Publications

March 2017 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Edwin Land: The Art and Science of Innovation

By: Tom Nicholas, Christopher T. Stanton and Matthew G. Preble

Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Polaroid first invented—and then continuously reinvented—the field of instant photography. Under the leadership of its mercurial founder Edwin Land, the company regularly released new instant cameras and films, often... View Details

Keywords: Instant Photography; Company History; Change Management; Disruption; Forecasting and Prediction; Entrepreneurship; Business History; Innovation Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Intellectual Property; Patents; Product Marketing; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Development; Chemical Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

Keywords: Garry Emmons;Julia Hanna;Roger Thompson; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment; National Security and International Affairs; Government; Health, Social Assistance; Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services; Information; Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

23 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Five Ways to Make Your Company More Innovative

and the DNA of innovators. What they have to say might surprise you. Clayton Christensen Can people learn to be more innovative? I don't want to overstate the case. I think about 40 percent of people just are not going to be good at View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons, Julia Hanna & Roger Thompson

01 Dec 2011
News

Making the Case for Leadership

technologically innovative company away from specialty glass, television tubes, and fiberglass production into newer, faster-growing profit-making areas. At the time, the economy is plagued by recession, worker morale is flagging, and the... View Details

11 Oct 2016
News

Is Samsung Innovating Too Much, Too Fast?

16 Oct 2014
News

Innovating for International Aid

of San Francisco. Wu is currently chairman of the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants as well as a Presidential Innovation Fellow working on the Development Innovation Ventures project at the United... View Details

Keywords: Constantine von Hoffman

17 Jun 2013
News

4 Questions To Identify Your Innovation Killers

May 2021
Teaching Plan

Gera Developments: Leadership at a Crossroads

By: Christina R. Wing and John Masko

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 621-018. For decades, Gera Developments (Gera) was a boutique family-owned real estate development firm in Pune, India. But since 2000, managing director Rohit Gera had turned the company into a dynamic innovator in housing solutions for... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Construction; Geographic Location; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Housing; Leadership Style; Management Succession; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Family Ownership; Family and Family Relationships; Urban Development; Customization and Personalization; Real Estate Industry; Maharashtra; India; San Francisco

2019
Book

Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation

By: Gary P. Pisano

Creative Construction tackles the myth that larger enterprises are inherently incapable of transformative innovation and are doomed to be disrupted by nimble start-ups. If larger enterprises seem incapable of transformative innovation, it is due to how we design... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Business Growth and Maturation; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Culture; Management Systems; Creativity; Leading Change

Find at Harvard

September 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Burunda Prince at The Farm, a Comcast NBCUniversal Innovation Hub (Powered by Boomtown)

By: Linda A. Hill, Eric Mankin and Emily Tedards

After a successful inaugural year, Burunda Prince, the Managing Director of Comcast’s startup business accelerator The Farm, was getting ready for an eventful 2019. Comcast was America's largest cable and internet service provider, having built a profitable business... View Details

25 Nov 2021
News

An Aria for the Ambidextrous Organization

impactful as an adult,” crediting Professor Michael Tushman’s ideas for the inspiration and title of his TED talk, “The Ambidextrous Opera Company.” In a recent episode of the Atlanta Opera podcast The Business of Opera, Zvulun talks to Tushman about the role of... View Details

Keywords: opera; strategy; innovation; leadership; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

06 Apr 2016
News

Innovation Leaders Create Long-Term Value

June 2017 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Becton Dickinson: Innovation and Growth (A)

By: Raffaella Sadun, Michael Beer and James Weber

In late 2015, CEO Vince Forlenza was reviewing Becton Dickinson’s transformation efforts designed to enable the company to innovate and grow in a changing environment. Becton Dickinson had been a successful medical device company for over 100 years. In recent years,... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Change Management; Innovation Leadership; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

29 Jan 2020
News

Fear Is A Bad Leadership Team Principle

28 Jan 2020
Book

Advanced Leadership Requires More Than Outside-The-Box Thinking

Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time is to be published today. Kanter is the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. In addition to her many years of teaching and research at HBS,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Jan 07 2019
Testimonial

Bringing Innovation to the Opera

12 Dec 2014
News

The Paradox of Managing Creativity

Keywords: management; leadership; creativity; innovation; Arts, Entertainment

2015
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Howard Fischer, Eric Jacobsen, and Gratitude Railroad's Impact Investing

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Daniel Lennox-Choate

In 2013, Howard Fischer (hedge fund founder) and Eric Jacobsen (serial entrepreneur and private equity investor) established Gratitude Railroad as a community of impact investors in nine different "tracks." Each track represented a different concept for using... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Environmental And Social Sustainability; Social Change; Sustainable Business And Innovation; Investment; Social Issues; Environmental Sustainability; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Leadership; United States

October 27, 2022
Article

4 Types of Innovators Every Organization Needs

By: Andy Wu, Goran Calic and Min Basadur

Every company strives to be innovative, but most are missing key ingredients. How can you identify which ingredients your organization needs — and which employee styles can fill in the gaps? The authors’ research distills four key innovation styles that can lead to... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Leadership; Innovation and Management

June 2018
Teaching Note

Kvadrat: Leading for Innovation

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2013, Anders Byriel, CEO of the family-owned Danish textiles company, Kvadrat, considered the firm's strategic plan. In 2000, Byriel and Mette Bendix, Kvadrat's Product Director, had taken over management of the company from their fathers, who had founded Kvadrat in... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Human Resources; Asia