Publications

Research Summary

Distributed Innovation in Open Systems—The Role of Modularity

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Distributed innovation in open systems is an important trend in the modern global economy. As education levels rise and communication costs fall, more people have the means and motivation to innovate. Supply chains now stretch around the world as firms outsource... View Details

winter 2000
Article

Assessing the Impact of Venture Capital to Innovation

By: Samuel Kortum and Josh Lerner

We examine the influence of venture capital on patented inventions in the United States across twenty industries over three decades. We address concerns about causality in several ways, including exploiting a 1979 policy shift that spurred venture capital fundraising.... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Innovation and Invention

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January 1995
Case

3M: Profile of an Innovating Company

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Afroze A Mohammed

Traces the birth and development of 3M Corp., focusing in particular on the origins of its entrepreneurially-based ability to innovate. In particular, it highlights the role of CEO William L. McKnight in creating a unique set of values, policies, and structures to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Advantage; Organizational Culture

Educators

13 Jan 2021
Blog Post

Staying Curious with the Harvard Innovation Labs Ahead of the 2021 Virtual President’s Innovation Challenge

What is the President’s Innovation Challenge (PIC)? The President’s Innovation Challenge (PIC) is a call to action for Harvard students and alumni pursuing ventures that push the boundaries View Details

December 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Case

Muñoz Group: Sustaining Global Vertical Integration Through Innovation

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Annelena Lobb

Muñoz Group, which supplied supermarket chains and food distribution chains around the world with fruit, flowers, juice and ice cream, was at a strategic crossroads in 2014. CEO Alvaro Muñoz had to choose the best way to achieve profit goals and provide his company... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Supply Chain; Retail; Agribusiness Industry; Globalized Firms and Management; Supply Chain Management; Competitive Advantage; Vertical Integration; Profit; Innovation and Invention; Retail Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; North and Central America

Educators

11 Jun 2019
Video

Clip of Mavath_R_Chandran Innovation Case New

Research Summary

Design Driven Innovation

By: Roberto Verganti

Firms, managers and scholars have often balanced between two approaches to innovation: user centered (where incremental innovation is pulled by the market) and technology push (where innovation comes from breakthrough development in technologies). However there is a... View Details

Aug 08 2018
Testimonial

Mastering the Art of Disruptive Innovation

Fourth Quarter 2002
Article

Corporations and the Financing of Innovation

By: Paul A. Gompers

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Innovation and Invention

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2003
Book

Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation

By: Robert A Burgelman, Clayton M. Christensen and Steven C. Wheelwright

Keywords: Strategy; Management; Information Technology; Innovation and Invention

26 Oct 2018
News

High-skilled immigration and the growing concentration of US innovation

winter 2003
Article

Navigating the Technology Landscape of Innovation

Keywords: Information Technology; Innovation and Invention

01 Dec 2015
News

Sharing Knowledge of Innovation in India

faculty immersions in the region and developed opportunities for engagement with alumni and the local community. “There is great sharing of knowledge that can be done by the center,” says Tewari. “It can bring alive the extraordinary... View Details

Article

The Innovation of Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Steven R. Anderson

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Activity Based Costing and Management

September 2023 (Revised September 2023)
Teaching Note

Roche: Innovation and Access to Healthcare

By: George Serafeim

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 123-075. In May 2022, Roche Group, one of the largest healthcare companies in the world, hosted its first investor event focused exclusively on its efforts to impact access to healthcare. While Roche had recently set an ambitious goal to... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Access To Care; Healthcare; Healthcare Access; Innovation; Social Impact; Affordable; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Resource Allocation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Health Industry

At the heart of any innovation process lies a fundamental practice: the way people create ideas and solve problems. This “decision making” side of innovation is what scholars and practitioners refer to as “design.” Decisions in innovation processes have so far been... View Details

2025
Working Paper

Better Keep the Twenty Dollars: Incentivizing Innovation in Open Source

By: Annamaria Conti, Vansh Gupta, Jorge Guzman and Maria P. Roche

Open source is key to innovation yet is assumed to be done largely through intrinsic motivation. How can we incentivize it? In this paper, we examine the impact of a program providing monetary incentives to motivate innovators to contribute to open source. The Sponsors... View Details

Keywords: Open Source; Innovation; Incentives; Financial Rewards; Crowding Out; Open Source Distribution; Innovation and Invention; Motivation and Incentives; Technology Industry