Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • October 2020
  • Technical Note
  • HBS Case Collection

Organizational Reinvention

By: Ryan Raffaelli
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:18
ShareBar

Abstract

This note is designed to introduce students to the fundamental concepts of leading innovation in established organizations. Reinvention is a process whereby organizations respond to changes in the environment that threaten their core business model, technologies, cultural values, and/or operational norms. Reinvention represents a managerial paradox for organizations that have experienced several years of success: leaders must preserve some elements of the business that once made it successful and simultaneously change other elements that, if left unattended, could render the organization obsolete. The Note outlines four elements associated with organizational reinvention: 1) Understanding technology lifecycles and s-curves: What are technology lifecycles and s-curves?; 2) Reinvention by extending existing capabilities: How do leaders extend existing organizational capabilities in response to new technologies?; 3) Reinvention by adopting new capabilities: How do leaders adopt new capabilities in response to new technologies?; 4) Readying your organization for reinvention: How do leaders develop the right mindset and the right team to engage in a reinvention effort? Finally, the Note includes several diagnostic tools that students and executives can use to analyze an organization’s readiness for reinvention.

Keywords

Innovation And Strategy; Leadership And Change Management; Organizational Ambidexterity; Exploration And Exploitation; Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Leading Change; Technology Adoption; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation

Citation

Raffaelli, Ryan. "Organizational Reinvention." Harvard Business School Technical Note 421-041, October 2020.
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

Ryan L. Raffaelli

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

More from the Author

    • February 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Moleskine Foundation: Can Creativity Change the World?

    By: Ryan Raffaelli, Alexandra C. Feldberg and Sarah Gulick
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Institutional Emplacement and the Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores

    By: Ryan Raffaelli and Ryann Noe
    • November 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Leader Action Orientations

    By: Ryan Raffaelli, Akshaya Varghese and Laura Weimer
More from the Author
  • Moleskine Foundation: Can Creativity Change the World? By: Ryan Raffaelli, Alexandra C. Feldberg and Sarah Gulick
  • Institutional Emplacement and the Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores By: Ryan Raffaelli and Ryann Noe
  • Leader Action Orientations By: Ryan Raffaelli, Akshaya Varghese and Laura Weimer
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College