Publications

September 2006 (Revised August 2008)
Module Note

Assessing Your Organization's Capabilities: Resources, Processes and Priorities

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Stephen P. Kaufman

Summarizes a model that helps managers determine what sorts of initiatives an organization is capable and incapable of managing successfully. The factors that affect what an organizational unit can and cannot accomplish can be grouped as resources, processes, and the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Experience and Expertise; Innovation and Management; Business Processes; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Mathematical Methods

Sep 2007 - 2007
Conference Presentation

Antecedents of Boundary Spanning in Cross-functional NPD Teams

By: James R. Dillon, Shikhar Sarin and Amy C. Edmondson

Boundary spanning has been shown in prior research to enhance innovativeness and performance of product development teams. In this study, we examine team conditions that foster boundary spanning behavior. We analyze survey data from 207 members of 54 cross-functional... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Innovation and Invention; Groups and Teams; Behavior; Performance Improvement; Boundaries; Leadership Style; Product; Complexity; Integration; Power and Influence

Teaching Interest

AMP 170 - General Management: Processes and Action

The Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program (AMP) helps drive corporate performance by honing individual capabilities to the highest level of performance. The result is a... View Details

22 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 22, 2007

and innovation need not be strategic tradeoffs and highlight the substantive role of senior teams in building dynamic capabilities. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-088WP.pdf View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Research Summary

Overview

By: Andy Wu

How can technology entrepreneurs build competitive advantage from the ground up? Professor Andy Wu conducts scholarly research and develops course materials that document how technology entrepreneurs can (1) organize for innovation to create new market opportunities... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Growth Management; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Technology Platform; Technological Innovation; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Video Game Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States; China; Southeast Asia; South Asia

08 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

The Death of the Global Manager

used technology," Bartlett says. "It is now the communication pipeline of the world." The organizational capability of a company to rapidly develop and diffuse innovation is incredibly... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

07 Jun 2011
First Look

First Look: June 7

operates. Through text narrative, cases, and readings, the authors skillfully examine the development of strategy, organizational capabilities, and management challenges for operating in the global economy. Preview the book:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2011
Chapter

Knowledge Structures and Innovation: Useful Abstractions and Unanswered Questions

By: Gautam Ahuja and Elena Novelli

We examine the received research on organizational knowledge structures with a special focus on their link to innovation. We note that the literature has used the term knowledge structure to represent three quite distinct components of organizational knowledge: the... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Management; Innovation and Invention

Find at Harvard

Alan MacCormack is the MBA Class of 1949 Adjunct Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, a member of The Digital, Data, and Design (D^3) Institute at Harvard, and a core faculty member... View Details

Keywords: automotive; communications; computer; e-commerce industry; electronics; high technology; information technology industry; internet; semiconductor; software; telecommunications; venture capital industry

Research Summary

Automotive Product Development

At present, my primary research focus is studying product development in the auto industry. I am working with Stefan Thomke (HBS) and Takahiro Fujimoto (University of Tokyo) on the 4th Round of the Global Automotive Development Study. The first round of this... View Details

October 2017 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Data Science at Target

By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler

Paritosh Desai joined Target.com in 2013 as VP of Business Intelligence, Analytics & Testing to explore how the retailer could use its relatively small but thriving e-commerce arm to drive sales and win customers. The case explores the technological and organizational... View Details

Keywords: Data Science; Analytics and Data Science; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Innovation Leadership

2009
Chapter

Creativity, Improvisation, and Organizations

By: Colin M. Fisher and Teresa M. Amabile

Although the literatures on both organizational creativity and organizational improvisation have been expanding in recent years, the links between these literatures have not been deeply explored. This chapter explores those links to create a conceptualization of... View Details

Keywords: Body of Literature; Innovation and Invention; Organizational Culture; Research; Creativity; Theory

Find at Harvard

31 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

A Scholarly Crowd Explores Crowdsourcing

fail miserably," HBS Associate Professor Karim Lakhani, who helped organize the project, told a roomful of academic experts on innovation this week. In fact, the effort was so successful, Christensen—known for his work on disruptive... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

May 2024 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Leading Culture Change at Microsoft Western Europe

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Cat Huang

In 2023, Cindy Rose, President of Microsoft Western Europe, faced a critical decision. Rose grappled with the potential impact of widespread layoffs on psychological safety and the cultural transformation she had championed since her arrival. When Rose had first joined... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Organizational Culture; Transformation; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Problems and Challenges; Motivation and Incentives; Groups and Teams; Business or Company Management; Technology Industry; Europe

18 Oct 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Racial Diversity Initiatives in Professional Service Firms: What Factors Differentiate Successful from Unsuccessful Initiatives?

Keywords: by Modupe Akinola & David A. Thomas; Service

15 Jul 2011
News

Bad News at News Corp.

March 2024
Case

From “BIG” Ideas to Sustainable Impact at ICL Group (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Lydia Begag

In the summer of 2023, Eduard (“Eddie”) Croitoru, Vice President (VP) of ICL Group (“ICL”) Corporate Initiatives, was reflecting on ICL’s internal ideation program, the Business Innovation for Growth (BIG) Accelerator. When Raviv Zoller became the CEO of ICL in 2018,... View Details