Publications

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Dorothy Leonard*, the William J. Abernathy Professor of Business Administration Emerita, joined the Harvard faculty in 1983 after teaching for three years at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has taught MBA courses in... View Details

Keywords: computer; consulting; education industry; electronics; federal government; high technology; information technology industry; software; venture capital industry

Jonas Heese

Jonas Heese is... View Details

29 Nov 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Fiscal Risk and the Portfolio of Government Programs

Keywords: by Samuel G. Hanson, David S. Scharfstein, and Adi Sunderam

Research Summary

Personal Data in Marketing

By: John A. Deighton

Between 10% and 20% of all marketing activity in the United States, and a smaller proportion internationally, relies on data about individuals, whether personally identifying or pseudonomized. These data flow across a system of established and emerging firms operating... View Details

Keywords: Data; Personal Data; Information Technology; Industry Structure; Marketing

September 2024 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Anker Innovations (A)

By: Feng Zhu, Jiangyong Lu and Nancy Hua Dai

An Amazon-native brand, Anker is the world’s No. 1 mobile charging brand and a leading consumer electronics company. Over the years, Anker developed an effective model of proving new products online first by leveraging customer insights from its proprietary Voice of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Product; Distribution; Product Launch; Electronics Industry; Consumer Products Industry

2024
Working Paper

The Efficiency of Patent Litigation

By: Samuel Antill, Murat Alp Celik, Xu Tian and Toni M. Whited

How efficient is the U.S. patent litigation system? We quantify the extent to which the litigation system shapes innovation using a novel dynamic model, in which heterogeneous firms innovate and face potential patent lawsuits. We show that the impact of a litigation... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Lawsuits and Litigation; Growth and Development; Welfare; Patents

SSRN

May 2, 2024
Article

Require Hospitals to Disclose Their Pandemic Plans Now

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Richard J. Boxer and Ben Creo

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that U.S. hospital and health care systems were ill-prepared for the surge of patients who overwhelmed available health care resources. An overlooked resource deserves more attention: the availability of intensive care unit (ICU)... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Crisis Management; Knowledge Sharing; Governance Compliance; Planning; Health Industry; United States

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February 2018
Case

Root Capital and the Efficient Impact Frontier

By: Shawn Cole and Caitlin Reimers Brumme

In 2015 Root Capital, a pioneer in the impact investing space, began to explore how to more systematically integrate impact and financial management. After much deliberation, Root Capital landed on ex-ante rating system for any potential investment that produced a... View Details

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Investment; Finance; Performance Efficiency; Boston

Article

Do Supervisors Thrive in Participative Work Systems?

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Richard E. Walton

This article presents the findings regarding the nature of the difficulties surrounding the supervisory role in participative work systems, a conceptualization of the supervisor/work group interface, and some action implications for the management of organizations.... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Organizational Design; Management Practices and Processes; Innovation and Invention

December 2010
Case

Fortis Industries, Inc. (A)

Fortis Industries' packaging division manufactures steel and plastic strapping. In 2007, the company underwent a leveraged buyout. The case focuses on the packaging division's need to maintain high profitability in a declining market for steel strapping. Since 1998,... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Decision Choices and Conditions; Marketing; Supply and Industry; Manufacturing Industry

May 2008 (Revised March 2010)
Supplement

Palm (C): 2005

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Kevin Boudreau and Jordan Mitchell

This case series looks at three important inflection points in Palm's history that relate to decisions about its platform: when the company was debating whether to open its operating system (OS) for licensing to third-party hardware manufacturers; 2001, when the... View Details

Keywords: History; Decisions; Business Model; Technological Innovation; Value Creation; Digital Platforms; Rights; Competition

2009
Book

Leading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Montgomery County Public Schools

By: Stacey M. Childress, Dennis Doyle and David A. Thomas

Leading for Equity tells the compelling story of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools and its transformation—in less than a decade—into a system committed to breaking the links between race and class and academic achievement. In chapters organized around six... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Education; Leadership; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Improvement; Social Issues

October 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Symbian: Setting the Mobility Standard

By: Fernando F. Suarez and Thomas R. Eisenmann

Symbian, a joint venture owned by companies who collectively sold a dominant share of the world's cell phones, faced competition from Microsoft in developing the operating system for "smartphones," which integrated mobile communications and computing functions. In... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Joint Ventures; Information Technology; Software; Wireless Technology; Mobile Technology; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry

February 1995 (Revised July 1995)
Case

Power Play (A): Nintendo in 8-bit Video Games

The home video-game industry began in 1972 with the founding of Atari. After riding a dramatic boom and bust in the early 1980s, most players left the business. Nintendo of Japan then rebuilt the industry--establishing a commanding worldwide position by the end of the... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Lawfulness; Competitive Advantage; Monopoly; Video Game Industry; Japan

November 1992 (Revised December 1992)
Case

Deere & Co. (A): The Computer Aided Manufacturing Services Division - A Window to the World (Abridged)

By: Robert H. Hayes

The Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) Services Division of John Deere has just received approval to sell their software and computer systems to external customers. These tools, initially developed for internal use, have been widely used throughout Deere. Still,... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Machinery and Machining; Technological Innovation; Markets; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Outcome or Result; Computer Industry; Manufacturing Industry

September 1990 (Revised November 1991)
Case

Merck & Co., Inc. (A)

Merck & Co., Inc., a major pharmaceutical company, is in the process of reviewing and evaluating its personnel policies and practices. Employee interviews revealed that rewards for excellent performance were not adequate: outstanding performers received salary... View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Pharmaceutical Industry