Publications

March 2008 (Revised June 2008)
Case

The Broad Institute: Applying the Power of Genomics to Medicine

By: Vicki L. Sato and Rachel Gordon

In June 2003, Harvard University and MIT announced an unprecedented partnership to create a biomedical institute, The Broad Institute. The culture of the Broad centered on science, and those involved considered it to be at the edge of the scientific frontier. In just... View Details

Keywords: Education; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Genetics

15 Aug 2024
Blog Post

Navigating the Future of Renewable Energy at Port Esbjerg

In January 2024, Professors Willy Shih and Mike Toffel led 45 HBS MBA students on site visits to witness the energy transition and innovative sustainable production activities throughout Denmark and the Netherlands, in the second year... View Details

April 2004 (Revised October 2005)
Teaching Note

Marketing of Innovations, The: Course Overview Note for Instructors

By: John T. Gourville

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Teaching

Forthcoming
Article

You've Got Mail! The Late 19th-Century U.S. Postal Service Expansion, Firm Creation, and Firm Performance

By: Astrid Marinoni and Maria P. Roche

This paper examines the impact of the expansion of the US Postal Service in the late 19th century on firm creation and performance. Utilizing newly digitized archival data on historic business establishments, post office locations, and road networks in California,... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Innovation; Knowledge Exchange; US Postal Service; Firm Performance; Infrastructure; Expansion; Government Administration; Communication; Business History; Entrepreneurship; Public Administration Industry; California

Find at Harvard

25 Feb 2013
News

In Search of the Spark...and the Next Big Thing

21 May 2019
News

Confronting the Future of Climate Change in the Midwest

simple as possible at the farm level,” Baron told the audience. But challenges remain. For example, many of the most innovative capabilities—such as natural wetlands that can treat water waste—require... View Details

Keywords: Agriculture

March 2024 (Revised May 2025)
Case

Governing OpenAI (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Suraj Srinivasan and Will Hurwitz

In late November 2023, OpenAI’s new board of directors took stock of the situation. The company, which sought to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI)—computer systems with capabilities exceeding human abilities—was looking to regain its footing after a chaotic... View Details

April 2008
Case

Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston and Dr. Bradford J. Shingleton (2004)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Marcelo Pancotto

Dr. Bradford Shingleton has developed some of the highest quality eye surgery techniques in the industry. He involves his nurses and technicians in creating a surgical service that is constantly improving. The case has many details about how Dr. Shingleton works with... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Independent Innovation and Invention; Service Operations; Performance Productivity; Practice; Problems and Challenges; Health Industry; Boston

25 Apr 2023
News

Class of 2022 Startups Sweep Alumni New Venture Competition

and Vanessa Royle In the end, Ilana Springer Borkenstein and Eric Gruskin, from the New York region, took the Grand Prize of $75,000 with their startup, M7 Health, an innovative nursing-workforce management... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

The ABCs of Addressing Climate Change (From a Business Perspective)

It's Climate Week in New York City. The schedule features a UN Climate Summit, a People's Climate March, the Clinton Global Initiative, substantial criticism of the whole endeavor, and plenty of agitated... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Energy; Utilities

2008
Working Paper

Wellsprings of Creation: How Perturbation Sustains Exploration in Mature Organizations

By: David James Brunner, Bradley R. Staats, Michael L. Tushman and David M. Upton

Organizations struggle to balance simultaneous imperatives to exploit and explore, yet theorists differ as to whether exploitation undermines or enhances exploration. The debate reflects a gap: the missing mechanism by which organizations break free of old routines and... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Innovation and Management; Business Processes; Opportunities; Creativity

Read Now

03 Oct 2016
News

Clayton Christensen moves on from the dissing of disruption

September 2023 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Going Mobile-First? The Digital Transformation of Davivienda Bank in Colombia

By: Jorge Tamayo and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago

Set in 2017, this case describes the digital transformation strategy of Davivienda—a leading player in Colombia’s commercial banking and one of the companies belonging to Grupo Bolívar, a major Colombian financial conglomerate. The case also describes the pioneer role... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Information Technology; Digital Strategy; Digital Transformation; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Banking Industry; Latin America; Central America; South America; Colombia

18 Nov 2013
Op-Ed

Twitter IPO: Overvalued or the Start of Something Big?

Twitter soared high on its first day of trading on Nov. 7, with its shares closing the day at $45 for a value of $25 billion. Even though TWTR has yet to make money, investors flocked to the stock in droves,... View Details

Keywords: by Chet Huber; Technology

October 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Epic Games

By: Andy Wu and Christopher Zhang

Epic Games entered a stagnant market with its PC-games digital storefront in 2018, in the context of incumbent competitors such as Steam, its meteoric rise via Fortnite, and imminent industry shifts in gaming distribution. On the surface, Epic Games Store’s competitive... View Details

Keywords: Industry Analysis; Video Games; Platforms; Comparative Advantage; Growth Strategy; Innovation Focused Strategy; Pricing Strategy; Strategy; Competition; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Digital Platforms; Technology Industry

March 2022 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Nexleaf Analytics: Saving the World Using the Internet of Things

By: Frank Nagle

In 2019, a decade after co-founding Nexleaf Analytics, CEO Nithya Ramanathan faced an important decision that would impact the ability of the small, but growing, not-for-profit organization to thrive for another decade. Their sensor technologies and big data analytics... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Nonprofit Organizations; Competitive Strategy; Patents; Expansion; Information Technology; Health Industry; Information Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Technology Industry

2018
The Significance of Race Research in the 21st Century

Sankofa: Learning about and from Black experiences of Leadership, Race and Work

2024
Working Paper

Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting—Impossible to Routine: Case Histories of Transformational Advances

By: Amar Bhidé, Srikant M. Datar and Fabio Villa

We describe how Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG, or more popularly, “bypass”) operations revolutionized the treatment of coronary disease (that can produce fatal heart attacks and debilitating angina). Specifically, we chronicle the: 1) development of the... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Technology Adoption; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms