April 2016
Teaching Note
HBS Case Collection

Whither the Weather (Company): Forecasting 2016

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

Format:Print
| Language:English
| Pages:16

Abstract

This Note was created for the purpose of aiding classroom instructors in the use of the Harvard Business School case, "Whither the Weather (Company): Forecasting 2016." As chairman and CEO, David Kenny guided the Weather Company's transformation from a cable television company to a big data technology company from 2012 until January 2016, when IBM acquired the Weather Company's digital business. Within that context, instructors may use this Teaching Note to help students examine how to guide transformative strategies at an established company, including how to evaluate and adjust strategies to meet unexpected challenges encountered in the transformation process. It may also help instructors teach students how to effectively manage competing interests and tensions between mainstream and new stream segments of a company, the importance of having the right team and structures in place to execute a transformative strategy, and the potential benefits and costs of forming partnerships with other companies.

Keywords

Weather Company; IBM; Digital; Technology; David Kenny; Television; Weather Channel; Legacy Business; Mainstream; Newstream; Reorganization; Acquisitions; Transformation; Information Technology; Television Entertainment; Acquisition; Consolidation; Change; Leadership

Citation

Kanter, Rosabeth Moss, and Jonathan Cohen. "Whither the Weather (Company): Forecasting 2016." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 316-161, April 2016.