Publications

Editorial

What Mark Zuckerberg Understands About Corporate Purpose

By: George Serafeim

Keywords: Leadership; Facebook; Corporate Purpose; Mission; Mission And Purpose; Vision; Employee Engagement; Globalization; Inclusion; Capitalism

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12 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

Global Poverty Needs a Global Answer

improvements in impoverished countries. Lodge advanced the ideas in a January 2006 two-part piece in YaleGlobal coauthored with economist Craig Wilson. The authors also have a book due in May, A Corporate Solution to View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

February 2008 (Revised November 2015)
Case

Danaher Corporation

By: Bharat Anand, David J. Collis and Sophie Hood

Between 1985 and 2007, Danaher has been one of the best-performing industrial conglomerates in the U.S. This case examines the corporate strategy of this diversified, global corporation. It describes the firm's portfolio strategy and the Danaher Business System—a... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Corporate Strategy; Value Creation

Educators

2017
Working Paper

Lessons Unlearned? Corporate Debt in Emerging Markets

By: Laura Alfaro, Gonzalo Asis, Anusha Chari and Ugo Panizza

This paper documents a set of new stylized facts about leverage and financial fragility for emerging market firms following the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Corporate debt vulnerability indicators during the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) attributed to corporate... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Debt; Financial Fragility; Firm-level Data; Large Firms; Emerging Markets; Borrowing and Debt; Corporate Finance; Financial Condition

2002
Case

3M Corporation

By: Vijay Govindarajan and Julie Lang

3M's strategy was rooted in innovation. 3M's 30 Percent Rule, where 30 percent of revenues must come from products introduced in the last four years, clarifies and drives its innovation mentality. Selected policies and philosophies helped to institutionalize a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Entrepreneurship

27 Mar 2024
News

Corporate Culture Homogeneity and Top Executive Incentive Design: Evidence from CEO Compensation Contracts

12 Aug 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity

Keywords: by Eric J. Van den Steen

2004
Chapter

The Globalization of Stock Markets and Convergence in Corporate Governance

By: Gerald F. Davis and Christopher Marquis

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Financial Markets; Corporate Governance; Financial Services Industry; Information Technology Industry

Highlighted in Columbia L. Sch.’s Blue Sky and Duke L. Sch.’s Global Markets blogs. Featured in its own episode of Stanford L. Sch.’s Business Scholars podcast. Selected for “New and Emerging Voices in Workplace Law,” 2020 AALS Ann. Meeting. View Details

September 2006
Article

Political Relationships, Global Financing and Corporate Transparency: Evidence from Indonesia

By: Christian Leuz and Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Keywords: Government and Politics; Relationships; Financing and Loans; Business Ventures; Indonesia

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Research Summary

Building Effective Relationships Across Cultures

Trust is the foundation of any successful collaborative relationship. In my first stream of research, I draw on the basic distinction between cognition-based versus affect-based trust– that is, trust from the head versus trust from the heart – to better... View Details

February 2007
Case

IBM Culture in Its Architecture

By: A. Eugene Kohn and Kerry Herman

In 1992, Lou Gerstner was the CEO of IBM during a period where the firm was losing money and a turnaround was desperately needed. In a bold decision, Gerstner chose to build a new headquarters in Armonk, NY that had strict limits on expandability. His idea was to use... View Details

Keywords: Design; Leadership; Job Design and Levels; Organizational Structure; Buildings and Facilities; Business Headquarters; Decisions; Organizational Culture; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Information Technology Industry; New York (state, US)

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14 May 2018
Research & Ideas

Amazon vs. Whole Foods: When Cultures Collide

bad guy" Harvard Business School professors Dennis Campbell and Tatiana Sandino took notice, suspecting a clash of corporate cultures was at work. Their forthcoming case study discusses the limits of... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage

01 Jun 2016
What Do You Think?

When Business Performance Falters, is Culture Change the Fix?

“ it is not an either/or but a coordinated process.” Art Stewart added, “In my view, culture must now be treated as an integrated strategy and viewed as a core asset for contributing to marketplace value and View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett

September 2013 (Revised April 2014)
Teaching Note

Transitions Asia: Managing Across Cultures

By: Roy Y.J. Chua, Sharon Mozgai and Dawn Lau

The director of an interim executive research firm, Chee Lung Tham, faced a clash of culture and management styles when his mainland China client threatened to fire the American interim manager that Tham had assigned. The client, Wong Lung, ran a family-owned garment... View Details

Keywords: China; Cross-cultural Management; Family Business; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Management Style; Service Industry; China

October 1990 (Revised September 1993)
Case

Changing the Culture at British Airways

By: John P. Kotter

In just 10 years, 1980-1990, British Airways turned around both its declining image and financial situation. Focusing on the paramount importance of customer service, British Airways went from "bloody awful" to "bloody awesome." Experiencing a financial crisis in 1981... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Customer Relationship Management; Corporate Strategy; Privatization; Air Transportation Industry; United Kingdom

Educators

March 2011 (Revised April 2011)
Case

BOOKOFF Corporation in 2006

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi and Yoshinori Fujikawa

A visionary founder appoints a former part-time worker and homemaker as his successor in order to keep the corporate culture he created intact. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Knowledge Use and Leverage

Educators

January–February 2014
Article

Can a Strong Culture Be Too Strong?

By: David A. Garvin

The article presents a case study of a business enterprise with high employee turnover that is considering adopting a personnel management innovation, referred to as People Support, involving a group of managers whose role is to listen to and help resolve employees'... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Organizational Culture

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2008
Working Paper

Cultural Notes on Chinese Negotiating Behavior

By: James K. Sebenius and Cheng (Jason) Qian

Western businesses negotiating with Chinese firms face many challenges, from initiating and smoothing communication to establishing long-lasting relationships and mutual trust, and from bargaining and drafting agreements to securing their implementation. Chinese... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Style; Perception; Societal Protocols; China