Publications

September 2013 (Revised June 2017)
Case

IBM and the Reinvention of High School (A): Proving the P-TECH Concept

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

IBM's Corporate Citizenship office created a social and organizational innovation in public education through a business-school partnership. IBM's Stanley Litow was the key architect in designing Pathways in Technology Early College High School, known as P-TECH. The... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Partnerships; Leadership; Partners and Partnerships; Education; Business and Community Relations; Change; Innovation and Invention; Education Industry

January 2010 (Revised February 2010)
Case

IBM Retail Business Assessment at Dillard's, Inc.: Managing Staffing Levels to Improve Conversion

This case illustrates the challenges associated with matching staffing levels with variable workload in retail stores and highlights how decisions related to staffing and scheduling affect operational performance and the quality of labor at the stores. The case... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Employees; Market Transactions; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Performance Improvement; Retail Industry

September 2009
Teaching Note

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

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Matthew Bird

Teaching Note for [308105]. View Details

Keywords: Opportunities; Value; Competition; System; Innovation and Invention; Multinational Firms and Management; Leadership Development; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry

June 1987
Supplement

Semiconductor Industry Association and the Trade Dispute with Japan, The: IBM Profile, Supplement

By: David B. Yoffie and John J. Coleman

October 2013
Supplement

IBM and the Reinvention of High School (A): Proving the P-TECH Concept Video Supplement

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Video supplement includes P-TECH principal, staff, a parent, and a student. View Details

October 2013
Teaching Note

Teaching Note IBM and the Reinvention of High School (B): Replicating & Scaling P-TECH and Partners

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Keywords: Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Education; Innovation and Invention; Education Industry; United States

October 2013
Teaching Note

Teaching Note IBM and the Reinvention of High School (A): Proving the P-TECH Concept

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Keywords: Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Education; Innovation and Invention; Education Industry; United States

April 1980
Supplement

IBM Corp.: The Role of the Corporate Management Committee, Resource Allocation, and the Role of Staff, Video

April 2018 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Maersk: Betting on Blockchain

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

In March 2018, international shipping giant Maersk is getting ready to debut a trade digitization platform. Maersk hopes the platform will help streamline global trade since shipping goods internationally is an extraordinarily complicated and inefficient process.... View Details

Keywords: Maersk; IBM; Blockchain; Shipping; Shipping Line; Trade; Bitcoin; Digitization; Container Shipping; Joint Ventures; Ship Transportation; Transportation Networks; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Applications and Software; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry

January 2016 (Revised March 2016)
Case

Whither the Weather (Company): Forecasting 2016

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

CEO David Kenny led the transformation of the Weather Company from a television business to a Big Data technology company from 2012 until 2016, when IBM acquired its digital assets. This case discusses major decisions taken by Kenny starting in 2014 as he sought to... View Details

Keywords: Weather Company; IBM; Digital; Technology; David Kenny; Television; Weather Channel; Legacy Business; Mainstream; Newstream; Reorganization; Acquisitions; Transformation; Information Technology; Television Entertainment; Acquisition; Consolidation; Change; Leadership

April 2016
Teaching Note

Whither the Weather (Company): Forecasting 2016

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

This Note was created for the purpose of aiding classroom instructors in the use of the Harvard Business School case, "Whither the Weather (Company): Forecasting 2016." As chairman and CEO, David Kenny guided the Weather Company's transformation from a cable television... View Details

Keywords: Weather Company; IBM; Digital; Technology; David Kenny; Television; Weather Channel; Legacy Business; Mainstream; Newstream; Reorganization; Acquisitions; Transformation; Information Technology; Television Entertainment; Acquisition; Consolidation; Change; Leadership

April 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

IBM: Design Thinking

By: Srikant M. Datar, Amram Migdal and Paul Hamilton

This case describes the 2012-2020 effort at IBM to implement design thinking throughout the company and hire thousands of designers to serve on every product team alongside technical engineers and developers and product managers. IBM’s design transformation is told... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Divisions; Business Units; Business Organization; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Competency and Skills; Talent and Talent Management; Design; Human Resources; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Invention; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Jobs and Positions; Job Design and Levels; Leading Change; Management; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Operations; Product; Product Design; Product Development; Organizations; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Strategy; Adaptation; Adoption; Technological Innovation; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

September 2004 (Revised January 2005)
Case

IBM: Ordering Midrange Computers in Europe

IBM Europe is trying to expand business-to-business (B2B) efforts with its large distributors of midrange systems. These efforts aim to automate many transactions and business processes, removing the need for human involvement. IBM has completed an initial project with... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry; Germany; United States

July 2000 (Revised February 2001)
Case

alphaWorks: IBM's Technology Talent Agents

AlphaWorks has catalyzed IBM researchers and offered them a new path to take technology to market. With success, though, comes new organizational challenges. Should John Wolpert extend alphaWorks to all IBM labs, refocus, or shut down its operations? View Details

Keywords: Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Research and Development

September 1985 (Revised January 1986)
Case

Peter Wendell

By: William A. Sahlman

Contains a description of a decision confronting an employee of IBM in late 1981. Should he leave IBM to become head of a new venture capital fund which will specialize in technology investments? The case is designed to expose students to the nature of the opportunity... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Jobs and Positions; Opportunities; Valuation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Resignation and Termination; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; Computer Industry

March 2001 (Revised April 2001)
Case

MiCRUS: Activity-Based Management for Business Turnaround

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Jonathan B. Schiff and Stanley Abraham

MiCRUS is a new company, spun off from IBM as a joint venture between IBM and Cirrus Logic to produce semiconductor wafers at world-class costs for its two parent companies. The senior management team needs to overcome the bureaucratic, internally focused culture that... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Cost Management; Semiconductor Industry

November 1999 (Revised April 2002)
Case

International Business Machines Corporation (B)

By: David F. Hawkins

IBM changes pension plan from a defined benefit plan to a cash-balance plan. Teaching purpose: To understand pension accounting. View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Transformation; Business Earnings; Private Sector; Personal Finance; Cash; Information Infrastructure; Taxation; Computer Industry; Accounting Industry

January 1991 (Revised January 1992)
Supplement

IBM-Fujitsu Settlement

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Describes the decision by the arbitrators chosen to resolve the intellectual property dispute between IBM and Fujitsu. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Intellectual Property; Business or Company Management; Conflict Management

March 1990 (Revised October 1994)
Case

IBM-Fujitsu Dispute

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Describes a dispute between IBM and Fujitsu over allegations that Fujitsu stole proprietary IBM software for controlling mainframe computers. Also describes a novel arbitration agreement intended to resolve the dispute, an overview of intellectual property law in the... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Ethics; Intellectual Property; Law; Negotiation Process; Relationships; Software; Information Technology Industry