Ryan Raffaelli is an assistant professor in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. He created and teaches the MBA elective course "Leadership Execution and Action Planning" (LEAP) and previously taught "Leadership and Organizational Behavior" (LEAD) in the MBA core curriculum. He serves on the faculty of several executive education programs, including Leading and Building a Culture of Innovation and the High Potentials Leadership Program.
Professor Raffaelli examines how innovations transform industries, organizational reinvention, and leading change. His research introduces the concept of "technology reemergence," a process whereby mature organizations and industries faced with technological change reinvent themselves. He also studies how leaders infuse values and meaning into institutions during periods of instability. Professor Raffaelli’s research has been published in journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, the Strategic Management Journal, the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Annals, and Research in the Sociology of Organizations, as well as in a number of edited handbooks on innovation and management. He serves on the editorial board of Administrative Science Quarterly and is a faculty associate at Harvard's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. His work has been covered by such media as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, NPR, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Fortune, CNBC, USA Today, and Rolling Stone.
Ryan Raffaelli is an assistant professor in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. He created and teaches the MBA elective course "Leadership Execution and Action Planning" (LEAP) and previously taught "Leadership and Organizational Behavior" (LEAD) in the MBA core curriculum. He serves on the faculty of several executive education programs, including Leading and Building a Culture of Innovation and the High Potentials Leadership Program.
Professor Raffaelli examines how innovations transform industries, organizational reinvention, and leading change. His research introduces the concept of "technology reemergence," a process whereby mature organizations and industries faced with technological change reinvent themselves. He also studies how leaders infuse values and meaning into institutions during periods of instability. Professor Raffaelli’s research has been published in journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, the Strategic Management Journal, the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Annals, and Research in the Sociology of Organizations, as well as in a number of edited handbooks on innovation and management. He serves on the editorial board of Administrative Science Quarterly and is a faculty associate at Harvard's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. His work has been covered by such media as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, NPR, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Fortune, CNBC, USA Today, and Rolling Stone.
Professor Raffaelli's research has received several awards, including the "Giarratani Rising Star" and "Best Paper" Awards from the Industry Studies Association, the Best Dissertation Award from the Technology and Innovation Management (TIM) Division of the Academy of Management, the INFORMS Technology Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship Best Dissertation, and the Grigor McClelland Best Dissertation Award from the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS), the Journal of Management Studies (JMS), and the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies (SAMS). In recognition of his research at the intersection of leadership, strategy, and technology studies, he was awarded the Richard Hodgson Fellowship at Harvard Business School.
Professor Raffaelli earned his undergraduate degree in management from Georgetown University and studied corporate strategy at Oxford University. He holds master’s degrees in business and government relations and in business ethics from Harvard University. He received a Ph.D. in management and an M.S. in organization science from Boston College.
Before his academic career, Professor Raffaelli was an executive in Accenture’s strategy management consulting practice, advising Fortune 500 firms, global nonprofits, and various U.S. government agencies. He also served briefly as a White House liaison to NASA.
Why do incumbent firms frequently reject nonincremental innovations? Beyond technical, structural, or economic factors, we propose an additional factor: the degree of the top management team's (TMT) frame flexibility, i.e., their capability to cognitively expand an innovation's categorical boundaries and to cast the innovation as emotionally resonant with the organization's identity, competencies, and competitive boundaries. We argue that inertial forces generally constrict how TMTs perceive innovations, but that frame flexibility can overcome these constraints, increasing the likelihood of adoption and broadening the organization's innovation practices. We advance a theoretical model that relaxes the assumption that cognitive frames are static, showing how they become flexible via categorical positioning, and introduce a role for emotional frames that appeal to organizational members' sentiments and aspirations in innovation adoption.
