Publications

Register to Read

January 2023 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Veeva Systems and the Transformation to a Public Benefit Corporation

By: Ranjay Gulati and Allison M. Ciechanover

Peter Gassner, the co-founder and CEO of Veeva Systems, steered the company through rapid scaling from its launch in 2007 to 2022. Year after year, the company had exceeded expectations, with its market capitalization reaching $50 billion at its peak. By 2022, the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Corporate Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; California

August 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Zillow Offers: Winning Online Real Estate 2.0

By: Luis Viceira, Marco Di Maggio and Allison Ciechanover

Founded in 2005, Zillow had become the leading online real estate and home-related marketplace. The brand was recognized as a trusted resource for players in the real estate market, providing information and transparency on home prices. Revenue, which was historically... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Corporate Culture; Intermediation; Brokerage; Startup; Evaluating Business Investments; Property; Information Technology; Business Model; Expansion; Business Startups; Real Estate Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

March 18, 2020
Article

How Honest Conversations Can Accelerate Corporate Transformation

By: Michael Beer

When CEOs engage a cross section of their key people in an honest conversation about organizational strengths and barriers to the execution of strategic changes required by the changing competitive landscape, transformations are accelerated. The honest conversation... View Details

Keywords: Honesty; Communication; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Organizational Culture

Read Now

1985
Chapter

Providing the Corporate Environment to Foster Innovation

By: R. M. Kanter

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Organizational Design; Organizational Culture

August 2019
Case

Simón Cohen at Henco: Sustaining 'High Performance, Happy People'

By: Francesca Gino, Jeff Steiner, Arianna Camacho and Paul Green

Simón Cohen—Founder of Henco Logistics—transformed a small Mexican logistics company into a major player within the industry. Cohen credits the firm’s focus on employee happiness as the key ingredient to its success, an approach he developed following a personal... View Details

Keywords: Work/life Balance; Growth Strategy; Corporate Culture; Motivation; Values; Authentic Leadership Development; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Motivation and Incentives; Values and Beliefs; Service Operations; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry

14 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

The Widening Rift Between Corporations and Society

Society is evolving and it is leaving business behind, say HBS professor Shoshana Zuboff and James Maxmin. In their new book, The Support Economy: Why Corporations are Failing Individuals and the Next Episode of Capitalism, they address... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2009
Working Paper

International Differences in the Size and Roles of Corporate Headquarters: An Empirical Examination

By: David J. Collis, David Young and Michael Goold

This paper examines differences in the size and roles of corporate headquarters around the world. Based on a survey of over 600 multibusiness corporations in seven countries (France, Germany, Holland, UK, Japan, US, and Chile) the paper describes the differences among... View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Size; Organizational Structure; Culture; Japan; France; Germany; Netherlands; United Kingdom; United States; Chile

Read Now

16 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

At the Center of Corporate Scandal Where Do We Go From Here?

Harvard Business School Dean Kim B. Clark made these remarks to the National Press Club on February 26.What I'd like to do is talk about a topic that I think touches the very heart of our society: the issue of corporate misconduct and the... View Details

Keywords: by Kim B. Clark

November 2012
Case

Teaming at GE Aviation

By: Rakesh Khurana, Jeffrey Polzer, Willy Shih and Eric Baldwin

Describes the challenges and successes encountered by GE's Aviation business in implementing a teaming work structure and culture in plants across its supply chain. GE Aviation leadership had seen dramatic gains in productivity, quality, and worker satisfaction in... View Details

24 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Link Between Language and Corporate Responsibility

We've heard that Eskimos have 100 words for snow—a common way of expressing how language affects the way we see the world. Whether or not that particular example is true, cultural linguists have long theorized that the words a particular... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

03 Feb 2018
Op-Ed

How to Heed BlackRock's Call for Corporate Social Responsibility

hybrid culture committed both to their social mission and profitability. A willingness to develop this kind of culture in corporations is not enough to succeed. It requires... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Battilana

October 2017 (Revised August 2020)
Case

RB

By: Joshua Margolis, Vincent Dessain and Jerome Lenhardt

As 2016 was approaching its end, Rakesh Kapoor, CEO of RB, one of the world’s major fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, envisioned the prospect of a major acquisition that would add a line of health-related products that promised growth in the developing... View Details

Keywords: Organization Behavior; Corporate Culture; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Growth; Geographic Development; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; France

April 2011 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.: Driving Change Through Internal Communication

By: Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind

Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), confronted in 2003 with an urgent need to change how it operated externally, adopted a highly innovative approach to communicating internally. This case, set in 2010, presents an overview of the new, more interactive model of employee... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Interpersonal Communication; Employee Relationship Management; Innovation and Management; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Corporate Strategy; India

December 1995 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Maureen Frye at Quaker Steel and Alloy Corporation

By: John J. Gabarro

Maureen Frye, assistant product manager at Quaker Steel and Alloy Corp., is asked to implement an action plan for changing the call pattern of the salesforce. Currently the salesforce is spending too much time on small accounts. Earlier Frye attempted to change their... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Managerial Roles; Organizational Culture; Planning; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Steel Industry

August 2017
Supplement

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in Motion: Video Supplement

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

Evan Siddall, newly appointed CEO of Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation, a governmental organization focused on the residential housing market, is charged with leading change at the organization. The case follows this process of change step by step and looks at the... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Organization Behavior; Government; Performance; Leadership; Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Nonprofit Organizations; Government Administration; Restructuring; Risk Management; Financial Services Industry; Canada

January 2016 (Revised March 2016)
Case

HNA Group: Global Excellence with Chinese Characteristics

By: William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan and Joycelyn W. Eby

By 2015, the HNA Group had grown from its roots as Hainan Airlines, a small airline founded in 1993 into a global conglomerate that ranked #464 in the Global 500. Much of this success it had achieved by cross-industry expansion within China, but since 2008, it had... View Details

Keywords: China; Aviation And Aerospace; Airline Industry; Airlines; Globalization; Corporate Culture; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development; Air Transportation; Air Transportation Industry; China

07 Nov 2016
Research & Ideas

Corporate Tax Strategies Mirror Personal Returns of Top Execs

not delve into the psychology behind those choices. He and Silva, now husband and wife, co-authored the 2015 working paper Tax-Minded Executives and Corporate Tax Strategies: Evidence from the 2013 Tax Hikes. A correlation on tax... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

March 2022
Teaching Note

Supreme: Remaining Cool While Pursuing Growth

By: Jill Avery and Sandrine Crener

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 522-006. Following VF Corporation’s acquisition of cult streetwear brand Supreme, consumers and industry pundits were nervous that becoming part of a large, public corporation would put an end to Supreme’s slow and careful growth... View Details

Keywords: Cultural Branding; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Luxury; Growth Management; Consumer Products Industry; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; United States