Publications

September 1989 (Revised December 1989)
Case

Siemens Electric Motor Works (A) and (B) (Combined)

Explores how a cost system can help support a firm's decision to change strategies. In the process, students are exposed to a simple activity-based cost system. Also examines Siemens policy for transferring products between sales and manufacturing divisions. Transfer... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Business Strategy; Technology Industry

25 Mar 2016
HBS Seminar

Curtis Keith, Harvard University, Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator

January–February 2017
Article

The Truth about Blockchain

By: Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani

Contracts, transactions, and records of them provide critical structure in our economic system, but they haven’t kept up with the world’s digital transformation. They’re like rush-hour gridlock trapping a Formula 1 race car. Blockchain promises to solve this problem.... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Technology Adoption; Information Management; Information Technology Industry

Research Summary

Experiential Learning and Knowledge Mentors

By: Dorothy A. Leonard

Dorothy Leonard’s research on innovation and knowledge transfer has always emphasized learning by doing. During the past several years, she has been exploring how organizations can foster faster skills learning. While there are generational differences in... View Details

December 2002 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Mount Auburn Hospital: Physician Order Entry

Mount Auburn Hospital is preparing to introduce a physician order entry (POE) system throughout the hospital, starting with the labor and delivery ward. POE systems replace paper-based and oral medication ordering processes with an information system; the physician... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Service Delivery; Information Technology; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Health Industry

Maria P. Roche

Maria Roche is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School. She teaches Strategy in the MBA required curriculum. Professor Roche studies the commercialization of specialized knowledge and the specific role of... View Details

Keywords: high technology; high technology; high technology

30 Nov 2017
HBS Seminar

Sabrin Beg, University of Delaware

January 2003 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Multinationals as Engines of Growth?

By: Geoffrey G. Jones

Reviews the issues surrounding estimating the impact over time of multinationals on host economies. Uses a series of short historical case studies, including the role of United Fruit in the "banana" republics of Central America, oil and banking in Iran before the... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Multinational Firms and Management; Trade; Growth and Development; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Globalized Economies and Regions; Iran; United States; Malaysia; Japan

February 1997 (Revised September 1998)
Case

American Management Systems, Inc.: The Knowledge Centers

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Sylvia Sensiper

Senior management at AMS, a business and information technology consulting company, is growing at 28% annually and assimilating 1,800 new hires a year. AMS has recently instituted a new knowledge management strategy, a group of six knowledge centers (virtual... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Management; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Consulting Industry; United States

April 2000 (Revised May 2000)
Case

Capital One Financial Corporation

By: Bharat N. Anand, Michael G. Rukstad and Christopher Paige

Designed to explore the structure, implementation, and sustainability of an information-based strategy (IBS) undertaken by Capital One during the 1990s. Particular issues of interest are the impact of mass customization on industry structure, the ability to transfer... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Industry Structures; Internet and the Web; Innovation Strategy; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Financial Services Industry; United States

Dorothy A. Leonard

Dorothy Leonard*, the William J. Abernathy Professor of Business Administration Emerita, joined the Harvard faculty in 1983 after teaching for three years at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has taught MBA courses in... View Details

Keywords: high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology

27 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 27

The Effect of Service Quality and Competition on Demand By: Balasubramanian, Karthik, and David F. Drake Abstract—The use of electronic money transfer through cellular networks ("mobile money") is rapidly increasing in the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

1994
Book

The Making of Global Enterprises

By: G. Jones

This volume presents new insights on the history of international business. Two main themes are addressed: how and when has global business developed over the last century? and what has been its impact on host economies? The volume includes a pioneering study by Mira... View Details

Keywords: Economic History; Business Subsidiaries; Economy; Trade; Globalized Firms and Management; Information Technology

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

The Knowledge Coach

years—developing a gut reaction that a particular candidate, while spectacular on paper, isn't a good fit for his portfolio company. At the end of the day, as Leonard and Swap argue in their new book, Deep Smarts: How to Cultivate and View Details

Keywords: by Dorothy Leonard & Walter Swap

November 2000
Case

WARDA: Leading a Rice Revolution in West Africa

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

The West Africa Rice Development Association, along with various national and international partners, was developing and transferring new rice technologies to farmers throughout West and Central Africa. While production in West Africa was growing faster than any other... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Government and Politics; Technological Innovation; Leadership; Performance Effectiveness; Problems and Challenges; Research and Development; Nonprofit Organizations; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Africa

03 Nov 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Pricing and Efficiency in the Market for IP Addresses

Keywords: by Benjamin Edelman & Michael Schwarz; Publishing

Research Summary

(formerly Leonard-Barton) Creating and Exploiting Knowledge-Based Assets

By: Dorothy A. Leonard

For the past decade, Dorothy Leonard's research has focused on how companies develop and exploit strategically advantageous knowledge assets. In her 1995 book Wellsprings of Knowledge (HBS Press), she identified and described in depth, activities that create and... View Details

Return migration and geography of innovation in MNEs

I study whether return migrants facilitate knowledge production by local employees working for them at geographically distant research and development (R&D) locations. Using unique personnel and patenting data for 1315 employees at the Indian R&D center of a... View Details

May 2016
Article

Return Migration and Geography of Innovation in MNEs: A Natural Experiment of Knowledge Production by Local Workers Reporting to Return Migrants

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury

I study whether return migrants facilitate knowledge production by local employees working for them at geographically distant R&D locations. Using unique personnel and patenting data for 1,315 employees at the Indian R&D center of a Fortune 500 technology firm, I... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Innovation and Invention