Publications

October 2023 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Thermo Fisher Scientific: Foray into Contract Research

By: Satish Tadikonda, William Marks and Kevin Emancipator

After publicly declaring that they would not enter the contract research organization (CRO) business in 2017, Thermo Fisher purchased Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD), one of the biggest players in the CRO space, in 2021. Much had changed in the intervening... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Biotechnology Industry

June 2007 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Reinventing Ericsson

By: Das Narayandas, Vincent Marie Dessain, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Anders Sjoman

Carl-Henric Svanberg, CEO of the Swedish telecom infrastructure company Ericsson, has to reorganize the recovering company in late 2003 after a major industry downturn. He is convinced that only a more market-orientated and customer-focused organization will be able to... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Customer Focus and Relationships; Marketing; Organizational Structure; Sales; Competitive Advantage; Telecommunications Industry; Sweden

Web

2023 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

introduction of larger bases and a pitch clock. In this live taping of the HBS alumni podcast, Skydeck , Marinak talks about what it is like to lead change at a historic brand, how to build and nurture an View Details

30 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

Your Crisis Response Plan: The Ten Effective Elements

conducted by the crisis response team, and regular testing of channels, inventorying of resources, and the like. These tests should be done regularly, but not scheduled in order to test speed of response. 10. Disciplined post-crisis review. Each crisis provides an... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Watkins

January–February 2013
Article

Golfing Alone? Corporations, Elites and Nonprofit Growth in 100 American Communities

By: Christopher Marquis, Gerald F. Davis and Mary Ann Glynn

We examine the link between corporations and community by showing how corporate density interacts with the local social and cultural infrastructure to affect the growth and decline of the number of local nonprofits between 1987 and 2002. We focus on two sub-populations... View Details

Keywords: Business and Community Relations; Civil Society or Community; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Business Growth and Maturation; Profit; Local Range; Welfare or Wellbeing; Business Processes; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Trends; Management Practices and Processes; United States

Find at Harvard

Read Now

August 2002
Case

Trilogy University

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Michael Paley

In early 2001, Trilogy Software faced a slowdown in its business, a large number of unsuccessful customer deployments, and an overall weakening in the enterprise software market. In response, the company revamped its business model and restructured the organization.... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Alignment; Restructuring; Organizational Structure; Change Management; Business Strategy; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Information Technology Industry

Summer 2023
Article

(Un)principled Agents: Monitoring Loyalty after the End of the Royal African Company Monopoly

By: Anne Ruderman and Marlous van Waijenburg

The revocation of the Royal African Company's monopoly in 1698 inaugurated a transformation of the transatlantic slave trade. While the RAC’s exit from the slave trade has received scholarly attention, little is known about the company’s response to the loss of its... View Details

Keywords: Slavery; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business History; Monopoly; History; Business and Government Relations

Find at Harvard

23 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Are Great Teams Less Productive?

to help organizations better access, integrate, and leverage the talents and insights of their employees. An earlier career as an organizational change consultant led me to realize how many thoughtful,... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

Program

OPM Renew

connections through cross-cohort collaboration. Details Broaden your global perspective and entrepreneurial leadership skills Learn how innovative global operators are changing buyer behavior and transforming bold ideas into new products... View Details

February 2003 (Revised July 2005)
Case

British Broadcasting Corporation (A): One BBC

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Douglas A Raymond

Greg Dyke, the new director general of the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) must decide whether to extend an already ambitious change effort at the world's largest public service broadcaster. The initial results of the effort are very positive: audience numbers are up,... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Media; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Leadership Development; Competition; Creativity; Relationships; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United Kingdom

January 2022 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Expanding the Culture of Learning at Kraft Heinz

By: Ashley V. Whillans and Carolyn Watson

The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC) was an American food company formed in 2015 by the merger of Kraft Foods Group, Inc and the H.J. Heinz Company. The company sold food products like Heinz Ketchup, Kraft Mac & Cheese, Kool-Aid, and Philadelphia cream cheese to supermarkets,... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Culture; Work Culture; Workplace Practices; Mergers; Mergers and Acquisitions; Competitive Advantage; Human Capital; Training; Performance Evaluation; Growth and Development; Personal Development and Career; Employee Relationship Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Food and Beverage Industry

22 Nov 2010
Research & Ideas

Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution

company is immune. But sustaining ongoing innovation in organizations is notoriously difficult. People fall into comfortable habits, sticking with what they know and rejecting things that cause them to change their ways. To overcome such... View Details

Keywords: by Robert Simons

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System

must have built-in tests that signal problems immediately. And it is the continual response to those problems that makes this seemingly rigid system so flexible and adaptive to changing circumstances. The Experiments Of The Toyota... View Details

Keywords: by H. Kent Bowen & Steven Spear; Manufacturing; Transportation; Auto

September 1999
Case

Trisha Wilson of Wilson & Associates

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Sarah S. Khetani

Texan entrepreneur Trisha Wilson has founded an interior design firm and watched it grow into one of the most successful firms in the hospitality design services industry. After 20 years of building a company that is truly a reflection of her own personality, Wilson... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Employees; Innovation and Management; Management; Business or Company Management; Management Succession; Organizational Culture; Strategy; Service Industry; Texas

04 Apr 2011
HBS Case

Reinventing the National Geographic Society

behaviors, and values of a legacy organization, changing a business model from paper to digital, capitalizing on huge brand awareness and international presence, and promoting cross-functional and cross-divisional collaboration.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Publishing

October 2019
Case

Kaspi.kz IPO

By: Victoria Ivashina and Esel Çekin

This case follows Kaspi.kz, a private equity (Baring Vostok) co-owned retail bank in Central Asia that evolved into a fintech, payments and e-commerce company. It provides insights into private equity financing, portfolio company management, and initial public offering... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Private Equity; Initial Public Offering; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Central Asia

May 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Managing the Future of Work

By: William R. Kerr, Allison Ciechanover and Jeff Huizinga

By 2019, leaders from the public and private sector had become increasingly anxious about how advanced technologies and aging global populations could affect labor markets, workplaces, and workers’ lives. Some analysts forecasted that hundreds of millions of workers... View Details

Keywords: Labor Markets; Workplace; Employment; Technological Innovation; Demographics; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities

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