Publications

27 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Creating Leaders for Science-Based Businesses

collaboration and openness, both within and outside the organization, are probably required of them than they're used to. Different kinds of partnerships and new licensing and intellectual property... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Biotechnology; Health

10 Nov 2008
What Do You Think?

How Much Can You Ask of Your Customers?

over-involvement (of) customers have led to bitter intellectual property right disputes customers simultaneously trying to drive the product in two (or more) very separate market directions (or) feature... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

March 2001
Case

Charlene Barshefsky (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Rebecca Hulse

Details former U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky's strategic and tactical approach to surmounting the barriers laid out in the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Trade; International Relations; Copyright; Negotiation Style; Negotiation Tactics; Alliances; Business and Government Relations; China; United States

22 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 22

expanded anti-aging line; and how to market and distribute the product internationally, particularly in France. Issues of intellectual property were also essential to the launch—in the past, Radiant had... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2013
Working Paper

Did Bank Distress Stifle Innovation During the Great Depression?

By: Ramana Nanda and Tom Nicholas

We find a negative relationship between bank distress and the level, quality and trajectory of firm-level innovation during the Great Depression, particularly for R&D firms operating in capital intensive industries. However, we also show that because a sufficient... View Details

Keywords: Great Depression; R＆D; Bank Distress; Patents; Research and Development; Financial Crisis; Innovation and Invention; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; United States

September 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

X-IT and Kidde (A)

By: Constance E. Bagley and David Lane

Involves a start-up, X-IT Products LLC, whose founders had designed an innovative, lightweight, and easy-to-use--yet strong--escape ladder. After X-IT had filed a patent application for the ladder in the United States, X-IT was approached by Kidde PLC, one of the... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Negotiation Process; Agreements and Arrangements; Ethics; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business Startups; Consumer Products Industry

30 Oct 2007
First Look

First Look: October 30, 2007

accessing knowledge that resides outside the boundaries of any one organization. We provide an overview of distributed innovation systems that are achieving success in three different industries. We explore why people participate, the organizing principles of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2018
Case

Yatooq: Longing for Arabic Coffee

By: Mark Roberge, Gamze Yucaoglu and Samer Al-Rachedy

As one of the few female entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia, Lateefa Alwaalan had been trying to produce the perfect cup of Arabic coffee for over a decade. In 2007, she began testing various coffee blends, which she later branded Yatooq, the Arabic word for “craving” or... View Details

January 1996
Case

Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent

By: Josh Lerner and Benjamin Conway

CompuServe, an online services vendor, informs its software developers that they must enter into a licensing agreement to use the popular GIF compression. CompuServe claims that it is forced to do so because Unisys is enforcing its patent rights in this area. Others... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Competitive Strategy; Internet and the Web; Web Services Industry

fall 2007
Article

The Design of Patent Pools: The Determinants of Licensing Rules

By: Josh Lerner, Marcin Strojwas and Jean Tirole

Patent pools are an important but little-studied economic institution. In this paper, we first make a set of predictions about the licensing terms associated with patent pools. The theoretical framework predicts that (a) pools consisting of complementary patents are... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Patents; Rights

2009
Working Paper

Social Influence Given (Partially) Deliberate Matching: Career Imprints in the Creation of Academic Entrepreneurs

By: Pierre Azoulay, Christopher C. Liu and Toby E. Stuart

Actors often match with associates on a small set of dimensions that matter most for the particular relationship at hand. In so doing, they are exposed to unanticipated social influences because counterparts have more interests, attitudes, and preferences than would-be... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Patents; Marketplace Matching; Mathematical Methods; Science-Based Business; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Biotechnology Industry

September 2007 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Syndexa and Technology Transfer at Harvard University

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and David Kiron

Gokhan Hotamisligil is a star researcher at Harvard School of Public Health who has made groundbreaking discoveries linking fat cells, inflammation, and diabetes. He now wants to form a company to commercialize these discoveries. At the same time, Isaac Kohlberg, the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Higher Education; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; Rights; Agreements and Arrangements; Science-Based Business; Commercialization; Biotechnology Industry; Health Industry

January 2009
Article

Spatial Diversity in Invention: Evidence from the Early R&D Labs

By: Tom Nicholas

This article uses historical data on inventor and firm R&D lab locations to examine the technological and geographic structure of corporate knowledge capital accumulation during a formative period in the organization of US innovation. Despite the localization of... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Geographic Location; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Knowledge Acquisition; Research and Development; United States

May 2004
Background Note

56K Modem Battle

By: David B. Yoffie and Deborah Freier

Examines the battle to set the standard for the 56K modem. Set in 1996, this case looks at how computers accessed the Internet via a telephone line, or dial-up connection, and a hardware modem. In 1995, there were 18.6 million total modem unit shipments, with market... View Details

Keywords: Announcements; Revenue; Patents; Product Launch; Network Effects; Standards; Competition; Information Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Technology Industry; Illinois

21 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: December 21

PublicationsHas the Shift to Stronger Intellectual Property Rights Promoted Technology Transfer, FDI, and Industrial Development? Authors:Lee Branstetter, C. Fritz Foley, and Kamal Saggi Publication:The... View Details

January 2010 (Revised November 2012)
Teaching Note

Genzyme's CSR Dilemma: How to Play its HAND (TN)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Teaching Note for [910407]. View Details

Keywords: Programs; Intellectual Property; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Partners and Partnerships; Multinational Firms and Management; Competitive Strategy; Markets; Biotechnology Industry

July 2010
Article

The Supply Side of Innovation: H-1B Visa Reforms and U.S. Ethnic Invention

By: William R. Kerr and William F. Lincoln

This study evaluates the impact of high-skilled immigrants on U.S. technology formation. We use reduced-form specifications that exploit large changes in the H-1B visa program. Higher H-1B admissions increase immigrant science and engineering (SE) employment and... View Details

Keywords: Engineering; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Immigration; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Business and Government Relations; Science; United States

June 2019
Teaching Note

Zebra Medical Vision

By: Shane Greenstein and Sarah Gulick

Teaching note is meant to accompany Zebra Medical Vision case, which offers a look at a company’s decisions as a small startup competing with other startups and major technology companies. It also demonstrates the challenges faced by a machine learning company working... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Science-Based Business; Applications and Software; Patents; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Technology Industry; Israel

March 2010
Article

The Role of Independent Invention in U.S. Technological Development, 1880-1930

By: Tom Nicholas

Why did independent inventors account for over half of US patents by 1930 and more than three times the number granted to R&D firms? Using new data on patents and historical patent citations, I show that independents supplied high quality innovations to a... View Details

Keywords: History; Technological Innovation; Patents; Urban Scope; Independent Innovation and Invention; Research and Development; United States