Publications

September 1996 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Cytec Industries' Spin-Off (A): Sink or Swim?

In the wake of market pressure to restructure, American Cyanamid spun off its poorly performing Chemicals Unit into a new publicly traded corporation, Cytec Industries. In addition to weak operations, Cytec inherited the bulk of Cyanamid's environmental and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Practices and Processes; Restructuring; Performance Improvement; Chemical Industry; United States

2011
Other Unpublished Work

Height Taken but Worth Unknown: Valuation as an Institutional Process

By: R. Daniel Wadhwani and Mukti Khaire

Drawing on research from organizational studies, sociology, history, and anthropology, we develop a framework for understanding valuation as an institutional process in markets. We posit that three institutional elements—categories, criteria, and standards—are integral... View Details

Keywords: Interactive Communication; Markets; Standards; Situation or Environment; Perception; Valuation

28 Jul 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Technology Reemergence: Creating New Value for Old Technologies in Swiss Mechanical Watchmaking, 1970–2008

Keywords: by Ryan Raffaelli; Consumer Products; Apparel & Accessories

04 Sep 2013
What Do You Think?

How Relevant is Long-Range Strategic Planning?

Summing Up How Can Strategic Planning be Adapted to Changing Needs? Strategic planning concepts and the notion of long-range planning will continue to be integral parts of responsible management. But they... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

19 Feb 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Evolution of Science-Based Business: Innovating How We Innovate

Keywords: by Gary P. Pisano

01 Sep 2017
News

Ink: Miami’s Dark Neon Era, the Language of Success, and Getting Psyched Up

that nobody seems to remember. It is one of the most inspiring and influential books that I’ve ever read.” Excerpt “Language can affect every aspect of global organizational life. A lingua franca is the... View Details

Keywords: April White; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

Research Summary

Research overview

By: Julie Battilana

How can actors – be they individuals or organizations – diverge from deeply-seated norms and develop new ones, when their beliefs and actions are shaped by these very norms? This question lies at the heart of Professor Battilana’s research. To address it, she... View Details

May 2009
Case

Tokyo Electron Ltd.

By: Willy C. Shih and Andrew A. King

Tokyo Electron Ltd. operates in a constrained innovation environment, defined by modular boundaries that are long standing in the industry that it serves, the global semiconductor manufacturing industry. While the original motivation for these boundaries was division... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Governance Controls; Technological Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Boundaries; Manufacturing Industry; Semiconductor Industry

Find at Harvard

25 Aug 2016
News

What's Old is New Again

Research Summary

Channel Stewardship

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Drawing on a dozen in-depth primary case studies, field research, and consulting applications, Rangan has developed a paradigm for continuously evolving a firm's Go-to-Market strategy in keeping up with the changes in its business environment. This evolutionary... View Details

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

April 2017
Supplement

Global Leadership in a Dynamic and Evolving Region: Molinas @ The Coca-Cola Company (C)

By: Tsedal Neeley and Esel Çekin

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Functions; Structure; Centralization; Decentralization; Diversity; Country Of Origin Effects; Global Contextual Intelligence; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Organizational Structure; Experience and Expertise; Situation or Environment; Central Asia; Turkey

05 Sep 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Structural Transformation: A Competitiveness-based View

Keywords: by Christian Ketels

Lakshmi Ramarajan

Professor Ramarajan is the Diane Doerge Wilson Professor of Business Administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. Her research examines the management and consequences of identities in organizations.

She teaches the... View Details

Keywords: nonprofit industry

01 Sep 2023
News

That Was Then, This Is Now

It started with a question. But before that, it started in the classroom. Tony Deifell (MBA 2002) loved the discussions in his LEAD course, taught by Professor (and now former Dean) Nitin Nohria; wanting to make them more tangible, Deifell adapted the idea of... View Details

Keywords: Photographed by Tony Deifell (MBA 2002); edited by Julia Hanna. Above: Heidi Brooks, photographed in 2003 and 2023.; life experience; family; leadership

10 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

John Kotter’s Plan to Accelerate Your Business

organizational design that has not one, but two "operating systems." One system conducts the everyday business of business, while the second system, more like an agile network, sits alongside to focus on the opportunities View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

November 1990 (Revised June 1991)
Case

Final Voyage of the Challenger

Provides a summary of technical and organizational details that led to the decision to launch the Challenger Space Shuttle, and to the ensuing accident. Details of design and testing milestones of the Space Shuttle, with a focus on the Solid Rocket Booster, offer... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Risk Management; Ethics; Decision Choices and Conditions; Business Processes; Aerospace Industry; United States

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)

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