Publications

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28 Apr 2022
Blog Post

Harvard Team Wins Second Place in MIINT Impact Investing Competition

On March 24, five teams of Harvard students came together to pitch innovative impact investment opportunities in early-stage social enterprises. The students were participants in a hands-on impact investing... View Details

21 Jun 2023
Blog Post

Building a Better World: The Harvard Builders Club

Amid the greatest economic, geopolitical, and social uncertainty in years, there is one thing we can be sure about – real value creation and innovation are enduring. This is why we founded the Harvard... View Details

01 Sep 2017
News

Read All About It: Journalism Can Be Profitable

some sort of compensation for it—through donations or subscriptions. That is the path forward. How is social media changing the consumption of information and the consumer’s ability to access a diversity of ideas? —Janet Simpson Benvenuti... View Details

Keywords: April White; New York Times; newspapers; Google; Wirecutter; social media; Facebook; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

Carolyn J. Fu

Carolyn Fu is an assistant professor of business administration in the Strategy Unit. She studies innovation strategy in the context of high degrees of social construction – where the value of an innovation is continuously redefined between firms and their... View Details

01 Mar 2023
News

The Latest Model

tracking public funds. The firm’s findings, which were published in September by EY and the Official Monetary and Financial Institutes Forum, indicate that a blockchain-based public finance management system could save hundreds of billions of dollars over time,... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; blockchain; cryptocurrency; economic models; innovation; consulting; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

April 2016 (Revised June 2019)
Case

The Walt Disney Studios

By: Anita Elberse

In December 2015, Alan Horn, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, celebrates the world premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens—only the latest in a string of big bets that he has overseen. Disney pursues a “tentpole strategy” that revolves around at least eight... View Details

October 2016 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson

By: Anita Elberse

In June 2016, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is planning for the upcoming launch of an endeavor that is a first for a Hollywood actor with superstar status—a digital channel. The channel (named “Seven Bucks Digital Studios”) will be a new part of film and television... View Details

21 Aug 2017
Blog Post

A Summer Internship with the City of Boston

Kiernan Schmitt (MBA 2018) is a 2017 Social Enterprise Summer Fellow working with the City of Boston Department of Innovation and Technology this summer. Imagine if, when it came to delivering city services... View Details

Keywords: Consulting

07 Aug 2017
Blog Post

A Summer Internship with the City of Boston

Kiernan Schmitt (MBA 2018) is a 2017 Social Enterprise Summer Fellow working with the City of Boston Department of Innovation and Technology this summer. Imagine if, when it came to delivering city services... View Details

March 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Yo-Yo Ma and Silkroad

By: Rohit Deshpandé, Paul A. Gompers and Scott Duke Kominers

Silkroad—a cross-cultural music collaboration that world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma had spearheaded since 1998, was preparing to celebrate its 20th anniversary. In parallel, Ma was stepping back from his role as the organization’s Artistic Director. Silkroad had come of... View Details

Keywords: Managing Diverse Teams; Leadership Transitions; Global Innovation; Music; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Music Entertainment; Leadership; Transition

January 2017 (Revised December 2017)
Case

Carmichael Roberts: To Create a Private Equity Firm?

By: Steven Rogers and Kenneth J. Cooper

Carmichael Roberts, a rare African-American venture capitalist, considered leaving his general partnership in a private equity firm near Boston and setting up his own in 2015. He weighed whether the timing was right, with the economy still not fully recovered from the... View Details

16 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 16

Publications September 2014 The Oxford Handbook of Innovation Management Mergers and Acquisitions and Innovation By: Ahuja, Gautam, and Elena Novelli Abstract—This article (a) identifies the different... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Healthy Buildings in 2070

By: John D. Macomber and Joseph G. Allen

Fifty years seems a very long time in the future for most industries. Not so in buildings and real estate; built structures routinely last decades if not hundreds of years, as long as they are economically competitive. Any discussion of the 50-year future has to... View Details

Keywords: Health ＆ Wellness; Real Estate; Architectural Innovation; Public Health; Health; Buildings and Facilities; Well-being

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2011
Article

Strategic Change and the Jazz Mindset: Exploring Practices That Enhance Dynamic Capabilities for Organizational Improvisation

By: Ethan S. Bernstein and Frank J. Barrett

How can leaders adopt a mindset that maximizes learning, remains responsive to short-term emergent opportunities, and simultaneously strengthens longer-term dynamic capabilities of the organization? This chapter explores the organizational decisions and practices... View Details

Keywords: Dynamic Capabilities; Strategic Change; Jazz; Jazz Mindset; Improvisation; Innovation; Change Management; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Leading Change; Leadership Style; Leadership; Management; Management Style; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizations; Creativity; Strategy; Auto Industry; Banking Industry; Bicycle Industry; Computer Industry; Consulting Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Education Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Financial Services Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Health Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Music Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Retail Industry; Semiconductor Industry; Service Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Japan; Taiwan; Europe; Asia

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September 2011 (Revised August 2013)
Case

The Pepsi Refresh Project: A Thirst for Change

By: Michael I. Norton and Jill Avery

In 2010, for the first time in 23 years, PepsiCo did not invest in Superbowl advertising for its iconic brand. Instead, the company diverted this $20 million to the social media-fueled Pepsi Refresh Project: PepsiCo's innovative cause-marketing program in which... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Marketing Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Advertising Campaigns; Investment Return; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Social Marketing; Cost vs Benefits; Food and Beverage Industry

2015
Conference Presentation

Managing Failure in Pioneering Industries: Virgin Galactic, Legitimacy, and the 2014 Test Flight Crash

By: Luciana Silvestri and Anil Doshi

Keywords: Failure Tolerance; Innovation; Nascent Industries; Legitimacy; Cognition; Organizational Learning; Organizations; Entrepreneurship; Emerging Markets; Performance; Learning; Failure; Cognition and Thinking; Innovation and Invention; Aerospace Industry

September 2016 (Revised October 2018)
Case

LabCDMX: Experiment 50

By: Mitchell Weiss and Maria Fernanda Miguel

There were probably 30,000 public buses, minibuses, and vans in Mexico City. Though, in 2015, no one knew for certain since no comprehensive schedule existed. This was why el Laboratorio para la Ciudad (or LabCDMX) had spawned an effort to generate a map of the... View Details

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Experimentation; Lean Startup; Government; Innovation; Crowdsourcing; Open Data; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Leadership; Government Administration; Transportation; Transportation Industry; Mexico City; Mexico

October 2019
Teaching Note

Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?

By: William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg

A Teaching Note for the "Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?" case study (HBS#820-048). The case discusses recent controversies regarding how Google manages temporary help agency workers, workers supplied by vendors, and independent contractors ("TVCs"). Such TVCs reportedly... View Details

September 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Public Entrepreneurs? Picking a Path

By: Mitchell Weiss and Matthew Segneri

Direct entry into government remained an uncommon post-HBS path, with only 1%–2% of recent classes going directly into the public sector. But, for public-minded MBAs, government wasn’t the sole province for public problem-solving. MBAs could join or launch companies... View Details