to restructure the World Bank's information technology in response to President Jim Wolfensohn's call to build a knowledge bank. Several reorganization efforts taken by the bank in the 1980s led to a... View Details
Keywords: Restructuring; Information; Knowledge Management; Mission and Purpose; Technology; Public Administration Industry
Sasser, W. Earl, Josep Valor, and Carin-Isabel Knoop. "Information at the World Bank: In Search of a Technology Solution (A)." Harvard Business School Case 898-053, September 1997.