In 1983, 14 years after the introduction of the battery-powered quartz watch, mechanical watches and the Swiss watchmakers who built them were predicted to be obsolete (Landes, 1983). Unexpectedly, however, by 2008 the Swiss mechanical watchmaking industry had rematerialized to become the world’s leading exporter (in monetary value) of watches. This study reveals the process and mechanisms associated with technology reemergence, i.e., the resurgence of substantive and sustained demand for an old (legacy) technology following the introduction of a new dominant design. Drawing on the case of mechanical watchmaking, it reveals how technology reemergence is a decidedly cognitive process, unfolding in two phases: a first phase marked by a redefinition of the meanings and values associated with the legacy technology and facilitated by mechanisms of value recombining, temporal distancing, identity marking, and conceptual bridging and a second phase marked by a redefinition of market boundaries and facilitated by mechanisms of competitive set reclaiming and enthusiast consumer mobilizing. For mechanical watchmakers, the process culminated in competitive and consumer differentiation that ushered in innovation reinvestment and a period of substantive and sustained demand growth for mechanical watches. This paper contributes to research on technology cycles, cognition, and incumbent responses to discontinuous change.
Leaders are important social actors in organizations, centrally involved in establishing and maintaining institutional values, a view that was articulated by Philip Selznick (1957) nearly a half-century ago, but often overlooked in institutionalists' accounts. Our objective is to build on Selznick's seminal work to investigate the value proposition of leadership consistent with institutional theory. We examine public interview transcripts from 52 senior executives and discover that leaders' conceptualizations of their entities align with the archetypes of organization (i.e., economic, hierarchical, and power oriented) and institution (i.e., ideological, creative and collectivist) and cohere around a set of relevant values. Extrapolating from this, we advance a theoretical framework of the process whereby leaders' claims function as transformational mechanisms of value infusion in the institutionalization of organizations.
We examine how the organizational adoption of new practices is influenced by relational pluralism, i.e., an organization's multiple ties to actors inside and outside its industry. We theorize that institutional mechanisms of practice diffusion underlying relational networks, and filtered by organizational characteristics, influence the adoption of practices that are more customized (tailored) or less customized (turnkey). We hypothesize first, that organizations participating in extra-industry professional networks will, through normative conformity, be more likely to adopt turnkey practices; second, that the normative pressure of professional networks will interact with the mimeticism of industry peers such that organizations will be more likely to adopt tailored practices; and third, organizational filters will affect adoption of all practices. Using unique survey data from 161 F500 organizations, supplemented by archival and qualitative data, we focus on two Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practice variants. We find significant support for our first two hypotheses and mixed support for our third: organizational infrastructure and identity significantly affect practice adoption, albeit in different ways, but only marginal support for leadership and elite organizational status. Our results point to how a complex web of relational ties affects the organizational adoption of practice variants that differ in their degree of customization.
The institutional logics perspective highlights how organizations are embedded within broader systems of meaning and how this embeddedness activates salient institutional logics in organizations that can enable or constrain organizational decisions, practices, and actions. We investigate a core premise of the institutional logics perspective, that of the alignment of institutional logics and organizational practices and design, in the organizational adoption of CSR practices. We hypothesize that, in the adoption of practices, organizations will house those practices in structural units that align with the logic emphasized by the practice: when adopting practices reflecting a market logic, organizations will locate them in mainline business units, such as marketing; conversely, when adopting practices reflecting a community logic, organizations will locate them in non-mainline business units, such as corporate or philanthropic foundations. Using survey and archival data from 161 Fortune 500 firms, we find support for our hypotheses. Our findings reveal how institutional logics serve as underlying lynchpins, connecting organizational practices to organizational design so as to reinforce and enable each other.
A long-standing debate in organization studies has centered on the tension between paradigmatic consensus and theoretical pluralism in an academic field, but little attention has been paid to the underlying processes of field development that account for this. Using a mechanisms-based approach, we examined the field of leadership over the last 50 years (1957-2007) focusing on: scholarly consensus on theory and methods; models and variables; and examinations of the state of the field. In spite of considerable advances in research, we find a general lack of commensuration or standards by which theories can be compared or synthesized; an emphasis on leaders' effects on performance rather than meaning-making or value infusion; and sparse instances of taking stock of the overall field. We conclude by proposing three research strategies for the future—theoretical compartmentalization, theoretical integration, and theoretical novelty—and advocating greater methodological variety.
