Publications

October 2014
Supplement

Atlantis Paradise Island Resort and Casino (B): Improving Performance with New Core Values

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Chekitan S. Dev and Gabriele Piccoli

The leadership team of Atlantis Paradise Island, under new ownership, decided that better alignment of the core values with the vision and mission statement would create a more compelling and consistent organizational narrative that would redouble employee commitment... View Details

Keywords: Organization Behavior; Service Management; Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Service Industry

01 Sep 2013
News

The New Rules of E-Commerce

One day in 2010 the CEO of Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten announced that thousands of employees would soon conduct business in a tongue most of them knew nothing about:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne; e-commerce; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

December 1989
Background Note

Note on How Organizations Can be Structured

By: D. Q. Mills

Describes four basic organizational forms--hierarchy, division, matrix, and cluster. Diagrams of each are included. Their strengths and weaknesses under different business environment conditions are detailed. There is a table comparing the forms on several key... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure

January 2007 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Procter & Gamble: Organization 2005 (A)

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Alessandro L. Spadini

In response to a huge crisis in 2000, the new CEO of Procter & Gamble has to decide whether to continue with an unusual organizational design or to revert to the old matrix organization. Describes all the organizational designs used by Procter & Gamble from the 1920s... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure

August 2006 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Management Levels at Staples (A): Company and Organization

By: David A. Garvin and Lynne Levesque

One of six cases that describe the roles and responsibilities of managers at each of the hierarchical levels of management within the U.S. Stores business unit of Staples, the world's largest office supply company. Together, the cases form a complete integrated... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Managerial Roles; Operations; Performance Effectiveness; Strategic Planning; Perspective; Retail Industry

December 1992 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Becton Dickinson Division: Marketing Organization

By: Frank V. Cespedes

The marketing director for the largest division of a health care products company is reviewing the structure and staffing of the division's marketing organization. The division has authorization to hire an additional marketing manager. Hence, the immediate case... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Health Care and Treatment; Human Resources; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Managerial Roles; Product Marketing; Measurement and Metrics; Organizational Structure; Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Health Industry

November 2013
Article

The Performance of Corporate Alliances: Evidence from Oil and Gas Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico

By: John Beshears

I use data on oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico to measure how a corporate alliance—a group of firms that jointly develops an offshore tract—performs relative to a solo firm. I employ a regression discontinuity strategy based on bids in first-price sealed-bid... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Form; Corporate Alliances; Oil And Gas Production; Lease Auctions; Regression Discontinuity; Alliances; Organizational Structure; Auctions; Performance; Energy Sources; Leasing; Energy Industry

September 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

B Lab: Building a New Sector of the Economy

By: Christopher Marquis, Andrew David Klaber and Bobbi Thomason

The founders of B Lab are on a mission to create a new sector of the economy and are specifically focused on a three objectives: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations (B=Benefit) that legally expand their corporate responsibilities to include... View Details

Keywords: Economic Sectors; Social Entrepreneurship; Investment; Policy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Social Enterprise; Value Creation

October 2003 (Revised November 2003)
Module Note

Organizing to Learn Module Note

By: Amy C. Edmondson

Teaches a framework for managing in dynamic or uncertain organizational contexts, designed for either MBA or Executive Education courses. Offers a new perspective on how managers can help stimulate and guide a collective learning process in their organizations. The... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Business Strategy

01 Feb 2017
News

The Hot New Brand of Higher Education

30 Jan 2020
News

What Organizations Need to Survive a Pandemic

22 Sep 2021
Blog Post

Meet LASO: The HBS Latino Student Organization

The Latino Student Organization (LASO) proudly promotes and supports Harvard Business School’s Latino students and works alongside the Latino Alumni Association (HBSLAA). Representing a wide range of... View Details

Research Summary

Governance and Accountability in Social Sector Organizations

This research examines governance in two types of organizations: international NGOs and socioeconomic hybrids.

First, over the past decade, many of the world's most prominent international nongovernmental organizations and networks (INGOs) ... View Details

05 Apr 2022
News

Building Fearless Organizations with Amy Edmondson

January 2017 (Revised April 2017)
Supplement

Bridj and the Business of Urban Mobility (B): A New Model in Kansas City

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

In late 2016, Bridj was expanding its digital platform to help address urban mobility problems faced by cities across the country and the world. Its founder and CEO, Matt George, weighed up several possible strategies for growth as he aimed to responsibly build the... View Details