Publications

19 Dec 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Find and Replace: R&D Investment Following the Erosion of Existing Products

Keywords: by Joshua Krieger, Xuelin Li, and Richard T. Thakor

11 Dec 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Three Perspectives on Team Learning: Outcome Improvement, Task Mastery, and Group Process

Keywords: by Amy C. Edmondson, James R. Dillon & Kathryn S. Roloff

March 2011
Case

Cash Flow Productivity at PepsiCo: Communicating Value to Retailers

PepsiCo developed a new metric that better measured the value added by Pepsi products than did gross margin, the traditional metric used by retailers to determine shelf space and promotional activity. The new metric, cash flow productivity, captured the value of... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Cash Flow; Measurement and Metrics; Distribution; Performance Productivity; Value Creation; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry

December 2002
Article

Something Old, Something New: A Longitudinal Study of Search Behavior and New Product Introduction

By: Riitta Katila and Gautam Ahuja

We examine how firms search, or solve problems, to create new products. According to organizational learning research, firms position themselves in a unidimensional search space that spans a spectrum from local to distant search. Our findings in the global robotics... View Details

Keywords: Problem Solving; New Products; Organizational Learning; Uncertainty; Organizational Research; Knowledge Management; Robotics; Organizational Behavior; Organizational Effectiveness; Innovation Adoption; Strategy; Product Design; Business Processes; Product Development

December 1989 (Revised September 1995)
Supplement

Westinghouse Electric Corp.: Automating the Capital Budgeting Process (B)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Julie H. Hertenstein

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

January 2014
Technical Note

Learning From Extreme Consumers

By: Jill Avery and Michael Norton

Traditional market research methods focus on understanding the average experiences of average consumers. This focus leads to gaps in our knowledge of consumer behavior and often fails to uncover insights that can drive revolutionary, rather than evolutionary... View Details

Keywords: Market Research; Ethnography; Design Thinking; Innovation; New Product Development; Research; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Innovation and Invention

November 1992
Case

PPG: Developing a Self-Directed Work Force (A)

By: David A. Garvin and Norman Klein

PPG has built a state-of-the-art glass plant in Berea, Kentucky. The plant is pursuing the goal of a "self-directed workforce." The case describes the progress to date and the unresolved issues faced by management. These include questions about shift rotation,... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Organizational Culture; Managerial Roles; Management Style

October 2019
Supplement

Airbus vs. Boeing (J): New Plane Developments (2016)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

This case describes Airbus and Boeing developments in 2016, including Airbus' delivery of the first A320neo (new engine option) and Boeing’s work on the 737 MAX and 777X programs. It also notes Airbus’ restructuring in 2016. View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Air Transportation; Projects; Competition; Restructuring; Manufacturing Industry; Air Transportation Industry; United States; Europe

June 2001
Case

Acer America: Development of the Aspire

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Anthony St. George

Keywords: Product Development; Product Launch; Marketing; Global Strategy; Computer Industry

2024
Working Paper

Why Has Construction Productivity Stagnated? The Role of Land-Use Regulation

By: Leonardo D’Amico, Edward Glaeser, Joseph Gyourko, William Kerr and Giacomo A. M. Ponzetto

We document a Kuznets curve for construction productivity in 20th-century America. Homes built per construction worker remained stagnant between 1900 and 1940, boomed after World War II, and then plummeted after 1970. The productivity boom from 1940 to 1970 shows... View Details

Keywords: Governance Controls; Performance Productivity; Local Range; Construction Industry

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July–August 2015
Article

Engineering Reverse Innovations: Principles for Creating Successful Products for Emerging Markets

By: Amos Winter and Vijay Govindarajan

Multinationals are starting to catch on to the logic of reverse innovation, in which products are designed first for consumers in low-income countries and then adapted into disruptive offerings for developed economies. But only a handful of companies have managed to do... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Emerging Markets

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29 Apr 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

Keywords: by Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan & Wesley Yin; Financial Services

February 2007 (Revised September 2008)
Case

CMM versus Agile: Methodology Wars in Software Development

A CIO decides whether to adopt the "Capability Maturity Model" (CMM) within her IT department. The decision is proving surprisingly controversial; some of her best developers prefer adopting an "agile" methodological approach instead. Compares and contrasts the CMM and... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Product Development; Business Processes; Information Technology; Applications and Software

27 Jul 2020
Book

Reflection: The Pause That Brings Peace and Productivity

needed to examine problems, figure out solutions, and get things done. Many of the managers Badaracco interviewed found ways to pause and put their mental machinery into a lower gear, letting their minds unfocus, and resisting the urge to feel continuously View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

2019
Chapter

A Claim to Own Productive Property

By: Nien-hê Hsieh

BOOK ABSTRACT: The status of economic liberties remains a serious lacuna in the theory and practice of human rights. Should a minimally just society protect the freedoms to sell, save, profit, and invest? Is being prohibited to run a business a human rights violation?... View Details

17 Jul 2006
Lessons from the Classroom

Developing a Strategy for Digital Convergence

and Doris Starr Professor of International Business Administration at Harvard Business School and an expert in technology strategy. So when Yoffie began a three-year effort to update an HBS elective course on strategy development in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Computer; Education

April 2008
Case

A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products

By: Larry E. Greiner and Elizabeth Collins

Alex Sander is a new product manager whose drive and talents are attractive to management, but whose intolerant style has alienated employees. This tension is presented against the backdrop of a 360° performance review process. Sander works in the Toiletries Division... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Conflict Management; Behavior; Management Practices and Processes; Talent and Talent Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Problems and Challenges; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Europe

August 2016
Supplement

Videojet (B)

By: Raffaella Sadun, Bharat Anand and Eric Van den Steen

In 2005 Craig Purse, the CEO of Videojet, a company recently acquired by the conglomerate Danaher, is dealing with the unexpected failure of a new high tech printer just launched in the market. The new product exemplified the first real instance in which the Videojet... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Processes; Conglomerates; Diversification; Relational Contracts; Corporate Strategy; Manufacturing Industry