Publications

December 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Manufacturing Moderna's Future

By: Satish Tadikonda and William Marks

In 2019, Moderna faced long odds of survival having failed to develop a successful clinical program out of the vast platform technology they had built around mRNA. Nearly overnight, the company skyrocketed to success with a vaccine for COVID-19, leading to an extremely... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Health Testing and Trials; Technological Innovation; Product Development; Production; Science-Based Business; Biotechnology Industry

December 2008 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich, Forest L. Reinhardt and Mary Louise Shelman

Arcadia Biosciences is an entrepreneurial California agricultural biotech company seeking to earn carbon credits by modifying commodity crops for use in China and India. Eric Rey, Arcadia's CEO, faced a strategic inflection point in early September 2008. The company... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Science-Based Business; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry; China; India; California

11 Nov 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Public R&D Investments and Private-sector Patenting: Evidence from NIH Funding Rules

Keywords: by Danielle Li; Health; Biotechnology; Pharmaceutical; Medical Devices & Supplies

February 2008 (Revised August 2008)
Case

EXACT Sciences Corp.: Commercializing a Diagnostic Test

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

This case addresses the challenges of commercializing molecular diagnostics. Along the way, it explains the technology, payment system, and the measures used to assess the value of a diagnostic test. View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Genetics; Science-Based Business; Commercialization; Biotechnology Industry

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September 2024
Case

Myeloma Investment Fund

By: Kyle Myers and Scott Sawaya

This case explores a critical decision facing the Myeloma Investment Fund (MIF) as it evaluates two investment opportunities aimed at accelerating a cure for multiple myeloma.

The MIF, a venture philanthropy fund, must choose between two distinct paths. One... View Details

Keywords: Venture Philanthropy; Biomedical Research; Investing For Impact; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Science-Based Business; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Decision Making; Health Care and Treatment; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

01 Mar 2005
News

Campaign Passes Goal, Continues

organizations and communities they join. “What we do here has a deep and broad impact on society as a whole. The School really is a pioneer. Just look at our current research in entrepreneurship and social enterprise, and our new initiatives in health care, education... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations; Personal Services

August 2024 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Commonwealth Fusion Systems: Born at Scale

By: Joshua Lev Krieger, Jim Matheson, Kyle Myers, Gunnar Trumbull and Richard Vietor

This case study chronicles the journey of Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) on its ambitious mission to commercialize fusion energy and become the world’s leading provider of fusion power plants. Emerging from a “special arrangement” with MIT's Plasma Science and... View Details

Keywords: Nuclear Energy; Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial Finance; Energy Generation; Commercialization; Science-Based Business; Technological Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Energy Industry

January 2011 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged)

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

Arcadia Biosciences is seeking to introduce genetically modified rice to China that will lower farmers' costs and generate environmental benefits through reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The case describes challenges facing this small agricultural biotechnology... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Intellectual Property; Genetics; Environmental Sustainability; Science-Based Business; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry; China

November 2021 (Revised May 2022)
Case

QuantumScape's Mission to Revolutionize Energy Storage for a Sustainable Future

By: William A. Sahlman, Allison M. Ciechanover and Jeff Huizinga

QuantumScape CEO Jagdeep Singh juggles the many activities required to lead the next-generation battery pioneer. Founded in 2010, QuantumScape’s mission was to develop new “solid-state” car batteries that would improve upon traditional lithium-ion batteries in key... View Details

Keywords: Batteries; Electric Vehicles; SPACs; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Science-Based Business; Environmental Sustainability; Auto Industry; Energy Industry; California; San Jose

2015
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Torsten Thiele and the Global Ocean Trust

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Brian Hoffstein

Following a successful career in finance, Torsten Thiele devoted himself full-time to the challenging cause of ocean conservation and stewardship. In August 2015, Thiele had already come a long way in spearheading initiatives towards the protection of the ocean: from... View Details

Keywords: Environment; Natural Environment; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Science-Based Business; Climate Change; Social Enterprise; Leadership

2001
Chapter

Publicly Funded Science and the Productivity of the Pharmaceutical Industry

By: Rebecca Henderson and Ian Cockburn

U.S. taxpayers funded $14.8 billion of health related research last year, four times the amount that was spent in 1970 in real terms. In this paper we evaluate the impact of these huge expenditures on the technological performance of the pharmaceutical industry. While... View Details

Keywords: Public Sector; Science-Based Business; Research and Development; Sovereign Finance; Pharmaceutical Industry

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June 2011 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Gene Patents (A)

By: Richard Hamermesh, David Kiron and Phillip Andrews

In March 2010, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Sweet overturned 30 years of legal precedent and ruled that unaltered human genes could not be patented. This case reviews patent law and how it relates to our increasing knowledge of the Human Genome. The case issues... View Details

Keywords: Courts and Trials; Patents; Genetics; Judgments; Science-Based Business; Biotechnology Industry; United States

April 2009
Case

GSK's Acquisition of Sirtris: Independence or Integration?

By: Toby E. Stuart and James Weber

An executive from pharmaceutical company GSK must choose how much to integrate a recently acquired biotechnology firm, Sirtris. Moncef Slaoui, GSK's global head of R&D, championed the acquisition of Sirtris to gain access to its potentially revolutionary science.... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Resource Allocation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Integration

22 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 22, 2008

financial success had happened on the expense of the informal and relational atmosphere that used to characterize the company. But did it matter, Otano wondered? How should he go forward? Purchase this case:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Jan 2008
News

John Doerr, MBA 1976

San Francisco. It focused on two areas where Doerr would soon have tremendous influence: information technology and science-based business. “The main thing we do— that we’ve always done—is build upon the best ideas of entrepreneurs,”... View Details

December 2009 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Neoprene

By: Tom Nicholas and Felipe Tamega Fernandes

In 1931, during one of the worst economic crises in U.S. history, Du Pont announced the discovery of an innovative rubber synthetic product—neoprene. Yet at the time of the announcement, Du Pont did not have any neoprene to sell. Manufacturing facilities were still... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Business History; Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Risk and Uncertainty; Science-Based Business; Commercialization; Chemical Industry; United States