Publications

05 Feb 2015
Research & Ideas

How New BofA Executives Learn its ’Deep Smarts’

stakeholders and steps the new executive can take to manage the transition, including building necessary relationships and adapting to the culture. The plan also identifies archival materials that would be useful for the incoming... View Details

Keywords: Re: Dorothy A. Leonard; Banking

25 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: ‘Can China Lead?’

predecessors in a given field. Certainly in business as in education, China has shown innovation through creative adaptation in recent decades, and it now has the capacity to do much more. Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Re: William C. Kirby & F. Warren McFarlan; Education; Technology

02 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Managing the Open Source vs. Proprietary Decision

differences in the cost components are not as sharply different as we would have assumed. Therefore it is important to do a precise analysis adapted to each specific case. The appropriate mixture between open and proprietary software will... View Details

Keywords: by Josh Lerner & Mark Schankerman; Technology

20 Dec 2019
Blog Post

Top 10 MBA Voices Blogs of 2019

tricky situations, CEOs need to have situational and self-awareness, adapt when and how they need to, and make sound judgments– none of which are possible using only pure intelligence. Read More>>> MBA Curriculum Spotlight:... View Details

01 Dec 1997
News

New Releases

observed, he has distilled the critical elements for success. Iansiti points out that lessons drawn from the computer industry have broad applications. "This book offers examples that people in other environments can use and adapt to... View Details

Keywords: Robert Binstock

02 Mar 2015
News

To Market, To Market

me develop my ‘systems thinking’: understanding, from beginning to end, how a system works and how it can be adapted to perform better. That was the focus,” recalls Ferrari. “It leads to a greater impact, which is of great importance in... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Agriculture; Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations; Personal Services

February 1993 (Revised March 1993)
Case

Frito-Lay, Inc.: A Strategic Transition (A) (Updated)

By: Lynda M. Applegate

The setting is a food manufacturing company that has stumbled in terms of its historic growth and profit achievements. In trying to recapture momentum, the president has used information technology as one element in his program of transition. The case focuses on the... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Information Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Transition; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Food and Beverage Industry; Manufacturing Industry

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September 1992 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Frito-Lay, Inc.: A Strategic Transition (D)

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Melinda Conrad and Charles S. Osborn

Provides a thorough overview of the company's 1990 and 1991 reorganizations and the resulting demand for information technology in lower levels of the organization. Closes with a discussion of Frito-Lay's most recent information technology projects, Explorer and... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Negotiation Deal; Problems and Challenges; Organizational Design; Projects; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

March 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Case

The Parisian Revival

By: Rajiv Lal and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In mid-2005, George Jones had two jobs: head of Saks Inc.'s 41-store Parisian department store chain as well as president and CEO of the Saks Department Store Group (SDSG), an umbrella for seven chains with a total of 182 stores across the United States. In 2003 Jones... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Improvement; Sales; Retail Industry; United States

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September 1987 (Revised May 1993)
Case

Pizza Hut, Inc.

Pizza Hut, Inc. is a franchisor of eat-in pizza restaurants. It has decided to enter the home delivery market and is in the process of implementing that strategy. The case traces the development of the home delivery concept at Pizza Hut and the interaction between the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Franchise Ownership; Product Launch; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

September 1992 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Chrysler: Iacocca's Legacy

By: Nitin Nohria and Sandy Green

Describes the changes fashioned by Iacocca during his tenure as CEO of the Chrysler Corp. Pays particular attention to the rhetoric he employed in mobilizing change and the actions he took to implement change. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Leadership Style; Management Teams; Communication Strategy; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry

01 Sep 2013
News

Pens Down

Illustration by Dan Page In May, on the eve of the HBS application season, MBA Admissions director Dee Leopold (MBA 1980) announced a change for Class of 2016 hopefuls. There would be only one essay question: In addition to your résumé, test scores, and... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

02 May 2005
What Do You Think?

Where is Consumer Generated Marketing Taking Us?

Summing Up Consumer generated marketing is a fact of life to which all of us will have to adapt. Adaptation means learning how to use CGM to provide one form of input in fashioning product and marketing decisions. Those are the messages... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

November 1994 (Revised December 1995)
Case

Scripps Research Institute, The: November 1993 (Abridged)

By: Josh Lerner

In November 1993, Dr. Richard Lerner, president of the Scripps Research Institute, faces the challenge of maintaining his organization's financial and scientific vitality. A proposed cooperative venture with Sandoz has attracted considerable criticism. Meanwhile, a new... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Financing and Loans; Policy; Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Research; Nonprofit Organizations

September 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Zurich Insurance: Talent Pipeline

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly

Zurich Insurance was undergoing organizational change after implementing five new people practices focused on manager development, diversity and inclusion, job model and data analytics, recruitment, and talent pipeline. The case “Zurich Insurance: Fostering Key People... View Details

Keywords: Managing Change; Leadership; Organizational Behavior; Succession; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Leadership Development; Human Capital; Human Resources; Insurance; Management Succession; Insurance Industry

September 2011 (Revised October 2014)
Case

Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (A)

By: Michael Tushman and David Kiron

In 2005, Ganesh Natarajan, CEO of Zensar, a Pune, India-based software company, and his senior management team are considering consolidating staff and resources at the firms. Natarajan proposes an additional, possible controversial business unit to the proposed new... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Product Launch; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Information Technology Industry

July – August 2011
Article

Evolve (Again)

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Frenzy over social networks and interactive media can produce equally overhyped predictions that everything will change, not to mention money-losing investments in silly ventures. Separating enduring strategic lessons from the hype can help avoid a new crash. Hint: the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Investment; Technological Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Partners and Partnerships

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April 2010
Case

METRO Cash & Carry in China, 2010

By: Tarun Khanna and David Lane

International wholesaler METRO Cash & Carry in 2010 had little choice but to expand swiftly in Asia to facilitate growth beyond its increasingly mature markets in Western Europe. China was of particular note to MCC, but the company had broken even there only in 2008... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Strategy; Strategic Planning; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Retail Industry; China

October 2005 (Revised December 2006)
Case

Bennie Wiley at The Partnership, Inc.

Benaree Wiley, an African American, female HBS graduate (class of 1972), was appointed CEO and president in 1991 of The Partnership, a Boston-based nonprofit dedicated to developing leadership potential in professionals of color and in increasing their representation... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Leading Change; Nonprofit Organizations; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry; Boston