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- 2025
- Working Paper
HIV Tests and AIDS Treatments—Containing a Fearsome Pandemic: Case Histories of Transformational Advances
By: Amar Bhidé, Srikant M. Datar and Katherine Stebbins
This case history describes how a diverse cast of characters, including public health organizations, research laboratories, for-profit healthcare companies, activists, and regulators, rolled back the outbreak of HIV/AIDS in just fifteen years. Moreover, as the case... View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
Laparoscopy—Minimally Invasive Surgery: Case Histories of Transformational Advances
By: Amar Bhidé, Caitlin N. Bowler and Srikant M. Datar
We describe how operations through laparoscopes – tubular instruments inserted into abdominal cavities – revolutionized gynecological and other surgeries inside the abdomen, such as gall bladder removal. Specifically, we chronicle the 1) foundational contributions of... View Details
- 2025
- Working Paper
Magnetic Resonance Imaging—High Quality and Radiation Free: Case Histories of Transformational Advances
By: Srikant M. Datar, Amar Bhidé and Katherine Stebbins
This case history describes how Magnetic Resource Imaging (MRI) came to complement – and partially replace -- computed tomography (CT) imaging of soft tissue. Specifically, we chronicle 1) the development of foundational techniques and prototypes (through the 1970s);... View Details
- 2025
- Working Paper
Mammography - Early Detection, Precise Diagnoses: Case Histories of Transformational Advances
By: Amar Bhidé, Srikant M. Datar and Katherine Stebbins
This case history describes how the development of x-ray-based techniques and equipment (“mammography”) led to widespread screening for breast cancer and enabled “minimally invasive” biopsies of breast tumors. Specifically, we chronicle how: 1) new protocols and... View Details
- 2025
- Working Paper
Ultrasound Imaging--Cheap, Versatile, and Safe: Case Histories of Transformational Advances
By: Amar Bhidé, Srikant M. Datar and Katherine Stebbins
This case history describes how efforts on multiple fronts, including advocacy, training, and technological development, made ultrasound the second most commonly used diagnostic imaging technology (after X-rays). Specifically, we chronicle 1) ultrasound’s development... View Details
- 2019
- Book
VC: An American History
By: Tom Nicholas
An exploration of venture financing in America, from its origins in the whaling industry to the rise of Silicon Valley, that shows how venture capital (VC) created an epicenter for the development of high-tech innovation. The VC industry arose from the United States’... View Details
- June 2019 (Revised May 2022)
- Case
Roger Federer's TEAM8: Launching the Laver Cup
By: Anita Elberse
Roger Federer, widely regarded as the best tennis player in the history of the sport, walked onto the court to thunderous applause during in the second edition of the Laver Cup in September 2018. Named after tennis legend Rod Laver, the Cup pitted many of the greatest... View Details
- 2019
- Chapter
The Art of (Creative) Thought: Graham Wallas on the Creative Process
BOOK ABSTRACT: The Creativity Reader is a necessary companion for anyone interested in the historical roots of contemporary ideas about creativity, innovation, and imagination. It brings together a prestigious group of international experts who were tasked with... View Details
- May 2019 (Revised February 2022)
- Background Note
The Gig Economy: Leasing Skills to Pay the Bills
By: Joseph Fuller, William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg
This primer provides a comprehensive exploration into the gig economy and how it is reshaping global business. It shows how the Uber driver, the freelancing programmer in India, and the independent corporate consultant are all different variants of the modern-day gig... View Details
- April 2019 (Revised July 2019)
- Case
Innovation and Business in Emerging Markets
By: Geoffrey Jones, Tarun Khanna, Nataliya Langburd Wright and Morgan Spencer
The case is built around video clips from top business leaders in emerging markets who were interviewed for Harvard Business School’s innovative Creating Emerging Markets oral history project. The case is focused on the issue of innovation in emerging markets from a... View Details
- April 2019 (Revised February 2025)
- Case
Wendell Weeks at Corning Inc.: Extending a History of Life-Changing Innovations (A)
By: Ryan Raffaelli, David G. Fubini and Aldo Sesia
This case examines the leadership challenges associated with maintaining a culture of innovation in established organizations. It asks students to step into the shoes of a leader faced with making several tough decisions about when to invest (or to stop investing) in... View Details
- 2019
- Chapter
International Business and Emerging Markets in Historical Perspective
By: Geoffrey Jones
This chapter examines international business in emerging markets over the long run. It shows how the strategies of Western multinationals evolved over time. In the first era of globalization in the 19th century, Western firms sought access to resources, and they faced... View Details
- February 2019
- Background Note
Mexican Farmworkers in the United States
By: Forest Reinhardt and Jonathan Schlefer
This note discusses the centuries-long history and current situation of Mexican farmworkers north of the border—documented or undocumented, resident or temporary, and increasingly indigenous. The story provides the background for discussion of dilemmas facing... View Details
- 2019
- Article
Reflections on 25 Years of Building Social Enterprise Education
By: James E. Austin and V. Kasturi Rangan
Purpose—This paper aims to reflect on 25 years of the Social Enterprise Initiative at the Harvard Business School, examining the processes and thinking involved at key stages of this pioneering Initiative’s implementation and... View Details
- Winter 2019
- Article
Leadership Forged in Crisis
By: Nancy F. Koehn
Five great leaders from history (Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Ernest Shackleton, Rachel Carson, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer), according to Koehn, had their leadership forged in crisis. She writes that “leaders can emerge from many different backgrounds, genders,... View Details
- February 1, 2019
- Article
What Theresa May Might Learn from Woodrow Wilson's Failed Negotiations in 1919
By: Deepak Malhotra
On December 13, 2018, UK Prime Minister Theresa May met with her European counterparts in an attempt to renegotiate the “Brexit deal” she had reached with them only weeks earlier; the deal was facing harsh criticism and almost certain rejection at home. Perhaps only... View Details
- Article
What to Do When Industry Disruption Threatens Your Career
By: Boris Groysberg, Eric Lin and Whitney Johnson
This article discusses how to diagnose the risks that disruptive industry forces pose to individual careers and offers suggestions on how to mitigate such threats. Recommendations are based on analyses of individuals’ career histories in the professional services... View Details
- January 2019 (Revised December 2020)
- Case
Angola Starts Now
By: Jeremy Friedman and Sophus A. Reinert
After five centuries of colonialism, four decades of civil war, an extended experiment with Marxism-Leninism, and nearly four decades of rule by a single man, José Eduardo Dos Santos, Angola finally has a chance to realize its enormous economic potential. A country... View Details
- January 2019 (Revised February 2020)
- Case
Jay Gould, 'The Most Hated Man in America'
By: Tom Nicholas, John Masko and Matthew G. Preble
Railroad magnate Jay Gould, a controversial figure in the history of U.S. capitalism, was a disruptive influence on an industry that had previously relied on formal and informal agreements to move traffic long distances across lines operated by different companies.... View Details
- 2019
- Working Paper
Understanding and Overcoming Roadblocks to Environmental Sustainability. Past Roads and Future Prospects
By: Ann-Kristin Bergquist, Shawn A. Cole, John Ehrenfeld, Andrew A. King and Auden Schendler
This working paper examines key barriers to business sustainability discussed at a multidisciplinary conference held at the Harvard Business School in 2018. Drawing on perspectives from both the historical and business literatures, speakers debated the historical... View Details