Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(3,780)
- Faculty Publications (905)
- July 2024
- Case
Wizards of the Coast and Magic: The Rebounding
By: Boris Groysberg and Tom Quinn
This case traces the history and growth of the Magic: The Gathering trading card game. From its development in 1993 by tiny studio Wizards of the Coast, to Wizards’ acquisition by toy giant Hasbro in 1999, to its evolution into a billion-dollar brand in 2023,... View Details
Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Change Management; Transformation; Cost vs Benefits; Business Cycles; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Global Strategy; Growth and Development; Selection and Staffing; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation Leadership; Intellectual Property; Job Design and Levels; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Succession; Risk Management; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Mergers and Acquisitions; Product Development; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle; Japan
- July–August 2024
- Article
The Middle Path to Innovation
By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Duke Rohlen, Ben Creo and Will Kynes
Too many companies are failing to innovate. One reason, say the authors, is the polarized approach companies take to innovation. At one end of the spectrum, corporate R&D efforts tend to focus on product refreshes and incremental line upgrades that generate modest... View Details
- June 2024
- Simulation
Vehicle Lifecycle Emissions Calculator
This Vehicle Lifecycle Emissions Calculator calculates the greenhouse gas emissions over the lifespan of internal combustion engine (ICEs) vehicles, battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), including those associated with their... View Details
Keywords: Decarbonization; Environment; Carbon Accounting; Carbon; Carbon Abatement; Electric Vehicles; Automobiles; Environmental Accounting; Environmental Management; Environmental Sustainability; Strategy; Technological Innovation; Supply Chain; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Climate Change; Transportation; Transportation Industry; Auto Industry; Battery Industry
- June 2024
- Teaching Note
Beamery: Using Skills and AI to Modernize HR
By: Boris Groysberg, David Lane, Susan Pinckney and Alexis Lefort
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 424-004. Unicorn human relationships startup Beamery evaluates it growth versus depth strategy as its strategic partners and customers could become future competitors in a quickly changing AI based human resources and talent management... View Details
Keywords: Analysis; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Startups; Business Plan; Disruption; Transformation; Talent and Talent Management; Decisions; Diversity; Ethnicity; Gender; Nationality; Race; Residency; Higher Education; Learning; Entrepreneurship; Fairness; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Growth and Development; AI and Machine Learning; Digital Platforms; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Job Offer; Job Search; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Product; Mission and Purpose; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Corporate Strategy; Equality and Inequality; Valuation; Value Creation; Employment Industry; United Kingdom
- June 2024
- Article
Real Growth in Space Manufacturing Output Substantially Exceeds Growth in the Overall Space Economy
By: Tina Highfill and Matthew Weinzierl
Accurately measuring real economic output in the space economy is made difficult by the rapid increase in capabilities and decrease in prices of launch and satellite technologies achieved over the past two decades. Nominal measures of output in space will tend to... View Details
- May 2024
- Article
Financial Innovation in the 21st Century: Evidence from U.S. Patents
By: Josh Lerner, Amit Seru, Nick Short and Yuan Sun
We develop a unique dataset of 24 thousand U.S. finance patents granted over the last two decades to explore the evolution and production of financial innovation. We use machine learning to identify the financial patents and extensively audit the results to ensure... View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
Dusting Off the Old Ones: Drug Licensing to Startups, Innovation Success and Efficiency
By: Mosab Hammoudeh, Joshua Lev Krieger and Jiajie Xu
This paper investigates whether moving R&D from incumbents to startups can increase innovation. Using comprehensive drug development data, we examine the outcomes of drug projects licensed from large firms to startups. We find that these projects licensed to startups... View Details
- April 2024 (Revised November 2024)
- Case
Moderna: Pioneering a People Platform to Accelerate Science Innovation
By: Tatiana Sandino, Emil Dy and Samuel Grad
Moderna was founded in 2010 to explore how messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) could be used to create breakthrough medicines by encoding instructions for the body to create antibodies. When Stéphane Bancel (HBS 2000) took over in 2011, he bet on the potential of this... View Details
Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Talent and Talent Management; Selection and Staffing; AI and Machine Learning; Digital Strategy; Innovation and Management; Leadership Development; Management Practices and Processes; Management Systems; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Alignment; Employee Relationship Management; Science-Based Business; Expansion; Pharmaceutical Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States
- Second Quarter 2024
- Article
Venture Capital in a Time of Turmoil
By: Josh Lerner
One area of consensus among academic
economists and policymakers is the need
for greater innovation. This concern is
rooted in worries about the lagging rate
of productivity growth in many Western
nations. In the U.S., for instance, the productivity growth rate... View Details
- March 2024
- Case
Lyft 2023: Roads to Growth and Differentiation
By: Ranjay Gulati and Jeffrey Huizinga
Set in San Francisco in winter 2023, this case explores the strategic challenges and initiatives at Lyft under the leadership of its new CEO, David Risher. Confronted with declining market share and financial pressures, Risher spent his first six months at the helm... View Details
