Publications

2025
Working Paper

Mammography - Early Detection, Precise Diagnoses: Case Histories of Transformational Advances

By: Amar Bhidé, Srikant M. Datar and Katherine Stebbins

This case history describes how the development of x-ray-based techniques and equipment (“mammography”) led to widespread screening for breast cancer and enabled “minimally invasive” biopsies of breast tumors. Specifically, we chronicle how: 1) new protocols and... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Technology Adoption; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

2024
Working Paper

Antibiotic Treatments for Ulcers--Eradicating H-Pylori Infections: Case Histories of Transformational Advances

By: Amar Bhidé, Srikant M. Datar and Katherine Stebbins

This case history describes how a chance discovery of bacteria that infect stomach linings completely changed how physicians treat ulcers. Specifically, we chronicle how: 1) two Australian physicians brought the bacterial infection to the world’s attention and... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Technology Adoption; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

07 Oct 2015
What Do You Think?

What is the Best Immigration Model for the US?

to return to their countries of origin....” Ben commented that “We have a need for skilled and unskilled labor here (in the U.S.) and we value inclusion and integration... (But) I think our government shouldn’t copy any other country’s... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

13 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Experimental Researcher Helps Improve Health Care in Zambia

Sometimes big ideas start with small experiments. That's been the experience of Harvard Business School professor Nava Ashraf, whose experimental approach to research in developing countries has produced insights that have influenced View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Health

25 May 2016
Research & Ideas

How Consumers and Businesses are Reshaping Public Health

be headquartered in England in order to achieve a lower corporate tax rate. The British government favored the merger as it would boost the high-priority life sciences sector, but little attention was paid to whether the integration of... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch; Health

15 Feb 2017
Op-Ed

What Africa Can Teach the United States About Funding Infrastructure Projects

investors, and builders can learn from the African experience, where public-private partnerships and deployments of new technologies are illuminating new ways to approach the task of funding infrastructure despite a scarcity of government... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Construction

18 Nov 2010
Research & Ideas

GM’s IPO: Back to the Future

Steve Rattner, who chaired the government task force, found the initial assessments of their needs woefully understated and badly documented, reflecting decades of lost market share and destroyed shareholder value. The deal that was... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Auto

2024
Working Paper

Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting—Impossible to Routine: Case Histories of Transformational Advances

By: Amar Bhidé, Srikant M. Datar and Fabio Villa

We describe how Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG, or more popularly, “bypass”) operations revolutionized the treatment of coronary disease (that can produce fatal heart attacks and debilitating angina). Specifically, we chronicle the: 1) development of the... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Technology Adoption; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

20 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

Here’s How Businessman Trump Is Likely to Approach the Presidency

Administration I study business leaders, government leaders, religious leaders, social activists, and other individuals — past and present — who exercise real, worthy impact. As a historian, I don’t see huge differences among political... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese

24 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurial Hospital Pioneers New Model

never see in any other hospital. As soon as a heart patient arrives at the border, the colleague alerts Shetty, Shetty alerts the Indian government, the Indian government kicks into high gear, the patient is air-lifted to the hospital,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Health

16 Feb 2012
Op-Ed

Nitin Nohria: Why US Competitiveness Matters

economic inequality worrisome. They see that US corporations are skittish about making investments in a time of uncertainty about government policy, taxes, and regulations. They hear too many American CEOs talk about choosing to postpone... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria

26 Oct 2017
Research Event

In an Era of 'Fake News,' What is the Future of Advertising and Publishing?

White House popularized the term “fake news,” the influence of social media advertising and online publishing requires serious reexamination. That began to happen October 24 at the The Future of Advertising and Publishing conference held at the Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Jen Deaderick; Media & Broadcasting; Journalism & News

06 Apr 2007
What Do You Think?

Will Market Forces Stop Global Warming?

Summing Up Debate on this month's questions occurred on at least three levels. Is global warming occurring? Do humans (primarily through CO2 emissions) have much to do with it? Should we rely on market forces to provide appropriate responses, or will this require... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Energy; Utilities

17 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance

sciences that laid the institutional foundations for innovations in semiconductors, high-speed computers, computer graphics, broadband communications, mobile telephony, the Internet, and modern genomics-based methods of drug discovery.... View Details

Keywords: by Gary P. Pisano & Willy C. Shih; Manufacturing

06 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Microsoft vs. Open Source: Who Will Win?

for Linux to take over Windows. The questions that we address are: Is Linux's superior demand-side learning sufficient to win out? What is the effect of forced procurement by governments and some large corporations on the long-run... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

06 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

Should Entrepreneurs Pitch Products or Ideas for Products?

In trying to secure financial backing for a new product, independent innovators generally face the question of how much to invest in development before showing it around. Should they create, say, a working prototype (and maybe even... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Motion Pictures & Video; Entertainment & Recreation; Banking

2024
Working Paper

Prozac—Controversial Blockbuster: Case Histories of Transformational Advances

By: Amar Bhidé, Srikant M. Datar and Katherine Stebbins

This case history describes the development of Prozac, a blockbuster drug that transformed the treatment of depression – and became a cultural phenomenon in the United States. Specifically, we chronicle the: 1) prior treatments for depression and the research that... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Technology Adoption; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms