Adaptation →

From the Plow to the Pill: How Technology Shapes Our Lives

Many technologies have upended long-held beliefs about love, sex, marriage, and reproduction, says Debora Spar in a new book, Work Mate Marry Love: How Machines Shape Our Human Destiny. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Field-Level Paradox and the Co-Evolution of an Entrepreneurial Vision

Swiss watchmaking embodies the classic strategic paradox created by the introduction of new technology: the choice between resisting and defending, or embracing and prospecting. This paper offers a model for how fields and organizational leaders experiencing similar paradoxes can adapt to environmental change while still preserving valuable aspects of their past success.

‘Organizing’, ‘Innovating’, and ‘Managing’ in Complexity Space

This paper explores organizational complexity by proposing a two-dimensional framework to help us understand organizational coping mechanisms and failure modes. The framework makes it possible to ask new questions about organizational adaptations to complexity that investigate its underlying structure and dynamics.

What’s Really Disrupting Business? It’s Not Technology

Technology doesn't drive disruption—customers do. In a new book, marketing professor Thales Teixeira argues that successful disruptors are faster to spot and serve emerging customer needs than larger competitors. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

What Football Firings Teach Managers About Staying Relevant

Many executives are confident they can retain their skills over time. Experience shows they are wrong. Just look at the National Football League's "Black Monday" for proof, says Boris Groysberg. Open for comment; 0 Comments.