This article provides an introduction to divestitures and the research streams that examine these deals. Divestitures are defined as the removal of one or more of a company’s lines of business via selloff or spinoff. In this article, we describe how research on divestitures has evolved in the...

The Extended Enterprise, an advanced form of supply-chain integration, focusses on maximizing overall performance while also optimizing the performance of the stand-alone organizations involved. This necessitates not only inter-organizational collaboration but also inter-organizational...

During the past six decades, the Toyota Motor Company established a ‘lean’ production and management system (the Toyota Way), which has become an iconic template for a high performing and learning organization. The massive recall crisis of 2009/2010 distorted Toyota’s image of a role model...

Distributed control is a technology and a design philosophy that, albeit superior to centralized control, cannot spread because it would require restructuring existing industries. It survives, however, in specific market niches. In this case-study we report on a small firm creating a novel...

Public-private partnership (PPP) concession agreements are awarded by National, State and local public agencies that contract with private companies to finance and deliver infrastructure as a long term service to governments and their citizens, rather than having the private firms design and...

I draw primarily on two recent works to describe recent and ongoing changes in the business environment and in the structure of U.S. companies. Based on these changes, I describe what I see as action implications for executives and scientists, especially organization scientists. The...

Haakonsson and Carroll see two sides to Big Data. In his executive experience, Haakansson finds big data slows the decision making process and the implementation of decisions as well. Executives tend to wait for more data just because it is there. Is there a solution? Haakonsson argues that...

Haakonsson and Carroll see two sides to Big Data. In his executive experience, Haakansson finds big data slows the decision making process and the implementation of decisions as well. Executives tend to wait for more data just because it is there. Is there a solution? Haakonsson argues that...

The type of organization design that I practice is strategic organization design. It has roots in Chandler's (1962) work which states, "Structure follows strategy." It applies to organizing at the enterprise, business unit, region, or functional levels. It is a top-down design methodology. The...

Humanity is facing an increasingly challenging outlook for energy needs and the planet. Royal Dutch Shell is a global group of energy and petrochemicals companies with approximately 100,000 employees in more than 80 countries that is committed to help meet the challenges of the new energy...