Publications

December 1993
Case

Ford Motor Coompany: Changing the Dealer Culture

Confronted by increasing market emphasis on customer satisfaction coupled with the success of General Motors' Saturn Division with "no haggle" pricing, Ford Motor Co. examines the sales culture within its own dealers and considers how to implement policies that will... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Salesforce Management; Customer Satisfaction; Auto Industry; United States

10 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Reinventing the Industrial Giant

In an effort to survive in the new economy, some-industrial giants have tried to chart an evolutionary path that combines their industrial core with new post-industrial businesses. The companies from our study that are most clearly attempting to do so are Ford, View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria, Davis Dyer & Frederick Dalzell; Manufacturing

February 1994 (Revised July 2007)
Case

Richard Jenkins

By: John J. Gabarro and Andrew P. Burtis

Written from the point of view of Richard Jenkins, the president of CelluComm. Presents his reflections on the series of events leading to the firing of one of CelluComm's general managers, Erik Peterson. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Resignation and Termination; Management Teams; Rank and Position; Communications Industry

Article

Breakthroughs and the 'Long Tail' of Innovation

The largely erroneous perception that breakthroughs are impossible to predict arises from the tendency to focus on just the breakthroughs while ignoring the iterative process of invention and its distribution of outcomes. When all inventions are considered, they... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Independent Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Business Processes; Performance Capacity; Performance Improvement

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2020
Working Paper

Iterative Coordination and Innovation

By: Sourobh Ghosh and Andy Wu

Agile management practices from the software industry continue to transform the way organizations innovate across industries, yet they remain understudied in the organizations literature. We investigate the widespread Agile practice of iterative coordination: frequent... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Goals; Specialization; Coordination; Field Experiment; Software Development; Organizations; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Goals and Objectives; Integration; Software

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May 1995 (Revised April 1998)
Case

AT&T Paradyne

By: Robert S. Kaplan

A company making data communication devices has adopted a Total Quality philosophy for working with suppliers, employees, and customers. The finance group finds its existing cost system has become obsolete because of a shift from manual to automatic production... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Product; Corporate Accountability; Activity Based Costing and Management; System; Performance Efficiency; Financial Reporting; Operations; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry

December 2005 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Vincent Marie Dessain, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Anders Sjoman

The Dutch "Verenigde Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer Cooperative" (VBA) was on of the world's largest flower exchanges. Around 6,300 flower growers, one half of them located in the Netherlands, used the auction to sell cut flowers and plants to more than 1,000 wholesalers. In... View Details

Keywords: Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Trade; Market Entry and Exit; Financial Markets; Segmentation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Netherlands

October 1996 (Revised January 1997)
Case

Mt. Auburn Hospital

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Jaan Elias

In December of 1993, two of Boston's largest and best known hospitals, Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's, announced that they were setting aside their historic rivalry to form an alliance and build a regional health network. The announcement set off a wave... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Negotiation Offer; Alliances; Networks; Social Enterprise; Horizontal Integration; Health Industry; Boston

November 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Supplement

The Weir Group: Reforming Executive Pay (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Federica Gabrieli

Supplement to the (A) case. The case describes the events that took place in the run-up to the 2018 Annual General Meeting, the voting outcome, key perspectives on success factors, and the challenges that The Weir Group faced in the near future. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Human Resources; Management; Executive Compensation; Europe; United Kingdom; Scotland

10 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 10

Working PapersPlatform Envelopment (revised) Authors:Thomas Eisenmann, Geoffrey Parker, and Marshall Van Alstyne Abstract Due to network effects and switching costs, platform providers often become entrenched. To enter established markets, aspiring providers of new... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

18 May 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Embracing Paradox

Keywords: Re: Michael L. Tushman

April 1996 (Revised March 1997)
Case

Jason Bosworth

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

Jason Bosworth is a real estate investor who wants to purchase apartments for a $300 million limited partnership in which he is the general partner. This case is part of a negotiation game simulation that includes Sunshine Villas, Silver Lane Apartments, and Major... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Property; Negotiation Tactics; Partners and Partnerships; Management; Real Estate Industry

10 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

The State of the Markets

Stock Exchange (NYSE); and Robert C. Gasser, managing director and head of U.S. equities at J. P. Morgan & Co. Financial exchanges today, Seifert began, must have the business systems of a technology company, with the requisite speed... View Details

Keywords: by James E. Aisner

April 2019
Case

Barber Cardiosystems

By: Ranjay Gulati and Paul S. Myers

Barber Cardiosystems, based in Melbourne, Australia, designs and manufactures therapeutic devices used for treatment of coronary conditions. Over four decades, it has grown to be among the top 200 medical device companies in the world. It competes against much larger... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Strategic Alignment; Cost Management; Performance Productivity; Organizational Culture; Motivation and Incentives; Organizational Design; Strategy; Leadership; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Australia