Publications

2012
Working Paper

School Accountability and Principal Mobility: How No Child Left Behind Affects the Allocation of School Leaders

By: Danielle Li

The move toward increased school accountability may substantially affect the career risks that school leaders face without providing commensurate changes in pay. Since effective school leaders likely have significant scope in choosing where to work, these uncompensated... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Corporate Accountability; Education; North Carolina

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April 2017
Case

The Future of Patent Examination at the USPTO

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Tarun Khanna and Sarah Mehta

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the federal government agency responsible for evaluating and granting patents and trademarks. In 2015, the USPTO employed approximately 8,000 patent examiners who granted nearly 300,000 patents to inventors. As of April... View Details

Keywords: Machine Learning; Telework; Collaborating With Unions; Human Resources; Recruitment; Retention; Intellectual Property; Copyright; Patents; Trademarks; Knowledge Sharing; Technology Adoption; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Productivity; Performance Improvement; District of Columbia

26 Oct 2017
Research Event

In an Era of 'Fake News,' What is the Future of Advertising and Publishing?

pondered the impact of fake news on democracy, the potential for government regulation of the internet, and the future of business models that support traditional media such as... View Details

Keywords: by Jen Deaderick; Media & Broadcasting; Journalism & News

16 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

The Unfulfilled Promise of Educational Technology

over the last three decades, educational performance in the United States has shown only marginal improvement, and lags that of other developed countries in Europe and Asia. While some school districts have... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Education

July 2002 (Revised August 2002)
Case

Washington Hospital Center (B): The Power of Insight

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Michelle Heskett

Dr. Craig Feied considers how to take a major technical innovation beyond his own department into a large hospital system. Reviews how proprietary information systems became indispensable in the department of emergency medicine and what it took to introduce the change... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Health Care and Treatment; Nonprofit Organizations; Medical Specialties; Organizational Culture; Crisis Management; Technological Innovation; Higher Education; Adoption; Health Industry; District of Columbia

November 2022 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Martine Rothblatt and United Therapeutics: A Series of Implausible Dreams

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia M. Comeau

In 1990, satellite expert and Sirius XM founder Martine Rothblatt was determined to save the life of her seven-year-old daughter, Jenesis, who was diagnosed with a terminal illness called Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH). At the time, there was little medication... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Companies; Technological And Scientific Innovation; Organ Donation; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Innovation and Invention; Pharmaceutical Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States; District of Columbia

2025
Working Paper

When Where Watt: Harnessing the Value of Time and Location for Renewable Electricity Generation

By: Vishrut Rana, Christian Kaps and Serguei Netessine

Problem definition: Investments in renewable energy have surged worldwide in recent years, with over $2 trillion spent globally on clean energy. This surge was driven by growing policy support, concerns about energy security, and, most importantly, the cost... View Details

Keywords: Wind Power; Electricity Distribution; Renewable Energy; Profit; Investment Return; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Geographic Location; Revenue; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry

SSRN

January 2018 (Revised February 2023)
Teaching Note

The Future of Patent Examination at the USPTO

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury

This teaching note pairs with the case entitled: “The Future of Patent Examination at the USPTO” (case no. 617-027). View Details

Keywords: Machine Learning; Telework; Collaborating With Unions; Recruitment; Intellectual Property; Copyright; Patents; Trademarks; Knowledge Sharing; Technology Adoption; District of Columbia

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Promoting a Management Revolution in Public Education

Keywords: by Stacey M. Childress, Richard Elmore & Allen S. Grossman; Education

June 2003 (Revised July 2003)
Case

Union City Schools: Sustaining The Turnaround

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ryan Raffaelli

Under the leadership of Superintendent Thomas Highton, Union City Schools, New Jersey, underwent a 14-year turnaround. In 1989, the Union City School District was the second-worst-performing district in New Jersey. As Mr. Highton prepared to retire, 2002 student test... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Leading Change; Performance Consistency; Change Management; New Jersey

19 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

Public Education Goes to School

and the deans of both schools and the president of the university have enthusiastically supported us all along," says PELP co-founder and HBS lecturer Stacey Childress. The nine participating school... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark; Education

08 May 2006
Lessons from the Classroom

Writing the Case for Public School Reform

working with leadership teams from nine urban school districts over the course of three annual sessions to coordinate research and create coherent, scalable systems for education reform. Two cases written... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education

02 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Digital Initiative Summit: The Business of Crowdsourcing

Boston predict which places might be violating public health regulations. And it is working with an education nonprofit in Watertown, Mass., Education Resource Strategies, to study how school districts spend money. "The outcome is that... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

April 2004 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Columbia's Final Mission

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Amy C. Edmondson, Michael Roberto, Laura Feldman and Erika Ferlins

Describes the 16-day final mission of the space shuttle Columbia in January 2003 in which seven astronauts died. Includes background on NASA and the creation of the human space flight program, including the 1970 Apollo 13 crisis and 1986 Challenger disaster. Examines... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Crisis Management; Management Skills; Organizational Culture; Groups and Teams; Behavior; Aerospace Industry

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

How One Center of Innovation Lost its Spark

process stalled in reverse. This study suggests opportunities for future empirical research. Future studies could analyze the evolution of once-comparable clusters such as the financial centers in Paris and London or shoemaking View Details

Keywords: by Donald Sull; Manufacturing; Transportation; Auto

2023
Report

The 2023 India Cluster Panorama

By: Christian Ketels, Amit Kapoor, Bibek Debroy and Subhanshi Negi

The India Cluster Panorama 2023 provides unique new insights into the cluster structure of the Indian economy. It leverages powerful data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), which has comprehensive coverage of the Indian labour force and granular data... View Details

Keywords: Clusters; Industry Clusters; Economic Growth; India

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November 2024
Teaching Note

Martine Rothblatt and United Therapeutics: A Series of Implausible Dreams

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia M. Comeau

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 323-039. In 1990, satellite expert and Sirius XM founder Martine Rothblatt was determined to save the life of her seven-year-old daughter, Jenesis, who was diagnosed with a terminal illness called Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH). At... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Companies; Technological And Scientific Innovation; Organ Donation; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Pharmaceutical Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States; District of Columbia