- 2025
- Working Paper
Greenlighting Innovative Projects: How Evaluation Format Shapes the Perceived Feasibility of Early-Stage Ideas
By: Jacqueline N. Lane, Simon Friis, Tianxi Cai, Michael Menietti, Griffin Weber and Eva C. Guinan
The evaluation of innovative early-stage projects is essential for allocating limited resources. We
investigate how the evaluation format affects the identification of feasibility issues through a
field experiment at a leading research university. Experts were... View Details
- March 2024
- Case
Teamworks: Tackling a Forecasting Fumble (A)
By: N. Louis Shipley and Stacy Straaberg
In late March 2018, Teamworks CEO Zach Maurides learned Q1 2018 sales were at risk for a large forecasting miss. Founded in 2004, Teamworks’s software application assisted support staff in messaging, scheduling, and sharing documents with collegiate and professional... View Details
Keywords: Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Communication Strategy; Decisions; Forecasting and Prediction; Business Cycles; Technological Innovation; Sports; Growth and Development Strategy; Resource Allocation; Marketing; Sales; Business Strategy; Expansion; Sports Industry; Technology Industry; United States; North Carolina
- March 2024
- Supplement
Teamworks: Tackling a Forecasting Fumble (B)
By: N. Louis Shipley, Stacy Straaberg and Tom Quinn
In late March 2018, Teamworks CEO Zach Maurides learned Q1 2018 sales were at risk for a large forecasting miss. Founded in 2004, Teamworks’s software application assisted support staff in messaging, scheduling, and sharing documents with collegiate and professional... View Details
Keywords: Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Communication Strategy; Decisions; Forecasting and Prediction; Business Cycles; Technological Innovation; Sports; Growth and Development Strategy; Resource Allocation; Marketing; Sales; Business Strategy; Expansion; Valuation; Sports Industry; Technology Industry; United States; North Carolina
- March 2024
- Case
Biomanufacturing Decentralization by Stämm
By: Paul A. Gompers, Jenyfeer Martínez Buitrago and Mariana Cal
In Buenos Aires, Argentina, cousins Llamazares and D’Alvia founded Stämm, a startup based on the idea of decentralizing biomanufacturing processes and downsizing biotech facilities. After raising its seed and series A rounds, and while finalizing its series B round in... View Details
Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Selection and Staffing; Technological Innovation; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Launch; Research and Development; Biotechnology Industry; Latin America; South America; Argentina; Buenos Aires
- March 2024 (Revised June 2025)
- Teaching Note
CoPilot(s): Generative AI at Microsoft and GitHub
By: Frank Nagle and Maria P. Roche
This teaching note is the companion to case N9-624-010 CoPilot(s): Generative AI at Microsoft and GitHub, which takes place in late 2021. The case briefly describes the history of both GitHub and Microsoft with a particular focus on open source software (OSS)—software... View Details
- March 2024
- Case
Nomad: A License to Bank
By: Paul A. Gompers and Pedro Levindo
In late 2023, Lucas Vargas, CEO and co-founder of Nomad, a fintech that offered financial services in the United States for Brazilian residents, had to decide what to do to ensure the company’s continued expansion. Nomad launched its first product, a U.S. digital bank... View Details
Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Startups; Customer Satisfaction; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Banks and Banking; Initial Public Offering; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Organizational Culture; Going Public; Ownership Stake; Innovation and Invention; Strategic Planning; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Vertical Integration; Leadership; Law; Banking Industry; Technology Industry; Service Industry; Brazil; United States; North America; Latin America
- February 2024
- Case
Innovation Strategy at Stanley Black & Decker: Setting the Direction for Growth
By: David L. Ager and Antonio Manuel Oftelie
On July 1, 2022, Don Allan was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Stanley Black & Decker (SBD). Although Allan had been with the firm for 23 years, most recently serving as President and Chief Financial Officer, he recognized that he was stepping into his new role as... View Details
- February 2024
- Supplement
Seeds of Innovation: GALY's Quest to Cultivate the Future of Agriculture in the Lab
By: George Serafeim
In 2023, Luciano Bueno, CEO and founder of plant cell culture agriculture company GALY, was considering the best path forward for his company as he planned to pitch Series B investors. GALY, founded in 2019, aimed to produce cotton and other crops from cells grown in... View Details
Keywords: Business Model; Green Technology; Goods and Commodities; Growth and Development Strategy; Science-Based Business; Entrepreneurship; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Business Startups; Decisions; Technological Innovation; Production; Entrepreneurial Finance; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Technology Industry; Boston; Sao Paulo
- February 2024 (Revised December 2024)
- Case
Best Buy Health: Enabling Care at Home
This case explores retailer Best Buy’s decision to enter health care. Best Buy Health aims to enable care at home across three prongs: consumer health, active aging, and virtual care. A key pillar of Best Buy Health's strategy is leveraging the Geek Squad—the company's... View Details
- February 2024 (Revised March 2024)
- Teaching Note
X: The Foghorn Decision
By: Kyle Myers and Walter Frick
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 618-060. View Details
Keywords: Alternative Energy; Energy Generation; Energy Sources; Climate Change; Green Technology; Selection and Staffing; Knowledge; Product Design; Product Development; Research and Development; Risk and Uncertainty; Science-Based Business; Innovation and Invention; Auto Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Chemical Industry; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry; Green Technology Industry; Technology Industry