Invention - Publications - Faculty & Research

May 2018 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions

In March 2017, Jason Blum, the founder and chief executive officer of film and television production company Blumhouse Productions, has another blockbuster on his hands with the movie Get Out, produced for just $4.5 million. Remarkable returns for its micro-budget... View Details

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18 May 2023
News

India's New Money Managers

When Priti Rathi Gupta (OPM 49, 2017) was 16 years old, her father handed her his investment portfolio and asked her what she could make of it. She was befuddled. "He realized that, although I had schooling in what we call commerce, I didn't really know much about... View Details

Keywords: Maureen Harmon

12 Mar 2021
News

My Favorite Case

don’t remember many cases from 46 years ago, but “Head Ski” is implanted in my brain. Howard Head invented and popularized the first metal (aluminum) skis in the early 1950s, using many cutting-edge technologies. However, once he had... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

2020
Book

Think Outside the Building: How Advanced Leaders Can Change the World One Smart Innovation at a Time

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Over a decade ago, renowned innovation expert Rosabeth Moss Kanter co-founded and then directed Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative. Her breakthrough work with hundreds of successful professionals and executives, as well as aspiring young entrepreneurs, identifies... View Details

Keywords: Leaders; Advanced Leadership; Advanced Leadership Initiative; Community; Change Leadership; Innovation; Problem Solving; Cross-sector Collaboration; Institutional Change; Leadership; Change; Leading Change; Communication; Innovation Leadership; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business and Community Relations; Civil Society or Community

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16 Nov 2023
News

Dean Datar Meets with Alumni in Boston

Starting last fall and continuing through this coming year, Dean Srikant Datar is traveling to meet with alumni around the world. On November 8, more than 170 alumni and guests gathered in Klarman Hall to hear the dean discuss how the School is addressing today’s... View Details

July 2014 (Revised August 2014)
Case

AmazonFresh: Rekindling the Online Grocery Market

By: Rory McDonald, Clayton Christensen, Robin Yang and Ty Hollingsworth

More than a decade after the high-profile failures of several early online grocers, grocery remains the largest single U.S. retail category and one of the few that has not yet migrated online. Amazon began testing its grocery-delivery service, AmazonFresh, in Seattle,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; New Markets; Grocery; Operations Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Strategy; Emerging Markets; Learning; Service Operations; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

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11 Apr 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching a ‘Lean Startup’ Strategy

A dozen years ago, it seemed like all it took to launch a successful technology company was a vague idea, a PowerPoint presentation, a trade-show booth with a sexy spokesmodel, and a URL. Then the dot-com bubble burst and investors got wiser and warier. Gone are the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology; Computer

02 Aug 2022
News

6 Strategies for Building Socially Responsible—and Profitable—Companies

07 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

The Better Way to Forecast the Future

Center] Related Reading: The Entrepreneurs Who Invented Economic Forecasting Nowcasting the Local Economy: Using Yelp Data to Measure Economic Activity at Scale RESEARCH PAPER: Bias in Official Fiscal Forecasts: Can Private Forecasts... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Air Transportation; Transportation

February 2015 (Revised May 2015)
Case

Boeing 787: Manufacturing a Dream

By: Rory McDonald and Suresh Kotha

This case traces the design and development of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Emphasis is on executive leadership and firm strategy in coordinating across a global network of partners in the production of a new aircraft. View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Operations Strategy; Project Management; Coordination; Product Development; Operations; Production; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Aerospace Industry; United States

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07 May 2020
Research & Ideas

The One Good Thing Caused by COVID-19: Innovation

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly influenced the lives of most people on the planet. It has changed daily activities; something as simple as a walk in the park is perceived very differently now. The same is true for businesses. Many businesses have shut down or... View Details

Keywords: by Hong Luo and Alberto Galasso

17 Apr 2019
Research & Ideas

How Managers Stifle Creativity

The slate of companies going public this year— Pinterest, Slack Technologies, and Uber, to name a few—should silence anyone who doubts the power of a bold idea. After all, one seemingly crazy brainstorm can up end an entire industry, keeping innovation top of mind for... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

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

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December 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

IBM Watson at MD Anderson Cancer Center

By: Shane Greenstein, Mel Martin and Sarkis Agaian

After discovering that their cancer diagnostic tool, designed to leverage the cloud computing power of IBM Watson, needed greater integration into the clinical processes at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, the development team had difficult choices to make. The Oncology... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Innovation Strategy; Knowledge Management; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Operations; Failure; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Health Care and Treatment; Product Development; Health Industry; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Houston; Texas

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15 Dec 2023
News

Exploring Business Opportunities in Africa; Alumni Grapple with Plastic Waste Problem

then asked the panelists to share facts about plastic pollution that people might not know, and to talk about the work each is doing to address the problem. Maqueda talked about “deplastifying” — a concept invented by SUPER to encourage... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

20 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

It's No Joke: AI Beats Humans at Making You Laugh

We all enjoy sharing jokes with friends, hoping a witty one might elicit a smile—or maybe even a belly laugh. Here’s one for you: A lawyer opened the door of his BMW, when, suddenly, a car came along and hit the door, ripping it off completely. When the police arrived... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

01 Dec 2019
News

Developing Leaders Who Bridge Business and Engineering

Denise Dupré and Mark Nunnelly (MBA 1984) Mark Nunnelly (MBA 1984) and Denise Dupré are deeply committed to the creation of innovative programs for students who are driven to create, lead, and grow companies with the potential to change the world. The couple recently... View Details

August 1998 (Revised July 2002)
Case

Innovation at 3M Corporation (A)

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Describes how 3M Corp. introduces and learns a new and innovative methodology called Lead User research to understand future customer and market needs. A team from 3M's Medical-Surgical Markets Division applies the Lead User methodology to the field of surgical... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Managerial Roles; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Market Timing; Product Development; Problems and Challenges; Business Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

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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

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January 2022
Case

Somatus: Value-Based Kidney Care (A)

By: Ariel D. Stern, Robert S. Huckman and Sarah Mehta

When Dr. Ikenna Okezie founded Somatus, a value-based kidney care provider, his goal had been nothing short of transforming kidney care delivery in the United States. Rather than relying on dialysis, a costly and intensive treatment for late-stage kidney disease, the... View Details