Publications

February 2024
Supplement

Can Cities Beat the Heat? (B7): Milwaukee Climate Action Snapshot

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Coelin P. Scibetta and Jacob A. Small

Climate snapshots provide a summary of climate actions that occurred between 2018 and 2024, highlighting major green initiatives, innovations, carbon mitigation strategy, and action across multiple levels of government and the private sector. Snapshots also provide an... View Details

Keywords: Cities; Climate; Climate Impact; Innovation; Mitigation Policies; Carbon Footprint; Investing; Climate Finance; Mobility; Adaptation; Renewable Energy; Climate Change; Problems and Challenges; Sustainable Cities; United States; Wisconsin

February 2024
Supplement

Can Cities Beat the Heat? (B3): Chattanooga Climate Action Snapshot

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Coelin P. Scibetta and Jacob A. Small

Climate snapshots provide a summary of climate actions that occurred between 2018 and 2024, highlighting major green initiatives, innovations, carbon mitigation strategy, and action across multiple levels of government and the private sector. Snapshots also provide an... View Details

Keywords: Cities; Climate; Climate Impact; Innovation; Mitigation Policies; Carbon Footprint; Investing; Climate Finance; Mobility; Adaptation; Renewable Energy; Climate Change; Problems and Challenges; Sustainable Cities; United States; Tennessee

October 2023 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Thermo Fisher Scientific: Foray into Contract Research

By: Satish Tadikonda, William Marks and Kevin Emancipator

After publicly declaring that they would not enter the contract research organization (CRO) business in 2017, Thermo Fisher purchased Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD), one of the biggest players in the CRO space, in 2021. Much had changed in the intervening... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Biotechnology Industry

March 2018
Supplement

Sandra Brown Goes Digital (B): The Commitment Decision

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

Sandra Brown, a middle manager at a biotech company who has led internal and external movements for change over the last few years, faces a decision. Whether to continue to work for change at the company or move on to pursue new opportunities elsewhere, where her new... View Details

Keywords: Digital; Stakeholder Engagement; Managing Change; Career Path; Health Care Industry; Quality; Leading Change; Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Personal Development and Career; Decision Choices and Conditions

April 2016 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Moleskine (A)

By: Ryan Raffaelli, Raffaella Sadun and Kathy Qu

Describes the founding and growth challenges facing Moleskine, an Italian-based consumer products company known for its oilcloth-covered notebooks once used by Ernest Hemingway and Vincent van Gogh. CEO Arrigo Berni and co-founder Maria Sebregondi aim to transform the... View Details

Keywords: Creative Industries; Brand Building; Digital Innovation; Digital Services And Strategy; Process Improvement; Culture; Identity Construction; Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Leadership; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Innovation Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

2015
Chapter

How Leaders Use Values-based Guidance Systems to Create Dynamic Capabilities

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Matthew Bird, Ethan Bernstein and Ryan Raffaelli

How do strategic leaders create change-adept organizations? Based on qualitative field research, this chapter argues that well-defined institutionalized purpose, values, and principles act as an organizational guidance system that integrates and strengthens the... View Details

Keywords: Dynamic Capabilities; Field Research; Intrinsic Motivation; Organizational Identity; Ecosystem; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Motivation and Incentives; Research; Management Systems; Change

Find at Harvard

2009
Chapter

Organizational Design: Balancing Search and Stability in Strategic Decision Making

By: Jan Rivkin and Nicolaj Siggelkow

Managers often must make decisions that depend on decisions in other parts of the organization. These interactions create a network of interdependent choices and make strategizing difficult. In this chapter, the authors explore the intersection between organizing and... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Strategy; Balance and Stability

February 2003 (Revised March 2003)
Case

The Nature Conservancy

By: Allen S. Grossman and Jane Wei-Skillern

Almost immediately upon being appointed CEO of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Steve McCormick undertakes a radical reorganization of this global institution. TNC is the largest and, by most measures, the most successful environment organization in the world, with... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Natural Environment; Nonprofit Organizations; United States

April 2002
Case

Paula Evans and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (C)

By: Linda A. Hill and Kristin Doughty

Supplements the (A) case and Bobbie D'Alessandro and the Redesign of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Strategy; Secondary Education; Restructuring; Leadership; Education Industry; Cambridge

Find at Harvard

29 Mar 2017
News

Randy Day Named Perdue Farms CEO

Randy Day (AMP 165, 2003) has been named the new CEO of Perdue Farms, the fourth largest chicken producer in the United States. Day, only the fourth person to hold the CEO role in the company’s 100-year history, started with Perdue in 1980 and most recently held the... View Details

15 Nov 2024
News

Driving Change

traditional career paths. She emphasized the growing importance of supporting the “sandwich generation”—workers juggling child care with elder care responsibilities—noting that organizations that fail to adapt to these evolving needs risk... View Details

09 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

Warring Algorithms Could Be Driving Up Consumer Prices

involves companies turning over and making transparent their code, which they’re not used to doing.” “Establishing a digital regulator would allow enforcement to adapt more quickly to evolving technology, and it would have the benefit of... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Retail

14 May 2009
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Managing Teams

include: Team learning has value for organizations; learning in teams is seen as a key mechanism through which learning organizations become strategically and operationally adaptive and responsive. How the learning of individual work... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

26 Jul 2017
Blog Post

“Uncertainty Makes It More Interesting.”

through the efforts of a tiny team that began with three people and had grown to just eleven. “I thought it was the ideal place to go,” Felipe says. “The uncertainty makes it more interesting. How do you take a product aimed at a Canadian market and View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

Web

Field Course: Startup Operations - Course Catalog

shift and adapt to these changes as your companies evolve. The course is highly focused on ensuring each team’s business evolves towards success criteria unique to their product and organization. Therefore, each team will build a Goals &... View Details

October 3, 2023
Article

10 Pitfalls That Destroy Organizational Trust

By: Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss

In their new book, Move Fast and Fix Things, Frances Frei and Anne Morriss outline five strategies to help leaders tackle their hardest problems and quickly make change. Their second strategy is to build — or rebuild — trust with your stakeholders. This means... View Details

Keywords: Trust; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management

Register to Read

June 2024 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Sequoia Capital

By: Jo Tango, Christina Wallace, Srimayi Mylavarapu and Johnson Elugbadebo

Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm founded in 1972, quickly grew to become one of the most storied venture capital firms in the world. Fueled by a strong culture, Sequoia's investment track record included the names of some of the largest global successes.... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Restructuring; Corporate Strategy; Financial Services Industry