Theory E and Theory O
3articles
November 2026
3 articles on this page
Change management10 min readTheory E and Theory O: shareholder value or organisational capability?
For chief executives and owners who must choose between cutting fast and building capability slowly. Beer and Nohria (2000) say each pure theory has a price, that E then O is more workable than O then E, and that doing both at once, as ASDA did, is hardest.
Ethics & corporate governance9 min readLayoffs and the psychological contract: reading Unilever and Ford
For an owner weighing job cuts who worries about the people who stay. Two 2024 announcements, by Unilever and Ford, show what a round of cuts typically says; Beer, Nohria and Rousseau suggest how to read them. Includes a question table for a hypothetical firm.
Change management9 min readDoes 70% of change really fail? Tracing the claim
For owners and managers reading a proposal that opens with "about 70% of change initiatives fail". The figure traces back to a sentence with no supporting data. Ask for the denominator and the definition of failure before it shapes a decision.