Publications

June 2000
Article

On the Regulatory Application of Efficiency Measures

The last decade has witnessed a change to more powerful incentive schemes and the adoption by a large number of regulators of some form of price cap regimes. The efficiency frontiers literature tackles the problem of measuring the X factor in a price cap regime... View Details

Keywords: Performance Productivity; Mathematical Methods; Performance Efficiency

08 Apr 2015
What Do You Think?

Are Technology Companies Ripe for Disruption?

why high tech industries find themselves vulnerable to disruption today reflect thoughts of those who have studied the phenomenon. Philippe Gouamba said, "It is more important for Apple to out-do Samsung (and vice-versa) than it is for them to provide us with... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Computer; Technology

02 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

The lightning-fast ascent of generative AI isn’t the only sea change on the horizon for businesses in the new year. The global economy is in flux as war, climate change, trade issues, and infrastructure problems demand attention. Many companies continue to struggle to... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

2011
Article

Strategic Change and the Jazz Mindset: Exploring Practices That Enhance Dynamic Capabilities for Organizational Improvisation

By: Ethan S. Bernstein and Frank J. Barrett

How can leaders adopt a mindset that maximizes learning, remains responsive to short-term emergent opportunities, and simultaneously strengthens longer-term dynamic capabilities of the organization? This chapter explores the organizational decisions and practices... View Details

December 2023 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Monsters in the Machine? Tackling the Challenge of Responsible AI

By: Paul M. Healy and Debora L. Spar

In November of 2022, the small tech company OpenAI released ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot which quickly captured the public’s imagination—becoming the world’s fastest-growing consumer application within months of its release. Though observers from across... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning; Ethics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Technology Adoption; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Technology Industry; United States; European Union; China

05 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

The Middle Manager of the Future: More Coaching, Less Commanding

says Letian Zhang, the study’s author and an assistant professor of business administration at HBS. “Organizations are adopting a more bottom-up approach, so they’re trying to unleash the potential, the creativity, and the motivation of... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

2018
Chapter

The Orphan Drug Act at 35: Observations and an Outlook for the Twenty-First Century

By: Nicholas Bagley, Benjamin Berger, Amitabh Chandra, Craig Garthwaite and Ariel Dora Stern

On the 35th anniversary of the adoption of the Orphan Drug Act (ODA), we describe the enormous changes in the markets for therapies for rare diseases that have emerged over recent decades. The most prominent example is the fact that the profit-maximizing price of new... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Laws and Statutes; Research and Development; Investment; Markets; Monopoly

Register to Read

03 May 2024
Research & Ideas

How Much Does Proximity Influence Startup Innovation? 20 Meters' Worth to Be Exact

altogether,” Roche writes. Knowledge sharing between neighbors is highest when the two companies fundamentally differ along product market and socio-demographic features. The study found that the rate of peer technology View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

November–December 2023
Article

Iterative Coordination and Innovation: Prioritizing Value over Novelty

By: Sourobh Ghosh and Andy Wu

An innovating organization faces the challenge of how to prioritize distinct goals of novelty and value, both of which underlie innovation. Popular practitioner frameworks like Agile management suggest that organizations can adopt an iterative approach of frequent... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Novelty; Goals; Specialization; Coordination; Field Experiment; Software Development; Agile; Scrum; Iteration; Iterative; Organizations; Innovation and Invention; Value; Goals and Objectives; Integration; Applications and Software

April 2010
Article

Endowments, Fiscal Federalism, and the Cost of Capital for States: Evidence from Brazil, 1891-1930

By: Andre C. Martinez Fritscher and Aldo Musacchio

There is a large literature looking at the determinants of country risk (defined as the difference between the yield of a sovereign's bonds and the risk-free rate). In this paper, we contribute to the discussion by arguing that an important explanatory factor is the... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Performance Capacity; Taxation; Revenue; Governance; Geographic Location; Trade; Price; Cost of Capital; Risk and Uncertainty; Public Administration Industry; Brazil

September 2009
Article

Are You Having Trouble Keeping Your Operations Focused?

By: Robert S. Huckman

As a business broadens over time, it can lose the operational edge that led to its original success. Core strengths atrophy, efficiency or quality suffers, and sharper rivals close in to take advantage of the loss of focus. In his classic article "The Focused Factory"... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Goals and Objectives; Resource Allocation; Operations; Performance Efficiency

Digital platforms are attractive businesses because they create significant value and network effects protect competitive advantage. But they face considerable start-up challenges. Indeed, every platform is empty at the outset. And most platforms require multiple types... View Details

06 Oct 2023
Book

Yes, You Can Radically Change Your Organization in One Week

as ’the five whys’ in the Toyota production system, usually gets you there. We’ve found that when you dig into the problem, the learning plateaus when you’ve reached the root. That sounds unscientific, but it’s awfully pragmatic.”... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

February 2018
Article

Heterogeneous Technology Diffusion and Ricardian Trade Patterns

By: William R. Kerr

This study tests the importance of Ricardian technology differences for international trade. The empirical analysis has three comparative advantages: including emerging and advanced economies, isolating panel variation regarding the link between productivity and... View Details

Keywords: Exports; Comparative Advantage; Technological Transfer; Innovation; Networks; Patents; Residency; Technology Adoption; Trade; Research and Development; Immigration; United States

2013
Working Paper

Heterogeneous Technology Diffusion and Ricardian Trade Patterns

By: William R. Kerr

This study tests the importance of Ricardian technology differences for international trade. The empirical analysis has three comparative advantages: including emerging and advanced economies, isolating panel variation regarding the link between productivity and... View Details

Keywords: Exports; Comparative Advantage; Technological Transfer; Innovation; Networks; Patents; Residency; Technology Adoption; Trade; Research and Development; Immigration; United States

SSRN

August 2021
Case

Wymsee

By: Julia Austin, Sarah Mehta and Tom Quinn

Wymsee was a company that aimed to develop a mobile application (app) that would allow television audience members to identify and purchase clothing or accessories worn by characters in the program they were watching, with the Wymsee founders taking a percentage of... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Plan; Business Startups; Film Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Acquisition; Product Positioning; Opportunities; Adaptation; Mobile Technology; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Technology Industry; United States; New York (city, NY)

March 2012
Article

Fixing What's Wrong with U. S. Politics

By: David A. Moss

In America today there's a growing sense that the political system is broken and that its ineffectiveness is a major threat to U.S. competitiveness. Why do so many think the political system is not working? Research shows that in Congress, Republicans and Democrats are... View Details

Keywords: Government and Politics; System; Conflict Management; Performance Productivity; Policy; Public Administration Industry; United States

June 2024
Case

Aidoc: Building a Hospital-Centric AI Platform

By: Ariel D. Stern and Susan Pinckney

In 2023, Israel-based AI health care company Aidoc evaluated its future. The company, founded in 2016, had grown from commercializing a single AI product for radiologists to a software platform that could detect 20 conditions and immediately notify care teams of... View Details