Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(574)
- Faculty Publications (66)
- December 2009 (Revised December 2012)
- Case
Sony and the JK Wedding Dance
By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
Executives at Sony Music Entertainment faced a dilemma: a user-generated video featuring controversial artist Chris Brown's music was netting millions of views per week on YouTube. Sony held the copyright to the song, and was entitled to issue a takedown notice to the... View Details
- August 2009 (Revised April 2012)
- Case
Genzyme's CSR Dilemma: How to Play its HAND
Genzyme, a global biotechnology company, launches a program to develop therapies for neglected diseases (e.g., malaria, TB), giving away the intellectual property. This case focuses on the decision of which diseases, which partnerships, and which markets should... View Details
- August 2009 (Revised January 2012)
- Case
Steel Street
The case involves repositioning an old 6-story warehouse in Pittsburgh and many of the issues of rehabilitation and selecting and managing the development team especially in a world of capital market uncertainty. The case also demonstrates the alignment of interests of... View Details
- 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
- September 2008
- Article
Does Innovation Cause Stock Market Runups? Evidence from the Great Crash
By: Tom Nicholas
This article examines the stock market's changing valuation of corporate patentable assets between 1910 and 1939. It shows that the value of knowledge capital increased significantly during the 1920s compared to the 1910s as investors responded to the quality of... View Details
- 2008
- Working Paper
Applicant and Examiner Citations in U.S. Patents: An Overview and Analysis
By: Juan Alcacer, Michelle Gittelman and Bhaven Sampat
Researchers studying innovation increasingly use indicators based on patent citations. However, it is well known that not all citations originate from applicants—patent examiners contribute to citations listed in issued patents—and that this could complicate... View Details
- April 2008 (Revised August 2008)
- Supplement
AT&T v. Microsoft (B): District Court Ruling and Appeal
By: Willy C. Shih
The (B) case follows the course of Microsoft's settlement with AT&T, and its appeal in the issue of foreign replicated software that eventually goes to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is intended for follow-up the discussion of the (A) case with what happened, examining a... View Details
- February 2008 (Revised May 2011)
- Case
The Travails of Rubber: Goodyear or Badyear?
By: Tom Nicholas and Andrew Ferguson
Explores the reason why Charles Goodyear, inventor of rubber vulcanization, was unable to profit from his discovery despite securing international property rights over his invention through a patent in 1844. Considers the utility of patents as an incentive for... View Details
- January 2007
- Background Note
Note on Biotech Business Development
By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Robert F. Higgins
Describes the business development process in biotechnology companies. Topics covered include: participants in the licensing process and their interests, the major steps in the licensing process, the terms that are part of most agreements, and the most contentious... View Details
- November 2006 (Revised March 2008)
- Case
The Harvard Stem Cell Institute
Describes a set of issues confronting the leaders of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, an innovative cross-university effort to accelerate scientific discovery and translation in the domain of stem cells. Covers a wide range of topics, including understanding how... View Details
- May 2006 (Revised June 2006)
- Case
Codon Devices
By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron
In December 2005, 40-year-old John Danner was about to make his first presentation to the board of directors of Codon Devices, a one-year-old biotechnology start-up based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After a month as the company's CEO, Danner was prepared to lay out... View Details
- November 2004 (Revised May 2005)
- Case
Marvel Enterprises, Inc.
By: Anita Elberse
The management team of Marvel Enterprises, known for its universe of superhero characters that includes Spider-Man, the Hulk, and X-Men, must reevaluate its marketing strategy. In June 2004, only six years after the company emerged from bankruptcy, Marvel has amassed a... View Details
- July 2004 (Revised September 2004)
- Case
Novell: CEO-led Turnaround and Growth Strategy
By: Richard L. Nolan and Robert D. Austin
Novell CEO Jack Messman tried to return the company to its leadership position in the software industry through a strategy that embraces Linux and other open source software. This case serves as an introduction to open source software and strategies based on open... View Details
- Article
Why Schumpeter Was Right: Innovation, Market Power and Creative Destruction in 1920s America
By: Tom Nicholas
Are firms with strong market positions powerful engines of technological progress? Joseph Schumpeter thought so, but his hypothesis has proved difficult to verify empirically. This article highlights Schumpeterian market-power and creative-destruction effects in a... View Details
- October 2002 (Revised October 2003)
- Case
Aspen Aerogels
By: William A. Sahlman and Taslim Pirmohamed
Describes a newly formed manufacturer of insulation materials. The company has developed and patented a new insulation material that can be used in a wide range of markets. Capital must be raised to finance building a manufacturing facility and fund early market... View Details
- June 2002 (Revised September 2002)
- Case
Pokemon: Gotta Catch 'Em All (Abridged)
By: Youngme E. Moon
Pokemon, the colloquial name given to a collection of 150 fantastic, animal-inspired creatures with organic powers and the capacity to evolve, are the stars of video games, trading card games, and TV cartoons. Conceived in Japan in 1996, Pokemon quickly became that... View Details
- February 2002
- Case
Fighting AIDS and Pricing Drugs
In early 2001, makers of AIDS drugs were suing to prevent developing countries from violating their patents. The issue was driven by price. The developing countries could not afford the market price for these drugs. At the same time, the drug companies were reluctant... View Details
- June 2000 (Revised February 2003)
- Case
Must Zee TV
By: Bharat N. Anand and Tarun Khanna
Explores issues related to (1) the vertical boundaries of the firm in an emerging-economy context, especially the effects of lack of intellectual property rights and lack of contract enforcement on both industry structure and boundaries of the firm; and (2) the extent... View Details
- June 1996 (Revised July 1997)
- Case
Hostile Bid for Red October, The
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Alan Bigman
Manatep Bank, a Russian investment bank, has just announced the country's first hostile tender offer for Red October, a confectionery company located in Moscow. As the chief financial officer of the target company, Yuri Yegorov must decide how to respond, how much his... View Details
- October 1995
- Article
Start-ups, Spin-offs, and Internal Projects
By: James J. Anton and Dennis Yao
We examine the incentive problem confronting a firm and employee when the employee privately discovers a significant invention and faces a choice between keeping the invention private and leaving the firm to form a new company (start-up), or transferring knowledge and... View Details