Publications

December 2021
Article

The Evolutionary Nature of Breakthrough Innovation: An Empirical Investigation of Firm Search Strategies

By: Dominika Kinga Randle and Gary P. Pisano

Breakthrough innovation has been an important topic of study for generations of scholars. Previous research in this domain has focused on exploring the way breakthroughs emerge from cumulative combination and recombination of prior technologies and knowledge components... View Details

Keywords: Breakthrough Innovation; Exploration And Exploitation; Search Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Strategy

September 1994 (Revised January 2002)
Case

BMW: The 7-Series Project (B)

By: Gary P. Pisano and Sharon L. Rossi

Describes the decision made on the 7-Series project with respect to prototyping and its impact on quality. View Details

Keywords: Research and Development; Quality; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Germany

September 2020 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Briscola—Pizza Society: Scaling Affordable Luxury

By: Gary P. Pisano and Federica Gabrieli

Riccardo Cortese and Federico Pinna were the CEOs of Briscola—Pizza Society, a restaurant chain they had founded in 2014 with a clear ambition: create a distinctive international pizza chain that would combine a fast-casual format with the devotion to quality that... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Geographic Location; Business Model; Ownership Type; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; Italy

January 2018
Case

Flying into the Future: HondaJet

By: Gary P. Pisano and Jesse Shulman

This cases examine Honda’s diversification into the light jet market. In 1985, Honda initiated a secret program to develop a small jet. Over the years, the program had many ups and downs (it was almost canceled several times). Then, a breakthrough in the configuration... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation and Management; Air Transportation Industry

2015
Working Paper

Can Marshall's Clusters Survive Globalization?

By: Giulio Buciuni and Gary P. Pisano

It is widely presumed that in today's globalized economy, the value of geographic clustering of manufacturing industries is no longer valuable. Manufacturing is represented as a highly mobile "commodity" that can be sourced from anywhere in the world where factor costs... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Globalization; Marshall Industrial Clusters; Global Supply Chains; Manufacturing Industry

Read Now

November 2006 (Revised December 2020)
Teaching Note

Ducati Corse: The Making of a Grand Prix Motorcycle

By: Francesca Gino and Gary P. Pisano

June 2005 (Revised June 2006)
Case

Ducati Corse: The Making of a Grand Prix Motorcycle

By: Francesca Gino and Gary P. Pisano

Examines the product development strategy and processes of the Ducati motorcycle racing team during the 2003-2004 Grand Prix seasons. Invites discussion of appropriate design and development strategies to facilitate learning across product generations. Specifically,... View Details

Keywords: Design; Business Strategy; Product Marketing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Motorcycle Industry; Italy

fall 2008
Article

Toward a Theory of Behavioral Operations

By: Francesca Gino and Gary P. Pisano

Human beings are critical to the functioning of the vast majority of operating systems, influencing both the way these systems work and how they perform. Yet most formal analytical models of operations assume that the people who participate in operating systems are... View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Operations; Mathematical Methods; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking; Perspective; Theory

April 1996 (Revised June 2001)
Case

Partners HealthCare System, Inc. (B): Cardiac Care Improvement

By: Gary P. Pisano and Maryam Golnaraghi

Explores the challenges confronting the CEO at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in the wake of radical changes in the health care environment. As pressures have risen for cost containment in health care, the hospital has embarked on a series of reengineering efforts to... View Details

Keywords: Consolidation; Health Care and Treatment; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Management Teams; Operations; Innovation and Invention; Cost Management; Health Industry; Massachusetts

01 Jun 2000
News

The Business of Biotech

information has a therapeutic use, we have to make a substantial investment - $350 to $500 million - in doing the clinical trial work. From a business standpoint, we need to protect our investment." "High, upstream knowledge should not be owned View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

2003
Working Paper

The Effect of Organizational Context on Individual Performance: Evidence from Cardiac Surgery

By: Robert S. Huckman and Gary P. Pisano

2002
Other Unpublished Work

The Effect of Organizational Context on Individual Performance: Evidence from Cardiac Surgery

By: Robert S. Huckman and Gary P. Pisano

Keywords: Organizations; Performance; Health Care and Treatment

21 Mar 2024
Blog Post

IFC India: Renewable Energy - CleanMax

across the country. During the “IFC: Immersive Field Course,” HBS students had the opportunity to visit the site of a rooftop solar facility in Bangalore, India. The solar site is deployed and managed by CleanMax, the largest B2B provider... View Details

Web

Site Credits | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

the Corporate Image Gary Works Photograph Album Resources Research Links Films & TV Bibliography From the Director Site Credits Special Collections Search Exhibition Introduction The Founding of U.S. Steel and the Power of Public Opinion... View Details

07 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 7

Communicating Frames in Negotiation Authors:Kathleen L. McGinn and Markus Noth Publication:." In The Oxford Handbook of Economic Conflict Resolution, edited by Gary E. Bolton and Rachel T.A. Croson.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Lessons From Hollywood: A New Approach To Funding R&D

By: Gary P. Pisano and Andrew W. Lo

Companies find it increasingly difficult to justify long-term, risky R&D investments—particularly in science-based fields such as biotechnology, advanced materials, and energy. We argue in this article that the traditional venture model has limits for such investments... View Details

Keywords: Financial Innovation; Financial Strategy; Project Management; R＆D; Start-up; Innovation Strategy; Business Model; Research and Development; Financial Management; Risk Management; Strategy

March 2012
Article

Does America Really Need Manufacturing?

By: Gary P. Pisano and Willy C. Shih

Too many U.S. companies base decisions about where to locate production largely on narrow financial criteria. They don't consider whether keeping manufacturing at home makes more sense strategically or take into account the impact it might have on their ability to... View Details

Keywords: Production; Geographic Location; Innovation and Invention; Competitive Advantage; Product Design; Risk Management; Manufacturing Industry; United States