Publications

May 1998 (Revised August 2017)
Case

DuPont Kevlar: Commercializing a Miracle Fiber

By: Clayton Christensen and Rory McDonald

Describes Dupont's efforts to build commercial markets for its miracle fiber, Kevlar. Initially, it sought to create a market for Kevlar tire cord, primarily because its existing tire cord business was languishing. This market never developed, even after Dupont spent... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Crisis Management; Product Launch; Emerging Markets; Research and Development; Technology

December 2014 (Revised August 2024)
Case

HomeAway: Organizing the Vacation Rental Industry

By: Rory McDonald, Feng Zhu and Cheng Gao

In less than 10 years, cofounders Brian Sharples and Carl Shepherd had transformed HomeAway from just another Internet startup into the world's leading vacation-rental marketplace—a global online platform that links customers seeking vacation-home rentals to the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Innovation; Technology; Acquisitions; Operations Management; Digital Platforms; Acquisition; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Disruptive Innovation; Disruption; Accommodations Industry

03 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 3

Working Papers Competition As Strategic Interaction By: Eisenhardt, Kathleen, Rory McDonald, and Cheng Gao Abstract—Strategic interaction has been a topic of scholarly inquiry dating back to the 1960s. Drawing on several seminal... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Apr 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, April 24, 2018

Harvard Business Review Managing Political Misfits By: Bermiss, Y. Sekou, and Rory McDonald Abstract—Not all employees agree with your politics. That's OK. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Managing Political Misfits

By: Y. Sekou Bermiss and Rory McDonald

Not all employees agree with your politics. That's OK. View Details

Keywords: Management; Organizational Culture

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15 Dec 2015
First Look

December 15, 2015

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50234 December 2015 Harvard Business Review What Is Disruptive Innovation? By: Christensen, Clayton M., Michael Raynor, and Rory McDonald Abstract—For the past... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

March 2017 (Revised November 2021)
Case

Floodgate: On the Hunt for Thunder Lizards

By: Rory McDonald, Alix Burke, Emma Franking and Nicole Tempest

Founded in 2008, Floodgate pioneered the “micro-VC” category, a new type of investment firm that raised smaller funds and made earlier, smaller investments in technology startups than traditional venture-capital firms. By 2015, Floodgate had raised three funds totaling... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Business Models; Angel Investors; Crowdfunding; Incubators; Accelerators; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Information Technology; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Competitive Strategy

Article

Mastering Innovation's Toughest Trade-Offs

By: Christopher B. Bingham and Rory M. McDonald

Leaders must answer eight key questions to address the hidden tensions underlying innovation strategies. View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Innovation Leadership

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March 2017 (Revised September 2021)
Teaching Note

Floodgate: On the Hunt for Thunder Lizards

By: Rory McDonald and Helena Lyng-Olsen

Teaching Note for HBS No. 617-044. View Details

2016
Working Paper

Pivoting Isn't Enough: Principled Pragmatism and Strategic Reorientation in New Ventures

By: Rory McDonald and Cheng Gao

New technology ventures often experience deviations from their original plans that oblige them to reorient in pursuit of better fit between their evolving products and target customers. Yet research is largely silent on how entrepreneurs explain and justify their... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Reorientation; Technology Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Product Development Processes; Organizational Adaptation; Qualitative Methods (General); Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Communication; Entrepreneurship; Alignment; Innovation and Invention; Product Development

November 2018
Article

Disruptive Innovation: An Intellectual History and Directions for Future Research

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Rory McDonald, Elizabeth J. Altman and Jonathan E. Palmer

The concept of disruptive innovation has gained considerable currency among practitioners despite widespread misunderstanding of its core principles. Similarly, foundational research on disruption has elicited frequent citation and vibrant debate in academic circles,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Metrics; Systemic Industries; Technology Trajectories; Disruptive Innovation; Theory; History; Competitive Strategy; Research

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2022
Book

Productive Tensions: How Every Leader Can Tackle Innovation's Toughest Trade-Offs

By: Chris Bingham and Rory McDonald

Why is leading innovation in nascent business environments so distressingly hit-or-miss? More than 90% of high-potential ventures don’t reach their projected targets. Surveys show that 80% of executives consider innovation crucial to their growth strategy, but only 6%... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation and Management; Organizational Culture; Leadership Style; Decision Making

December 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Teaching Note

Under Armour

By: Rory McDonald and Matt Higgins

Teaching Note for HBS No. 618-020. View Details

Other Article

Entrepreneurship: Every Pivot Needs a Story

By: Rory McDonald and Cheng Gao

09 Feb 2016
First Look

February 9, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50562 forthcoming Strategic Management Journal Entrepreneurial Beacons: The Yale Endowment, Run-ups, and the Growth of Venture Capital By: Bermiss, Y. Sekou, Benjamin J. Hallen, Rory... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Colloquium: The Future of Social Enterprise

Date: March 27-28, 2008 Chairs: V. Kasturi Rangan, Herman B. Leonard, and Susan McDonald Faculty Summary Report Colloquium: The Future of Social Enterprise In our working paper, The Future of Social Enterprise, we consider the confluence... View Details

Keywords: Re: V. Kasturi Rangan & Dutch Leonard

March 1997 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Hospital Equipment Corporation

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Rory McDonald

Hospital Equipment Corp. is a very successful maker of hospital beds. Due to outstanding performance in new product development, it grew to dominate its primary market and is searching for other opportunities to grow through new product development. It discovers that... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation and Management; Opportunities; Business Processes; Product Development; Technological Innovation; Expansion; Markets; Problems and Challenges; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

05 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 5, 2009

Survive—Thrive: Leading Innovation in Good Times and Bad Authors:Lynda M. Applegate and Bruce Harreld Abstract Battered by contracting markets and frozen credit, many businesses today are fighting for survival. Indeed, the current global... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2023
Case

Managing Innovation at Atrium Health: 'Never Let a Good Crisis Go To Waste' (Abridged)

By: Derek van Bever, Rory McDonald and Anibha Singh