Publications

April 2001 (Revised September 2001)
Case

Merloni Elettrodomestici: Building for a New Century

By: Joseph L. Bower

In 2001 a young new CEO has to develop a strategy to move his company beyond the hyper-competitive conditions of Western Europe. A major acquisition in Russia and a new Web-based service business provide interesting new directions. This case traces the development of... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Multinational Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Web; Russia

December 1999
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A4): Sun Peak: Helen Yang and Mark Walden on "Running Sun on Sun"

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

SunPeak was the largest project Sun Microsystems, Inc. had ever undertaken: shifting Sun's entire business transaction system from a mainframe-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to a Sun-based system. Making the shift would be complicated and financially... View Details

Keywords: Projects; Transformation; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Complexity; Risk and Uncertainty; Success; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Technology Industry; Computer Industry

06 Jun 2013
Op-Ed

How to Do Away with the Dangers of Outsourcing

calls "neglectful" parents. High levels of direction coupled with low levels of support produce "authoritarian" parents—what in an organizational context most closely resembles the old command-and-control... View Details

Keywords: by Ranjay Gulati; Manufacturing; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion

Web

IT Strategy: HBS IT Website Provides Easier Access to News and Support | Information Technology

a difference in the world. The Solution The HBS IT Communications team led a small team of cross-functional IT colleagues in creating a structure for the new public website that would include all the information the community needed with... View Details

01 Jun 2009
News

Inside the Partnership

memorandum advocated a complete change in the firm’s organizational structure — a change that would, in time, decisively accelerate Goldman Sachs’s becoming the nation’s and then the world’s preeminent... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons

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

01 Dec 2010
News

The Transformers

long-term growth. The plan that emerged redefined HCZ’s mission and mix of programs, created practices to carefully evaluate and track results, and defined a new organizational structure needed to support... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

18 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas, April 18

trend is the use of online tools to improve physical asset utilization in many traditional off-line businesses. This article discusses the water industry as an example, and the organizational changes and levers relevant to extracting... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

07 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: Sept. 7

use loan-level data to study how the organizational structure of banks impacts small business lending. We find that decentralized banks—where branch managers have greater autonomy over lending decisions—give... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: January 15

Structure in Small-Scale Finance Authors:Carpena, Fenella, Shawn Cole, Jeremy Shapiro, and Bilal Zia Publication:The World Bank Economic Review Abstract Microfinance, the provision of small individual and business loans, has experienced... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 21

“linguistic expats” who live in their home country yet have to give up their native language in the workplace; “cultural expats” or native speakers of the lingua franca who struggle with organizational values that are more easily... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

04 Feb 2014
First Look

First Look: February 4

results contribute to the literature on how alternative organizational forms can be designed to solve complex innovation tasks. Download working paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2384068 Sharing Design Rights: A Commons Approach for... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthlorne

2013
Working Paper

Delegation in Multi-Establishment Firms: Evidence from I.T. Purchasing

By: Kristina McElheran

Recent contributions to a growing theory literature have focused on the tradeoff between adaptation and coordination in determining delegation within firms. Empirical evidence, however, is limited. Using establishment-level data on decision rights over information... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Business Headquarters; Decision Choices and Conditions; Operations; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Power and Influence; Adaptation; Cooperation

SSRN

Read Now

30 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 31, 2006

poor financial markets, b) increases in the share of FDI or the relative productivity of the foreign firm leads to higher additional growth in financially developed economies compared to those observed in financially under-developed ones, and c) other local conditions... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Jun 2013
Research & Ideas

Analyzing Institutions to Solve Big Problems

Paul R. Lawrence Conference: Connecting Rigor and Relevance in Institutional Analysis honored the memory of a prolific scholar and longtime HBS faculty member who, at the time of his death in 2011, was the Wallace Brent Donham Professor of View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel & Anna Secino

January 2007 (Revised December 2008)
Case

Mercy Corps: Positioning the Organization to Reach New Heights

By: Allen S. Grossman and Caroline Joan King

Mercy Corps, the world's 5th largest international relief and development agency, is at a turning point. The nonprofit's opportunities to grow and serve a larger number of beneficiaries are unprecedented. By looking at the unique relationship between headquarters and... View Details

Keywords: Business Offices; Business Headquarters; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Structure; Nonprofit Organizations