Publications

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Fostering Innovation in Life Sciences - Health Care

Impact Fostering Innovation in Life Sciences Gaining Ground on ALS Re: Rob Blum (MBA 1991) Health Minute: How Can Technology Improve 21st Century Health Care Health Minute: How Can Companies Bring "Missing Drugs" to Market? More “Life... View Details

26 Jan 2004
Research & Ideas

What Developing-World Companies Teach Us About Innovation

goal is to reach 800,000 more within five years. Innovate Around—rather Than Through—the Technology Companies such as Samsung or Novartis can drive innovation from their R&D labs, continually translating... View Details

Keywords: by Donald N. Sull, Alejandro Ruelas-Gossi & Martin Escobari

01 Mar 2016
News

The HBS Fund for Leadership and Innovation

the world, but the School can never rest on its legacy; rather, it must be relentless in its pursuit of excellence and relevance. Annual giving to the HBS Fund for Leadership and Innovation helps make this possible. “The School relies... View Details

Article

The Board's New Innovation Imperative: Directors Need to Rethink Their Roles and Their Attitude to Risk

By: Linda A. Hill and George Davis

As firms scramble for competitive advantage, boards—once the cautious voices urging management to mitigate risk—are now calling for breakthrough innovation. Indeed, avoiding risk is now seen as the riskiest proposition of all. In speaking with CEOs and board members... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Innovation Leadership; Risk and Uncertainty; Corporate Governance

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12 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

When Experts Play It Too Safe: Innovation Lessons from a NASA Experiment

breakthroughs may hit the discard pile before companies can evaluate them in full—causing companies to miss out on big competitive leaps, write the researchers in their working paper. Lane, who is affiliated with the Laboratory for View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Aerospace

March 2018 (Revised September 2023)
Case

X: The Foghorn Decision

By: Robert S. Huckman, Karim R. Lakhani and Kyle R. Myers

In February 2016, Kathy Hannun—a project leader at X, Alphabet Inc.'s so-called "moonshot factory"—had to prepare a recommendation for the senior leadership of X regarding the future of Foghorn, a project she was leading to develop a carbon-neutral process for... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; R＆D Project Management; Radical Innovation; Clean Technology; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Energy; Research and Development; Projects; Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technology Industry; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; California

One of the leading business thinkers in the world offers a bold, new theory of advanced leadership for tackling the world's complex, messy, and recalcitrant social and environmental problems.

Over a decade ago, renowned innovation... View Details

20 Mar 2017
Book

Why Companies Are Placing Users at the Core of Their Innovation Strategies

Gerdeman: Can you touch on the implications user innovation has on competition? Lakhani: In many ways, what the research is showing is that companies can reliably work with external sources of innovation—users, communities, even... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

May 2019
Case

The United States Air Force: 'Chaos' in the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron

By: Francesca Gino, Jeff Huizinga and Nicole Keller

In the spring of 2019, Lt. Col. Matthew “Chaos” Nussbaum is nearing the end of his two-year term as commander of the U.S. Air Force's 99th Reconnaissance Squadron. In this position, he has focused the majority of his energy on finding new ways to organize, train, and... View Details

Keywords: Empowerment; Culture; Innovation; Motivation; Military; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Change; Leading Change; Innovation Strategy; United States

March 2013 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally

By: Bill George and Natalie Kindred

Omar Ishrak, Medtronic's first non-American CEO, aims to reinvigorate the medical device maker's growth by focusing on emerging markets, therapy innovation, and creative business models. In 2012, budget constraints in mature economies, the lack of new medical therapies... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Medical Devices; Medtronic; Globalization; Innovation; Reverse Innovation; Leadership; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Management Teams; Business Model; Emerging Markets; Global Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Acquisition; Innovation and Invention; Manufacturing Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; China

Research Summary

Overview

By: Roberto Verganti

Roberto’s research focuses on how to create innovations that are meaningful for people, for society, and for their creators. He explores how leaders and organizations generate radically new visions, and make those visions come real. His studies lie at the intersection... View Details

Keywords: Integrated Design; Strategy; Design Thinking; Innovation; Artificial Intelligence; Design; Technology; Leadership; Innovation Strategy

05 Apr 2022
Blog Post

The HBS New Venture Competition Turns 25: Celebrating A Quarter Century of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

prize. Viewers also had the opportunity to select a crowd favorite in each of the three tracks, with a prize value of $5,000. In a separate process that recognizes the unique challenges of companies commercializing breakthrough... View Details

September 2024
Case

Myeloma Investment Fund

By: Kyle Myers and Scott Sawaya

This case explores a critical decision facing the Myeloma Investment Fund (MIF) as it evaluates two investment opportunities aimed at accelerating a cure for multiple myeloma. The MIF, a venture philanthropy fund, must choose between two distinct paths. One option... View Details

Keywords: Venture Philanthropy; Biomedical Research; Science Bassed Business; Investing For Impact; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Science-Based Business; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

May–June 2015
Other Article

The Challenges of Ambidextrous Leadership: An Interview with Michael Tushman

By: Michael Tushman and Jim Euchner

Michael Tushman talks with Jim Euchner about the challenges of managing breakthrough innovation in established companies. View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management

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