Publications

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Spring 2023
Article

Incentive Contract Design and Employee-Initiated Innovation: Evidence from the Field

By: Wei Cai, Susanna Gallani and Jee-Eun Shin

This study examines how the design of incentive contracts for tasks defined as workers’ official responsibilities (i.e., standard tasks) influences workers’ propensity to engage in employee-initiated innovation (EII). EII corresponds to innovation activities that are... View Details

Keywords: Employee-initiated Innovation; Contract Design; Rank-and-file; Extra-role Behaviors; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Innovation and Management

April 2021
Case

Distinct Software

By: Das Narayandas, Arijit Sengupta and Jonathan Wray

Distinct Software (disguised name), a global enterprise software company, is at an important point in its growth trajectory where the luster of its mantra of “grow and win at any cost” has dimmed with increasing competition and margin pressures. To help navigate its... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Marketing; Sales; Performance Productivity; Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning

March 2020
Case

SRS and the Defense Innovation Unit: Rethinking Procurement

By: Paul A. Gompers and David Lane

SRS and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) follows the process by which SRS, a lean maker of remotely-operated submersible vehicles, navigates the DIU’s acquisition process. Set up in 2015 to speed the U.S. military’s access to promising commercial technologies, the DIU... View Details

Keywords: Procurement; Defense Innovation Unit; Business Startups; Acquisition; Technological Innovation; Investment; Commercialization; United States

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

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June 2018 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Innovation at Insigne Health

By: Srikant M. Datar, Linda A. Cyr and Caitlin N. Bowler

Insigne Health is a fictional for-profit, integrated health insurer/health care provider whose leadership believes that by shifting members’ focus from “sickness” to “well-being” it could increase the overall health of its insured population and decrease the resources... View Details

Keywords: Design Thinking; Behavior Change; Chronic Disease; Health Care; Health Care and Treatment; Design; Behavior; Change; Innovation and Management

Article

The Board's New Innovation Imperative: Directors Need to Rethink Their Roles and Their Attitude to Risk

By: Linda A. Hill and George Davis

As firms scramble for competitive advantage, boards—once the cautious voices urging management to mitigate risk—are now calling for breakthrough innovation. Indeed, avoiding risk is now seen as the riskiest proposition of all. In speaking with CEOs and board members... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Innovation Leadership; Risk and Uncertainty; Corporate Governance

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May–June 2018
Article

Data Uncertainty in Markov Chains: Application to Cost-Effectiveness Analyses of Medical Innovations

By: Joel Goh, Mohsen Bayati, Stefanos A. Zenios, Sundeep Singh and David Moore

Cost-effectiveness studies of medical innovations often suffer from data inadequacy. When Markov chains are used as a modeling framework for such studies, this data inadequacy can manifest itself as imprecision in the elements of the transition matrix. In this paper,... View Details

Keywords: Markov Chains; Cost Effectiveness; Medical Innovations; Colorectal Cancer; Health Care and Treatment; Cost vs Benefits; Innovation and Invention; Mathematical Methods; Health Industry

June 2012
Case

The Atavist: Reinventing the Book

By: Mukti Khaire and Mary Tripsas

Atavist, a start-up founded by journalists, publishes enhanced ebook singles as well as the software to create enhanced ebooks. The company is currently engaged in both publishing and software development, but as they raise funding and grow, must decide whether to... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Technology; Growth Strategy; Innovation; Publishing; Software Industry; Technological Change; Disruptive Innovation; Applications and Software; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Publishing Industry

1992
Chapter

A Case Study in the Assimilation of Technology Support for Teams

By: L. M. Applegate

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technological Innovation

December 2011
Case

Roger Caracappa: Package Deals for the Estée Lauder Companies

By: James K. Sebenius

Roger Caracappa must negotiate a cost-saving, innovative proposal from a potential French supplier that could displace the otherwise satisfactory, long-time incumbent supplier. Shortly after being promoted to executive vice president of the Estée Lauder Companies with... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Supply Chain Management; Change; Innovation and Invention; Cost vs Benefits; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

September 2011 (Revised October 2014)
Supplement

Ganesh Natarajan: Leading Innovation and Organizational Change at Zensar (B)

By: Michael Tushman and David Kiron

After proposing a fourth business unit to help grow the market for Zensar's innovative technology, to be led by Dilip Ittyera, CEO Natarajan adopted a new organizational structure focused on industry verticals. View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Innovation Leadership; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Information Technology Industry

November 2010 (Revised May 2012)
Teaching Note

Driving Sustainability at Bloomberg L.P. (TN)

By: Christopher Marquis, Daniel Buenza, Fabrizio Ferraro and Bobbi Thomason

Teaching Note for 411025. View Details

Keywords: Performance; Employees; Innovation and Invention; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Governance; Financial Services Industry

Article

Financial Innovation and the Management and Regulation of Financial Institutions

By: Robert C. Merton

Keywords: Finance; Innovation and Invention; Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Institutions

May 2000
Case

Intel 64 Fund

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

Laila Partridge of Intel's Corporate Business Development group has been charged to create a special investment fund to speed the adoption of a new chip architecture. The last architecture upgrade, from 16 to 32 bits, had needed almost a decade to become fully adopted.... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment; Technology Adoption; Innovation and Management; Computer Industry

July 1991 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Samuel Slater, Francis Cabot Lowell, and the Beginnings of the Factory System in the United States

Deals with the coming of the mechanized textile industry to the United States, and with it, the nation's first factories. Considers the introduction of small spinning mills in Rhode Island, and the appearance of large integrated spinning and weaving mills in... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Business History; Production; Industry Growth; Manufacturing Industry; Rhode Island; Massachusetts

March 1992 (Revised June 1995)
Case

Introduction of FM Radio (A): Finally, A ""Staticless"" Radio

Describes the evolution of radio technology and business from the initial days of wireless telegraphy to the advent, growth, and establishment of amplitude-modulated (AM) radio manufacturing and broadcasting. Begins and ends with a description of a decision the Radio... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Product Design; Product Development; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States