Idea Generation - Publications - Faculty & Research

12 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 12, 2019

responses interact with those of other actors, and how these individual and collective responses unfold over time to generate outcomes. Second, we call for stronger unification of theory within the entrepreneurial resource mobilization... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

06 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

Updating a Classic: Writing a Great Business Plan

lamebrained the idea. Also, we have difficult factor markets like energy, but that simply means that there are great opportunities for people with ideas for alternative energy. Were I rewriting the article today, I might emphasize the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

25 Jun 2012
Research & Ideas

Collaborating Across Cultures

a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the idea was nixed on grounds that the treatment was too sympathetic toward the general, An Lushan, portrayed in Chinese history as a villain who ultimately betrayed the emperor. The script was... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

04 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

Want to Make Diversity Stick? Break the Cycle of Sameness

organization made a change, the same phenomenon that perpetuated the hiring of white men also applied to keeping women and people of color in power. “Once demographic change has happened, it’s much stickier than people might expect,” Chang says. Diversity in... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

12 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 12, 2007

mutually agreed-upon transfers with compensation and are located within the task network. Placing a transaction in a particular location in turn requires work to define, count (or measure), and pay for the transacted objects. The costs of this work (labeled mundane... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

30 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Tracks of My Tears: Reconstructing Digital Music

At the dawn of the digital music era, record labels went along with a pricing scheme devised by Apple that they are still paying for today. The idea to "unbundle" albums into separate tracks sold for 99 cents each suddenly... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Music

20 Jul 2009
Research & Ideas

Markets or Communities? The Best Ways to Manage Outside Innovation

Thanks to technology and instant global communication, it has never been easier for companies to seek solutions to problems or find new ideas from sources outside their own corporate walls. But the art of managing these external... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

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

22 Nov 2010
Research & Ideas

Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution

the desired direction of the business. Strategic boundaries can also protect you from the types of errant actions that destroyed Enron and brought financial service firms such as Fannie Mae and Lehman Brothers to their knees. 5. How Are You View Details

Keywords: by Robert Simons

27 Oct 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

Achieving Excellence in Nonprofits

of the same form that are not social-mission-driven. Q: What are some of the critical issues facing nonprofit boards and their leaders today? A: The biggest challenge is keeping focused on key goals; developing a strategy for accomplishing them; and View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

29 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

Time Pressure and Creativity: Why Time is Not on Your Side

our preliminary findings to the team and helped them think through how to use the results to improve their work. After studying four or five teams in a given company, we also met with the management team of the organization to share our View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Education; Fine Arts

11 Jan 2021
Research & Ideas

Is A/B Testing Effective? Evidence from 35,000 Startups

ideas, you’re more likely to generate new products.” Further research is needed to determine whether and how established firms might benefit from A/B testing. Koning thinks the beneficial effects might be even greater for such firms... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

16 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Advancing Black Talent: From the Flight Ramp to 'Family-Sustaining' Careers at Delta

airline that would develop the next generation of pilots. He also began widening Delta’s ties with Atlanta’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In 2019 Delta added a new Talent Connections network, and Bastian put $1... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Air Transportation

28 Jun 2016
First Look

June 28, 2016

sector-specific skills. The resulting scale economies generate occupational stratification along ethnic lines, consistent with the reoccurring phenomenon of small, socially isolated groups achieving considerable economic success via... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Oct 2023
Research & Ideas

When Tech Platforms Identify Black-Owned Businesses, White Customers Buy

Generations of Black business owners have had to fight discrimination to prosper in America, but a new study suggests that these entrepreneurs are now gaining more support in parts of the country when they make their presence known. The... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Food & Beverage

30 May 2024
Research & Ideas

Racial Bias Might Be Infecting Patient Portals. Can AI Help?

General Brigham, and Lily Payvandi, assistant professor at Boston University Medical Center, was published in March in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s JAMA Network Open. Audience question leads to inquiry The View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Health

15 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

Five Imperatives for Improving Health Care

when the information is so complex? The key is not just to get the information to the consumers but to help them process it." Decentralizing approaches to problem solving: Conference attendees and survey respondents generally... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

25 Jul 2023
Research & Ideas

Could a Business Model Help Big Pharma Save Lives and Profit?

low-income countries, instead of zealously guarding it, cutting it off from patients and profits. The licensees then work with local governments and markets while paying the pharmaceutical company for the right to sell generic versions of... View Details

Keywords: by Esther Schrader; Pharmaceutical; Health

20 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 20

generated in the rubber chain, it was mostly appropriated by foreigners. This view is in tune with the global commodity chain approach that argues that manufacturing/core economies absorb the bulk of surplus View Details