Publications

14 Dec 1999
Research & Ideas

From Spare Change to Real Change: The Social Sector as a Beta Site for Business Innovation

Despite its long economic boom, America's social problems abound. To ensure future economic success, the country needs dramatic improvement in public schools, more highly skilled workers, jobs with a future for people coming off the... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

2025
Working Paper

Better Keep the Twenty Dollars: Incentivizing Innovation in Open Source

By: Annamaria Conti, Vansh Gupta, Jorge Guzman and Maria P. Roche

Open source is key to innovation yet is assumed to be done largely through intrinsic motivation. How can we incentivize it? In this paper, we examine the impact of a program providing monetary incentives to motivate innovators to contribute to open source. The Sponsors... View Details

Keywords: Open Source; Innovation; Incentives; Financial Rewards; Crowding Out; Open Source Distribution; Innovation and Invention; Motivation and Incentives; Technology Industry

15 Apr 2015
Other Presentation

The Social Progress Paradigm Shift

By: Michael E. Porter

The last 50 years have been dominated by the idea that economic growth is the most direct route to better lives for the world's expanding population. But the signs are everywhere—environmental destruction, inequality, injustice—that economic development alone is not... View Details

Keywords: Society; England; Social Entrepreneurship; Civil Society or Community; Economic Growth; Innovation and Invention; England

June 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Supplement

Roche: ESG and Access to Healthcare

By: George Serafeim

In May 2022, Roche Group, one of the largest healthcare companies in the world, hosted its first investor event focused exclusively on its efforts to impact access to healthcare. While Roche had recently set an ambitious goal to double the number of patients that had... View Details

01 Dec 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Modeling a Paradigm Shift: From Producer Innovation to User and Open Collaborative Innovation

Keywords: by Carliss Y. Baldwin & Eric von Hippel

23 Jul 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

Innovation Is Magic. Really

When business executives create innovative products or services, they often look to impress their customers by delivering an experience more meaningful, more delightful, than possibly expected. A true "wow!" moment. And Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Consumer Products

2008
Working Paper

Collaborative Architectures for Innovation

By: Gary P. Pisano and Roberto Verganti

Collaborative innovation has become a hot topic in innovation today. Scholars, consultants, and the business press all urge companies seeking to boost innovative performance to become more "collaborative." Too often, however, companies fail to distinguish among the... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Governance Controls; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Social and Collaborative Networks

March 2023 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Roche: Innovation and Access to Healthcare

By: George Serafeim, Susanna Gallani and Benjamin Maletta

In May 2022, Roche Group, one of the largest healthcare companies in the world, hosted its first investor event focused exclusively on its efforts to impact access to healthcare. While Roche had recently set an ambitious goal to double the number of patients that had... View Details

Educators

Article

Small Worlds and Regional Innovation

Small-world networks have attracted much theoretical attention and are widely thought to enhance creativity. Yet empirical studies of their evolution and evidence of their benefits remain scarce. We develop and exploit a novel database on patent coauthorship to... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Patents; Performance Productivity; Creativity; Social and Collaborative Networks

Find at Harvard

Web

Social Impact Collaboratory

engaging with industry to accelerate practice. Impact Finance Research Consortium The Collab is a part of the Impact Finance Research Consortium, a partnership with Wharton’s ESG Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania and the Booth Rustandy Center for View Details

May 2025 (Revised June 2025)
Background Note

Social Enterprise in Latin America

By: Brian L. Trelstad and Karina Souza

This research note provides an overview of the social enterprise ecosystem in Latin America, exploring current dynamics across key markets, including country-specific insights on Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Central America. In a region characterized... View Details

Educators

01 Dec 2014
News

Living Social

Business and business leaders are now being called upon to solve more social problems, says Matt Segneri (MBA 2010). Segneri, who worked on public- and social-sector innovation at Bloomberg Philanthropies,... View Details

Keywords: April White; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

May–June 1999
Article

From Spare Change to Real Change: The Social Sector as Beta Site for Business Innovation

By: R. M. Kanter

Keywords: Change; Innovation and Invention; Society

Find at Harvard

April 2006
Background Note

Managing Innovation in an Uncertain World: Module 1: Innovation and Uncertainty

By: Alan D. MacCormack

Describes the first module of a Harvard Business School 30-session elective course called Managing Innovation in an Uncertain World. The course helps students understand the challenges that uncertainty implies for innovation and how to overcome these challenges. The... View Details

Keywords: Design; Curriculum and Courses; Innovation and Management; Projects; Opportunities; Perspective

Educators

28 Mar 2004
Research & Ideas

HBS Celebrates Social Enterprise Initiative

When Harvard Business School launched its Social Enterprise Initiative (SEI) in 1993-1994, few academic institutions were conducting serious research and teaching about how to create social value through the... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

2008
Working Paper

The Future of Social Enterprise

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Herman B. Leonard and Susan McDonald

The Future of Social Enterprise considers the confluence of forces that is shaping the field of social enterprise, changing the way that funders, practitioners, scholars, and organizations measure performance. We trace a growing pool of potential funding sources to... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Investment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Performance Effectiveness; Social Enterprise; Consolidation; Value

07 Jan 2015
News

The Type of Innovation That Builds Nations

Keywords: innovation; developing nations; government policy; economic growth; prosperity; entrepreneurship; Health, Social Assistance; Health, Social Assistance

July 2021 (Revised July 2024)
Course Overview Note

Social Entrepreneurship and Systems Change

By: Brian Trelstad and Preeti Varma

Systems thinking is a discipline that emerged in the 20th century as a way to understand the complex interrelationships among various players and dynamics within an industry or field that resist simple, reductionist thinking. The big challenges we face play out in... View Details

Keywords: Systems Thinking; Social Entrepreneurship; System; Change

January–February 2021
Other Article

Stand-up Meetings Inhibit Innovation

By: Andy Wu and Dagny Dukach

An interview with Harvard Business School professor Andy Wu is presented. Wu discusses the usefulness of stand-up meetings, their role in agile management practices, and their impact on innovations and creativity by the participants. View Details

Keywords: Agile Practices; Meetings; Management Practices and Processes; Creativity; Innovation and Invention