Publications

2014
Working Paper

Management Practices, Relational Contracts and the Decline of General Motors

By: Susan Helper and Rebecca Henderson

General Motors was once regarded as one of the best managed and most successful firms in the world, but between 1980 and 2009 its share of the US market fell from 62.6 to 19.8 percent, and in 2009 the firm went bankrupt. In this paper we argue that the conventional... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Structure; Decision Making; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry

Read Now

August 2003
Case

Mercury Computer Systems: The Evolution from Integrated Technology to Open Standard

By: Rebecca Henderson and Nancy Confrey

For 20 years, Mercury Computer Systems has thrived, providing products and services that support ultrafast processing of real time data. Now Jay Bertelli, the CEO, faces a critical question: How can the firm compete once the standards on which its products are based... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Open Source Distribution; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry

December 2018 (Revised March 2020)
Technical Note

Note on Economic Inequality (2020)

By: Rebecca Henderson, Jessica A. Gover, Aldo Sesia and Mariana Oseguera Rodriguez

For over half a century, most of the world's economies have enjoyed steady growth and prosperity. While this economic growth has reduced the number of people living in poverty, it has come with an increase in economic inequality. The gap between the "haves" and the... View Details

Keywords: Economic Inequalty; Wealth Inequality; Equality Of Opportunity; Political Polarization; Economic Growth; Economics; Income; Wealth; Equality and Inequality; Society; Problems and Challenges

2021
Working Paper

Expanding the Entrepreneurial Cultural Toolkit: The Temporal Interplay of the Substantive and the Symbolic

By: Rebecca Karp and Siobhan O'Mahony

Much research shows how entrepreneurs leverage symbolic toolkits via storytelling and narratives to convince resource providers of their venture’s legitimacy. Although investors’ legitimacy concerns may be initially met with symbolic actions, it is unclear whether... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Sales; Entrepreneurship And Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Customers; Acquisition

01 Dec 2011
News

Faculty Books

Accelerating Energy Innovation: Insights from Multiple Sectors edited by Rebecca M. Henderson and Richard G. Newell (University of Chicago Press for the National Bureau of... View Details

Keywords: Utilities

2004
Chapter

Strategic Advantage and the Dynamics of Organizational Competence

By: Rebecca M. Henderson

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Competency and Skills; Organizational Design

Summer 1991
Article

Breaking the Chains of Embedded Knowledge: Architectural Innovation as a Source of Competitive Advantage

By: Rebecca M. Henderson

Keywords: Knowledge; Design; Innovation and Invention; Competitive Advantage

July 1995
Article

Of Life Cycles Real and Imaginary: The Unexpectedly Long Old Age of Optical Lithography

By: Rebecca M. Henderson

Keywords: Health

Read Now

01 Sep 2011
News

The Business and Environment Initiative at HBS

Issue Focus: Business and the Environment Reinhardt and Henderson: On Shad Hall’s green roof. Issue Focus The City Solution Water for Life Green Day Related Links Visit the Business and Environment Initiative The City Solution Established in 2010 and headed View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

28 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 28

paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/13-021.pdf What Do Managers Do? Exploring Persistent Performance Differences among Seemingly Similar Enterprises Authors: Robert Gibbons and Rebecca Henderson Abstract... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2018
Background Note

Shareholder Value Maximization, Fiduciary Duties, and the Business Judgement Rule: What Does the Law Say?

By: Rebecca Henderson and Tony L He

Purchase

January 2015 (Revised January 2018)
Technical Note

Note on Comparative Capitalism

By: Clayton S. Rose and Rebecca Henderson

This note draws on academic work, as well as social and economic data across several countries, to provide a basic understanding of some of the differences among capitalist systems. It begins with a description of the system of capitalism, and characteristics that to a... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Global; Economic Systems; Global Range; Japan; Germany; China; United States; Sweden

Purchase

January 2013 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Xylem: Let's Solve Water

By: Rebecca M. Henderson and James Weber