Rosabeth M. Kanter, Matthew Bird, Ethan Bernstein and Ryan Raffaelli
How do strategic leaders create change-adept organizations? Based on qualitative field research, this chapter argues that well-defined institutionalized purpose, values, and principles act as an organizational guidance system that integrates and strengthens the micromechanisms that enable leaders to build dynamic capabilities and, therefore, change-adept organizations. From empirical case studies, we distill micromechanisms through which organizational guidance systems create fertile soil for dynamic capabilities. The five micromechanisms are values-based decision heuristics; intrinsic motivation with positive emotions; an organizational control system based on entrepreneurial self-organization, self-management, and peer regulation; an organizational identity that (a) fosters a longer-term perspective and (b) widens the firm's scope; and ecosystem creation. While much of the dynamic capabilities literature has focused on testing causal relationships between key performance variables and constructs, our goal here is to "open up" the regression model, provide a closer qualitative inspection of the "how-to" micromechanisms, and thereby advance a multidisciplinary research agenda.
This chapter advances the theoretical construct of institutional innovation, which we define as novel, useful and legitimate change that disrupts, to varying degrees, the cognitive, normative, or regulative mainstays of an organizational field. Institutional innovation, like all innovation, is both novel and useful, but differs in that it is also legitimate, credible and appropriate. Legitimacy is hinged to four characteristics such that institutional innovation is theorized to be: 1) normative or value-laden; 2) progressing in bursts of change over time; 3) socially constructed and culturally embedded; and 4) associated with logics that shape practices. We develop a framework, outlining the definition, composition, and processual nature of institutional innovation, as well as its generative potency. Finally, implications for theory, practice, and future research are offered.
We explore the role of organizational identity in the adoption of new sustainability practices, focusing on how identity functions as a driver of (or sometimes a drag on) adoption. Drawing on illustrations from the U.S. hotel industry, we examine how sustainability practices diffused across firms. Focusing on two exemplar hotels, we show sustainability is not only "what we do" as an organization, but also "who we are." We discuss avenues for future research on sustainability from an identity perspective and reflect on implications for practice.
Glynn, Mary Ann, Christi Lockwood, and Ryan Raffaelli. "Staying the Same While Changing: Organizational Identity in the Face of Environmental Challenges." In Leading Sustainable Change: An Organizational Perspective, edited by Rebecca Henderson, Ranjay Gulati, and Michael Tushman. Oxford University Press, 2015.
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A good match between an organization's design ("what we do") and its identity ("who we are") is often seen as a key to strong performance. But maintaining a tight fit between design and identity is difficult when a profound external shock forces an organization to change both. How do design and identity change together? Prior research says little on this question because it has tended to study design change and identity change separately. This paper links the two by examining how the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) transformed itself after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Drawing on 138 interviews within the FBI and archival analysis of Congressional testimonies from 2001 to 2013, we trace how top management shifted the design and identity of the FBI from those of a law enforcement agency to those of a national security organization. Our examination reveals multiple ways in which design change and identity change interacted. We find instances in which urgent focus on design change consumed top management attention and crowded out identity change; in which experimentation in design made it premature to develop a new identity; and in which identity changed in order to support the design that emerged from experimentation. Interpretation of such observations leads us to new propositions about the interplay of design and identity in times of radical change. Overall, the propositions suggest that after a dramatic shock, efforts to ascertain and implement changes in "what we do" will often delay efforts to change "who we are."
The Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) was a name familiar to most Americans. The company had dominated the film and photography industry through most of the 20th Century and was known for making affordable cameras (and the “Kodak Moment”) and supplying the movie industry with film. At its peak in 1997, Kodak had a market value of $30 billion. Despite inventing the first digital camera, Kodak stumbled to capitalize on the new technology and by 2011 the company was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In September 2013, Kodak emerged from bankruptcy as a smaller business-to-business (B2B) digital imaging company. The following March, Jeff Clarke took over as Kodak’s new CEO. The company continued to produce and sell film to moviemakers, but Clarke, who needed to reinvent Kodak, wondered if keeping that business line made sense. To some inside the company, film was a “sacred cow” and fundamental to Kodak’s identity. In January 2016, Clarke and his executive team traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) where the company unveiled a prototype of its new Super 8 camera—an analog motion picture camera initially launched in 1965 to shoot home movies—with updated features. Over the course of the four-day event, media and other industry players had overwhelmed the Kodak booth, excited to catch a glimpse of the camera, asking when they could expect to see the Super 8 on shelves. While the business-to-business (B2B) side of the company appeared to be growing, the new Super 8 reflected the culture and identity of a firm originally rooted in film and consumer products. Sentiment aside, Clarke needed to decide if the new Super 8 fit into the company’s overall strategy and whether Kodak was focused on the right markets for growth. What was the optimal path to reinvention?
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ryan Raffaelli, Ai-Ling Jamila Malone and Jonathan Cohen
Sesame Workshop was in the middle of a turnaround in 2016. CEO Jeff Dunn had reorganized and shifted the iconic institution to respond to digital disruption and a consensus culture. This Teaching Note helps instructors teach the abridged and full-length versions of “Sesame Workshop: Bringing Big Bird Back to Health.” The cases examine Dunn's efforts to turn Sesame around. Teaching Note for HBS No. 317-094.
Kanter, Rosabeth Moss, Ryan Raffaelli, Ai-Ling Jamila Malone, and Jonathan Cohen. "Sesame Workshop: Bringing Big Bird Back to Health (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 317-118, April 2017.
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In April 2013, Ron Johnson (HBS '84) stepped down after just 18 months as CEO of J.C. Penney. In his brief tenure, Johnson, an acclaimed retailer respected for his innovation and success in shaping the retail image at Target and Apple, introduced dramatic departures from J.C. Penney's traditional retail approach and enacted changes quickly and simultaneously, with little market testing. Over Johnson's final 12 months as CEO, J.C. Penney shares dropped more than 50%. The case describes the environments at Target, Apple, and J.C. Penney during Johnson's tenure and how his experiences may have shaped the strategies that he implemented while CEO at J.C. Penney. Teaching Note for HBS No. 516-016.
Raffaelli, Ryan. "Jean-Claude Biver (A) and (B): The Reemergence of the Swiss Watch Industry." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 418-054, January 2018.
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This reading combines conceptual frameworks and research-based knowledge to provide practical guidance about how to lead organization change. The essential reading outlines key choices leaders must make when managing a change and the common traps that can cause a change effort to fail. It is organized into four sections, each building on the last to provide a roadmap for change that is effectively tailored to the organization and the situation: 1) Diagnosis: Why is change needed? 2) Design: What sort of change is necessary?; 3) Delivery: How can change best be implemented? Who will most likely be affected? What skills and support do leaders need as they manage the process?; and 4) Evaluation: How can the impact of the change be assessed and measured? The essential reading closes with a brief discussion of how new practices such as crowdsourcing, open innovation, and social media campaigns are speeding up change in many industries and altering change processes.
Sesame Workshop was transforming in 2016. CEO Jeff Dunn had reorganized and shifted the iconic institution to respond to digital disruption and a consensus culture. This case examines his efforts to turn Sesame Workshop around. It notes Sesame's storied history and the underlying financial troubles that Dunn confronted upon taking over in 2014. It shows how Dunn's leadership changes, increased communication, new partnership deals, and a focus on digital, sought speed, innovation, and accountability to better fulfill Sesame's educational mission. By 2016, Sesame was in the middle of its change, and Dunn contemplated how best to position the organization for success in the future.
Sesame Workshop was transforming in 2016. CEO Jeff Dunn had reorganized and shifted the iconic institution to respond to digital disruption and a consensus culture. This case examines his efforts to turn Sesame Workshop around. It notes Sesame's storied history and the underlying financial troubles that Dunn confronted upon taking over in 2014. It shows how Dunn's leadership changes, increased communication, new partnership deals, and a focus on digital, sought speed, innovation, and accountability to better fulfill Sesame's educational mission. By 2016, Sesame was in the middle of its change, and Dunn contemplated how best to position the organization for success in the future.
Kanter, Rosabeth M., Ryan Raffaelli, and Jonathan Cohen. "Sesame Workshop: Bringing Big Bird Back to Health." Harvard Business School Case 317-086, January 2017. (Revised January 2017.)
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Raffaelli, Ryan, and Christine Snively. "Faber-Castell (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 417-030, December 2016. (Revised December 2018.)
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By 2016, Count Anton-Wolfgang von Faber-Castell had led the 255-year-old pencil manufacturer Faber-Castell through waves of technological change. The pocket calculator decimated Faber-Castell’s slide rule business in the 1970s, and computer aided design technology undermined the company’s manual drafting tools in the 1980s. With each new threat the Count had to decide whether to adapt to new technologies or maintain focus on the company’s core products and identity. Analysts continued to ask Count Anton-Wolfgang the same question they had posed to his grandfather: Could the company strategy endure in the modern era?
This is a video supplement, to be used when teaching the Ron Johnson case. See abstract:
In April 2013, Ron Johnson (HBS '84) stepped down after just 18 months as CEO of J.C. Penney. In his brief tenure, Johnson, an acclaimed retailer respected for his innovation and success in shaping the retail image at Target and Apple, introduced dramatic departures from J.C. Penney's traditional retail approach and enacted changes quickly and simultaneously, with little market testing. Over Johnson's final 12 months as CEO, J.C. Penney shares dropped more than 50%. The case describes the environments at Target, Apple, and J.C. Penney during Johnson's tenure and how his experiences may have shaped the strategies that he implemented while CEO at J.C. Penney.
Raffaelli, Ryan, Raffaella Sadun, and Kathy Qu. "Moleskine (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 716-464, May 2016. (Revised November 2018.)
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Describes the founding and growth challenges facing Moleskine, an Italian-based consumer products company known for its oilcloth-covered notebooks once used by Ernest Hemingway and Vincent van Gogh. CEO Arrigo Berni and co-founder Maria Sebregondi aim to transform the company from a founder-led company to a professionally managed firm by expanding into new geographies, product categories, and distribution channels. They have also recently developed several strategic partnerships with Silicon Valley firms to expand into an array of digital products. However, after going public, stock prices continue to fluctuate below analysts' expectations, raising concerns about whether the company has grown too quickly. The leaders must now decide how to expand the firm's capabilities while continuing to preserve its organizational identity and creative culture.
In April 2013, Ron Johnson (HBS '84) stepped down after just 18 months as CEO of J.C. Penney. In his brief tenure, Johnson, an acclaimed retailer respected for his innovation and success in shaping the retail image at Target and Apple, introduced dramatic departures from J.C. Penney's traditional retail approach and enacted changes quickly and simultaneously, with little market testing. Over Johnson's final 12 months as CEO, J.C. Penney shares dropped more than 50%. The case describes the environments at Target, Apple, and J.C. Penney during Johnson's tenure and how his experiences may have shaped the strategies that he implemented while CEO at J.C. Penney.
Managing change is consistently ranked as one of the most critical and difficult tasks that leaders face. This note outlines the key choices that leaders must make when engineering change. It is organized into four sections, offering guidance on how to 1) diagnose the need for change; 2) determine what sort of change is called for (e.g., radical or incremental); 3) develop a delivery strategy that fosters stakeholder buy-in; and, 4) evaluate impact. Managers, instructors, and students of change management should find this note especially useful for discussing the core tenets of designing and implementing a change initiative. This is an abridged version of the "Leading and Managing Change" note.
