Publications

November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Case

Anthology: Pivoting the Business Model

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Christopher Payton

In July 2014, after 18 months and eight unsuccessful product launches, the CEO of Yabbly has agreed to sell his company to a larger, well-funded startup, providing a return of capital for his investors and a home for his team. Two weeks prior to the scheduled closing,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Business Model; Business Plan; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Innovation Strategy; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Internet and the Web; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Exit or Shutdown; Fairness; Valuation; Technology Industry; Consumer Products Industry; North America; United States; Seattle

2014
Working Paper

The Founder's Resource‐Dependence Challenge

By: Noam Wasserman

Does the degree to which founders keep control of their startups affect company value? I argue that founders face a "control dilemma" in which a startup's resource dependence drives a wedge between the startup's value and the founder's ability to retain control of... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Value; Business Startups

Read Now

March 2007
Article

Gender Effects and Stock Market Reactions to the Announcement of Top Executive Appointments

This study uses Kanter's token status theory to link announcements of top executives to shareholder reactions, highlighting possible gender effects. Using a sample of top executive announcements from 1990 to 2000, our results show that investor reactions to the... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Management Succession; Gender; Management Teams

September 2018
Case

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice at 40

By: Josh Lerner, Abhijit Tagade and Terrence Shu

In 2018, private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice celebrated its 40th anniversary and its 20th year under the leadership of CEO Don Gogel. In those decades, CD&R showed solid portfolio performance and generated strong returns for its investors - accomplishments... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Succession; Buyout; Leveraged Buyout; Turnaround; Operations; Private Equity; Management Succession; Business Model; Leveraged Buyouts; Trends; Organizational Change and Adaptation

10 May 2012
Working Paper Summaries

The Flattened Firm—Not as Advertised

Keywords: by Julie Wulf

September 2014
Case

Victors & Spoils: 'Born Open'

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Michael L. Tushman

Victors & Spoils (V&S), located in Boulder, Colorado, was the first advertising agency built on open innovation and crowdsourcing principles from the ground-up. V&S was co-founded in 2009 by John Winsor, Claudia Batten and Evan Fry, all former members of the... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Agency; Marketing; Crowdsourcing; Open Innovation; Growth; Acquisitions; Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Digital Marketing; Acquisition; Innovation and Invention; Advertising Industry; United States

20 Apr 2022
Blog Post

How HBS Prepared Me to Lead a Company on Day One

A few months after graduating from HBS, I drove my Buick halfway across the country and moved to a state I’d never visited. When I arrived in Oklahoma, I became CEO of a union heating and air business. I soon discovered that HBS prepared... View Details

October 2017
Supplement

Maggie Wilderotter: The Evolution of an Executive: Video Supplement

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott and Robin Abrahams

In a career that spanned over 30 years, Maggie Wilderotter served as CEO of two publicly traded companies and served on 32 corporate and nine association and non-profit boards of directors. The case looks at the progression of Wilderotter’s career; the decisions she... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Managing People; Networks; Strategy And Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Personal Characteristics; Leadership Style; Social and Collaborative Networks; Gender; Power and Influence; Telecommunications Industry; United States

December 2007
Case

Cinergy and Duke Energy 2005: Think BIG

By: Boris Groysberg, Nitin Nohria, Colleen Kaftan and Geoff Eckman Marietta

Jim Rogers, CEO of Cinergy Energy, has just announced the company's merger with Duke Energy to Employees. Rogers has had success in the past leading his firm though a merger, but will he be able to achieve similar results this time around? This case also illustrates... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Leading Change; Integration; Energy Industry

Find at Harvard

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

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Health Care and Treatment; Labor and Management Relations; Management Teams; Values and Beliefs; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Health Industry

19 Feb 2020
News

Jeff Bezos Commits 'Extraordinary Amount' To Combat Climate Change, Says Nancy Koehn

17 Dec 2019
News

Under Pressure, OXXO Rethinks the Convenience Store

March 2018 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Verizon 2018

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

In 2018, CEO Lowell McAdam led efforts to transform Verizon through digital innovation, media acquisitions and integration, and changes to the company culture. He sought to manage change at the company as growth in traditional areas slowed and position it as a leader... View Details

Keywords: Change; Change Leadership; Change Management; Innovation; Digital; Management; Leading Change; Innovation and Management; Acquisition; Integration; Telecommunications Industry; United States

February 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Rico Auto Industries: Raising Private Equity in India

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

The CEO of a publicly traded Indian auto components manufacturer must decide whether to accept an investment from a consortium of private equity firms. Describes the decision process for both the private equity investors and the entrepreneur and profiles the... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Auto Industry; India

February 1996 (Revised March 1996)
Case

Harvey Golub: Recharging American Express

By: David A. Garvin and Artemis March

Harvey Golub, CEO American Express, initiated and led a large-scale change process. The case describes the organization he inherited, two successive waves of reengineering, his "principles-driven" approach to decision making, and his goal of converting American Express... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Engineering; Leadership Style; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Core Relationships; Integration; Value