Publications

April 2006 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Dansko, Inc.

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Victoria Winston

For the past 18 months, Mandy Cabot had worried that the shoe business she had built into a thriving operation with $90 million in annual revenue and over 110 employees might instead be a "house of cards." The management philosophy that had guided Dansko's growth,... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Revenue; Experience and Expertise; Employee Relationship Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Management Teams; Apparel and Accessories Industry

14 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

The New Measures for Improving Nonprofit Performance

expertise to improve the lives of children and youth of low-income families in the Washington, D.C., region. Morino is the author of Leap of Reason: Managing to Outcomes in an Era of Scarcity. Alnoor S. Ebrahim is an associate professor... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

2007
Working Paper

Coupled Search Processes: Why Is it so Difficult to Find that Organizational Design Matters?

By: Nicolaj Siggelkow and Jan Rivkin

Organizational design affects performance via coupled search processes. At low frequency, managers search for appropriate organizational designs. At higher frequency, managers use designs to search for high-performing operational choices. The two searches are coupled:... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Operations; Organizational Design; Performance; Networks; Research; Cognition and Thinking; Strategy

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September 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

PDS: Ring-Fencing the Ranch

By: Dennis Campbell, Tarun Khanna and Kerry Herman

Pallak Seth, Group CEO of PDS Multinational Fashions, is contemplating options to bring better collaboration across his global apparel supply chain platform. PDS, a group of 50-plus subsidiary companies, each led by its own CEO and with different apparel industry... View Details

Keywords: Collaboration; Supply Chain Management; Performance; Partners and Partnerships; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Apparel and Accessories Industry

April 2005 (Revised June 2006)
Case

NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa

By: Stephen P. Bradley, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Masako Egawa and Akiko Kanno

Managers of DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile phone company, are formulating a strategy for mobile FeliCa: contactless integrated circuits that will be built into DoCoMo phones, allowing them to be used for quick and convenient retail or commuter fare payments, building... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Expansion; Alliances; Wireless Technology; Information Technology Industry; Communications Industry; Japan

Web

Business History - Faculty & Research

Management ; Relationships ; Partners and Partnerships ; Risk and Uncertainty ; Adaptation ; Commercialization ; Semiconductor Industry ; Technology Industry ; Germany ; Europe Citation Educators Purchase... View Details

15 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 15

quality rating is more likely. So we find evidence that World Bank project quality suffers as a consequence of political influence only when the recipient country is economically vulnerable in the first place. Publisher's link: http://ftp.iza.org/dp4820.pdf August 2013... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

spring 2004
Article

Multinationals and Linkages: An Empirical Investigation

By: Laura Alfaro and Andres Rodriguez-Clare

Several recent papers have used plant-level data and panel econometric techniques to carefully explore the existence FDI externalities. One conclusion that emerges from this literature is that it is difficult to find evidence of positive externalities from... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Relationships; Multinational Firms and Management; Brazil; Chile; Venezuela; Mexico

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July 1999 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Chrysler and BMW: Tritec Engine Joint Venture

By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington

A gifted project leader lacks significant new product development experience. The case highlights the issues and procedures related to defining the project strategy: organizing senior management approvals and support for creating a "heavyweight" team; aligning the... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Joint Ventures; Projects; Business Strategy; Management Teams; Groups and Teams; Machinery and Machining; Design; Business Processes; Product Design; Product; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Auto Industry

October 2011
Article

Concentrating on Governance

By: Dalida Kadyrzhanova and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

This paper develops a novel trade-off view of corporate governance. Using a simple model that integrates agency costs and bargaining benefits of management friendly provisions, we identify the economic determinants of the resulting trade-offs for shareholder value.... View Details

Keywords: Market Participation; Corporate Governance; Business and Shareholder Relations

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03 Apr 2006
What Do You Think?

Has Globalization Reached Its Peak?

might be, could provide a safeguard against any calamity except perhaps a world war. This assumes that astute global managers outsource primarily non-strategic activities, act responsibly, and maintain positive working View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

July – August 2010
Column

Powerlessness Corrupts

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Powerlessness damages organizations--especially in the middle ranks, says HBR columnist Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Hemmed in by rules and treated as unimportant, people get even with management by overcontrolling their own turf. Kanter urges leaders to give employees... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Opportunities; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence

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28 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

How Racial Bias Taints Customer Service: Evidence from 6,000 Hotels

as the time a Starbucks manager called police to arrest two Black men for loitering, though they were merely waiting for an acquaintance. “There are a lot of very negative consequences,” says Feldberg. “At one basic level, companies are... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

19 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

Public Education Goes to School

and can influence the effectiveness of the strategy. These include teachers, principals and their unions, parents, school boards, community and advocacy groups, and local politicians and policymakers, among others. Managing stakeholder... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark; Education

October 1997 (Revised July 1998)
Case

Cultivating Capabilities to Innovate: Booz.Allen & Hamilton

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Bret J. Baird

Describes the efforts of the president of Booz.Allen, a major consulting firm, to understand and improve the way that products, services, and processes are developed and deployed throughout the firm. Proactive management of these processes proves very difficult because... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Innovation and Management; Management Teams; Service Operations; Organizational Culture; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Making; Consulting Industry

Web

Becoming a Board Member - Alumni

Marketing, financial, or technical expertise Risk management experience + – Resume Tips Your resume should include a Summary section that highlights your attributes relevant to a board role, as opposed to a View Details

January 2010 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Gobi Partners and DMG

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Thomas G. Tsao, founding general partner of Gobi Partners, an early stage venture capital firm in China, must decide how to manage his firm's largest investment after the departure of the CEO. Tom has temporarily stepped in as CEO, but finding a replacement with the... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Competency and Skills; Decision Choices and Conditions; Venture Capital; Investment; Business or Company Management; Management Succession; Emerging Markets; Problems and Challenges; Business and Stakeholder Relations; China

November 1993
Case

FCB and Publicis (C): The German-Led Network

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Pamela A. Yatsko

After U.S.-based Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB) and Publicis of France established an international advertising alliance in May 1988, alliance leaders set out to merge offices in Europe. They were confronted with a particularly tricky situation in Germany, which, if... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Alliances; Globalized Firms and Management; Partners and Partnerships; Advertising; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Diversity; Communications Industry; Advertising Industry; France; Germany; United States; Europe