Design thinking - Publications - Faculty & Research

23 May 2016
Research & Ideas

A Little Understanding Motivates Copyright Abusers to Pay Up

Obtaining an image from the Internet is as easy as right-clicking and downloading. We’ve all done it—or, ahem, know someone who has. We rarely think about who created these images or whether we have the rights to use them. This leaves the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Media & Broadcasting; Publishing

27 Aug 2007
Op-Ed

Mattel: Getting a Toy Recall Right

design flaws in the toys with the magnets that could come loose. But Mattel deserves praise for now stepping up to its responsibilities as the leading brand in the toy industry. What has Mattel done right? The CEO has taken personal... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Consumer Products

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

How to Put Meaning Back into Leading

we believe can be quite important to the long-term survival of organizations and the contribution they make to society at large. As organizational scholarship and management practice have shifted away from thinking about the connection... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

17 Nov 2015
Lessons from the Classroom

How Activist Investors Became Respectable

online well before any regulatory filing disclosed his holdings in the company. These tactics may have been designed for drama, but the investment strategy and its scale are nothing unusual today. Activist shareholders and the hedge funds... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Fuller; Financial Services; Banking

15 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

Lessons Not Learned About Innovation

portfolio of promising mid-range ideas driven by designated teams. At the bottom of the pyramid are early-stage ideas or incremental innovations that permit continuous improvement. Influence flows from top to bottom—the big bets encourage... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

24 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Do We Tax?

fixing this gap. For 40 years, economists have drawn from the well of Utilitarian theory—which has the goal of maximizing overall well-being in society—to help design tax systems in the United States and around the world. Although the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Legal Services

29 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Managing Innovation is Like Theater

destination in advance. Whether you're designing a new product, running a business in volatile conditions, operating a process that might encounter unforeseen inputs, or just trying to figure out what to do with your life, the journey... View Details

Keywords: by Rob Austin & Lee Devin

14 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: Dec. 14

Carliss Y. Baldwin Abstract The existing theory of modularity explains how modular designs create value. We extend this theory to address value appropriation. A product or process design that is modular with... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Want to Be an Entrepreneur? [Part I]

two-year orgy of enthusiasm for Internet enterprises. "At some boards of directors," he said, driving the point home, "they institute a $50 fine for every new application you think of." That challenge faced E Ink... View Details

Keywords: by John S. Rosenberg

30 Sep 2002
What Do You Think?

Are Business Schools Really Important “Crucibles of Leadership?”

Summing Up Crucibles of leadership are where you find them—or they find you. And business schools rarely create them, at least according to the respondents to the October column. Perry Miles put it most succinctly when he said, "A business school cannot and should... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

10 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

Homers: Secrets on the Factory Floor

did a job not designated for their employer. In 40 percent of these cases, that "something" was an object. Homer making is not, however, a French phenomenon—court proceedings of fired homer makers point to its prevalence in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing

21 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

Don’t Get Buried in Customer Data—Use It

Experience Economy (Harvard Business School Press, 1999), because "most practitioners have taken the concept of one-to-one marketing and bastardized it into CRM. They're using CRM tools to design better processes for a nonexistent... View Details

Keywords: by Jean Ayers

20 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

Moving from Supply Chains to Supply Networks

those opportunities—and how they can counter those threats. The program is designed to help participants understand some of the issues and challenges involved in the actual "doing" part—and equip them with the principles crucial... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

16 Oct 2013
Op-Ed

Response to Readers: Combating Climate Change with Nuclear Power and Fracking

think that China and possibly India will move to clean up their nationwide air quality, including particulates, sulfur, mercury, etc. Unfortunately, cleaning up Chinese air quality is most likely to come at the price of significantly... View Details

Keywords: by Joe Lassiter; Energy; Utilities

20 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

Fixing Corporate Governance: A Roundtable Discussion at Harvard Business School

inadequate disclosure rules were cracks in the financial infrastructure, options were the rocket fuel that blew the cracks wide open, with some disastrous results. I think all the attention being paid to the current problems—particularly... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

17 Apr 2017
HBS Case

This Turkish Debt Collector Is Customer-friendly

says Harvard Business School Professor Dennis Campbell. “In fact, to even think about a debtor as a customer is unusual.” Thus, Campbell was intrigued when he heard about a debt collection company in Turkey that not only treats debtors as... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

29 Aug 2024
Research & Ideas

Shoot for the Stars: What to Know About the Space Economy

investors should consider in the short term and long term as they think about the future of the space economy. This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Baskin: What are the highest-growth areas in the space... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Aerospace

12 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Operations and the Competitive Edge

operations took somewhat of a back seat. There were just too many new things to think about and explore, and everybody's attention was focused on "breakthrough improvements," so the mandate for operations became "just keep... View Details