Publications

Read Now

01 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

Sometimes Success Begins at Failure

ideas that have been rejected internally. VCs are adept at crafting business models for emerging technologies, and they can experiment with nascent technologies in emerging markets far more effectively than can most large organizations.... View Details

Keywords: by Henry Chesbrough; Health; Pharmaceutical

19 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

Business Research that Makes for Smarter Public Policy

to fill little gaps in the literature, and I continue to think that was excellent advice.” Just as researchers in the life sciences often target their work to tackle the most dangerous diseases, so argues Moss, social scientists can make... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

2025
Working Paper

Too Much, Too Soon? Early Funding, Technological Unconventionality, and Innovation Capabilities

By: Harsh Ketkar and Maria Roche

The availability of financial resources significantly shapes firm innovation outcomes, especially for early-stage, innovation-focused technology firms. However, prior research has provided conflicting findings about this relationship: On the one hand, resource... View Details

Keywords: Startups; Technology Strategy; Novelty; Unconventionality; Resource Constraints; Early Stage Firms; Business Startups; Technological Innovation; Entrepreneurial Finance

SSRN

Read Now

20 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How Small Businesses Can Survive the Coronavirus Outbreak

from that experience in recent weeks as she helps government officials explore ways to shore up the 30 million small businesses that provide almost half of the country’s jobs. THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS More Business-Related Pandemic Coverage... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Service; Food & Beverage

November 2024
Case

Demond Martin and WellWithAll

By: Hise Gibson, Archie L. Jones and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

This case study chronicles the transformative entrepreneurial path of Demond Martin, co-founder and CEO of WellWithAll, a health and wellness startup. Motivated by a pivotal life experience and deep concern for racial health inequities, Martin transitions from a... View Details

Educators

April 2013
Article

Making a Difference Matters: Impact Unlocks the Emotional Benefits of Prosocial Spending

By: Lara B. Aknin, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Ashley V. Whillans, Adam M. Grant and Michael I. Norton

When does giving lead to happiness? Here, we present two studies demonstrating that the emotional benefits of spending money on others (prosocial spending) are unleashed when givers are aware of their positive impact. In Study 1, an experiment using real... View Details

Keywords: Prosocial Spending; Prosocial Impact; Subjective Well Being; Donations; Happiness; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

Read Now

17 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

Resisting the Seductions of Success

third problem is his steadily eroding autonomy. To others, he looks like an extraordinarily independent, active man, but his own experience of day-by-day life is very different. He feels he has few degrees... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.; Entertainment & Recreation; Information; Publishing

2018
Working Paper

Status Inconsistency: Variance in One's Status Across Groups Harms Well-being but Improves Perspective-taking

By: Catarina Fernandes and Alison Wood Brooks

Most people belong to many different groups. While some people experience consistently high or low status across all of their groups, others experience wildly different levels of status in each group. In this research, we examine how status inconsistency – the degree... View Details

Keywords: Status; Social Hierarchies; Well-being; Perspective Taking; Status and Position; Groups and Teams; Satisfaction; Perspective

2012
Chapter

The Confederacy of Heterogeneous Software Organizations and Heterogeneous Developers: Field Experimental Evidence on Sorting and Worker Effort

By: Kevin J. Boudreau and Karim R. Lakhani

Software development occurs in a patchwork or "confederacy" of different types of institutions (universities, small start-ups, multinational enterprises, government agencies, etc.) utilizing varied work approaches. Here we speculate on one possible explanation for this... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Applications and Software; Product Development; Organizations; Employees; Behavior; Competition; Cooperation; Creativity; Information Technology Industry

02 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

Negotiating in Three Dimensions

entrepreneurs who must come to productive terms with investors, potential employees and board members, technology partners, distributors, and possible acquisitions as well as would-be acquirers. Yet beyond such formal deals, negotiation is increasingly a way of View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

09 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

Andy Grove: A Biographer’s Tale

Tedlow, a noted business historian on the HBS faculty and the MBA class of 1949 Professor of Business Administration. His latest book (Andy Grove: The Life and Times of an American) is a biography of Andy Grove, a founding father of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Computer

11 Jun 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching the Next Generation of Energy Executives

You may think that being an energy executive—especially a manager in a leading oil company—might be the easiest job around. Just flip the production switch, and watch gas prices head toward $4 a gallon. But students enrolled in Harvard Business School professor Forest... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Energy; Utilities

30 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

All Eyes on Slovakia’s Flat Tax

an HBS alumnus in Vienna, Georg Kasperkovitz (HBS MBA 1999), and decided to highlight Slovakia's experience when we realized that the flat tax was one of the hot topics. Meanwhile, we were witnessing "reform fatigue" within the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

May 11, 2020
Article

Steer Your Family Businesses Through an Unplanned Transition

By: Josh Baron and Nick Di Loreto

In a perfect world, family businesses will transition leadership from one generation to the next along a predictable and well-planned process — whether that’s determined within the business, the ownership group, or the family itself — passing the baton after years of... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Planning; Family Business; Management Succession

Register to Read

March 2019 (Revised June 2021)
Case

HelloSelf: Foundation

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On January 6, 2019, HelloSelf, a London-based “BrainTech” company, founded a year earlier by Charles Wells, soft launched. The proposition was simply to help its members “Be your Best Self.” The company provided its registered members with access to a clinical... View Details

Educators

April 1998
Case

Jim Lyons and GenRad

Lyons, currently CEO of Harry Gray Associates, a consulting and investment firm, had just been approached by an executive recruiter representing GenRad, a 78-year-old electronics company headquartered in Concord, MA. The company, which manufactured integrated software... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Management Succession; Personal Development and Career; Consulting Industry; Massachusetts

November 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Liz Claiborne and the New Working Woman

By: Anthony Mayo and Mark Benson

At age 47, with two decades of experience as a lead designer for a Fortune 500 fashion company, Liz Claiborne put her life savings on the line to form Liz Claiborne, Inc., a partnership that included her husband. A decade later, in 1986, Claiborne was CEO of her own... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Entrepreneurship; Business History; Leadership; Gender; Brands and Branding; Personal Development and Career; Apparel and Accessories Industry

Educators