Publications

SSRN

March 2021
Article

Increasing the Level of Abstraction as a Strategy for Accelerating the Adoption of Complex Technologies

By: Willy C. Shih

Many new technologies are complex and embody high levels of technical sophistication, and applying them should require significant knowledge and experience. Yet, the rapid adoption and incorporation of these technologies into other innovations seems inconsistent with... View Details

Keywords: Abstraction; Technological And Scientific Innovation; Technological Progress; Diffusion Of Innovation; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Complexity; Information Technology; Strategy

2015
Working Paper

Public R&D Investments and Private-sector Patenting: Evidence from NIH Funding Rules

By: Pierre Azoulay, Joshua S. Graff Zivin, Danielle Li and Bhaven N. Sampat

We quantify the impact of scientific grant funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on patenting by pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms. Our paper makes two contributions. First, we use newly constructed bibliometric data to develop a method for flexibly... View Details

Keywords: Economics Of Science; Patenting; Academic Reserach; NIH; Knowledge Spillovers; Patents; Research; Government and Politics

June 2022
Article

Conservatism Gets Funded? A Field Experiment on the Role of Negative Information in Novel Project Evaluation

By: Jacqueline N. Lane, Misha Teplitskiy, Gary Gray, Hardeep Ranu, Michael Menietti, Eva C. Guinan and Karim R. Lakhani

The evaluation and selection of novel projects lies at the heart of scientific and technological innovation, and yet there are persistent concerns about bias, such as conservatism. This paper investigates the role that the format of evaluation, specifically information... View Details

Keywords: Project Evaluation; Innovation; Knowledge Frontier; Information Sharing; Negativity Bias; Projects; Innovation and Invention; Information; Knowledge Sharing

July 2013 (Revised November 2021)
Module Note

Exploration vs. Exploitation

By: Willy Shih

This module note introduces James March's concept of exploration and exploitation, and the management challenge of balancing the allocation of resources to the two activities in the firm. The note also touches on the O'Reilly and Tushman paper on the ambidextrous... View Details

29 May 2001
Research & Ideas

Genomics: Can We Start Making Money Now?

Stefan Thomke, assistant professor Jonathan West, and Senior Research Fellow Juan Enriquez-Cabot. On February 12th of this year, this latest scientific revolution was launched in earnest when two research groups published their work to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

November 2019 (Revised April 2020)
Technical Note

The Life Sciences Revolution: A Technical Primer

By: Gary P. Pisano, William J. Anderson, Amitabh Chandra, Clarissa Ceruti and Stephanie Oestreich

For more than two decades, scientific advances have been driving profound changes in drug discovery and the drug industry itself. This case provides an overview and description of these technical and scientific advances. Written for the nonscientific reader, it may be... View Details

Keywords: Science; Technological Innovation; Technology; Pharmaceutical Industry; Biotechnology Industry

Educators

20 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

Open Source Science: A New Model for Innovation

scientific and technological activities. And the benefit of opening up your problems to outsiders is that in fact you can get novel solutions—quicker solutions than what the firm or R&D lab might develop. It also opens up new domains... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Research Summary

Research Interests

Faaiza’s research focuses on how organizations learn and innovate under novel/uncertain circumstances. Organizational design, organizational sociology, strategic planning, knowledge management, and self-organizing teams are areas of special interest to Faaiza. View Details

November 2001 (Revised September 2004)
Case

Evolution of Treatment, The: The Case of Diabetes

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Jeffrey D. Street and Laura Feldman

Scientific knowledge surrounding diabetes mellitus has grown over the last century to include its cause, treatment, and prevention strategies. However, the type and level of care that patients receive is suboptional. This case examines the forces in industry,... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Management; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Health Industry

Educators

January 2004 (Revised February 2005)
Background Note

A Note on Methodological Fit in Management Field Research

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Stacy McManus

To use in doctoral-level management courses on the design of field research methods. Advocates the importance of fit, or internal consistency, among the different elements of a field research project. Although the scientific method provides an essential framework for... View Details

Keywords: Management; Research

2006
Book

Science Business: The Promise, the Reality, and the Future of Biotech

By: Gary P. Pisano

Why has the biotechnology industry failed to perform up to expectations—despite all its promise? In Science Business, Gary P. Pisano answers this question by providing an incisive critique of the industry. Pisano not only reveals the underlying causes of... View Details

Keywords: Science; Business Ventures; Biotechnology Industry

December 2014
Article

Location Strategies for Agglomeration Economies

By: Juan Alcácer and Wilbur Chung

Geographically concentrated industry activity creates pools of skilled labor and specialized suppliers, and increases opportunities for knowledge spillovers. The strategic value of these agglomeration economies may vary by firm, depending upon the relative value of... View Details

Keywords: Location Strategies; Location Choices; Agglomeration Economies; Strategy; Value Creation; Geographic Location; Industry Clusters; Microeconomics; Manufacturing Industry; United States

13 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

Science: The Unlikely Frontier for New Business Ideas

curate and share knowledge between the corporate and academic worlds better, so that managers don’t have to decipher the ever-expanding corpus of journal articles, Krieger says. “Managers need more than just a search engine for View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

2008
Chapter

The Evidence Does Not Speak for Itself: Expert Witnesses and the Organization of DNA-Typing Companies

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

During the past 15 years, new biotechnology companies have promoted DNA typing as a sophisticated criminal and paternity identification technique. Private testing laboratories produce results that link individuals with crime scenes and fathers to their children.... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Courts and Trials; Organizational Structure; Practice; Genetics; Science-Based Business; Trust; Commercialization; Vertical Integration

Article

Act Like a Scientist: Great Leaders Challenge Assumptions, Run Experiments, and Follow the Evidence

By: Stefan Thomke and Gary W. Loveman

Though they’ve been warned for decades about the dangers of overrelying on gut instinct and personal experience, managers keep failing to critically examine—much less challenge—the ideas their decisions are based on. To correct this problem they need to think and act... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Decision Making; Science; Leadership Style

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

09 May 2024
Research & Ideas

Called Back to the Office? How You Benefit from Ideas You Didn't Know You Were Missing

James Evans, professor at the University of Chicago, and Misha Teplitskiy, assistant professor at the University of Michigan. People in the same discipline “ask the similar questions and approach those questions methodologically in similar ways,” says Duede, who... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

07 Apr 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Location Strategies for Agglomeration Economies

Keywords: by Juan Alcácer & Wilbur Chung; Technology

May 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

Cotopaxi: Managing Growth for Good

By: Andy Wu and Laura Huang

Cotopaxi, an innovative outdoor gear business targeting millennials, focuses on profit and social impact. This registered benefit corporation was formed by Davis Smith who coalesced his experiences as a Wharton MBA student along with professional knowledge from an... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Social Venture; Benefit Corporation; B-Corp; Retail; Consumer Products; Apparel; Social Impact; Social Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Product Positioning; Social Enterprise; Mission and Purpose; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry

Educators