Publications

March 2011
Article

The New M&A Playbook

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Richard Alton, Curtis Rising and Andrew Waldeck

Companies spend more than $2 trillion on acquisitions every year, yet the M&A failure rate is between 70% and 90%. Executives can dramatically increase their odds of success, the authors argue, if they understand how to select targets, how much to pay for them, and... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Model; Disruptive Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Integration

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Research Summary

Team-based strategic work among senior executives

My research centers on a study of organizational design for senior-executive work on strategy. I examine the role of small groups that are tasked with resolving strategic issues, and I consider the effects of such team-based organizing models on strategic... View Details

17 Feb 2011
News

Business Ready for 'Shared Values,' But Government Lags

December 2007 (Revised April 2008)
Case

Alltech...naturally

By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman

Entrepreneur Pearse Lyons had built Alltech into the fastest growing company in the global animal health industry through innovative technology, creative marketing, and strong branding. Sel-Plex, a proprietary Alltech product, had shown important health benefits for... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Leadership Development; Customer Focus and Relationships; Expansion; Technological Innovation; Intellectual Property; Sales; Value Creation; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry

March 2015 (Revised December 2016)
Case

American Well: The DTC Decision

By: Elie Ofek and Natalie Kindred

In late 2013, telehealth company American Well, which developed a digital platform that allowed patients to conduct online medical consultations with physicians, is considering pursuing a direct-to-consumer (DTC) strategy. Founded in 2006, American Well had, to date,... View Details

2009
Working Paper

Industry Equilibrium with Open Source and Proprietary Firms

By: Gaston Llanes and Ramiro de Elejalde

We present a model of industry equilibrium to study the coexistence of Open Source (OS) and Proprietary (P) firms. Two novel aspects of the model are: (1) participation in OS arises as the optimal decision of profit-maximizing firms, and (2) OS and P firms may (or may... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Sharing; Industry Structures; Open Source Distribution; Research and Development

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We estimate a dynamic structural model of sales force response to a bonus based compensation plan. Substantively, the paper sheds insights on how different elements of the compensation plan enhance productivity. We find evidence that: (1) bonuses enhance productivity... View Details

June 2014
Teaching Note

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.: Driving Change Through Internal Communication

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott and Robin Abrahams

Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), confronted in 2003 with an urgent need to change how it operated externally, adopted a highly innovative approach to communicating internally. This case, set in 2010, presents an overview of the new, more interactive model of employee... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Change Management; Communication; Change; Leadership; Management; Energy Industry; India

May 2018 (Revised October 2020)
Supplement

La Ribera Health Department (B): Epilogue

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Emer Moloney and Daniela Beyersdorfer

The La Ribera case studies depict an innovative low cost/high quality privately financed hospital model struggling to achieve alignment with the Six Factors. It is reimbursed by the public sector in a Spanish environment whose Consumers, Structure, and Public Policy... View Details

Keywords: Trends And Opportunities; Government; Government Programs; Acquisition; Business Model; Business Plan; Trends; Opportunities; Government and Politics; Programs; Health Care and Treatment; Situation or Environment; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; Technology Industry; Spain

July 2011
Case

Edna McConnell Clark Foundation-Enabling a Performance Driven Philanthropic Capital Market

By: Allen Grossman and Aldo Sesia

The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, focused on building the organizational capabilities of nonprofits that served the disadvantaged youth in the United States, has recently been named an intermediary in the federal government's new social innovation fund (SIF), which... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Financial Strategy; Performance Improvement; Capital Markets; United States

14 Aug 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

The Manager's Guide to Leveraging Disruption

In 1995, Harvard Business School professors Clayton M. Christensen and Joseph L. Bower wrote a seminal article for Harvard Business Review, Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave. Those words launched the theory of disruptive innovation, still one of the most... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Benjamin (Ben) Creo

Benjamin Creo co-teaches the Innovating in Health Care course alongside its founder, Prof. Regina E. Herzlinger. While many courses in healthcare innovation focus on where to innovate, this course focuses on how to innovate. Its four modules discuss how to evaluate... View Details

04 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

Jumpstarting Innovation: Using Disruption to Your Advantage

What's happening in another part of the world that you could adopt and adapt in your environment? These disruptive innovations are not just novel inventions. Successful innovators take ideas and turn them... View Details

Keywords: by Lynda M. Applegate

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

September 2014 (Revised March 2021)
Case

La Ribera Health Department (A)

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Emer Moloney and Daniela Beyersdorfer

The La Ribera case studies depict an innovative low cost/high quality privately financed hospital model struggling to achieve alignment with the Six Factors. It is reimbursed by the public sector in a Spanish environment whose Consumers, Structure, and Public Policy... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care Financing; Health Care Industry; Health Care Operations; Health Care and Treatment; Operations; Business Model; Government and Politics; Programs; Innovation Strategy; Vertical Integration; Health Industry; Europe; Spain

2021
Book

The Emergence of Charismatic Business Leadership

By: Richard S. Tedlow

In The Emergence of Charismatic Business Leadership is an examination of how the role of the business leader in the U.S. has changed from World War II to the present. A small number of high-profile individuals have transformed the face of modern-day leadership,... View Details

Keywords: Charisma; Leadership; Management Skills; Leadership Style; Personal Characteristics; Success

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24 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

How Kayak Users Built a New Industry

reduction and process improvements. Cost-reducing process innovations benefit large firms most; hence the emergence of a dominant design will trigger an industry shakeout and consolidation. What we observed in the rodeo kayaking industry... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation

January 2008
Article

Learning the Fine Art of Collaboration

By: Alan MacCormack and Theodore Forbath

Innovations are increasingly brought to the market by networks of firms, selected for their unique capabilities and operating in a coordinated manner. This collaborative model demands that firms develop different skills, yet despite this need, there is little guidance... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms