NAACP, The

James E. Austin; Paul  Barese; Stephanie L. Woerner; Elaine V. Backman

Case | HBS Case Collection | October 1997 (Revised November 1997)

NAACP, The

by James E. Austin, Paul Barese, Stephanie L. Woerner and Elaine V. Backman

Abstract

In February 1995, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the largest civil rights organization in the United States, was in the midst of a crisis. The executive director had been fired due to financial improprieties amid charges of sexual harassment. Immediately thereafter the board chairman came under fire as well. In a very close vote, Myrlie Evers-Williams, a long-standing board member, was elected the new board chair. She found herself leading an organization with severely diminished credibility and support, precarious finances, and a fractured board of directors. The case raises issues regarding board oversight, governance structure, and crisis leadership in a nonprofit setting.

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Capital; Governance Controls; Resignation and Termination; Selection and Staffing; Rights; Leadership; Management; United States;

Format: Print

21 pages

Educators Purchase

Citation:

Austin, James E., Paul Barese, Stephanie L. Woerner, and Elaine V. Backman. "NAACP, The ." Harvard Business School Case 398-039, October 1997. (Revised November 1997.)

The case traces the evolution of the Tata group, one of the largest and highly respected Indian business houses, from its 19th century founding and early growth in diverse industries, to its response to changes in government regulation in independent India, up to its 1991 leadership transition from longtime chairman J.R.D. Tata to his successor, Ratan Tata. The case first describes how Tata group founder Jamsetji Tata and his sons entered into the steel, hotel, hydroelectric, cement, air travel, and insurance industries (among others). It then explores how the evolving role of government in business in post-Independence India impacted the Tata group. The case also outlines the acceleration in the Tata group’s growth during the 1980s, following government liberalization. In addition to discussing how the group’s leadership navigated through the external pressures of policy and economics, the case also examines how they managed internal pressures – reduced synergy between the diverse and legally-independent companies under Tata’s umbrella, and, at times, reluctant adjustments in company culture that corresponded to Tata’s generational leadership transitions. The case invites comparison between J.R.D. Tata’s compassionate management style and his successor Ratan Tata’s no-nonsense, analytical approach. The case closes by outlining some of the challenges facing the Tata group amidst the changing political and regulatory environment of the 1990s.

Article | Social Enterprise Journal | 2019

Reflections on 25 Years of Building Social Enterprise Education

James E. Austin and V. Kasturi Rangan

Purpose—This paper aims to reflect on 25 years of the Social Enterprise Initiative at the Harvard Business School, examining the processes and thinking involved at key stages of this pioneering Initiative’s implementation and institutionalization.
Design/methodology/approach—The authors adopt an auto-ethnographical approach, reflexively considering the impact of our actions at key stages.
Findings – Reflecting on the experiences, the authors offer their thoughts on the challenges involved in establishing an educational program. They consider that there were give stages in the development of the program, which ensured its longevity, institutionalization and success: giving birth; starting an experiment; gaining acceptability; being embraced and achieving irreversibility.
Findings—Reflecting on the experiences, the authors offer their thoughts on the challenges involved in establishing an educational program. They consider that there were give stages in the development of the program, which ensured its longevity, institutionalization and success: giving birth, starting an experiment, gaining acceptability, being embraced and achieving irreversibility.
Practical implications—The multiple challenges faced, as well as the successes that the authors had over the years, are set out. Awareness of the challenges that the authors faced will support educators to be prepared to overcome the same or similar challenges to implementing and embedding a social enterprise program.
Originality/value—This is the first time that the authors’ reflections on the history of the Social Enterprise Initiative have been brought together. As well as distinctive in their own right, the authors consider that the lessons learned from the work over such a long period could provide valuable insights to those who wish to integrate social enterprise teaching into their settings.

Keywords: Social Enterprise Initiative; Harvard Business School; Social Enterprise; Education; Programs;

Citation:

Austin, James E., and V. Kasturi Rangan. "Reflections on 25 Years of Building Social Enterprise Education." Social Enterprise Journal 15, no. 1 (2019): 2–21. View Details

Cite View Details Find at Harvard Read Now

Faculty & Research

NAACP, The

Abstract

Citation:

About the Author

More from the Author