Publications

September 2018
Teaching Note

The Reputation of the 'World's Most Prestigious Award': The Nobel Prize

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Mats Urde

A comprehensive treatment of classroom use of the case on issues affecting the reputation of the Nobel Prize (9-919-401). These encompass a global outreach initiative, the variety of entities that speak for the Prizes, the impact of new high-value awards, and a... View Details

Keywords: Nobel Prize; Reputation; Brands and Branding

September 2018
Case

The Reputation of the 'World's Most Prestigious Award': The Nobel Prize

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Mats Urde

Nobel Foundation leadership is addressing a range of issues related to its key role to safeguard the reputation of the Nobel Prizes. Included are outreach to global audiences, the variety of sources of communications about the Prizes, the advent of new high-value... View Details

Keywords: Nobel Prize; Reputation; Brands and Branding; Management

Educators

December 2018
Teaching Note

The Swedish Academy #MeToo Scandal and the Reputation of the Nobel Prize

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Mats Urde

A classroom guide to teaching the case, “The Swedish Academy #MeToo Scandal and the Reputation of the Nobel Prize” (HBS No. 5-919-410). A fictional case protagonist must present his evaluation to the Nobel Foundation of the scandal affecting one of the Nobel... View Details

Keywords: Nobel Prize; Swedish Academy; Scandal; Reputation; Brands and Branding; Crisis Management

December 2018
Case

The Swedish Academy #MeToo Scandal and the Reputation of the Nobel Prize

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Mats Urde

This case focuses on the potential for “reputational contagion” to the Nobel Prize from a scandal affecting one of its independent network member entities, the Swedish Academy. The latter is responsible for selecting the Nobel Prize in Literature, by appointment of... View Details

Keywords: Nobel Prize; Swedish Academy; Scandal; Reputation; Brands and Branding; Crisis Management

Educators

August 2014
Case

Netflix: Designing the Netflix Prize (A)

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Wesley M. Cohen, Kynon Ingram, Tushar Kothalkar, Maxim Kuzemchenko, Santosh Malik, Cynthia Meyn, Greta Friar and Stephanie Healy Pokrywa

In 2006, Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, was looking for a way to solve Netflix's customer churn problem. Netflix used Cinematch, its proprietary movie recommendation software, to promote individually determined best-fit movies to customers. Hastings determined that a... View Details

Keywords: Crowdsourcing; Prizes; Digitization; Algorithms; Recommendation Software; Disruption; Transformation; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Sharing; Applications and Software; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Technology Industry; United States

Educators

12 Oct 2020
News

MBA/DBA Alum Wins Nobel Prize in Economics

Robert Wilson (MBA 1961/DBA 1963) Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency, via Associated Press Robert Wilson (MBA 1961/DBA 1963) Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency, via Associated Press It was the middle of the night on October 12 when the Nobel Prize... View Details

Keywords: Nobel Prize; negotiation; auction theory; career paths

Awards

Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing Research

By: H. Kent Bowen

Winner of the 1999–2000 Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing Research for "Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System" (with Steven Spear, Harvard Business Review, September–October 1999). View Details

May 2013
Article

Hybrid Innovation in Meiji Japan

By: Tom Nicholas

Japan's hybrid innovation system during the Meiji era of technological modernization provides a useful laboratory for examining the effectiveness of complementary mechanisms to patents. Patents were introduced in 1885, and by 1911, 1.2 million mostly non-pecuniary... View Details

Keywords: Prizes; Technological Innovation; System; Patents; Knowledge; Value; Cost vs Benefits; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Performance Effectiveness; Japan

24 Jan 2012
Video

2012 Alumni New Venture Prize Contest: Grand Prize

03 Jun 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Inducement Prizes and Innovation

Keywords: by Liam Brunt, Josh Lerner & Tom Nicholas

Article

Phelps's Prize

By: Amar Bhidé and Carl Schramm

Register to Read

03 Nov 2014
News

Brand Lessons From the Nobel Prize

03 Nov 2014
Research & Ideas

Brand Lessons From the Nobel Prize

Countless brilliant academics harbor hopes of someday winning a Nobel Prize, arguably the world's most prestigious award. But two renowned branding professors are interested in understanding what makes everyone covet the prize in the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

April 2017
Article

Prizes, Patents and the Search for Longitude

By: M. Diane Burton and Tom Nicholas

The 1714 Longitude Act created the Board of Longitude to administer a large monetary prize and progress payments for the precise determination of a ship’s longitude. However, the prize did not prohibit patenting. We use a new dataset of marine chronometer inventors to... View Details

Keywords: Prizes; Innovation; Patents; Innovation and Invention; Motivation and Incentives

December 2012
Article

Inducement Prizes and Innovation

By: Liam Brunt, Josh Lerner and Tom Nicholas

We examine the effect of prizes on innovation using data on awards for technological development offered by the Royal Agricultural Society of England at annual competitions between 1839 and 1939. We find that the effects of prizes on competitive entry are large, and we... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Patents; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology; Growth and Development; England

01 Jun 2003
News

Prize for Nonprofit Paper

“Managing Multi-Site Nonprofits,” by HBS professors Allen S. Grossman and V. Kasturi Rangan, has received the annual Editors’ Prize for the Best Scholarly Paper in the journal Nonprofit Management and Leadership for 2002. This paper... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

September 2013
Article

Prizes, Publicity, and Patents: Non-Monetary Awards as a Mechanism to Encourage Innovation

By: Petra Moser and Tom Nicholas

This paper exploits the selection of prize-winning technologies among exhibitors at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 to examine whether—and how—ex post prizes that are awarded to high-quality innovations may encourage future innovation. U.S. patent data... View Details

Keywords: Prizes; Innovation; Motivation and Incentives; Patents; Innovation and Invention