Publications

2015
Other Teaching and Training Material

Marketing Reading: Marketing Intelligence

By: Robert J. Dolan and Leslie K. John

This reading provides the basic knowledge a marketing manager needs in order to choose the right combination of research methods, as well as the best way to present research findings to stakeholders. Furthermore, this Reading shows how effective decision making hinges... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Research; Marketing; Research

2019
Chapter

Interorganizational Collaboration and Start-Up Innovation

By: Vikas A. Aggarwal and Andy Wu

This chapter presents an overview of the literature on collaborative relationships between start-ups and incumbent firms, focusing on the implications of these relationships for start-up innovation and performance. Value creation in such relationships occurs when... View Details

Keywords: Alliance; Corporate Venture Capital; Complementary Assets; Appropriability; Business Startups; Joint Ventures; Knowledge; Innovation and Invention; Value Creation; Entrepreneurship

Read Now

04 Apr 2005
What Do You Think?

Can an Organization’s “Deep Smarts” Be Preserved?

Summing Up This month's column appears to have struck a chord with those who lament the continuing loss of implicit knowledge buried inside the heads of experienced leaders (termed "deep smarts" by Dorothy Leonard and Walter... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

September 1997 (Revised October 1997)
Case

Information at the World Bank: In Search of a Technology Solution (B)

By: W. Earl Sasser and Josep Valor

Acting on his vision to make the World Bank a knowledge institution, bank President Wolfensohn announces the creation of an Information and Knowledge Management Council and an Information Solutions Group, headed by a newly nominated CEO, Mohamed Muhsin. This case... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology; Knowledge Management; Management Teams; Information Management; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

summer 2003
Article

Patents, Invalidity, and the Strategic Transmission of Enabling Information

By: James J. Anton and Dennis A. Yao

The patent system encourages innovation and knowledge disclosure by providing exclusivity to inventors. Exclusivity is limited, however, because a substantial fraction of patents have some probability of being ruled invalid when challenged in court. The possibility of... View Details

Keywords: System; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge Dissemination; Courts and Trials; Competition; Patents; Corporate Disclosure

March 2002 (Revised March 2005)
Case

Intevis: Brokering the Boundaryless Career

Illustrates technology strategy, knowledge management, and the challenges of managing temporary professionals in the increasingly modular semiconductor industry. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Knowledge Management; Employees; Semiconductor Industry

August 2008
Article

Ethnic Scientific Communities and International Technology Diffusion

By: William R. Kerr

This study explores the importance of knowledge transfer for international technology diffusion by examining ethnic scientific and entrepreneurial communities in the US and their ties to their home countries. US ethnic research communities are quantified by applying an... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Ethnicity; Production; Integration; Knowledge Sharing; Patents; Employment; Performance Productivity; Entrepreneurship; Change; Developing Countries and Economies; Immigration; China; United States

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02 Jan 2018
Op-Ed

'Dear Working Knowledge'--Our Favorite Reader Comments of the Year

Credit: iStockPhoto Who are the editors of HBS Working Knowledge most thankful for as the new year begins? It’s the readers who take time to contribute comments to our stories, more than 1,000 in 2017. Since our readership extends to more... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

October 2001 (Revised March 2002)
Background Note

Implicit Predictors of Consumer Behavior

By: Gerald Zaltman, Nancy Puccinelli, Kathryn A. Braun and Fred W Mast PHD

An important distinction is drawn in psychology between explicit and implicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge refers to consciously held beliefs about an individual or object that often draws on the remembering of experiences in the past. In contrast, implicit knowledge... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Values and Beliefs; Knowledge Sharing; Consumer Behavior; Opportunities; Cognition and Thinking

2018
Simulation

Financial Analysis Simulation: Data Detective

By: Suraj Srinivasan and V.G. Narayanan

In this simulation, students learn to identify typical industry characteristics revealed in financial data. Equipped with an interactive and flexible set of tools, students analyze disguised financials and—using their knowledge of operational practices and reasoning... View Details

Keywords: Financial Analysis; Financial Accounting; Financial Ratios; Accounting; Financial Statements; Analysis

25 Apr 2012
What Do You Think?

How Will the “Age of Big Data” Affect Management?

Summing Up: Will Access To Big Data Further Enable Fact-based Decision Making Or Analysis Paralysis? "To T. S. Eliot's prescient words 'Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?' we... View Details

Keywords: Re: James L. Heskett

March 2021
Article

Experimenting During the Shift to Virtual Team Work: Learnings from How Teams Adapted Their Activities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: Ashley V. Whillans, Leslie Perlow and Aurora Turek

Past research has focused on understanding the characteristics of work that are fully virtual or fully collocated. The present study seeks to expand our understanding of team work by studying knowledge workers' experiences as they were suddenly forced to transition to... View Details

Keywords: Team Work; Activities; Virtual Work; Digital Technologies; Groups and Teams; Health Pandemics; Internet and the Web; Adaptation

Read Now

05 Feb 2015
Research & Ideas

How New BofA Executives Learn its ’Deep Smarts’

Editor's note: How does an organization hold on to its wealth of accumulated knowledge when the knowledge-holders depart? It's a very real dilemma made even more critical as Baby Boomers begin their mass exit into retirement. The new book... View Details

Keywords: Re: Dorothy A. Leonard; Banking

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

April 2012
Article

Local R&D Strategies and Multi-location Firms: The Role of Internal Linkages

By: Juan Alcacer and Minyuan Zhao

This study looks at the role of firms' internal linkages in highly competitive technology clusters, where much of the world's R&D takes place. The leading players in these clusters are multilocation firms that organize and integrate knowledge across sites worldwide.... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Research and Development; Risk and Uncertainty; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Technology

05 Jul 2022
Op-Ed

Hear Me Out: Introverts Can Be Loud and You Might Like Microsoft Teams

We've been encouraging readers to share feedback and observations about Working Knowledge articles by email, resulting in a slew of thoughtful responses. Here are a few comments from June, published with permission: Re: "Extroverts, Your... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

2009
Article

Expertise Utilization in Accounting & Consulting Teams: The Effects of Shared Representations

By: Heidi K. Gardner

Why are some teams more effective than others in using their members' knowledge? This paper identifies shared representations as a critical moderator of effective knowledge utilization in teams, revealing how and when teams appropriately draw on their members'... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Groups and Teams; Performance Effectiveness

Research Summary

- The new social production of knowledge in the social sciences and management. View Details

2007
Book

The CEO Within: Why Inside Outsiders Are the Key to Succession Planning

By: Joseph L. Bower

With rising CEO turnover, companies are increasingly looking outside for qualified candidates. Sure, externally recruited CEOs bring fresh perspectives and connections. But they lack the in-depth knowledge of the company's culture and history that they need to succeed.... View Details

Keywords: Recruitment; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Leadership Development; Management Succession