Publications

Read Now

06 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 6, 2007

the firm and MIS research to argue that some types of information technology (IT) will be deployed only within hierarchical governance structures. This argument introduces a contingency into the 'electronic markets hypothesis,' which... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2014
Article

Learning by Supplying

By: Juan Alcacer and Joanne Oxley

Learning processes lie at the heart of our understanding of how firms build capabilities to generate and sustain competitive advantage: learning by doing, learning by exporting, learning from competitors, users, and alliance partners. In this paper we focus attention... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Organizations; Learning

Find at Harvard

Research Summary

Social Innovation

My intellectual agenda addresses this question: How to innovate to solve the world’s toughest challenges? Out of the earth’s population, about 2 billion can afford good products whereas the remaining 5 billion are poor and therefore are nonconsumers.... View Details

05 May 2022
HBS Case

College Degrees: The Job Requirement Companies Seek, but Don't Really Need

capabilities, Groysberg says. An effective job posting will distinguish between skills that are required and those that are preferred and could be taught on the job. Then, human resource departments need to push the retooled job posting to a broad audience.... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

August 2011 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Language and Globalization: 'Englishnization' at Rakuten (A)

By: Tsedal Neeley

Hiroshi Mikitani, the CEO of Rakuten, (Japan's largest online retailer), is at the helm of an organization that is rapidly expanding into global markets. In a critical stride toward becoming the world's No. 1 Internet services company, Mikitani announces... View Details

Keywords: Teaching; Human Capital; Change Management; Transformation; Social Enterprise; Communication Strategy; Internet and the Web; Disruptive Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Leadership; Global Strategy; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Japan

January 2025
Case

Davivienda Bank's Upskilling and Reskilling Strategy in Colombia (Abridged)

By: Jorge Tamayo, Raffaella Sadun and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago

Set in 2022, this abridged case examines the digital transformation strategy of Davivienda—a leading player in Colombia’s commercial banking sector and one of the companies belonging to Grupo Bolívar, a major Colombian conglomerate—and the bank’s upskilling and... View Details

Article

Learning Through Noticing: Theory and Evidence from a Field Experiment

By: Rema Hanna, Sendhil Mullainathan and Joshua Schwartzstein

We consider a model of technological learning under which people "learn through noticing": they choose which input dimensions to attend to and subsequently learn about from available data. Using this model, we show how people with a great deal of experience may... View Details

Keywords: Perception; Behavior; Learning

04 May 2021
Book

Best Buy: How Human Connection Saved a Failing Retailer

purpose as “enriching people’s lives through technology by addressing key human needs.” Best Buy’s competitive advantage had always been the unique customer service provided by its sales associates, but that only mattered if they truly... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

01 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 1, 2008

development organizations, involved in both research and program design and delivery. This case explores CCL's approach to leadership and management education for executives and presents some of the challenges the CCL faces as many... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 1

Exploiting novel data on the educational backgrounds of sell side equity analysts and senior officers of firms, we test the hypothesis that analysts' school ties to senior officers impart comparative information advantages in the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

19 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

Is Wikipedia More Biased Than Encyclopædia Britannica?

For more than a century, the long, stately rows of Encyclopædia Britannica have been a fixture on the shelves of many an educated person's home—the smooshed-together diphthong in the first word a symbol of old-world erudition and... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Publishing

10 Oct 2007
First Look

First Look: First Look: October 10

performance of procedures rather than for accurate diagnosis and effective prevention. Aspinall and Hamermesh call for coordinating regulation and reimbursement so that incentives are provided for the right outcomes. Finally, the authors urge changing physicians'... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

July–August 2025
Article

Case Study: Do We Reskill or Replace Our Workforce?

By: William Kerr

To remain competitive in the internet-of-things era, should the CEO of SolidTech Innovations, a fictional elevator company, invest a lot of money in reskilling its entire staff? The industry is moving from hardware to software in the form of smart, connected elevators.... View Details

Keywords: Training; Competency and Skills; Employees; Change Management; Leading Change

Find at Harvard

Read Now

04 Apr 2023
Book

Two Centuries of Business Leaders Who Took a Stand on Social Issues

While shareholders still reign supreme at many companies, a widespread shift toward more responsible business practices is driving more leaders to take a stand on social and environmental issues today, says Harvard Business School Professor Geoffrey Jones. Jones... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Consumer Products; Fashion; Retail; Green Technology

20 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 20, 2007

collective research process. In particular we show that the process of creating breakthrough innovations of meanings partially mirrors the process of creating breakthrough technological innovations. Studies of design-driven innovation may... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2022
Case

Unilever: Remote Work in Manufacturing

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Susie L. Ma

In December 2021, Unilever—one of the world’s largest producers of consumer goods—was in the midst of a pilot project to digitize its manufacturing facilities and enable remote work for factory employees. This was possible because of an earlier project to retrofit a... View Details

Keywords: Change; Globalization; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Human Resources; Jobs and Positions; Operations; Education; Training; Manufacturing Industry

September 2016
Case

Hewlett Packard Enterprise: The Dandelion Program

By: Gary P. Pisano and Robert D. Austin

This case describes Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s “Dandelion Program," which has developed a new service offering for the company’s clients by drawing on the special talents of people with autism. The company has deployed “pods” organized around 8 or 9 employees with... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Talent and Talent Management; Service Operations; Training; Diversity; Innovation and Invention; Technology Industry