Publications

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

01 Mar 2023
What Do You Think?

How Much Does 'Deep Purpose' Matter to the Bottom Line?

(iStockphoto/PeopleImages) An organization’s mission is widely recognized as its reason for being. Enlightened leaders have long known and believed that the heart of an organization’s culture is described not just by “how we do things... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

28 Jan 2020
Book

Advanced Leadership Requires More Than Outside-The-Box Thinking

Sometimes, thinking outside the box isn’t ambitious enough to get real innovation flowing. In her new book, Rosabeth Moss Kanter encourages organization leaders to think much more broadly at what restricts creativity and how to overcome... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Teaching Interest

Scaling Ventures, HBS Online

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

This course is for startup founders and senior leaders who have achieved product-market fit and now need to successfully guide their company through cycles of rapid growth and organizational change. Topics include optimal growth rate, recruiting and motivating... View Details

01 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

The Big Influence of Small Countries in the United Nations Secretariat

has 40,000 employees spread out around the world.Photo: iStockPhoto In the other camp are those who believe that despite all of these powers, the United Nations merely reflects the agendas of the 193 member states. Either way, the national makeup of View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

27 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Have We Lost Sight of Integrity?

Bill George is the former chairman & CEO of Medtronic and currently a senior fellow at Harvard Business School. He's the author of True North, The Emerging Leader Edition. You Might Also Like: Gen Xers... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

12 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

How Scale Changes a Manager's Responsibilities

recognize and try to stay ahead of these changes brought by scale. Here is advice for the CEO/founders of early-stage companies, but it also applies to leaders of any scaling organization, even inside a large corporate entity. Leadership... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

30 Apr 2020
Book

Fighting Climate Change Requires a New Capitalism

Rebecca Henderson spent her young adult years living two lives. At work, she preached the risks of resisting change to MBA students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, drawing on lessons she learned while watching factories close as a management consultant.... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Energy

January 2003 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Finding a CEO for the School District of Philadelphia: Searching for a Savior?

Following the largest state takeover of a local public school district in U.S. history, a new governing body must find a CEO to effect a large-scale turnaround in the Philadelphia school district. This case examines the context of large urban public schools and... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Restructuring; Education; Crisis Management; Education Industry; Philadelphia

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November–December 2023
Article

Storytelling That Drives Bold Change

By: Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss

When tackling urgent organizational problems, leaders usually work hard to identify underlying causes, tap a wide range of knowledge, and experiment with solutions. But once they’ve mapped out a plan, there’s one more crucial step they must take: crafting a story so... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Emotions; Communication Strategy

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March 2018 (Revised September 2023)
Case

X: The Foghorn Decision

By: Robert S. Huckman, Karim R. Lakhani and Kyle R. Myers

In February 2016, Kathy Hannun—a project leader at X, Alphabet Inc.'s so-called "moonshot factory"—had to prepare a recommendation for the senior leadership of X regarding the future of Foghorn, a project she was leading to develop a carbon-neutral process for... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; R＆D Project Management; Radical Innovation; Clean Technology; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Energy; Research and Development; Projects; Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technology Industry; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; California

May–June 2018
Article

Layoffs That Don't Break Your Company: Better Approaches to Workforce Transition

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta

Today layoffs have become companies’ default response to the challenges created by advances in technology and global competition. Yet research shows that job cuts rarely help senior leaders achieve their goals. Too often, they’re done for short-term gain, but the cost... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Employees; Transition; Strategic Planning

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August 2008
Case

Sloan & Harrison: Non-Equity Partner Discontent

By: Boris Groysberg and Eliot Sherman

The law firm, Sloan & Harrison, was dealing with some discontent among its junior non-equity partners. These partners were concerned with the transparency of the advancement process, their ability to position themselves as both leaders within the firm and rainmakers,... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Human Resources; Leadership Development; Management Style; Performance; Work-Life Balance; Legal Services Industry