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• Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2020

  How Do CEOs Make Strategy?

  Mu-Jeung Yang, Michael Christensen, Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and Jan Rivkin

  We explore the critical question of how executives make strategic decisions. Utilizing a new survey of 262 CEO alumni of Harvard Business School, we gather evidence on four aspects of each executive’s business strategy: its overall structure, its formalization, its development, and its implementation. We report three key results. First, different CEOs use markedly different processes to make strategic decisions; some follow highly formalized, rigorous, and deliberate processes, while others rely heavily on instinct and intuition. Second, more structured strategy processes are associated with larger firm size and faster employment growth. Third, using a regression discontinuity centered around a change in the curriculum of Harvard Business School’s required strategy course, we trace differences in strategic decision making back to differences in managerial education.

  Keywords: productivity; CEO; Strategy; Management; Decision Making; Surveys; Business Education;

  Citation:

  Yang, Mu-Jeung, Michael Christensen, Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun, and Jan Rivkin. "How Do CEOs Make Strategy?" Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-063, October 2020.  View Details

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• Article | Journal of Organization Design

  Corporate Headquarters in the Twenty-first Century: An Organization Design Perspective

  Sven Kunisch, Markus Menz and David J. Collis

  The corporate headquarters (CHQ) of the multi-business enterprise, which emerged as the dominant organizational form for the conduct of business in the twentieth century, has attracted considerable scholarly attention. As the business environment undergoes a fundamental transition in the twenty-first century, we believe that understanding the evolving role of the CHQ from an organization design perspective will offer unique insights into the nature of business activity in the future. The purpose of this article, in keeping with the theme of the Journal of Organization Design Special Collection, is thus to invigorate research into the CHQ. We begin by explicating four canonical questions related to the design of the CHQ. We then survey fundamental changes in the business environment occurring in the twenty-first century, and discuss their potential implications for CHQ design. When suitable here we also refer to the contributions published in our Special Collection. Finally, we put forward recommendations for advancements and new directions for future research to foster a deeper and broader understanding of the topic. We believe that we are on the cusp of a change in the CHQ as radical as that which saw its initial emergence in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century. Exactly what form that change will take remains for practitioners and researchers to inform.

  Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Business Headquarters;

  Citation:

  Kunisch, Sven, Markus Menz, and David J. Collis. "Corporate Headquarters in the Twenty-first Century: An Organization Design Perspective." Art. 22. Journal of Organization Design 9 (2020): 1–32.  View Details

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• Article | Harvard Business Review Digital Articles | October 29, 2020

  How to Build a Digital Brand That Lasts

  William Collis and David Collis

  What makes a brand durable even as business models, technology and consumer behavior radically change? The key is that durable brands are adaptable brands—even legacy ones. To create durability, apply the MACE framework: 1) Mastery: Give your consumers non-transferrable rewards for using your products and engaging with your content; 2) Accessibility: Make your brand easily available to as many consumers as possible; 3) Cadence: Constantly create news and content around your brand; and 4) Ensnarement: Make your brand as sticky as possible by building in switching costs and creating network effects.

  Keywords: Brands and Branding; Business Model; Adaptation; Framework;

  Citation:

  Collis, William, and David Collis. "How to Build a Digital Brand That Lasts." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (October 29, 2020).  View Details

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