Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • February 2004
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

The Making of Verizon

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Douglas A Raymond and Ryan Raffaelli
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:28
ShareBar

Abstract

Through a series of mergers, Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon chairman and CEO, successfully shared the co-CEO title twice while building the largest telecom company in the United States. The strong and complementary cultures of the companies that Seidenberg and a key group of executives had merged was a major factor in their success. However, in the steps leading up to this, decreased revenues in their traditional wireline business intensified their dependence on the growth of wireless and broadband services. As Verizon moved into this less familiar territory, the culture that had sustained them through change would have to be evaluated as they embarked on a new wave of growth. As the future of Verizon become more dependent on business in areas that bore little resemblance to the Baby Bells, were the lessons from past successful mergers less applicable?

Keywords

Mergers And Acquisitions; Change Management; Transition; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Risk Management; Telecommunications Industry; United States

Citation

Kanter, Rosabeth M., Douglas A Raymond, and Ryan Raffaelli. "The Making of Verizon." Harvard Business School Case 303-131, February 2004.
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Authors

Rosabeth M. Kanter

General Management
→More Publications

Ryan L. Raffaelli

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • December 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Managing Change & Transformation in 2021

    By: Rosabeth M. Kanter
    • December 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Women Entrepreneurs and Tech Ecosystems: One City, Two Realities, and Four Diverse Women

    By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joyce J. Kim
    • December 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Video Interview with Maxeme Tuchman

    By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Joyce J. Kim
More from the Authors
  • Managing Change & Transformation in 2021 By: Rosabeth M. Kanter
  • Women Entrepreneurs and Tech Ecosystems: One City, Two Realities, and Four Diverse Women By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joyce J. Kim
  • Video Interview with Maxeme Tuchman By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Joyce J. Kim
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College