Publications

August 2008
Supplement

Microsoft's Unlimited Potential (B)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Madelene Bell

This short (B) case provides an update of how Microsoft organized its unlimited potential initiative. View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Business or Company Management; Information Technology Industry

25 Apr 2014
Video

Larry Posner - Making A Difference

18 Dec 2006
Lessons from the Classroom

Grooming Next-Generation Leaders

use the right approach at the right time and change as the situation demands is going to be tough. Not everybody can do it. That's going to distinguish the true leaders from people who are capable but not leaders." Targeting Talent Employees in large and small... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

November 2022
Case

Goonj: Growing in the Face of a Pandemic

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Priyank Narayan

Founded by the husband and wife team of Anshu and Meenakshi Gupta in 1999, Goonj had quickly emerged as one of the leading disaster relief and rural development organizations in India. Their main mode of development was through providing a clothing kit to the village... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Management; Family Business; Natural Disasters; Social Issues; Entrepreneurship; Operations; Business and Community Relations; Strategy; India

12 PM – 1 PM EST, 12 Nov 2014
Webinars: Trending@HBS

Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation

What does it take to build an organization that can innovate in today's global economy? Professor Linda Hill will share examples from her new book of leaders who have learned how to cultivate "collective genius" and provide a framework for creating organizations in... View Details

19 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

$15 Billion in Five Years: What Data Tells Us About MacKenzie Scott’s Philanthropy

of gifts over time. So many in the nonprofit and philanthropy world wondered how Scott’s nonconforming principles would be expressed in her actual giving. Scott, whose net worth has been estimated to top $40 billion, established the View Details

Keywords: by Matthew Lee, Brian Trelstad, and Ethan Tran

February 1991 (Revised May 2016)
Background Note

Note on Organizational Structure

By: Ethan Bernstein and Nitin Nohria

Provides the reader with a basic understanding of organizational structure. The first section outlines some of the key tools and criteria that must be taken into account in designing organizational structures. In the second section, some archetypal forms of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure

25 Apr 2014
Video

Pitch Johnson - Making A Difference

2009
Casebook

Managing Crises: Responses to Large-Scale Emergencies

By: Arnold M. Howitt and Herman B. Leonard

This casebook provides an organized treatment of the major challenges associated with managing large scale disaster events, including discussion of systematic methods of organizing disaster response, preparing in advance for disaster situations, and distinguishing... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Planning; Natural Disasters

Find at Harvard

September 18, 2017
Article

Should You Agitate, Innovate, or Orchestrate?

By: Julie Battilana and Marissa Kimsey

The article provides a framework for understanding the roles that individuals and organizations can play in a movement for social change. View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Social Issues; Change

Read Now

October 2018 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Khan Academy 2018

By: William Sahlman and Nicole Tempest Keller

Founded in 2008, Khan Academy was a global educational nonprofit with a mission to provide a free, world-class education for anyone anywhere in the world. By 2018, the organization had expanded into numerous content areas, product areas, and geographic markets.... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneur; Sustainability; Scaling; Social Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Strategy; Education; Entrepreneurship; Teaching; Education Industry; California

September 2005
Case

IBM Network Technology (A) (Abridged)

By: Michael L. Tushman

An unconventional manager within IBM leads the creation of a business unit with multibillion-dollar potential, winning over customers and nudging the organization to make the changes needed to achieve dramatic growth. Exemplifies how organizational design and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Design; Management Teams; Leadership Style; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Employees; Information Technology Industry

July 1995
Background Note

Managerial Effectiveness and Diversity: Individual Choices

Provides an introduction to the key concepts and questions individuals encounter in a diverse workplace. These concepts and questions are organized around three critical interactions and experiences in any individual's career: entry into an organization or work group;... View Details

Keywords: Management; Diversity

January 2000 (Revised June 2001)
Background Note

Seven Rules for New Leaders

Provides guidelines for how to successfully enter a new senior management position. Identifies key traps into which new leaders fall and provides a framework for organizing to succeed in the first few months on the job. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Management Teams

August 2010 (Revised July 2012)
Supplement

Leaders Who Make a Difference: Joel Klein Brings Accountability to NYC DOE: Day 2

By: Joseph L. Bower and Sonja Ellingson Hout

Joel Klein took over the NYC Department of Education in 2002 and radically transformed the strategy and organization remarkably with improvements in performance. Day 2 focuses on Klein as a strategist, organization builder and driver of performance. Supplementary... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Organizational Structure; Corporate Strategy; Education; Performance Improvement; Public Administration Industry; Education Industry