Publications

September 1987
Background Note

Establishing Strategic Direction: Aligning Elements of Strategy

By: James L. Heskett

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October 2014
Background Note

Leader-as-Architect: Alignment

By: Ethan Bernstein, Ryan Raffaelli and Joshua Margolis

Part of a leader's job is to equip the organization to transform inputs into outputs by defining organizational strategy, shaping organizational identity, and then managing four organizational components—formal organizational structure, culture, people, and critical... View Details

Keywords: Organization; Resource Management; Leadership; Business Processes; Design; Organizational Design; Identity; Strategy; Resource Allocation; Strategic Planning; Alignment

October 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Hospital 57357: Aligning Performance Towards a Vision of a Cancer-Free Childhood

By: Susanna Gallani and Youssef Abdel Aal

The case follows the Children Cancer Hospital in Egypt, also known as Hospital 57357, as it goes through the roll-out of a new performance management system, which Dr. Sherif Abouel Naga, founder and CEO of the hospital, had championed. This was a critical juncture as... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Performance Management; Performance Incentives; Strategic Alignment; Health Care and Treatment; Nonprofit Organizations; Strategy; Alignment; Performance Evaluation; Mission and Purpose; Change Management; Health Industry; Egypt; Middle East

July 2024
Case

Board Director Dilemmas: Strategic Leadership

By: David G. Fubini and Patrick Sanguineti

Professor John Michaels, a distinguished scholar of corporate strategy, has served on the Board of OmniCo, a diversified industrial giant, for four years. Three months ago, the Board appointed a new CEO, Andrew Bennett, to lead growth, develop a more cooperative... View Details

Keywords: Board; Board Dynamics; Strategic Leadership; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Culture; Leadership Style; Management Succession

April 2019
Case

Barber Cardiosystems

By: Ranjay Gulati and Paul S. Myers

Barber Cardiosystems, based in Melbourne, Australia, designs and manufactures therapeutic devices used for treatment of coronary conditions. Over four decades, it has grown to be among the top 200 medical device companies in the world. It competes against much larger... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Strategic Alignment; Cost Management; Performance Productivity; Organizational Culture; Motivation and Incentives; Organizational Design; Strategy; Leadership; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Australia

24 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

Managing Alignment as a Process

organization alignment (alignment index). This enterprise scorecard captures the essential elements of the overall strategy. It provides SMI with the top-down guidance from corporate to the business and service units that needs to be... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Consumer Products; Retail

October 2005
Article

Strategic Management as Organizational Learning: Developing Fit and Alignment through a Disciplined Process

By: Michael Beer, Sven C. Voelpel, Marius Leibold and Eden B. Tekie

Keywords: Strategy; Management; Learning; Education

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2005
Working Paper

Strategic Management As Organizational Learning: Developing Fit and Alignment Through a Disciplined Process

By: Michael Beer, Sven C. Voelpel, Marius Leibold and Eden B. Tekie

22 Mar 2010
Research & Ideas

One Strategy: Aligning Planning and Execution

represents what actually gets done. Strategic integrity is when emergent and directed strategies are one and the same thing: when the strategy executes with the full, aligned backing of the organization for... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Video Game; Web Services

January 15, 2019
Article

Is Your Company's Strategy Aligned with Your Ownership Model?

By: Josh Baron

The legacy of Vanguard founder John Bogle has brought attention to the transformative influence of ownership structures within the business world. Bogle's revolutionary insight into the limitations of active fund management led to the widespread adoption of index... View Details

Keywords: Ownership Type; Business Strategy; Organizational Structure; Strength and Weakness; Competitive Advantage

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08 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

The Strategic Way To Hire a Sales Team

Cespedes explains a strategic process for hiring and managing an effective salesforce: book excerpt Build your Team: Recruitment And Selection From Aligning Strategy and Sales By Frank Cespedes Putting the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

A Perfect Fit: Aligning Organization & Strategy

to implement its strategy more effectively," Beer remembers. He and Eisenstat knew from previous research, however, that strategy implementation depends on how well the organization is aligned with its strategy. Most companies do not... View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

25 Jan 2000
Research & Ideas

Strategic Alliances

development of ten additional case studies—all presented in the forthcoming book The Collaboration Challenge: How Nonprofits and Businesses Succeed through Strategic Alliances (Jossey-Bass and The Drucker Foundation). Austin found that... View Details

Keywords: by Nancy O. Perry

June 1991 (Revised March 1995)
Case

Becton Dickinson (D): Strategic Human Resource Management Profiling

By: Michael Beer

Describes a strategic human resource management process applied at the business unit and corporate level. The purpose of the process is to provide a means for aligning human resource management policies and practices with strategy and to hold managers accountable for... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Human Resources; Business or Company Management; Strategic Planning; Corporate Strategy; Health Industry

2013
Article

The Strategic Fitness Process: A Collaborative Action Research Method for Developing Organizational Prototypes and Dynamic Capabilities

By: Michael Beer

Organizations underperform and sometimes fail because their leaders are unable to learn the unvarnished truth from relevant stakeholders about how the design and behavior of the organization is misaligned with its goals and strategy. The Strategic Fitness Process (SFP)... View Details

Keywords: Organization Alignment; Dynamic Capabilities; Organization Design; Organizational Prototyping; Organizational Silence; Organizational Learning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Organizational Design

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2016
Working Paper

Pivoting Isn't Enough: Principled Pragmatism and Strategic Reorientation in New Ventures

By: Rory McDonald and Cheng Gao

New technology ventures often experience deviations from their original plans that oblige them to reorient in pursuit of better fit between their evolving products and target customers. Yet research is largely silent on how entrepreneurs explain and justify their... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Reorientation; Technology Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Product Development Processes; Organizational Adaptation; Qualitative Methods (General); Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Communication; Entrepreneurship; Alignment; Innovation and Invention; Product Development

June 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Hennes & Mauritz, 2000

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2000, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) was the second-largest and most global player in the fashion retail business. It operated 682 stores, 80% of them outside its home country of Sweden, and achieved revenues of $3.0 billion and operating profits of $375 million. In 1999,... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Strategy Alignment; Strategic Planning; Fashion; Risk Management; Competition; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Globalized Firms and Management; Expansion; Distribution Channels; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; Sweden