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• Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2018 (Revised January 2020)

  Sony

  Stefan Thomke, Atsushi Osanai and Akiko Kanno

  Sony used to be synonymous with "innovation" and "cool products." The case reveals how the company lost its edge and describes the leadership initiatives to restore its former glory. In 2012, Kazuo (Kaz) Hirai becomes CEO and successfully transforms Sony, including a relentless focus on differentiation through "wow" products instead of chasing scale. How should he organize and manage the company's response to digital opportunities, such as virtual reality, that could affect the company's entire value chain?

  Keywords: customer experience; product differentiation; transformation; Transformation; Leadership Style; Technology Adoption; Leading Change; Electronics Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Video Game Industry; Japan;

  Citation:

  Thomke, Stefan, Atsushi Osanai, and Akiko Kanno. "Sony." Harvard Business School Case 618-045, June 2018. (Revised January 2020.)  View Details

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• Article | MIT Sloan Management Review (website)

  How to (Inadvertently) Sabotage Your Organization

  Stefan H. Thomke

  Some of the biggest threats to organizational performance can and do come from within. In an age when companies are told to be agile, to learn from experiments, and to be entrepreneurial, we are still vulnerable to actions — deliberate or unintentional — that stem from timeless human behavior and organizational processes that haven’t changed much in the last century. In 1944, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the Central Intelligence Agency’s predecessor put together a secret field manual for sabotaging enemy organizations. Lowering employee morale — organizational sabotage — was considered as effective at slowing down an organization’s output as pouring sand into the lubrication systems of its machines. Are today's managers inadvertenyly following the field manual's advice?

  Keywords: management practices; effective managers; self-awareness; CIA,; organizational behavior; Management Practices and Processes; Organizations; Behavior; Performance;

  Citation:

  Thomke, Stefan H. "How to (Inadvertently) Sabotage Your Organization." MIT Sloan Management Review (website) (September 4, 2019).  View Details

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• Article | MIT Sloan Management Review

  The Magic That Makes Customer Experiences Stick

  Stefan H. Thomke

  Why do some customer experiences have that magical "wow" factor, making them all destined for success, while others get few, if any, enthusiastic customer responses? How would we "design" a great customer experience? These are some of the questions that the article addresses.

  Keywords: customer experience; Emotion; innovation; experimentation; storytelling; Customer Satisfaction; Emotions; Design; Innovation and Invention;

  Citation:

  Thomke, Stefan H. "The Magic That Makes Customer Experiences Stick." MIT Sloan Management Review 61, no. 1 (Fall 2019).  View Details

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