Managing change is consistently ranked as one of the most critical and difficult tasks that leaders face. This note outlines the key choices that leaders must make when engineering change. It is organized into four sections, offering guidance on how to 1) diagnose the need for change; 2) determine what sort of change is called for (e.g., radical or incremental); 3) develop a delivery strategy that fosters stakeholder buy-in; and 4) evaluate impact. In addition to providing diagnostic frameworks for managing change, it offers a conceptual overview of both foundational and contemporary change management theory. Managers, instructors, and students of change management should find this note especially useful for discussing the core tenets of designing and implementing a change initiative.
In the early 1980s, the Swiss watch industry was near collapse after failing to adapt to Japanese competition from battery-powered quartz technology. In 1982, Jean-Claude Biver purchased Blancpain, a watch company that had been out of business since 1961 but had once made mechanical watches, for $16,000. After successfully reviving Blancpain, Biver sold the company to Nicolas G. Hayek (Chairman of the Swatch Group) for $43 million a decade later. Hayek agreed to have Biver stay on and gave him responsibility to revive the once venerable, but ailing, watch company Omega. Between 1995 and 1999, Biver led another turnaround effort that increased Omega's revenues from $350 million to $900 million. While it was presumed across the industry that Biver would be the next CEO of Swatch Group, in early 2000 Biver began to sense that he may not receive the top position when Hayek retired.
At the end of the case, Biver must decide whether he should leave the Swatch Group and retire himself, or possibly start over yet again and take the reins of a small but struggling watch company, Hublot. The case examines the actions that Biver took to transform Blancpain and Omega, and how his broad vision ultimately transformed the entire Swiss watch industry. It presents Biver as a complex leader who at times could be very harsh on his employees, but whose passion and vision engendered fierce loyalty from those who worked with him.
Part of a leader's job is to equip the organization to transform inputs into outputs by defining organizational strategy, shaping organizational identity, and then managing four organizational components—formal organizational structure, culture, people, and critical tasks—such that each component, and their interaction, aligns to produce performance. Substantial research has demonstrated that well-aligned organizations will be more capable of (1) attaining strategic goals, (2) efficiently utilizing resources to do so, and (3) adapting to unforeseen, future challenges. This short note walks through the Congruence Model, a simple yet powerful tool for achieving alignment in an organization.
CEMEX grew through acquisitions from a Latin American to a global company under the leadership of a CEO who believed in the importance of a "one enterprise" culture and benchmarking against world standards. As the CEO ponders an acquisition that would double the company's size and take it to new geographies, he wonders if the right capabilities are in place for what should be changed to manage the integration process effectively.
ABN AMRO Global Banking Group developed its risk management function in response to expansion, and increasingly focused on environmental and social risks. The head of the function needed to influence policies and business decisions in a highly decentralized context in which major country business units such as Brazil, India, and the United States operated relatively independently. Highlights the history of environmental and social responsibility at the bank, links to business performance, and the leadership skills required for a corporate staff head to influence change.
Kanter, Rosabeth M., Lance P. Pierce, and Ryan Leo Raffaelli. "ABN AMRO Bank N.V.: Global Change Agents." Harvard Business School Case 307-050, April 2007.
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Kanter, Rosabeth M., and Ryan Raffaelli. "Publicis Groupe: Leading Creative Acquisitions (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 506-066, May 2006. (Revised February 2009.)
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Kanter, Rosabeth M., and Ryan Raffaelli. "Banco Real: Banking on Sustainability (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 306-067, February 2006. (Revised November 2008.)
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Innovation was linked to Timberland's heritage. In 2005, CEO Jeff Swartz and COO Ken Pucker hoped the Invention Factory, an advanced concept lab, would develop new breakthrough products and reinvigorate the company's culture of innovation. Since the 1960s, Timberland had relied on innovation, developing the world's first waterproof boot and, in the 1980s, category-defining boat shoes and day hiking boots. Creating variations of these core products, along with expansion into apparel, had sustained Timberland's business for more than 30 years. Timberland's growth in the past six years was due to increased international sales and new customer segments. As Timberland's leaders looked to the future, they hoped Doug Clark, a biomechanist, and his Invention Factory team would bring a scientific approach toward building the next generation of Timberland products and ideas. The team had to convince those in the mainstream business to accept their new ideas and integrate them back into the product line.
