Publications

February 2007
Case

Update: The Music Industry in 2006

By: John R. Wells and Elizabeth Raabe

The global recorded music industry was undergoing a major transition in 2006. Sales had been declining for a decade, and consumers were buying music in new formats and through different distribution channels. CD sales still accounted for the majority of revenues, but... View Details

Keywords: History; Arts; Music Entertainment; Intellectual Property; Market Timing; Performance Evaluation; Trends; Music Industry

Educators

2021
Working Paper

Winner Takes All? Tech Clusters, Population Centers, and the Spatial Transformation of U.S. Invention

By: Brad Chattergoon and William R. Kerr

U.S. invention has become increasingly concentrated around major tech centers since the 1970s, with implications for how much cities across the country share in concomitant local benefits. Is invention becoming a winner-takes-all race? We explore the rising spatial... View Details

Keywords: Invention; Innovation; Artificial Intelligence; Clusters; Agglomeration; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Applications and Software; Industry Clusters; United States

April 2011
Article

Private Equity and Long-Run Investment: The Case of Innovation

By: Josh Lerner, Morten Sorensen and Per Stromberg

A long-standing controversy is whether LBOs relieve managers from short-term pressures of dispersed shareholders, or whether LBO funds themselves are driven by short-term profit motives and sacrifice long-term growth to boost short-term performance. We investigate 495... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Investment; Innovation and Invention

February 2006 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Veridian: Putting a Value on Values

By: Rakesh Khurana, Joel Podolny and Jaan Margus Elias

David Langstaff, the CEO of Veridian, a defense company, struggles with the decision of selling the company. Langstaff has concerned himself with inculcalating his organization with the values necessary for superior achievement over the long term. But as a fiduciary,... View Details

Keywords: Cash; Corporate Governance; Financial Markets; Law; Leadership; Patents; Values and Beliefs; Service Industry; Aerospace Industry

Educators

Web

Drone Policy | About

aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing will be considered for approval. Still imagery and video may not be taken of individuals inside any building or courtyards. HBS reserves the right to restrict UAS and collect imagery or... View Details

Web

Doing Business with China 2035: Navigating Uncertainty - Course Catalog

Strategies for protecting and developing intellectual property The emergence of an increasingly powerful middle class and its impact on the consumer market and corporate social responsibility Audience This... View Details

03 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 3

Working PapersContracting in the Self-reporting Economy (revised) Authors:Romana L. Autrey and Richard Sansing Abstract This paper examines the effect of accounting on the use of intellectual property. We analyze the licensing of View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2023
Working Paper

How Resilient Is Venture-Backed Innovation? Evidence from Four Decades of U.S. Patenting

By: Sabrina T. Howell, Josh Lerner, Ramana Nanda and Richard Townsend

Despite theoretical predictions to the contrary, corporate innovation is strongly pro-cyclical. In this paper, we compare innovation in the economy as a whole to that of firms backed by venture capital (VC), a source of capital associated with the most impactful young... View Details

Keywords: Recessions; Venture Capital; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Business Cycles; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation

SSRN

February 2002
Case

Fighting AIDS and Pricing Drugs

By: John T. Gourville

In early 2001, makers of AIDS drugs were suing to prevent developing countries from violating their patents. The issue was driven by price. The developing countries could not afford the market price for these drugs. At the same time, the drug companies were reluctant... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Patents; Price; Strategy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Pharmaceutical Industry

Educators

01 Sep 2008
News

Faculty Research Online

protecting and monetizing their intellectual property. In a Q&A, Professor Josh Lerner discusses current trends in IP, including the rise of patent pools. See http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5925.html. Rethinking Retirement Planning Many of us... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

07 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Three Steps for Crisis Prevention

companies feared that the precedent set by the South African move would undermine their control over valuable intellectual property in the developing world. But the suit sparked international outrage against... View Details

Keywords: by Michael D. Watkins & Max H. Bazerman

2017
Working Paper

The Use and Misuse of Patent Data: Issues for Corporate Finance and Beyond

By: Josh Lerner

Patents and citations are powerful tools for understanding innovative activity inside the firm and are increasingly used in corporate finance research. But due to the complexities of patent data collection and the changing spatial and industry composition of innovative... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Analytics and Data Science; Corporate Finance; Research; Problems and Challenges

23 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 23, 2007

from Innovation and the Intellectual Property Revolution Author:Gary Pisano Periodical:Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the publication of David Teece's article, "Profiting from Innovation"... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

21 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: December 21

PublicationsHas the Shift to Stronger Intellectual Property Rights Promoted Technology Transfer, FDI, and Industrial Development? Authors:Lee Branstetter, C. Fritz Foley, and... View Details

01 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

Immigrant Innovators: Job Stealers or Job Creators?

The House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement met recently to hash out concerns related to the H-1B program, one of the most controversial of foreign visa topics in the United States. At issue was a stubborn question that politicians, corporations,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology

Teaching Interest

Overview

Teaching has been a lifelong passion of mine. As the third generation of academics in my family, I see good teaching as a means to give back and to encourage others to share my passion for discovery. I’ve been very lucky to have many teaching opportunities, both as an... View Details

2009
Working Paper

Anticommons and Optimal Patent Policy in a Model of Sequential Innovation

By: Gaston Llanes and Stefano Trento

We present a model of sequential innovation in which an innovator uses several research inputs to invent a new good. These inputs, in turn, must be invented before they can be used by the final innovator. As a consequence, the degree of patent protection affects the... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Revenue; Policy; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Research; Motivation and Incentives

April–May 2021
Article

Labor Mobility and Antitakeover Provisions

By: Aiyesha Dey and Joshua White

How do firms protect their human capital? We test whether firms facing an increased threat of being acquired strengthen their antitakeover provisions (ATPs) in order to bond with their employees. We use the adoption of the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine (IDD) by U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Labor Mobility; Antitakeover Provisions; Trade Secrets; Implicit Contracting; Employee Bonding; Corporate Governance; Acquisition; Human Capital; Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; Safety

Spring 2014
Article

Ex-Ante Agreements in Standard Setting and Patent Pool Formation

By: Gaston Llanes and Joaquin Poblete

We present a model of standard setting and patent-pool formation. We study the effects of alternative standard-setting and pool-formation rules on technology choice, prices, and welfare. We find three main results. First, we show that allowing patent pools may reduce... View Details

Keywords: Standard Setting; Patent Pools; Royalty Stacking; Ex-ante Agreements; Coalition Formation; Motivation and Incentives; Patents; Agreements and Arrangements; Standards