Publications

September 2013 (Revised August 2014)
Case

Claritas Genomics

By: Robert F. Higgins and Matthew Preble

Claritas Genomics was formed in January 2013 when BCH spun out its Genetics Diagnostic Lab into a fully commercial entity. Claritas offered over 100 genomic tests to detect a range of conditions, including autism and intellectual disabilities, and was developing new... View Details

July 2010
Article

The Supply Side of Innovation: H-1B Visa Reforms and U.S. Ethnic Invention

By: William R. Kerr and William F. Lincoln

This study evaluates the impact of high-skilled immigrants on U.S. technology formation. We use reduced-form specifications that exploit large changes in the H-1B visa program. Higher H-1B admissions increase immigrant science and engineering (SE) employment and... View Details

Keywords: Engineering; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Immigration; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Business and Government Relations; Science; United States

16 Dec 2022
Research & Ideas

Why Technology Alone Can't Solve AI's Bias Problem

out to test, along with HBS research assistant Tom Sühr and Harvard computer science doctoral student Sophie Hilgard, in research published last year in the Proceedings of the AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology

Teaching Interest

Harvard Business Analytics Program

By: Michael L. Tushman

The Harvard Business Analytics Program is offered through a collaboration between Harvard Business School (HBS), the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS).

Designed for... View Details

19 May 2016
Research Event

Crowdsourcing, Patent Trolls, and Other Research Insights Highlighted at Harvard Business School Symposium

Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). SEAS is relocating its campus across the street from the business school in a few years, and the two organizations are discussing collaboration... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman & Carmen Nobel

2018
Book

High-Skilled Migration to the United States and Its Economic Consequences

By: Gordon H. Hanson, William R. Kerr and Sarah Turner

Immigration policy is one of the most contentious public policy issues in the United States today. High-skilled immigrants represent an increasing share of the U.S. workforce, particularly in science and engineering fields. These immigrants affect economic growth,... View Details

Keywords: Immigration; Policy; Economics; Outcome or Result; United States

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October 2015 (Revised January 2017)
Case

UPower Technologies Inc.

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, William A. Sahlman and Liz Kind

The UPower founders, Jake DeWitte and Caroline Cochran, were recent graduates from MIT's Nuclear Science and Engineering Department. They chose to attend Palo Alto–based Y Combinator's accelerator program to focus on building a "mini" nuclear reactor that would produce... View Details

Keywords: Nuclear; Nuclear Energy; Nuclear Power; Energy Markets; New Nuclear; Entrepreneurial Finance; Entrepreneurial Marketing; Business ＆ Government Relations; Off-grid; Energy; Renewable Energy; Energy Generation; Energy Sources; Entrepreneurship; Marketing; Business and Government Relations; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry; United States

17 Dec 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Are the 'Best and Brightest' Going into Finance? Skill Development and Career Choice of MIT Graduates

Keywords: by Pian Shu; Education; Financial Services

September 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Atomwise: Strategic Opportunities in AI for Pharma

By: Satish Tadikonda

Abraham Heifets and his co-founder, Izhar Wallach, had founded Atomwise to develop i) an AI engine to transform drug discovery by creating better medicines faster, and ii) a machine learning-based discovery engine that combined the power of convolutional neural... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Science-Based Business; Technological Innovation; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

August 2008 (Revised December 2010)
Case

AMD Dresden: Copy Inexactly!

By: Willy C. Shih

The establishment and growth of AMD's Dresden, Germany manufacturing site illustrates how processes develop in an organization and how those processes get institutionalized into a unique culture. Located in the Free State of Saxony in the eastern part of Germany (the... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Industry Clusters; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Semiconductor Industry; Europe; Dresden

April 2003
Background Note

Sunk Costs: The Plan to Dump the Brent Spar (E)

This case summarizes the technical evaluation methodology Shell employed to evaluate the alternative proposals submitted to its engineering competition for disposing of the Brent Spar. It also details the results of the evaluation process. View Details

Keywords: Natural Environment; Business and Community Relations; Projects; Energy Sources; Energy Industry

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15 Dec 2015
First Look

December 15, 2015

examine the selection of students going into finance or science and engineering (S&E). I find that academic achievement in college is negatively correlated with a propensity to take a job in finance and... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

December 2014 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Simplot Plant Sciences: Designing a Better Potato

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Mary Shelman

Privately held Simplot has developed a new genetically engineered potato that substantially reduces waste and does not turn brown after cutting. Unlike other GMOs, it does not contain foreign genes. The case describes the company's commercialization plans in light of... View Details

Keywords: GMO; Sustainability; Agribusiness; Biotechnology; Food And Environment; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Food; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Marketing; Product Positioning; Genetics; Value Creation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

July 2011 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Digital Microscopy Is Making Me Crazy!

By: Willy Shih

For Carl Zeiss Microimaging, modular hardware and software enabled customers to tailor Zeiss's broad range of microscopy systems hardware and software to meet a wide range of needs from basic scientific research in the biological and medical sciences to clinical... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Corporate Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Science-Based Business; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Business Conglomerates; Digital Platforms; Opportunities; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Computer Industry

2019
Working Paper

The Impact of Professionals' Contributions to Online Knowledge Communities on Their Workplace Knowledge Work

By: Hila Lifshitz - Assaf and Frank Nagle

Knowledge work is becoming increasingly challenging as pace of change in the knowledge frontier is increasing. Organizations have created multiple mechanisms to minimize knowledge gaps and increase learning such internal training, mentorship programs as well as... View Details

Keywords: Open Source; Future Of Work; Software Development; Knowledge Work; Online Community; Learning; Knowledge Sharing; Applications and Software; Open Source Distribution; Performance Productivity

28 Mar 2023
Cold Call Podcast

BMW’s Decarbonization Strategy: Sustainable for the Environment and the Bottom Line

Keywords: Re: Shirley Lu; Transportation; Auto; Battery

September 2012 (Revised September 2012)
Case

Inkaterra

By: Diego Comin, Rohan Gopaldas and Diego Rehder

The case presents the unique business model of Inkaterra, a leading eco-tourism organization in Peru, and the different strategies the company can pursue to grow. Through the experience of Inkaterra the case studies two general issues. First, it discusses the potential... View Details

Keywords: Inkaterra; Ecotourism; Tourism; Environment; Peru; Informal Sector; Regulation; Economic Development; Bottom Of The Pyramid; Technology Diffusion; Competitiveness; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Natural Environment; Market Entry and Exit; Conflict Management; Tourism Industry; Peru

October 2022 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Driving Decarbonization at BMW

By: Shirley Lu, George Serafeim and Michael W. Toffel

The case describes BMW’s electrification and decarbonization strategy, and how the company measured carbon emissions throughout the life cycle of its vehicles and used tools like carbon abatement cost curves to evaluate decarbonization opportunities. In mid-2022,... View Details

June 1983
Background Note

Note on the Paper Machinery Industry

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Describes the major structural changes taking place in the paper industry in the 1970s: major oil and pulp price increases, pollution legislation, a shift in industry development from OECD countries to LDCs and NICs and the technological revolution in paper making.... View Details

Keywords: Engineering; Price; Global Strategy; Growth and Development; Industry Structures; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Pollutants; Competition; Pulp and Paper Industry