Publications

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

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

06 Aug 2014
Research & Ideas

Climbing Down from the Ivory Tower

Cars negated the ability to interact with people on the streets. As it turned out, cops did a better job fighting crime when they sought input from the public. That had happened organically when they walked their beats. And by sharing their View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education; Health

October 2000
Background Note

Creating Value

By: Rohit Deshpande

Creating value involves understanding consumers/customers and bringing this knowledge into the organization. Market-driven and market-driving strategies are contrasted in the context of new product development. View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Use and Leverage; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Product Development; Value Creation

February 2010
Article

Managing Know-How

By: Deishin Lee and Eric J. Van den Steen

We study how firms can use a knowledge management system to optimally leverage employee-generated know-how. In particular, we consider the following practical strategic questions for the manager of a knowledge-intensive firm: should her firm develop a formal knowledge... View Details

Keywords: Change; Employees; Information; Knowledge Management; Outcome or Result; Practice; Problems and Challenges; Motivation and Incentives; System; Value

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

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

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

Research Summary

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

May 2, 2024
Article

Require Hospitals to Disclose Their Pandemic Plans Now

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Richard J. Boxer and Ben Creo

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that U.S. hospital and health care systems were ill-prepared for the surge of patients who overwhelmed available health care resources. An overlooked resource deserves more attention: the availability of intensive care unit (ICU)... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Crisis Management; Knowledge Sharing; Governance Compliance; Planning; Health Industry; United States

22 Feb 2011
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles, Papers of the Decade

HBS Working Knowledge readers want it all, judging by our all-time most popular articles. Here you'll find stories on everything from maintaining a professional image to writing a business plan, from how to market on social media to why... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

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

07 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

How an African History Scholar Became a Modern Righter of Wrongs

Harvard MBA students visit the Bo-Kaap area of Cape Town, May 1, 2017 (Photo credit: Caroline Elkins) Recently, a first-year MBA student at Harvard Business School was overheard gushing to a friend about a professor’s deep knowledge of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

29 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

Will I Stay or Will I Go? How Gender and Race Affect Turnover at ‘Up-or-Out’ Organizations

Date of Event: May 10, 2010 Speakers: Kathleen McGinn Gender and racial inequalities continue to persist at "up-or- out" knowledge organizations such as law firms, making it difficult for women and minorities to advance to... View Details

Keywords: Re: Kathleen L. McGinn; Legal Services

March 2023
Case

Ownership Works: Scaling a Profitable Social Mission

By: Ethan Rouen, Dennis Campbell and Andrew Robinson

Pete Stavros was on a high after his latest experiment with employee ownership. As the head of industrial investments for KKR, Stavros orchestrated the sale of CHI Overhead Doors, which turned into KKR’s best investment in more than two decades and created $360 million... View Details

Keywords: Employee Ownership; Knowledge Sharing; Nonprofit Organizations

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

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

May 2011
Article

The Wise Leader

By: Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi

In an era of increasing discontinuity, wise leadership has nearly vanished. Many leaders find it difficult to reinvent their corporations rapidly enough to cope with new technologies, demographic shifts, and consumption trends. They can't develop truly global... View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Interpersonal Communication; Experience and Expertise; Values and Beliefs; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Leadership; Leadership Development; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Personal Characteristics; Power and Influence

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