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  • November 2017
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Outrageous Ambition: Duke University

By: William C. Kirby and Yuanzhuo Wang
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:52
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Abstract

Duke University had grown from a one room schoolhouse in rural North Carolina in 1859 to one of the leading research universities in the U.S. and the world. Since the late 1950s, Duke’s leaders had consciously used the process of strategic planning to guide the development of the university as a whole, building up programs in interdisciplinarity and initiating ambitious projects in internationalization. Under the leadership of President Richard Brodhead, Duke first built a medical school in Singapore in collaboration with the National University of Singapore, then embarked on a journey to build a university on American standards in the People’s Republic of China with its own four year liberal arts curriculum. Will Duke realize its many “outrageous ambitions” as it transitions to a new president?

Keywords

Duke University; University Governance; Internationalization; Duke Kunshan University; Interdisciplinarity; Higher Education; Interdisciplinary Studies; Global Strategy; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business History; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Education Industry; United States; China; Singapore

Citation

Kirby, William C., and Yuanzhuo Wang. "Outrageous Ambition: Duke University." Harvard Business School Case 318-043, November 2017.
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About The Author

William C. Kirby

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