Publications

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March 1996 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Wildfire Communications, Inc. (A)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Mary Connor

Founder and CEO Bill Warner is faced with critical decisions regarding the product lines, target markets, and technology platforms that his start-up, Wildfire Communications, Inc., will pursue. In addition to the question of strategic focus across these lines of... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Resource Allocation; Organizational Culture; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Communications Industry; Technology Industry

April 1992 (Revised July 1993)
Supplement

Adam Opel AG (A), Supplement

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

Describes political and economic developments that completely change the assumptions on which the strategic options in the (A) case were based. This requires a fundamental reconsideration of the economic/political, strategic, and organizational dimensions and the... View Details

Keywords: Framework; Change Management; Strategy; Auto Industry; Germany

June 24, 2020
Article

Wolfgang Puck on Leading His Restaurants Through the Pandemic

By: Boris Groysberg

Chef Wolfgang Puck shares his experience leading his restaurants and other businesses through the pandemic crisis. He explains how his company has pivoted to find new sources of revenue and how he has become a vocal advocate for the restaurant industry. He also... View Details

Keywords: Coronavirus Pandemic; Restaurants; Restaurant Industry; Reopening; Health Pandemics; Crisis Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Safety

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12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

A Perfect Fit: Aligning Organization & Strategy

analysis of the organization so that significant changes can be made based on what comes to light." Organizational fitness is based on the premise that an organization is a system. "You can't View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

24 Apr 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Social Entrepreneurship

Keywords: by James E. Austin & Ezequiel Reficco

06 Nov 2012
Op-Ed

Stop Talking About the Weather and Do Something: Three Ways to Finance Sustainable Cities

waiting for the government. It's time to stop spending a lot of money on cleanup after the fact. Rather, it's time for the private sector to take action around adaptation and prevention. My work in... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Construction; Real Estate; Energy; Utilities

December 1990
Case

Allen-Bradley's ICCG: Repositioning for the 1990s

By: Nitin Nohria

Allen-Bradley's Industrial Computer and Communication Group (ICCG) underwent a period of rapid transformation in the 1980s, instituting a wide array of innovations from product development to information systems. In 1990 the Ohio-based group announced a major... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Organizational Culture; Business Organization; Problems and Challenges; Information Technology Industry

Tsedal Neeley is the Senior Associate Dean and Chair of the MBA program at Harvard Business School, where she is the Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration, Faculty Chair of the... View Details

January 2005 (Revised August 2005)
Background Note

A Note on Managing the Growing Venture

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, James L. Heskett and Michael J. Roberts

Focuses on the strategic and organizational challenges that confront growing enterprises and the entrepreneurs who lead them. Provides an overview of how a new venture needs to change as it passes from the initial start-up to the growth phase. Explores how a venture's... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Leading Change

February 1985 (Revised September 1988)
Case

Caterpillar Tractor Co.

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Describes the structure and evolution of the earth moving equipment industry worldwide in the post war era, particularly focusing on developments in the 1960s and 1970s. Describes Caterpillar's strategy in becoming the dominant worldwide competitor (industry market... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

February 1999 (Revised August 2006)
Background Note

What Is an Organization's Culture?

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Kristin Shu

A synopsis of the writings of Edgar Schein, Modesto Maidique, and B.J. Zirger on what organizational culture is, where it comes from, how it can be changed, and how it inhibits change. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture

June 2016
Case

Big Spaceship: The Evolving Agency

By: Boris Groysberg and Matthew G. Preble

This case discusses the evolution of Big Spaceship, an advertising and marketing agency, from a product-focused business to a relationship-oriented one as clients seek deeper and more meaningful long-term partnerships. The 15-year-old company had already evolved... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Marketing; Organizational Structure; Organizational Design; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Social Media; Advertising Industry; United States; New York (city, NY)

February 2019 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Schneider Electric: Opening Up to External Innovation

By: Antonio Davila

Schneider Electric competes in tough but stable markets around energy management, automation, and control of infrastructures ranging from homes to production plants. New technologies and new approaches to serving markets are challenging the status quo. To take... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Venture Capital; Accelerator; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Organizational Design; Energy Industry; Manufacturing Industry; France; United States

16 Feb 2010
Research & Ideas

The Outside-In Approach to Customer Service

reconfigured its internal units around customers and markets. Q: Obviously, this process involves substantial changes in the way companies do business. What can executives and... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Consumer Products

August 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Supplement

Opening the Valve: From Software to Hardware (B)

By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Bradley Staats

Valve, one of the world's top video game software companies, has also become an iconic example of an organization with virtually no hierarchy. A 400-person organization, Valve's unique organizational form (described in detail in the case and accompanying employee... View Details