Publications

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Summer 2023
Article

(Un)principled Agents: Monitoring Loyalty after the End of the Royal African Company Monopoly

By: Anne Ruderman and Marlous van Waijenburg

The revocation of the Royal African Company's monopoly in 1698 inaugurated a transformation of the transatlantic slave trade. While the RAC’s exit from the slave trade has received scholarly attention, little is known about the company’s response to the loss of its... View Details

Keywords: Slavery; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business History; Monopoly; History; Business and Government Relations

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March 2023
Case

Azenta Life Sciences: The Road to Transformation

By: Gary P. Pisano and Catherine Piner

When the Board brought Steve Schwartz in as President of Brooks Automation in 2010, they gave him a clear mission: strengthen the company’s core semiconductor equipment business and find a new industry to enter. Over the course of the next decade, Schwartz and the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Market Entry and Exit; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Segmentation; Technology Industry

January 2015 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Mauboussin

By: Anat Keinan, Sandrine Crener and Audrey Azoulay

Mauboussin is a French jewelry brand founded in 1827 in Paris. In the 1920s, the company earned a huge notoriety for capturing the aesthetic and emotional dimension of the Art Deco movement in its design and gained a worldwide reputation for innovation and expertise in... View Details

2015
Chapter

Staying the Same While Changing: Organizational Identity in the Face of Environmental Challenges

By: Mary Ann Glynn, Christi Lockwood and Ryan Raffaelli

We explore the role of organizational identity in the adoption of new sustainability practices, focusing on how identity functions as a driver of (or sometimes a drag on) adoption. Drawing on illustrations from the U.S. hotel industry, we examine how sustainability... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Environmental Sustainability; Adoption; Accommodations Industry; United States

July 2001 (Revised December 2001)
Case

WeServeHomes.com

ServiceMaster, a Fortune 500 supplier of home services such as Terminex, Trugreen (lawn care), and MerryMaids, has a 50% interest in an Internet start-up designed to attract new customers to its services and help service providers improve quality and lower costs.... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Service Industry

January 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Gavi and the 'Next' Pandemic

By: Tarun Khanna and Kerry Herman

In 2025, CEO Dr. Sania Nishtar and her team consider the lessons the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunizations (GAVI) learned from the pandemic. GAVI successfully brought COVID-19 vaccines to large swaths of the undeveloped and under-developed world by pooling... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Crisis Management; Success; Innovation and Invention; Service Delivery; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Pharmaceutical Industry; Africa

February 2022 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Winning Business at Russell Reynolds (C)

By: Ethan Bernstein and Cara Mazzucco

In an effort to make compensation drive collaboration, Russell Reynolds Associates’ (RRA) CEO Clarke Murphy sought to re-engineer the bonus system for his executive search consultants in 2016. As his HR analytics guru, Kelly Smith, points out, that risks upsetting—and... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Talent and Talent Management; Compensation and Benefits; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Consulting Industry

November 2001 (Revised October 2004)
Case

IBM Network Technology (A)

By: Michael L. Tushman and Robert C Wood

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. This case provides an example of how organizational... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Leadership; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Change Management; Management Practices and Processes; Business Plan; Organizational Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Success; Technology Industry

June 2001
Case

GE's Early Dispute Resolution Initiative (A)

By: Michael A. Wheeler and Gillian Morris

GE's chief litigation counsel sought to rationalize litigation flow by viewing it as a manufacturing process. By applying the principles of Six Sigma, P.D. Villareal created an Early Dispute Resolution (EDR) system that enabled both lawyers and managers to work... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Lawsuits and Litigation; Six Sigma; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Conflict and Resolution; Energy Industry; Technology Industry; United States

27 Jul 2015
Research & Ideas

The ‘Promotion’ That Makes You Feel Bad

strategic changes often, as they strive to adapt and stay competitive. Neeley points to the Steve Jobs example. Apple engineers were the highest-powered group until Jobs shifted the focus to design. "When he very publicly elevated the... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

02 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Mapping Your Corporate Strategy

adaptation of the strategy map—perhaps done annually—and provides a central resource for implementing all five management processes to become a strategy-focused organization (the subject of our previous book): mobilize, translate, align,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

15 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Rethinking E-Leadership

Easy Answers, it's important to regulate the level of distress or disruption that people feel. If you make them feel too much pressure, they'll be unable to perform the adaptive work you're asking them to do. Updated advice: Be only as... View Details

Keywords: by Melissa Raffoni

16 Nov 1999
Lessons from the Classroom

Leading Change and Organizational Renewal

From another viewpoint, sustainable competitive advantage is diminishing because, increasingly, firms can locate plants anywhere, and call on human, financial, and other resources without regard for locale. How is organizational design View Details

Keywords: by Staff

November 1998 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Asea Brown Boveri (Condensed)

By: Robert L. Simons

The merger of Asea AB and BBC Brown Boveri required a restructuring of operations and a change in organizational cultures. Competitive success also necessitated the benefits of scale while remaining "local" for political and customer-responsiveness reasons. The case... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Cost vs Benefits; Competitive Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth and Development; Performance Effectiveness; Consumer Products Industry

February 2004 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Hewlett-Packard: Culture in Changing Times

By: Michael Beer, Rakesh Khurana and James Weber

HP had been a highly successful and respected company for decades. It was well known for its company culture and management practices--the HP way--which emphasized both profits and people. Changing markets, strong competitors, and the growth of its computer business,... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Decision Choices and Conditions; Human Resources; Leading Change; Managerial Roles; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Performance Effectiveness; Adoption; Competition

April 1987 (Revised April 1987)
Case

Tiberg Co.

By: Michael Beer and Daniel J. Isenberg

Describes the efforts of a vice president of purchasing to coordinate and centralize purchasing procedures in a multinational company. He encounters a lack of active cooperation. A rewritten version of an earlier case by G. Lombard. View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Governance Controls; Managerial Roles; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Power and Influence

09 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 9, 2018

Purchase this case:https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/419011-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School 718-471 Medtronic: Navigating a Shifting Healthcare Landscape Medtronic is adapting its strategy to changes in healthcare competition and payments.... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

09 Sep 2013
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching Climate Change to Skeptics

if adaptation investments maintain constant flood probability, subsidence and sea-level rise will increase global flood losses to US$60-$63 billion per year in 2050," compared to $6 billion in 2005. To maintain present flood risk, the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

July 2019 (Revised May 2020)
Supplement

Piramal e-Swasthya (C): A New Name, Bigger Scope, and Public-Private Partnerships

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joyce J. Kim

In 2010, Anand Piramal acquired the Health Management Research Institute (HMRI), a healthcare venture, and merged it with his original digital healthcare startup Piramal e-Swasthya (PeS), so that PeS became Piramal Swasthya. After acquiring HMRI, Piramal Swasthya... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneur; Healthcare; Innovation; Emerging Economies; Scaling; Social Enterprise; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Management; Emerging Markets; Growth and Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Partners and Partnerships; India