Publications

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2020
Working Paper

Mission-Oriented Research in a National Emergency: Lessons from the Office of Scientific Research and Development in World War II

By: Daniel P. Gross and Bhaven N. Sampat

Since the beginning of the present COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers, researchers, and journalists have made repeated comparisons to World War II. In ongoing research, we have been studying the effects of the World War II research effort, which included a major medical... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Research and Development; Problems and Challenges; War; History; Government Administration; United States

04 May 2023
News

How Generative AI Changes Productivity

06 Dec 2021
News

Embracing Digital Transformation

Illustration by Stephanie Dalton Cowan Leaders today, in every sector and around the world, are grappling with the opportunities and challenges of digital innovation—from artificial intelligence to machine learning to data analytics and more. “Digitalization and... View Details

01 Dec 2018
News

Adapting to Meet Changing Needs

Collaboration that Anticipates New Business Needs The inaugural MS/MBA cohort of students arrived at Harvard in early August. 6 Joint degree programs offered between HBS and other Harvard schools In the spring of 2018, faculty from HBS, the Harvard John A. Paulson... View Details

01 Jun 2017
News

Streamlining the Supermarket

A new alumni-backed venture hopes robots will change how we buy our milk, bread, and eggs. In early 2016, José Vicente Aguerrevere (MBA 2002) attended a talk at HBS by Mick Mountz (MBA 1996), founder of Kiva Systems. Kiva’s small, mobile warehouse robots had brought... View Details

Keywords: Francis Storrs

04 Feb 2016
News

From Super Bowl to STEM Bowl

As big as it is, the Super Bowl has only fleeting impact on its annual host city. But a team of HBS alumni in Santa Clara, California, where Super Bowl 50 will be played this weekend, found a creative way to take advantage of the local excitement to promote the... View Details

27 Jul 2015
News

The Future of Cars

Keywords: sharing economy; car ownership; information technology; cloud computing; Transportation; Space Research and Technology; Government

27 May 2014
News

Crowdsourcing the Capitalist's Dilemma

The next time Professor Clay Christensen (MBA 1979) has a dilemma, he knows where he'll go for a solution: to HBS alumni. Christensen, Senior Lecturer Derek van Bever (MBA 1988), and alumni of the Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise (BSSE) course recently... View Details

Keywords: April White; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

01 Jun 2004
News

The Ambidextrous Organization

In the April 2004 issue of Harvard Business Review, HBS professor Michael L. Tushman and coauthor Charles A. O’Reilly III discuss what they coin the “ambidextrous organization.” A synopsis of their article follows. Corporate executives must constantly look backward,... View Details

Keywords: ambidextrous manager; ambidextrous organization; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

July 2023
Case

Moderna: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

By: Satish Tadikonda, Shikhar Ghosh and William Marks

Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Moderna was riding the successes of developing a vaccine in record time and helping stem the tide of the crisis. However, the company had grown at an incredible rate, more than doubled its number of employees, and had to put on hold... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Selection and Staffing; Growth Management; Management Succession; Retirement; Technological Innovation; Corporate Strategy; Biotechnology Industry

January 2018 (Revised January 2020)
Case

STRIVR: Changing the Game in Virtual Reality

By: Rajiv Lal, Matt Denison, Robert Higgins and Scott Johnson

The CEO of a growing virtual reality company that trains athletes must decide whether or not to stay in sports or expand into other areas. View Details

2015
Book

MOVE: Putting America's Infrastructure Back in the Lead

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Americans are stuck. We live with travel delays on congested roads; shipping delays on clogged railways; and delays on repairs, project approvals, and funding due to gridlocked leadership. These delays affect us all, whether you are a daily commuter, a frequent flyer,... View Details

September 2011 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Building Watson: Not So Elementary, My Dear!

By: Willy Shih

This case is set inside IBM Research's efforts to build a computer that can successfully take on human challengers playing the game show Jeopardy! It opens with the machine named Watson offering the incorrect answer "Toronto" to a seemingly simple question during the... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Standards; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mathematical Methods; Research and Development; Information Technology

2011
Working Paper

Embracing Paradox

By: Michael Tushman, Wendy K. Smith and Andy Binns

Trying to resolve the paradox between innovation and the core business only weakens the CEO and dooms the company. Exceptional leaders embrace tensions associated with exploiting prior strategies even as they explore into the future. View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Innovation Strategy; Leadership; Management Teams; Resource Allocation; Conflict of Interests; Business Strategy

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August 2010 (Revised November 2011)
Case

MindTree: A Community of Communities

By: David A. Garvin and Rachna Tahilyani

MindTree is a mid-sized Indian IT services company known for its knowledge management practices, its collaborative communities, and its strong culture and values. The CEO has set a goal of becoming a $1 billion company by 2014; to reach that goal, employees must create... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Employee Relationship Management; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge Management; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Social and Collaborative Networks; Information Technology Industry; India

January 2009 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Sydney IVF: Stem Cell Research

By: Robert L. Simons, Kathryn Rosenberg and Natalie Kindred

This case examines the strategy implementation and risk management decisions at Sydney IVF, a research-based in vitro fertilization and stem cell company based in Australia. Drs. Robert Jansen and Jock Anderson, who co-founded Sydney IVF in 1986, developed novel... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Genetics; Commercialization; Health Industry; Australia

2009
Working Paper

Capitalizing On Innovation: The Case of Japan

By: Robert Dujarric and Andrei Hagiu

Japan's industrial landscape is characterized by hierarchical forms of industry organization, which are increasingly inadequate in modern sectors, where innovation relies on platforms and horizontal ecosystems of firms producing complementary products. Using three... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Government Legislation; Innovation and Invention; Industry Structures; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Manufacturing Industry; Japan

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January 2008 (Revised November 2009)
Case

Linear Air: Creating the Air Taxi Industry

Linear Air is an air taxi start-up established to take advantage of the emergence of Very Light Jets, which incorporate new technology that cuts jet operating costs by about 40%. Air taxis could make use of the 5400 smaller regional airports throughout the US,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Disruptive Innovation; Product Launch; Industry Structures; Competition; Air Transportation Industry