Dr. Craig Feied, director of MedStar Health's Medical Informatics programs, wanted his innovations to influence national health care. Since joining Washington Hospital Center's Emergency Department in 1995 with Dr. Mark Smith, their information system had become the world's largest real-time data system. The September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon had highlighted the system's potential national impact, garnering attention from senior White House officials. Now Feied had to ask several questions about how he could effect an even bigger change: What organization vehicle should they use to manage his innovations? How can he take the projects to scale beyond MedStar? Taking the system to scale would require finding a new path involving a complex matrix of parties involved in medicine, government, and the private sector.
Kanter, Rosabeth M., Ryan Raffaelli, and Michelle Heskett. "Medical Innovation Beyond MedStar: Mobilizing for National Impact." Harvard Business School Case 306-096, April 2006.
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The CEO of a French-based advertising agency network led a series of high-profile acquisitions that created the world's 4th largest global communications company, after a failed strategic alliance taught him lessons about leadership and business relationships.
Mr. Young Hwi Choi, president and CEO of Shinhan Financial Group, embarked on an unconventional post-merger integration strategy with recently acquired Chohung Bank. The strategy focused on integrating traditional operations while attending to employees' reactions to change, especially the unionized workers at Chohung, an older bank that had recently fallen into decline, compared with the success of younger, more entrepreneurial Shinhan Bank. Once complete, the new bank would make Shinhan Financial Group the second largest bank in South Korea. Managing change involved a period called "dual bank" in which Shinhan and Chohung operated in parallel while undergoing an "emotional integration."
Kanter, Rosabeth M., and Ryan Raffaelli. "Shinhan Financial Group (A) (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 306-024, November 2005. (Revised February 2008.)
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Rosabeth M. Kanter, Douglas A Raymond and Ryan Raffaelli
Through a series of mergers, Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon chairman and CEO, successfully shared the co-CEO title twice while building the largest telecom company in the United States. The strong and complementary cultures of the companies that Seidenberg and a key group of executives had merged was a major factor in their success. However, in the steps leading up to this, decreased revenues in their traditional wireline business intensified their dependence on the growth of wireless and broadband services. As Verizon moved into this less familiar territory, the culture that had sustained them through change would have to be evaluated as they embarked on a new wave of growth. As the future of Verizon become more dependent on business in areas that bore little resemblance to the Baby Bells, were the lessons from past successful mergers less applicable?
Under the leadership of Superintendent Thomas Highton, Union City Schools, New Jersey, underwent a 14-year turnaround. In 1989, the Union City School District was the second-worst-performing district in New Jersey. As Mr. Highton prepared to retire, 2002 student test scores had increased to the point where Union City was the highest among New Jersey cities with a population of 50,000 or more. Teachers, parents, and administrators pondered whether his district would be able to sustain the changes after his departure.
Kanter, Rosabeth M., and Ryan Raffaelli. "Union City Schools: Sustaining The Turnaround." Harvard Business School Case 303-137, June 2003. (Revised July 2003.)
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Chad Navis, Greg Fisher, Ryan Raffaelli and Mary Ann Glynn
We examine the non-emergence of a potential new market category. In the late 1990s the entrepreneurial firms that attempted to sell groceries online attracted significant resources, made meaningful technological advancements and generated immense publicity, yet online grocery retail still failed to emerge as a stand-alone market category. Drawing on multiple primary and secondary data sources, we elaborate on existing frameworks of category emergence to investigate how the social construction of a market category offers a partial explanation for category non-emergence. Our explanations are rooted in the instability and contestation of the underlying beliefs, logics, and bases for legitimacy that can typify an emerging market’s focal actors and audiences. Our findings suggest that under such conditions of instability and contestation, if a core identity frame fails to emerge for the category as a whole, then in spite of significant advances in other areas, a new market category may still fail to emerge.
