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Publications
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(1,035)
- Faculty Publications (188)
- Article
Organizational Beliefs and Managerial Vision
Can managers have an impact on their firm that goes beyond their direct actions and decisions? This article shows that a manager with strong beliefs about the right course of action will attract, through sorting in the labor market, employees with similar beliefs. This... View Details
- July 2004 (Revised December 2004)
- Case
Timberland: Commerce and Justice
By: James E. Austin, Herman B. Leonard and James Quinn
When Jeffrey Swartz became the third generation in his family to lead the Timberland Co., he pursued a strategy in which commerce and justice were "inextricably linked." Community involvement, environmental management, and global labor standards became not addenda to... View Details
- February 2004
- Case
Note on Human Behavior: Reason and Emotion
By: Nitin Nohria and Bridget Gurtler
Human beings are driven by reasons and emotions. On the one hand, as rational choice theorists assert, human beings are resourceful and evaluative as they strive to maximize their own interests. An individual's interests can converge or diverge from the interests of... View Details
- February 2004
- Article
Launching a World-Class Joint Venture
By: James Bamford, David Ernst and David G. Fubini
More than 5,000 joint ventures, and many more contractual alliances, have been launched worldwide in the past five years. Companies are realizing that JVs and alliances can be lucrative vehicles for developing new products, moving into new markets, and increasing... View Details
- January 2004 (Revised May 2004)
- Background Note
Strategy and Positioning in Professional Service Firms
By: Ashish Nanda
This case provides a definition of strategy, distinguishes between corporate and practice strategy, and discusses how and why developing and implementing strategy for professional service firms is different from developing and implementing strategy for commercial... View Details
- March 2003 (Revised December 2003)
- Exercise
Organizational Alignment Exercise
By: Michael Beer and John J. Gabarro
Presents an overview of a method for diagnosing and developing an organization's capability to achieve its goals and implement its strategy, with exercises for application. A rewritten version of an earlier exercise. View Details
- 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
- July 2002 (Revised October 2002)
- Case
Taj Hotel Group
By: Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan
R.K. Krishna Kumar, managing director and head of Taj Hotel Group, has to decide whether to reexamine a promotion decision. In an attempt to deliver a level of service quality that met global standards at the Indian hotel chain, Kumar had introduced new personnel... View Details
- April 2002 (Revised September 2003)
- Case
Stephen Brown at John Hancock Financial Services
By: Robin J. Ely
Describes a major organizational transformation process at John Hancock Financial Services in which CEO Stephen Brown takes a series of measured steps to turn the old-line mutual insurance company into a competitive, performance-oriented financial services firm. At the... View Details
- June 2000
- Case
Rebirth of the Swiss Watch Industry, 1980-1992 (A)
By: Michael L. Tushman and Daniel Radov
The Swiss watch industry has been devastated by new entrants from Asia in the low- and mid-priced watch segments. Japanese and Hong Kong firms have used quartz technology to lower costs dramatically. Nicolas Hayek, president of a Swiss consulting firm, is asked to help... View Details
- June 2000
- Case
Rebirth of the Swiss Watch Industry, 1980-1992 (B): Hayek and Thomke at SMH
By: Michael L. Tushman and Daniel Radov
Describes the course pursued by Hayek, Thomke, and others in the formation of SMH. Discusses the new strategy and its implementation, charting the dramatic recovery of the large Swiss watchmakers. Ends with an exploration of Hayek's efforts to build on SMH's successes. View Details
- March 1999
- Case
Merck & Co., Inc.: Corporate Strategy, Organization and Culture (A)
By: Michael Beer and Perry Fagan
In the early 1990s, Merck faced a series of challenges because of significant changes in its competitive and regulatory environment (e.g., growth in power of pharmaceutical buyers like managed care organizations led to price pressures and President Clinton's review of... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Management Practices and Processes; Competitive Strategy; Management Teams; Health Care and Treatment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Situation or Environment; Alignment; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States
- November 1998 (Revised February 1999)
- Case
Microsoft Office: Finding the Suite Spot
By: Stefan H. Thomke and Steven Sinofsky
Describes a key decision-making process within Microsoft's Office products division. At a time when the PC software business has a great deal of uncertainty, Microsoft's management has to make a key decision regarding the future of software suites. A strengthening of... View Details
Keywords: Decisions; Applications and Software; Strategic Planning; Organizational Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Product Development; Managerial Roles; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk and Uncertainty; Goals and Objectives; Digital Platforms; Innovation and Management; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry
- February 1998 (Revised August 2006)
- Case
House of Tata, 1995: The Next Generation (A)
By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Danielle Melito Wu
The Tata Group began the 1990s as a confederation of loosely coupled firms. This case considers the rise to prominence of the new CEO of Tata Group, Ratan Tata, and his attempts to strengthen the inter-relationships among the group companies at a time when critics... View Details
- April 1997 (Revised May 1997)
- Case
Mercer Management Consulting's "Grow to Be Great" (A): The Growth Initiative
By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Carin-Isabel Knoop
In late 1994, James Down, member of Mercer's Executive Committee, has to decide whether or not he should push ahead with the writing and publication of a book on growth--at a time when the more successful business publications focus on reengineering and cost cutting.... View Details
- July 1996 (Revised July 2025)
- Case
Innovative Opportunities to Manage Health Care Delivery: THG/Healthy Shop
By: Regina E. Herzlinger and D. Scott Lurding
The purpose of this case is:
To familiarize the students with the changing landscape of health care delivery, through chains of retail medical centers and those offering value-based care (VBC).
To discuss fundamental managerial decisions about their... View Details
To discuss fundamental managerial decisions about their... View Details
- January 1994 (Revised March 1995)
- Case
NovaCare, Inc.: Living the Vision
By: Lynn S. Paine
NovaCare's CEO is considering how further to institutionalize the company's espoused values and beliefs. One challenge is integrating two newly acquired businesses; another is better aligning the values of the company's managers with those of its front-line... View Details
- June 1991 (Revised March 1995)
- Case
Becton Dickinson (A): Corporate Strategy
By: Michael Beer
This case series introduces the strategic human resource management (SHRM) process. SHRM is an action research program designed to align the organization and management of human resources with strategy. This case describes the health care industry, Becton Dickinson's... View Details
- September 1987
- Background Note
Organizing Effort: Aligning Organization and Other Elements of Strategy
By: James L. Heskett