Publications

February 1999 (Revised April 1999)
Case

Guaranty Trust Bank PLC Nigeria (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Hal Hogan

Fola Adeola, the CEO of Nigeria's Guaranty Trust Bank and one of its founders in 1991, is considering what should be done to maintain the bank's original vision and vitality in the face of its rapid growth and success in the marketplace. Known for its high ethical... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Organizational Culture; Ethics; Planning; Expansion; Business Processes; Law; Banking Industry; Nigeria

28 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

Brick-and-Mortar Stores Are Making a Comeback

linear, making you linger and pause and consider, rather than an easy search-and-grab. If you think about the origins of Starbucks, it was a process filled with friction: The barista would ask about your family and educate you about... View Details

Keywords: by Jen McFarland Flint; Retail

18 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Breaking Through a Growth Stall

Skinner III, head of the Atlanta-based consultancy LCS Partners. The article discusses the importance of understanding your ideal customers; the implications for selling, cost management, growth strategy, and organizational relationships; and a View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

March 1999 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Apple Computer--1999

By: David B. Yoffie and Mary Kwak

In 1980, Apple was the leader of the PC industry, but by 1999, it had suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Wintel camp. This case examines Apple's efforts to create sustainable competitive advantage as the PC industry evolves. After discussing Apple's history and... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Business or Company Management; Management Practices and Processes; Corporate Strategy; Information Technology Industry

February 2009
Article

Suspended in Self-Spun Webs of Significance: A Rhetorical Model of Institutionalization and Institutionally Embedded Agency

By: Sandy Edward Green, Yuan Li and Nitin Nohria

This article employs rhetorical theory to reconceptualize institutionalization as change in argument structure. As a state, institutionalization is embodied in the structure of argument used to justify a practice at a given point in time. As a process,... View Details

Keywords: Debates; Management Practices and Processes; Trust; Adoption; Theory; United States

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01 Oct 1996
News

Leading In a New Era

process at every level of the 17,320-employee company. "Most nonhuman resources, such as capital or equipment, can be acquired," he says. "What's more important is how a corporate strategy is executed and... View Details

Keywords: Nancy O. Perry

September 2007 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Peter Welz: When a Marquee Prospect Plays Hardball (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Ellen Knebel

Describes the hardball tactics facing Peter Welz, who seeks to negotiate a make-or-break contract with a vastly larger potential client. Welz's counterpart team is led by Preston Spitzer, a notoriously tough player who fully understands his side's massive advantages in... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Behavior; Conflict and Resolution; Competitive Advantage

08 Dec 2008
Research & Ideas

Thinking Twice About Supply-Chain Layoffs

availability, having the right product in the right place at the right time with the right label and of course with the right price may be what really drives customer satisfaction." Another significant factor was an emphasis on minimizing payroll expenditures, a... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

How One Center of Innovation Lost its Spark

tacit knowledge flows. These knowledge flows, in turn, contribute to cumulative incremental innovations in both product and process technology among firms embedded in the cluster. I use the term 'active inertia' to describe the tendency... View Details

Keywords: by Donald Sull; Manufacturing; Transportation; Auto

01 Dec 2008
News

Alumni Books

Fortune magazine estimates that 75 percent of all strategies and projects fail; this book offers a proven system to ensure being among the 25 percent that succeed. It provides interactive analytical tools and a step-by-step View Details

Keywords: Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance; Food Services and Drinking Places; Hospitality; Transportation Equipment Manufacturing; Manufacturing

30 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Tracks of My Tears: Reconstructing Digital Music

Many products in those sectors are sold in a bundled form, so bundling strategies have always been a key topic for media and entertainment firms. But I learned that the rise of digital channels is introducing new questions. Executives are... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Music

December 2010 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Yum! China

By: David E. Bell and Mary Shelman

Since the first KFC opened in China in 1987, Yum--under Sam Su's leadership--had built the largest restaurant company by far in mainland China. Averaging one new restaurant opening a day for the past five years, in 2010 Yum ran over 3,600 restaurants in 650 cities and... View Details

Keywords: Business Processes; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Strategy; Business Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Beijing Shi

01 Apr 1999
News

Short Takes

Management from 1960 to 2000," Nolan highlights the critical shifts in the four eras in the evolution of IT. The Industrial Era, he writes, created an automation mindset, while the Data Processing Era led to organizational... View Details

Keywords: Eileen K. McCluskey

26 Oct 2009
Lessons from the Classroom

The New Deal: Negotiauctions

known, unknown, and potential competitors. In February 2010, Subramanian will publish Negotiauctions: New Dealmaking Strategies for a Competitive Marketplace, a book that draws on his experience studying and advising on complex corporate... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

25 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Politics is Failing America, and What Business Can Do To Help

everyday voters. Among their recommendations: Change the election process so that it more fairly represents all voters, by gerrymandering reforms overseen by a nonpartisan redistricting panel, and open access to presidential debates to... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette

December 2002
Article

Something Old, Something New: A Longitudinal Study of Search Behavior and New Product Introduction

By: Riitta Katila and Gautam Ahuja

We examine how firms search, or solve problems, to create new products. According to organizational learning research, firms position themselves in a unidimensional search space that spans a spectrum from local to distant search. Our findings in the global robotics... View Details

Keywords: Problem Solving; New Products; Organizational Learning; Uncertainty; Organizational Research; Knowledge Management; Robotics; Organizational Behavior; Organizational Effectiveness; Innovation Adoption; Strategy; Product Design; Business Processes; Product Development

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