Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(3,793)
- Faculty Publications (874)
- October 2009
- Case
Low-k Dielectrics at IBM
By: Willy C. Shih and Giovanni Carraro
Innovations at the frontiers of technology carry enormous risk of making wrong choices. This case examines a decision made by IBM in its semiconductor process technology strategy: a material to use as a dielectric insulator in its leading edge silicon chip technology.... View Details
- September 2009
- Case
The Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions, Inc.
By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Stephen P. Bradley and Natalie Kindred
Through its uniquely proactive approach to medical malpractice risk management, the Risk Management Foundation (RMF) has decreased claims—and premiums—for the Harvard hospitals it insures. The RMF is the captive medico-legal insurer of the Harvard medical institutions... View Details
- 2009
- Working Paper
Breakthrough Inventions and Migrating Clusters of Innovation
By: William R. Kerr
We investigate the speed at which clusters of invention for a technology migrate spatially following breakthrough inventions. We identify breakthrough inventions as the top one percent of US inventions for a technology during 1975-1984 in terms of subsequent citations.... View Details
- August 2009 (Revised June 2015)
- Case
MINTing Innovation at NewYork-Presbyterian (A)
By: Richard G. Hamermesh and David Kiron
Several top surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (NYP) are receiving financial and administrative support to advance their surgical device inventions through the earliest stages of commercialization. View Details
- July 2009 (Revised December 2009)
- Case
Diageo and East African Breweries Ltd.: Tapping New Markets for Social Good
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Matthew Bird
James Musyoki, Lemmy Mutahi, and Ken Kariuki, all from East African Breweries Limited (EABL), a subsidiary of London-based Diageo, heard the disheartening news in the first week of December 2008. For the second time in six months, the Kenyan Finance Ministry had raised... View Details
- July – August 2009
- Article
Restoring American Competitiveness
By: Gary P. Pisano and Willy C. Shih
For decades, U.S. companies have been outsourcing manufacturing in the belief that it held no competitive advantage. That's been a disaster, maintain Harvard professors Pisano and Shih, because today's low-value manufacturing operations hold the seeds of tomorrow's... View Details
- June 2009 (Revised April 2017)
- Case
Christian Dior: A New Look for Haute Couture
By: Geoffrey Jones and Veronique Pouillard
The case describes the foundation of Christian Dior, the leading Parisian fashion house, in 1946 and its subsequent globalization strategy. After explaining the historical origins of France's preeminence in upscale fashion, the case explores the challenges to this... View Details
- June 2009 (Revised April 2019)
- Case
Crosley
By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen
In October 1941, a top secret envoy from the U.S. military was sent to Crosley Corporation in Cincinnati, Ohio to request their assistance to construct a weapon that would drastically strengthen the defenses of U.S. troops: the proximity fuze. Such a fuze would allow... View Details
- March 2009 (Revised May 2011)
- Case
Addleshaw-Goddard LLP
By: Robert G. Eccles, Amy C. Edmondson and James Weber
Addleshaw-Goddard (AG), the 15th largest law firm in the U.K., is seeking ways to serve larger clients on more important legal matters. Part of this strategy involves its "Client Development Centre (CDC)," an innovative idea and set of services launched by Dr. Jim... View Details
- February 2009
- Teaching Note
Pitney Bowes: Employer Health Strategy (TN)
By: Michael E. Porter and Jennifer F Baron
Teaching Note for 709458. View Details
- 2009
- Book
Let Me Explain: Eugene G. Fubini's Life in Defense of America
By: David G. Fubini
There is no necessary relationship between fame and power, and great influence is often wielded in willful obscurity. So it was with the irascible, indomitable Eugene Fubini. A physics prodigy who fled Italy when the fascists came to power, his searing intelligence and... 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
- 2008
- Other Unpublished Work
Are Private Equity Firms Better Managed?
By: Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen
We use an innovative survey tool to collect management practice data from over 4,000 medium sized manufacturing firms across Asia, Europe and the US. These measures of managerial practice are strongly associated with firm-level performance (e.g. productivity,... View Details
- 2008
- Working Paper
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 US technology formation. Specifically, we use reduced-form specifications that exploit large changes in the H-1B visa program. Fluctuations in H-1B admissions levels significantly influence the rate of... View Details
- November 2008 (Revised June 2009)
- Case
Sole-Sourcing the Intel 386: A Company and Industry Transformed
By: Richard S. Tedlow and David Ruben
Intel's precedent-breaking decision not to second-source its groundbreaking 386 microprocessor in 1986 propelled Intel to new heights and fundamentally transformed the computer industry. View Details
- 2008
- Working Paper
Modern Management: Good for the Environment or Just Hot Air?
By: Nicholas Bloom, Christos Genakos, Ralf Martin and Raffaella Sadun
We use an innovative methodology to measure management practices in over 300 manufacturing firms in the UK. We then match this management data to production and energy usage information for establishments owned by these firms. We find that establishments in better... 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
- September 2008
- Case
Pfizer Inc: Building an Innovation Center
By: Stefan H. Thomke and Ashok Nimgade
The case describes Pfizer's efforts to build and run an innovation center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As the center goes through different periods of leadership and strategic models, its relationship with the corporation and other research sites is explored. The case... 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
- 2008
- Simulation
Strategic Innovation Simulation: Back Bay Battery
By: Willy C. Shih and Clayton Christensen
This online simulation allows students to play the role of a business unit manager at Back Bay Battery Company who faces the dilemma of balancing a portfolio of investment strategies across products in the rechargeable battery space. Players have to manage R&D... View Details