Publications

2010
Working Paper

Does Product Market Competition Lead Firms To Decentralize?

By: Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

There is a widespread sense that over the last two decades firms have been decentralizing decisions to employees further down the managerial hierarchy. Economists have developed a range of theories to account for delegation, but there is less empirical evidence,... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Employees; Managerial Roles; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Asia; Europe; North America

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April 2025
Case

Radical Transformation at Bayer: Dynamic Shared Ownership

By: Boris Groysberg and Gamze Yucaoglu

In 2023, Bill Anderson became CEO of Bayer AG, a 160-year-old life sciences giant looking to strengthen its pharma pipeline, manage debt, and cut through bureaucracy. His bold response: Dynamic Shared Ownership (DSO), a radical model replacing traditional hierarchies... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Business Strategy; Alignment; Innovation and Management; Organizational Structure; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

January 2013 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards (A)

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2011, Sarah Naudé and Matt Stanley sat down with the chairman of Telecom New Zealand, Wayne Boyd. Telecom, a publicly listed company and the largest telecom provider in New Zealand, was being divided into two publicly traded companies, Chorus, a telecom... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Women's Empowerment; Governance; Leadership; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Structure; Decision Making; Human Resources; Diversity; Telecommunications Industry; New Zealand

April 2009
Case

SAP AG: Orchestrating the Ecosystem

By: Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani

Business ecosystems require careful orchestration and strategic choices regarding make/buy/partner decisions and membership access. This case examines the strategic and technological issues related to managing SAP's thriving ecosystem of user communities, software... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Organizational Structure; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy; Technology Industry

2015
Conference Presentation

Identity Liminality And Identity Work In A Reorganization

By: Luciana Silvestri

Keywords: Identity Work; Reorganization; Cognition; Emotion; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Restructuring; Organizational Structure; Identity; Emotions; Cognition and Thinking

June 1994
Background Note

Scope and Challenge of Business-to-Business Marketing

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Identifies six key linkages that distinguish business-to-business marketing; three with respect to the external environment (i.e., derived demand, complex buying process, and concentrated customer base) and three with respect to the internal organization (emphasis on... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Customers; Demand and Consumers; Organizational Structure; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Technology

July 1996
Background Note

The GM's Leadership Challenge: Building a Self-Renewing Institution

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Ashish Nanda

Highlights the general manager's role in building a self-renewing organization. View Details

Keywords: Management Skills; Leadership Development; Managerial Roles; Management Teams; Organizational Structure

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01 Oct 1997
News

Expanded Elective Curriculum Offers Students A Wealth of Choices

half of all EC courses, part of the traditional thirty-session class structure is now used for group project work, field research, and the preparation of papers on "frontier" business issues. New EC courses are continually being... View Details

20 Nov 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, November 20, 2018

incremental to the effects of other forms of organizational structure, namely business and geographic diversification. I also find that the level of debt at subsidiaries affects the parent company's borrowing costs. However, the... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

July 2010 (Revised September 2012)
Case

Public Architecture

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Christopher Marquis and Bobbi Thomason

Public Architecture is a non-profit architecture company dedicated to creating social and professional change through design for the public good. Public has focused on three strategies to create change: 1) promoting the design community's commitment to pro bono work,... View Details

Keywords: Design; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Nonprofit Organizations; Business Strategy; Integration

June 2000
Case

Rebirth of the Swiss Watch Industry, 1980-1992 (B): Hayek and Thomke at SMH

By: Michael L. Tushman and Daniel Radov

Describes the course pursued by Hayek, Thomke, and others in the formation of SMH. Discusses the new strategy and its implementation, charting the dramatic recovery of the large Swiss watchmakers. Ends with an exploration of Hayek's efforts to build on SMH's successes. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Organizational Structure; Cost Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Alignment; Success; Asia; Hong Kong

01 Jun 2016
What Do You Think?

When Business Performance Falters, is Culture Change the Fix?

This involved such things as reorganizing, delegating authority, increasing accountability, building trust among employees, and recognizing and rewarding desired behaviors. The authors conclude from this that “cultural change is what you get after you’ve put new... View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett

June 2010
Article

The Circulation of Ideas across Academic Communities: When Locals Re-import Exported Ideas

By: Julie Battilana, Michel Anteby and Metin Sengul

The circulation of ideas across academic communities is central to academic pursuits and has attracted much past scholarly attention. As North American-based scholars with European ties, we decided to examine the impact of Organization Studies in North American... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Dissemination; Organizational Structure; Learning; Archives; Civil Society or Community; North and Central America; Europe

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September 1986 (Revised June 1989)
Background Note

Managing Rapid Growth

Describes the issues that entrepreneurs and their firms must deal with in attempting to make the transition from entrepreneurial to professional management. The note suggests that the delegation of responsibility and the implementation of formal controls are two key... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Governance Controls; Growth Management; Resource Allocation; Organizational Structure

01 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 1

primarily on substitutes but copied from rivals. Next, they actively tested their assumptions and made major resource commitments to the business model they identified as the most lucrative. Finally, they deliberately maintained a loosely View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Private Equity Finance - Course Catalog

Educational Objectives This course has two objectives. First, it builds a rigorous approach and toolkit for sourcing, analyzing, negotiating, structuring and managing PE investments. The second goal of the course is to provide students... View Details

22 Aug 2018
Blog Post

The National Park Services: A Mini-Business with a Twist

must make collaborative tradeoffs to ensure that the “enjoyment” and the “unimpaired” elements of the mission statement are met. Thus, parks are not dissimilar from businesses in that day-to-day operations can present tough tradeoffs and that their View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government

01 Dec 2011
News

Professors Recognized with New Chair Appointments

Margolis is the James Dinan and Elizabeth Miller Professor of Business Administration. A member of the Organizational Behavior Unit, Margolis joined the HBS faculty in 2000. His research focuses on the distinctive ethical challenges that... View Details

August 2021
Teaching Note

Moderna (A)

By: Marco Iansiti, Karim R. Lakhani, Kerry Herman and Amy Klopfenstein

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 621-032. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Operations; Management; Health Pandemics; Research and Development; Goals and Objectives