Case Notes/Answers
JOHNSON & JOHNSON (A) by Francis Aguilar Arvind
Bhambri
Discussion Questions:
1. James Burke is quoted, “Our culture is really it.” Just what is the J&J culture and
what difference does it really make for the company?
2. How did J&J develop such a strong culture or system of beliefs and values? How
does it maintain it over time?
, Johnson & Johnson (A) and (B)
Teaching Note
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is a successful company. Its chief executive officer, James Burke,
credits the corporate culture for this success. The two cases are designed to examine the power and
limitations of a strong corporate belief system and how such a culture might be managed. When the
cases are used in sequence, the apparent contradiction between the lessons associated with them
provides a powerful learning experience.
The main purpose of the first case discussion is to explain how a corporate culture is
implanted and managed. The students should leave the first session with an appreciation of the
powerful motivational force that a strong corporate culture can have in guiding and inspiring people.
The second class then introduces the potential Achilles’ heel of a strong corporate culture—its power
to limit organizational flexibility. Confronting the students with the dysfunctional consequences of a
prized belief system—J&J’s long delay in responding to a major competitive threat and the difficulty
it has in implementing a response—should unsettle any comfortable conclusions they may have come
to in the previous session.
The principal topics of the (A) case include:
1. the importance of a corporate culture or belief system in shaping and directing
the firm;
2. how culture works in J&J: the interplay between beliefs and management
process; and
3. the dynamics by which a strong culture develops in a company: the role of
executive leadership, symbolic actions, and external stimuli (e.g., Tylenol) in
institutionalizing values.
The principal topics of the (B): Hospital Services case include:
1. the evaluation of a particular culture’s appropriateness: culture as a constraint on
a company’s strategy;
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JOHNSON & JOHNSON (A) by Francis Aguilar Arvind
Bhambri
Discussion Questions:
1. James Burke is quoted, “Our culture is really it.” Just what is the J&J culture and
what difference does it really make for the company?
2. How did J&J develop such a strong culture or system of beliefs and values? How
does it maintain it over time?
, Johnson & Johnson (A) and (B)
Teaching Note
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is a successful company. Its chief executive officer, James Burke,
credits the corporate culture for this success. The two cases are designed to examine the power and
limitations of a strong corporate belief system and how such a culture might be managed. When the
cases are used in sequence, the apparent contradiction between the lessons associated with them
provides a powerful learning experience.
The main purpose of the first case discussion is to explain how a corporate culture is
implanted and managed. The students should leave the first session with an appreciation of the
powerful motivational force that a strong corporate culture can have in guiding and inspiring people.
The second class then introduces the potential Achilles’ heel of a strong corporate culture—its power
to limit organizational flexibility. Confronting the students with the dysfunctional consequences of a
prized belief system—J&J’s long delay in responding to a major competitive threat and the difficulty
it has in implementing a response—should unsettle any comfortable conclusions they may have come
to in the previous session.
The principal topics of the (A) case include:
1. the importance of a corporate culture or belief system in shaping and directing
the firm;
2. how culture works in J&J: the interplay between beliefs and management
process; and
3. the dynamics by which a strong culture develops in a company: the role of
executive leadership, symbolic actions, and external stimuli (e.g., Tylenol) in
institutionalizing values.
The principal topics of the (B): Hospital Services case include:
1. the evaluation of a particular culture’s appropriateness: culture as a constraint on
a company’s strategy;
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