Publications

Research Summary

Managing Innovation in the Emerging Industrial Research System

The second track of Chesbrough's research looks at issues of how firms manage technology in an environment where research capability is increasingly distributed across the globe. Chesbrough sees the research system in the United States undergoing significant change,... View Details

August 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Novo Nordisk Foundation

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia M. Comeau

In 2024, Novo Nordisk A/S was one of the most profitable firms in the world, thanks largely to just two GLP-1-based drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy. Unusually, this incredibly profitable firm was controlled not by individual private shareholders, but by a non-profit... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Companies; Diabetes; Obesity; Foundation; Non-profit Management; Profit; Corporate Governance; Business or Company Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Expansion; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Nonprofit Organizations; Pharmaceutical Industry; Denmark; Europe

Summer 2023
Article

(Un)principled Agents: Monitoring Loyalty after the End of the Royal African Company Monopoly

By: Anne Ruderman and Marlous van Waijenburg

The revocation of the Royal African Company's monopoly in 1698 inaugurated a transformation of the transatlantic slave trade. While the RAC’s exit from the slave trade has received scholarly attention, little is known about the company’s response to the loss of its... View Details

Keywords: Slavery; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business History; Monopoly; History; Business and Government Relations

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August 2009 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Whole Foods: Balancing Social Mission and Growth

By: Christopher Marquis, Marya Besharov and Bobbi Thomason

In 2009, Whole Foods stands at a crossroads. Their incredible growth over the past 25 years has vaulted them into the ranks of the largest US supermarkets and they have arguably led to the widespread acceptance of natural and organic foods in the United States. Yet... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; United States

21 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 21

by 5%-7% per year in risk-adjusted stock returns. In sum, our results document a surprisingly large impact of immigrants' economic role as conduits of information for firms in their new countries. Download the paper:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Why Entrepreneurs Should Go Work for Government

rather than inventors and builders” Once chief of staff to the late Boston mayor Thomas Menino, Weiss isn't just engaging in wishful thinking. He's seen firsthand how entrepreneurs within government can cut through red tape. Weiss co-founded the Mayor's Office of View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

10 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 10

Funding to scale Citizens Connect, Boston's 311 app, is both a blessing and a burden and tests two public entrepreneurs. In 2012, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts provides Boston's Mayor's Office of New View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

27 Feb 2017
Research & Ideas

Reputation is Vital to Survival in Turbulent Markets

suggests that it is in fact probably the only way to remain competitive in the long run. It is not an easy matter. Reputations take generations to build and can be hugely damaged by a single incident. Silverthorne: What new ideas does... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

2024
Chapter

Corporations as the Central Institutions of Society

By: Joseph L. Badaracco

Mark Twain observed that, “Prediction is very difficult—particularly when it involves the future,” and he was right. One way to reduce the risk of becoming an infamous forecaster—like the experts who told us the Internet would quickly collapse, that Apple would never... View Details

Keywords: Trends; Business and Government Relations; Organizations; Power and Influence; Society

The revocation of the Royal African Company's monopoly in 1698 inaugurated a transformation of the transatlantic slave trade. While the RAC’s exit from the slave trade has received scholarly attention, little is known about the company’s response to the loss of its... View Details

September 2013
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz and Patricia Bissett Higgins

After a successful career as Chairman and CEO of Paris-based luxury food company Fauchon, Laurent Adamowicz sought to reduce obesity and improve health outcomes. Adamowicz created a mobile application to provide consumers with more accessible and interpretable... View Details

02 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

The Secret of How Microsoft Stays on Top

others. But it got to decide which components to "expose," and which to keep hidden, providing a mechanism through which its core intellectual property could be protected. As the company expanded, Microsoft formalized this... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

2008
Book

On Competition

By: M. E. Porter

Competition is one of society's most powerful forces for making things better in many ﬁelds of human endeavor. The study of competition and the creation of value, in their full richness, have preoccupied me for several decades. Competition is pervasive, whether it... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Practice; Competitive Strategy; Theory; Value Creation

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28 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

Improving Accountability at the World Bank

comparison to its peer institutions, the World Bank has been relatively responsive to calls for greater accountability. This report examines accountability mechanisms at three basic levels in the institution: (1) project, (2) policy, and... View Details

Keywords: by Alnoor Ebrahim

(Not) Paying for Diversity: Repugnant Market Concerns Associated with Transactional Approaches to Diversity Recruitment

In a 20-month ethnographic study, I examine how a technology firm, ShopCo (a pseudonym), considered 13 different recruitment platforms to attract racial minority engineering candidates. I find that when choosing whether to adopt recruitment platforms focused on racial... View Details

26 Jan 2018
HBS Seminar

John Helveston, Boston University

23 Jul 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Informed and Interconnected: A Manifesto for Smarter Cities

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter & Stanley S. Litow; Technology

January 2008 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Henry J. Kaiser and the Art of the Possible

By: Anthony J. Mayo, Mark Benson and David Chen

From his humble beginnings as a local salesman in New York, Henry J. Kaiser rose to become one of the leading industrialists of 20th century America. Though he had no technical engineering training, Kaiser mastered the management and execution of plans for several... View Details

Keywords: History; Mission and Purpose; Transition; Management Practices and Processes; Construction; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Business History; Business Growth and Maturation; Civil Society or Community; Business Strategy; Planning; Construction Industry; Shipping Industry; United States