Publications

December 2006 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Restructuring Navigator Gas Transport Plc

By: C. Fritz Foley

How should creditors pursue their claims in a multi-jurisdiction bankruptcy? David Butters, Managing Director at Lehman Brothers, negotiates a restructuring of Navigator Gas Transport, a shipping company that is headquartered in Switzerland, incorporated in the Isle of... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Complexity; Capital Structure; Restructuring; International Finance; Law; Ship Transportation; Shipping Industry; Switzerland; Isle of Man

11 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: Dec. 11

Business School Supplement 613-041 Rainer Ohnheiser, the president of Carl Zeiss's Business Group Industrial Metrology (IMT), was focused on the threat that in-line metrology posed to Carl Zeiss IMT's core business. Historically, View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2004 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Executive Decision Making at General Motors

By: David A. Garvin and Lynne Levesque

Describes the evolution of General Motors' strategy, organizational structure, and management processes from its founding to the present day. Focuses on the role of GM's management committee—the senior-decision-making body at the company, now called the Automotive... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Decision Making; Management Teams; Auto Industry

16 Aug 2024
In Practice

Election 2024: What's at Stake for Business and the Workplace?

policy, resulting in even stricter immigration restrictions—with potential negative consequences for the economy. The US government and business leaders should instead seek a coordinated approach to design an open, but flexible... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

February 1975 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Elizabeth Best (A)

By: Wickham Skinner and Ardis Burst

New political appointee with years of volunteer experience takes over highly responsible job in state government and is met with bureaucratic resistance. View Details

Keywords: Government Administration; Organizational Structure; Attitudes; Groups and Teams; Human Resources; Jobs and Positions; Prejudice and Bias; Public Administration Industry

21 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 21

performance measures over time to transform Cross Country Group from an opportunistic family business into a sophisticated industry leader. Cross Country (renamed Agero in 2011) operated call centers that View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Nov 2016
Research & Ideas

It Matters That Your CEO Doesn't Know Much About Sales

reality, Cespedes says that sales is one of the most contextually determined areas in business, varying dramatically across markets and industries and between companies in the same industry. And his article cites data illustrating how... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

15 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

Deconstructing the Price Tag

cost transparency caveats for retailers. A firm may not want to share production costs if the cost structure provides a competitive advantage. In addition, contracts with suppliers may prevent making certain information public. And it... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail

11 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 11, 2007

future lock-in can arise without changing the structure of a should-choice, but by just changing people's temporal focus. Finally, we provide evidence that the should self operates at a higher construal level (abstract, superordinate)... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 1994 (Revised October 1994)
Case

Motorola Corp.: The View from the CEO Office

By: Shoshana Zuboff and Janis Lee Gogan

Motorola, a leader in semiconductors and telecommunications, embarked on an ambitious program of renewal beginning in the early 1980s, leading to dramatic improvements in the company's quality, cycle time, and growth. Much of this progress was attributed to a major... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Leading Change; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Managerial Roles; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Corporate Strategy; Telecommunications Industry

Find at Harvard

09 Sep 2013
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching Climate Change to Skeptics

A few years ago, Joseph B. Lassiter traveled to San Francisco, Houston, and New York to hold discussions with Harvard alumni on the topic of business and the environment. Each time, he surveyed the audience about the touchy subject of climate change and how society... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

06 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 6, 2007

people but are often blind to the need for radical change. Outsiders see the need for a new approach but can't make the necessary changes because they don't know the organization or industry sector well enough. What companies must do,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2001 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Range, The (A)

By: Kathleen L. McGinn, Tracy Thompson and Michael Smith

Reveals the potential benefits and pitfalls of reorganization into teams in order to respond to environmental change. Takes place in the newsroom of a metropolitan daily newspaper. Both management and employees struggle to find new balance after a major restructuring... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Groups and Teams; Restructuring; Balance and Stability; Organizational Structure; Business Processes; Journalism and News Industry

Find at Harvard

May 1994 (Revised November 1994)
Case

PepsiCo: A View from the Corporate Office

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Leonard A. Schlesinger

Describes the three business segments of PepsiCo (beverages, snack foods, and restaurants). It then explores the competitive environment within each segment and the response of PepsiCo's businesses. It seeks to show how PepsiCo CEO, D. Wayne Calloway, in a very... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Change; Governance Controls; Management Style; Organizational Structure; Situation or Environment; Competitive Strategy; Value; Food and Beverage Industry