Publications

11 Sep 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Chief Sustainability Officers: Who Are They and What Do They Do?

Keywords: by Kathleen Miller & George Serafeim

Web

Podcasts - Managing the Future of Work

Podcast Podcast Harvard Business School Professors Bill Kerr and Joe Fuller talk to leaders grappling with the forces reshaping the nature of work. Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon More Ways to Listen iHeartRadio Player.fm Audacy Castbox... View Details

Program

Strategy for Health Care Delivery—Virtual

Summary When you improve value, everyone wins—your patients, your organization, and the global health care ecosystem. This live online program examines the latest strategies and organizational models for transforming the way health care... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care

March 2012
Article

How to Make Finance Work

By: Robin Greenwood and David S. Scharfstein

Once a sleepy old boys' club, the U.S. financial sector is now a dynamic and growing business that attracts the best and the brightest. It is tempting to declare the industry a roaring success. But its purpose is to serve the needs of U.S. households and firms, and by... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Value; Competitive Advantage; Investment; Performance Evaluation; Household; Financial Crisis; Finance; Financial Services Industry; United States

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Web

Organizational Behavior - Faculty & Research

era. Keywords: Retail ; Place Making ; Bookstores ; Industry Evolution ; Digital ; Commoditization ; Organizational Change and Adaptation ; Adaptation ; Business Strategy ; Digital Transformation ;... View Details

March 1988 (Revised September 1993)
Case

United Services Automobile Association (USAA)

Under the leadership of Robert F. McDermott, USAA has been transformed from a property and casualty insurance company with $200 million in assets in the late 1960s to a $11 billion financial services empire in 1988. The case illustrates the value of having a CEO drive... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Leadership; Information Technology; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; United States

Web

Programs & Resources - Entrepreneurship

Summer Fellows Entrepreneurs-In-Residence Loan Reduction YouTube Channel For Alumni More than 50 percent of our graduates create ventures in a quest to change the world. The Rock Center provides unrivaled support as our alumni transform... View Details

September 2025
Article

Organizational Emplacement as a Response to Digital Threat: The Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores

By: Ryan Raffaelli and Ryann Noe

This study reveals how incumbent actors leverage physical place as source of differentiation in response to the threat of digital commoditization. Through a longitudinal, qualitative analysis of the U.S. independent bookselling industry from 1995 to 2019, we outline... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Place Making; Bookstores; Industry Evolution; Digital; Commoditization; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Digital Transformation; E-commerce; Distribution Channels; Civil Society or Community; Value Creation; Retail Industry

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August 2021 (Revised November 2021)
Case

The NCB Capital Turnaround: Waking the Sleeping Giant

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Gamze Yucaoglu, Shalene Gupta and Fares Khrais

The case opens in 2019, five years after, Sarah Al Suhaimi, CEO of NCB Capital (NCBC), the investment arm of Saudi’s largest bank, NCB, took the helm. Having successfully turned the business to make it the market leader, she was contemplating her next steps as... View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Investment Banking; Financial Institutions; Change Management; Leadership; Business Model; Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Management Teams; Asset Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Saudi Arabia

Web

South Asia - Global

be a major force within the world economy. As a result, the School supports its faculty with their research interests on the emerging trends that are quickly transforming and shaping the region. To date, the IRC has supported most of the... View Details

November 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

ConAgra Foods

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Ingrid Vargas

In 2002, ConAgra Foods CEO Bruce Rohde was deliberating the next steps in the process of transforming the company from an agribusiness giant to a value-added food processor. ConAgra had become the second largest food company and number one food service supplier in the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Leading Change; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Food; Agribusiness; Product; Business Processes; Management Teams; Expansion; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

June 2019 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Building a Meritocracy at Alghanim Industries

By: Paul M. Healy, Susanna Gallani and Esel Çekin

Building on his father’s legacy, Omar Alghanim (MBA 2002) had been working on strengthening a performance-driven culture based on meritocracy in the family business, Alghanim Industries. The task had been particularly challenging because of traditional Middle East... View Details

Keywords: Meritocracy; Social Norms; Family Business; Organizational Culture; Performance; Diversity; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Middle East; Kuwait

Research Summary

Overview

By: Roberto Verganti

Roberto’s research focuses on how to create innovations that are meaningful for people, for society, and for their creators. He explores how leaders and organizations generate radically new visions, and make those visions come real. His studies lie at the intersection... View Details

Keywords: Integrated Design; Strategy; Design Thinking; Innovation; Artificial Intelligence; Design; Technology; Leadership; Innovation Strategy

11 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

The First 90 Hours: What New CEOs Should—and Shouldn't—Do to Set the Right Tone

ideas at once. Every organization has limited absorption capacity when it comes to change. You don’t want to upend your chances of achieving true transformation by announcing too much too fast. Three missteps to avoid In addition, here... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

Web

Latin America - Global

explored the profound ways artificial intelligence is transforming labor markets, job design, and the skills required for the workforce of the future. He shared global trends, emerging challenges, and opportunities for View Details

The Money of Invention: How Venture Capital Creates New Wealth

When the economy was booming and dot-coms were flying high, venture capitalists were admired as impresarios of innovation. Then the market tanked, start-ups fizzled, and those same deal-makers were rebuked as predators out for a quick score. So... View Details

May 2013 (Revised October 2014)
Case

Novartis: Leading a Global Enterprise

By: William W. George, Krishna G. Palepu and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Novartis, the world's leading healthcare company, was formed in 1996 out of a merger of two very different, mid-tier Switzerland-based pharma companies. The case traces the company's evolution over the past 17 years, as it transformed into a truly global enterprise... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Talent and Talent Management; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Success; Globalized Markets and Industries; Management Teams; Change Management; Business History; Mergers and Acquisitions; Global Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; Switzerland

September 2009
Article

Structural Homophily or Social Asymmetry? The Formation of Alliances by Poorly Embedded Firms

By: Gautam Ahuja, Francisco Polidoro Jr. and Will Mitchell

Recent research shows that preexisting network structure constrains the formation of new interorganizational alliances. Firms that are poorly embedded in a network structure are less likely than richly embedded firms to form alliances, because they lack informational... View Details

Keywords: Interorganizational Networks; Interfirm Collaboration; Embeddedness; Networks; Joint Ventures; Alliances

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