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• Supplement | HBS Case Collection | December 2018

  Amazon Acquires Whole Foods (B)

  Rory McDonald, Sarah Mehta and Shaye Roseman

  This short case, meant for pairing with HBS No. 615-013, “AmazonFresh: Rekindling the Online Grocery Market,” explores Amazon’s rationale for acquiring Whole Foods.

  Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry; Food and Beverage Industry;

  Citation:

  McDonald, Rory, Sarah Mehta, and Shaye Roseman. "Amazon Acquires Whole Foods (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 619-029, December 2018.  View Details

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• Article | Academy of Management Journal | December 2018

  Ideological Misfit? Political Affiliation and Employee Departure in the Private-Equity Industry

  Y. Sekou Bermiss and Rory McDonald

  Though organizations are increasingly active participants in the political realm, little research has investigated how an organization’s heightened focus on political ideology impacts employees. We address this gap by exploring how an individual’s political ideological misfit with an organization’s prevailing ideology impacts mobility. By tracking the movements of over 40,000 investment professionals in the U.S. private equity industry over 10 years, we investigate the consequences of the ideological misfit that arises when individuals’ political ideologies diverge substantially from the prevailing ideology of their firms. We hypothesize that ideological misfit increases the likelihood of mobility, though the effects vary with liberal/conservative ideological orientation. Polynomial regression analyses reveal that the fit relationship between individual and organizational political ideology deviates from the idealized congruence relationship that underlies prevailing theory. Through a supplemental, qualitative investigation, we propose some potential interpretations for our findings.

  Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Employees; Organizational Culture; Resignation and Termination; Financial Services Industry; United States;

  Citation:

  Bermiss, Y. Sekou, and Rory McDonald. "Ideological Misfit? Political Affiliation and Employee Departure in the Private-Equity Industry." Academy of Management Journal 61, no. 6 (December 2018): 2182–2209.  View Details

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• Article | Journal of Management Studies | November 2018

  Disruptive Innovation: An Intellectual History and Directions for Future Research

  Clayton M. Christensen, Rory McDonald, Elizabeth J. Altman and Jonathan E. Palmer

  The concept of disruptive innovation has gained considerable currency among practitioners despite widespread misunderstanding of its core principles. Similarly, foundational research on disruption has elicited frequent citation and vibrant debate in academic circles, but subsequent empirical research has rarely engaged with its key theoretical arguments. This inconsistent reception warrants a thoughtful evaluation of research on disruptive innovation within management and strategy. We trace the theory’s intellectual history, noting how its core principles have been clarified by anomaly-seeking research. We also trace the theory’s evolution from a technology-change framework—essentially descriptive and relatively limited in scope—to a more broadly explanatory causal theory of innovation and competitive response. This assessment reveals that our understanding of the phenomenon of disruption has changed as the theory has developed. To reinvigorate academic interest in disruptive innovation, we propose several underexplored topics—response strategies, performance trajectories, and innovation metrics—to guide future research.

  Keywords: disruptive innovation; innovation metrics; competitive strategy; systemic industries; technology trajectories; Disruptive Innovation; Theory; History; Competitive Strategy; Research;

  Citation:

  Christensen, Clayton M., Rory McDonald, Elizabeth J. Altman, and Jonathan E. Palmer. "Disruptive Innovation: An Intellectual History and Directions for Future Research." Special Issue on Managing in the Age of Disruptions. Journal of Management Studies 55, no. 7 (November 2018): 1043–1078.  View Details

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