Publications

Karen Gordon Mills is a Senior Fellow at Harvard Business School and a leading authority on U.S. competitiveness, entrepreneurship, and innovation. She served in President Barack Obama’s Cabinet as the Administrator of the U.S. Small Business... View Details

Article

The Evolution of Science-Based Business: Innovating How We Innovate

By: Gary P. Pisano

Science has long been connected to innovation and to business. As early as the late 19th century, chemical companies, realizing the commercial potential of science, created the first industrial research laboratories. During much of the 20th century, large-scale... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Governance; Innovation and Management; Risk Management; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Commercialization

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February 2015 (Revised September 2016)
Case

Hövding: The Airbag for Cyclists

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Emilie Billaud

In 2012, Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin, co¬founders of the Hövding company, reflect on the evolution of their venture and the way forward. Since 2005, Haupt and Alstin had been working on a new type of bicycle helmet—an "airbag for cyclists." What had begun as a thesis... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Transition; Leadership; Conflict Management; Bicycle Industry; Sweden; Europe

June 2016
Case

Alnylam: Building a Biotechnology Powerhouse

By: Kevin Schulman

Alnylam is an early stage biomedical technology focused on commercial development of a novel technology platform, siRNA. This technology offered promise to treat rare genetic disorders that could not be treated with other technologies. Alnlyam's development entailed... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Commercialization; Health Disorders; Intellectual Property; Biotechnology Industry

21 Oct 2014
News

Death on a Moscow Runway Shows CEOs’ Hyperscheduled Lives

Research Summary

An Empirical Approach to Understanding Privacy Valuation

The purpose of this research is to detect the presence of sophisticated economic motives behind individual concerns for privacy. Recent theories of privacy demands in commercial contexts have assumed an economically aware and sophisticated consumer, capable of... View Details

January 2016 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Airbus Versus Boeing (A)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell

Looks at the development of the competitive actions between Airbus and Boeing from 1992 to 2006. Begins with the question of whether Airbus and Boeing should collaborate on the development of a VLCT (Very Large Commercial Transport) or whether Airbus should develop... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Competition; Cooperation; Strategy; Air Transportation Industry

18 Jan 2011
News

Coca-Cola studies Expedition 206, cites need to "let people participate"

November 2016 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Elon Musk's Big Bets

By: David B. Yoffie, Eric Baldwin and Brandon Kaufmann

Between late 2014 and late 2016, Tesla CEO Elon Musk undertook several major, and risky, initiatives that would dramatically expand the scale and scope of Tesla’s business. In late 2014, Tesla began construction on a $5 billion “gigafactory” that would manufacture... View Details

March 2014 (Revised May 2014)
Case

China Vanke (A-1)

By: Lynn S. Paine, John Macomber and Keith Chi-ho Wong

As China's largest homebuilder, China Vanke Co. Ltd. (Vanke) was facing an industry downturn sparked by strong government intervention. Faced with falling prices, Vanke's president must decide whether to keep the company's pricing and product positioning intact, and... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; China; Green Building; Sustainable Development; Business Government Relations; Leadership; Business and Government Relations; Urban Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Safety; Real Estate Industry; China

April 2004
Case

D-Wave Systems: Building a Quantum Computer

By: Alan D. MacCormack, Ajay Agrawal and Rebecca Henderson

D-Wave Systems is a start-up seeking to commercialize a quantum computer. Its business model is unique: as of 2003, it had very few technical resources within the firm. Instead, it financed a series of projects undertaken at universities and government labs. In return... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Engineering; Investment; Intellectual Property; Product Development; Research and Development; Commercialization; Computer Industry

27 Aug 2019
News

New US Trademark Rules Raise Concerns About Immigration Enforcement

May 2020
Case

M-Lab: Enabling Innovation at Mitsubishi Corporation

By: Krishna Palepu and Allison M. Ciechanover

M-Lab’s founding goals were to infuse an innovation mindset into Mitsubishi Corporation; to catalyze new business opportunities; and to enable a dialogue between Japanese business and Silicon Valley. M-Lab housed representatives from each of Mitsubishi Corporation’s... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Disruption; Transformation; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Multinational Firms and Management; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Japan; United States

December 2018 (Revised August 2019)
Case

Super Bowl Storytelling

By: Shelle Santana and Jill Avery

The one day a year when consumers not only tolerate but actually eagerly anticipate ads is during the NFL's Super Bowl. In sharp contrast to their behavior on the other 364 days of the year, consumers watch an average of 89 commercials per Super Bowl game for an... View Details

Keywords: Television Advertising; Entertainment; Brand Management; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Television Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Media; Cost vs Benefits; Advertising Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Sports Industry; United States; North America

June 2019
Article

Financial Development and Technology Diffusion

By: Diego Comin and Ramana Nanda

We examine the extent to which financial market development impacts the diffusion of 16 major technologies, looking across 17 countries, from 1870 to 2000. We find that greater depth in financial markets leads to faster technology diffusion for more capital-intensive... View Details

Keywords: Technology Diffusion; Technology Adoption; Commercialization; Financial Markets

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2013
Book

Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending

By: Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton

If you think money can't buy happiness, you're not spending it right. Two rising stars in behavioral science explain how money can buy happiness—if you follow five core principles of smarter spending. Happy Money offers a tour of new research on the science of... View Details

Keywords: Happiness; Spending; Personal Finance

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March 2011 (Revised June 2012)
Case

Office of Technology Transfer - Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences

By: Willy Shih, Sen Chai, Kamen Bliznashki and Courtney Hyland

Gordon Zong is trying to teach Chinese universities and research institutes how to do effective technology transfer and IP licensing, but he is trying to do it in an environment with weak property rights and an underdeveloped support infrastructure. As the managing... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Patents; Knowledge Management; Law Enforcement; Business and Government Relations; Research and Development; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; China