Publications
Overcoming Resistance to Organizational Change: Strong Ties and Affective Cooptation
| Authors: | Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Management Science (forthcoming) |
Abstract
We propose a relational theory of how change agents in organizations use the strength of ties in their network to overcome resistance to change. We argue that strong ties to potentially influential organization members who are ambivalent about a change (fence-sitters) provide the change agent with an affective basis to co-opt them. This cooptation increases the probability that the organization will adopt the change. By contrast, strong ties to potentially influential organization members who disapprove of a change outright (resistors) are an effective means of affective cooptation only when a change diverges little from institutionalized practices. With more divergent changes, the advantages of strong ties to resistors accruing to the change agent are weaker and may yet turn into liabilities that reduce the likelihood of change adoption. Analyses of longitudinal data from 68 multi-method case studies of organizational change initiatives conducted at the National Health Service in the United Kingdom support these predictions and advance a relational view of organizational change in which social networks operate as tools of political influence through affective mechanisms.
In Search of the Hybrid Ideal
| Authors: | Julie Battilana, Matthew Lee, John Walker, and Cheryl Dorsey |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Stanford Social Innovation Review (summer 2012) |
Abstract
An abstract is unavailable at this time.
Read the paper: http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/in_search_of_the_hybrid_ideal
Coordinating Marketing and Sales in B2B Organizations
| Author: | Frank V. Cespedes |
|---|---|
| Publication: | In Handbook of Business-to-Business Marketing, edited by Gary L. Lilien and Rajdeep Grewal. Edward Elgar Publishing Company, 2012 |
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the topic of coordinating marketing and sales in Business-to-Business (B2B) organizations. It provides an historical overview, indicating that this is not a new issue facing firms, that the business press has outlined a recurring set of prescriptive advice about the topic to practitioners, and why (despite its recurring nature) that advice seems to have limited usefulness. The chapter then reviews some common delineations of marketing and sales activities in companies and the implications. Finally, the chapter concludes with a sample of what B2B companies have done in their attempts to improve marketing-sales coordination, including suggestions for future research.
Publisher's Link: http://www.e-elgar.com/bookentry_main.lasso?currency=UK&id=13964
What Do Managers Do? Exploring Persistent Performance Differences among Seemingly Similar Enterprises
| Authors: | Rebecca Henderson and Robert Gibbons |
|---|---|
| Publication: | In The Handbook of Organizational Economics, edited by Robert Gibbons and John Roberts. Princeton University Press, forthcoming |
Abstract
An abstract is unavailable at this time.
Publisher's Link: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9889.html
Randomized Government Safety Inspections Reduce Worker Injuries with No Detectable Job Loss
| Authors: | David I. Levine, Michael W. Toffel, and Matthew S. Johnson |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Science 336, no. 6083 (May 18, 2012) |
Abstract
Controversy surrounds occupational health and safety regulators, with some observers claiming that workplace regulations damage firms' competitiveness and destroy jobs, and others arguing that they make workplaces safer at little cost to employers and employees. We analyzed a natural field experiment to examine how workplace safety inspections affected injury rates and other outcomes. We compared 409 randomly inspected establishments in California with 409 matched-control establishments that were eligible, but not chosen, for inspection. Compared with controls, randomly inspected employers experienced a 9.4% decline in injury rates (95% confidence interval = -0.177 to -0.021) and a 26% reduction in injury cost (95% confidence interval = -0.513 to -0.083). We find no evidence that these improvements came at the expense of employment, sales, credit ratings, or firm survival.
Publisher's Link: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6083/907
Working Papers
Defense Acquisition Reform, 1960-2009: An Elusive Goal
| Authors: | J. Ronald Fox, David Allen, Thomas Lassman, Walton Moody, and Philip Shiman |
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Abstract
An abstract is unavailable at this time.
Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-120.pdf
A Theory of Explicitly Formulated Strategy
| Authors: | Eric J. Van den Steen |
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Abstract
When a CEO tries to formulate "a strategy," what is she looking for? What exactly is "a strategy," why does it matter, and what are its properties? This paper defines an explicitly formulated "strategy" as the smallest set of choices and decisions sufficient to guide all other choices and decisions, which formally captures the idea of strategy as a plan boiled down to its most essential choices. I show that this definition coincides with the equilibrium outcome of a game where a person can-at a cost-look ahead, investigate, and announce a set of (intended or actual) choices to the rest of the organization. Strategy is also-in some precise sense-the smallest set of decisions that needs to be decided centrally to ensure that all decisions are consistent (by giving a clear direction). The paper analyzes what characteristics make a decision "strategic" and when and how having a strategy creates value, including when a strategy "bet" can create value. It shows how understanding the structure of strategy may enable a strategist to develop the optimal strategy without a comprehensive optimization. And it derives some broader organizational implications.
Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-102.pdf
Cases & Course Materials
Heavy Metal (A): Baosteel Enters Brazil
Regina M. Abrami and Iacob Koch-Weser
Harvard Business School Case 912-411
What is Baosteel, a top Chinese steelmaker, doing in Brazil? The company is responding to the Chinese government's "go global" policy and to the possible rise in iron ore input costs. But steel mills are complex, capital-intensive projects, and Brazil is an emerging market that poses manifold risks to foreign investors. Vale do Rio Doce, Baosteel's prospective partner, is an iron miner with little experience in steelmaking. Baosteel must evaluate whether it is choosing the right country, partner, and site for its first overseas greenfield investment.
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http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/912411-PDF-ENG
Heavy Metal (B): Baosteel Enters Brazil
Regina M. Abrami and Iacob Koch-Weser
Harvard Business School Supplement 912-412
This case begins with Baosteel's decision to build a steel mill in Brazil with Vale do Rio Doce, the world's leading iron mining company. Regulatory obstacles and unexpected costs have placed the project in jeopardy. Outside Brazil, however, Baosteel has been growing rapidly, and market trends favor an overseas plant. Baosteel must decide whether or not to continue its efforts to build a steel plant in Brazil.
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http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/912412-PDF-ENG
Heavy Metal (C): Baosteel Enters Brazil
Regina M. Abrami and Iacob Koch-Weser
Harvard Business School Case 912-413
The case begins with Baosteel's renewed effort at building a steel mill in Brazil with Vale do Rio Doce. But again, the company runs into problems with obtaining regulatory approvals. This is compounded by the global financial crisis that seriously impacts the global steel industry. How will Baosteel react to this adverse situation?
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http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/912413-PDF-ENG
Boston Physicians Devices
Marc L. Bertoneche
Harvard Business School Case 212-070
The case is a very simple, short case based on the author's general experience, to introduce financial analysis and to discuss the pressure introduced by growth in a risky business (high R&D).
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http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/212070-PDF-ENG
eBay, Inc. and Amazon.com (A)
Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Anant Thaker
Harvard Business School Case 712-405
This case has been designed to explore strategic interactions among organizations with different business models. The case considers how a competitor successfully challenged the incumbent in a platform market defined by strong network effects and high switching costs. The case allows students to assess the advantages and disadvantages of eBay's platform business model in comparison to Amazon's retail business model; to evaluate business model performance when value loops of two industry players interact; to analyze how Amazon expanded its business model and overcame barriers to entry in a platform market that generates winner-take-all effects for first movers; to discuss how eBay can respond to the new competitive dynamic, exploring both tactical and strategic interactions; and to assess the strategic implications of eBay's 2011 acquisition of GSI Commerce.
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http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/712405-PDF-ENG
Purchase this supplement:
http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/712406-PDF-ENG
Dirigo International
Christopher M. Gordon and Chad M. Carr
Harvard Business School Case 212-056
Dirigo International is proposing a major expansion of their life sciences research and manufacturing facilities in the heart of a major city and middle- to lower-income residential neighborhood. The company and city government are seeking a development solution in the form of unique land use regulations and a resulting development strategy that weighs the financial, economic, aesthetic, and environmental impacts of the development. Companies and governments around the world often find themselves on opposite sides of land use proposals. This case demonstrates the dilemmas and tradeoffs related to private land owner rights and the role of government in seeking positive outcomes for broader society. Case students will rigorously look at issues of development density, funding responsibilities, financial capacity, land use regulation, and development politics.
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http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/212056-PDF-ENG
The China Entrepreneurs Forum
William C. Kirby, G.A. Donovan, and Tracy Yuen Manty
Harvard Business School Case 312-095
Some of China's most successful entrepreneurs and founders of private enterprises naturally came together to share the insights and tactics that helped them and their businesses survive and thrive in China's rapidly changing business environment. Soon, the group's mandate expanded to include improving the environment for private business in China and conducting outreach to help spread the word about the important role entrepreneurs played in a modern market economy. How has the China Entrepreneurs Forum been an innovative business and social organization in modern China? What lies in the future for them?
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http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/312095-PDF-ENG
CityCenter (E): Blow up the Harmon?
John D. Macomber
Harvard Business School Supplement 212-092
Casino owner considers whether to implode, complete, or do nothing with a 26 story vacant new building on the Las Vegas Strip. This case continues a series of pieces about the progress of CityCenter, an $11 billion project in Las Vegas said to be the largest private construction project in the history of the United States. As in the prior observations of this project, issues around measurement of demand, architecture, construction, scheduling, and finance all interact. At the time of the case, court hearings have just started with a possible swing in the outcomes of $600 million.
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http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/212092-PDF-ENG