Publications

January 1998 (Revised February 2006)
Background Note

Creating Competitive Advantage

By: Pankaj Ghemawat and Jan W. Rivkin

A firm such as Schering-Plough that earns superior, long-run financial returns within its industry is said to enjoy a competitive advantage over its rivals. This note examines the logic of how firms create competitive advantage. It emphasizes two themes: First, to... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Management; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Value Creation; Pharmaceutical Industry

January 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Case

General Scanning, Inc. (A)

By: H. Kent Bowen, Sean McClenaghan and Charles Tillen

General Scanning, Inc. was founded by Jean Montagu and Pierre Brosens, two MIT mechanical engineers with an interest in developing innovative products based on the early application of lasers. They invented proprietary technology for laser beam positioning and scanning... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Entrepreneurship; Management Practices and Processes; Product Development; Strategic Planning; Research and Development; Risk and Uncertainty; Commercialization; Manufacturing Industry

1998
Book

Navigating Change: How CEO's, Top Teams and Boards Steer Transformation

By: D. Hambrick, D. Nadler and Michael Tushman

Keywords: Leading Change; Innovation and Management; Transformation

1998
Article

Dominant Designs, Innovation Types and Organizational Outcomes

By: Michael Tushman and P. Murmann

Keywords: Design; Innovation and Invention; Outcome or Result

fall/winter 1998
Article

Envisioning IT-Enabled Innovation

By: Michael E. McGrath and Marco Iansiti

Keywords: Information Technology; Innovation and Invention

1998
Article

Innovation Action Research: Creating New Management Theory and Practice

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Research; Management; Theory; Practice

December 1997 (Revised April 1998)
Case

www.springs.com

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Melissa Dailey

Business Week's June 1997 "Rising Star" profile of Springs Industries' president and COO, Crandall Bowles, reported that she was poised to become one of the top two or three women executives in the country. In November 1997, the company announced Bowles' appointment to... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Operations; Product Marketing; Management; Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; South Carolina

December 1997
Article

What is the Optimum Amount of Organizational Slack? A Study of the Relationship Between Slack and Innovation in Multinational Firms

By: Ranjay Gulati and Nitin Nohria

Keywords: Organizations; Relationships; Business Ventures; Innovation and Invention

November 1997 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Medical Foods, Inc.

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Tom Clay

Dr. Franklin Lowe is CEO of a new kind of company in a new kind of industry--medical foods. He must select a business model and partners that will help make this a viable business. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Partners and Partnerships; Business or Company Management; Strategy; Business Startups; Health Care and Treatment; Food; Innovation and Management; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

November–December 1997
Article

Spark Innovation Through Empathic Design

By: D. A. Leonard and Jeffrey Rayport

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Design

October 1997
Case

Roslin Institute, The

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Tom Clay

Dr. Ian Willmut and the Roslin Institute have developed a revolutionary new technology--cloning. Now they are faced with some tough choices concerning going forward. How should they balance commercialization opportunities with societal concerns? View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Independent Innovation and Invention; Social Issues; Commercialization; Biotechnology Industry

1997
Book

Innovation: Breakthrough Thinking at 3M, GE, DuPont, Pfizer, and Rubbermaid

By: R. M. Kanter, J. Kao and F. Wiersema

Keywords: Innovation and Management

October 1997 (Revised May 1998)
Supplement

Asda (B)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

Describes Archie Norman's efforts over a five-year period to turn around the company by regaining financial control, delivering management, creating experimental projects where individuals felt free to innovate, instituting a back-to-roots strategy that put customers... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Customer Relationship Management; Governance Controls; Innovation and Invention; Management; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

October 1997 (Revised September 2003)
Case

Eli Lilly and Company: Drug Development Strategy (A)

By: Stefan H. Thomke, Ashok Nimgade and Paul Pospisil

Describes how Eli Lilly and Co. tries to accelerate its new drug development process with the aid of "combinatorial chemistry"--a rapidly emerging and revolutionary approach to preclinical drug discovery. The product manager of a potential blockbuster migraine drug... View Details

Keywords: Chemicals; Finance; Innovation and Invention; Time Management; Markets; Product Development; Organizations; Business Processes; Problems and Challenges; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Competition; Pharmaceutical Industry

October 1997 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Oxford Health Plans: Specialty Management (A)

By: James L. Heskett, Jody H. Gittell and James Slayton

Describes an innovative approach to organizing health care proposed by Oxford CEO Steve Wiggins. Wiggins contends that the primary care physician "gatekeeper" model typically used by health maintenance organizations to control access to and coordinate specialist care... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Groups and Teams; Innovation and Management; Medical Specialties; Health Care and Treatment; Cooperation; Management Teams; Health Industry; United States

September 1997 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Boston Chicken, Inc.

By: Paul M. Healy

This case examines Boston Chicken's franchise strategy for growing its innovative restaurant business, and the associated accounting reporting issues that arise. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Franchise Ownership; Financial Strategy; Business Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry

August 1997 (Revised March 1999)
Case

VeriFone (1997)

By: Richard L. Nolan, Anne Donnellon and Donna B. Stoddard

VeriFone, a leading manufacturer of payment systems technology, was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in June 1997. The case describes the strategic challenges that VeriFone faces as it positions itself to compete in the Internet payment systems marketplace. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Internet; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Business Strategy; Information Technology Industry