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20 Jun 2014
News

Innovation is not a side business to running a company—innovation is the business

Leading innovation is the foundation of a company's success—in bad times as well as good. This is the lesson Lynda M. Applegate, Baker Foundation Professor, has drawn from her research. Applegate has identified an approach to managing... View Details

01 Oct 2015
News

The Real Reason Men and Women Prefer Male Bosses

16 Dec 2014
News

Why Top-Down Management Doesn’t Work in the Fight Against Ebola

Keywords: management; ebola; government; leadership; teaming; collaboration; crises; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools

Web

IT Strategy: Empowering the Future of Generative AI Innovation at HBS | Information Technology

HBS IT and Harvard University IT (HUIT), the team ensured alignment with broader institutional goals and encouraged responsible exploration of AI tools. By collaborating across... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

By: Roberto Verganti

Roberto’s research focuses on how to create innovations that are meaningful for people, for society, and for their creators. He explores how leaders and organizations generate radically new visions, and make those visions come real. His studies lie at the intersection... View Details

Keywords: Integrated Design; Strategy; Design Thinking; Innovation; Artificial Intelligence; Design; Technology; Leadership; Innovation Strategy

June 2017
Article

The Political Economy of Financial Innovation: Evidence from Local Governments

By: Christophe Pérignon and Boris Vallée

We examine the toxic loans sold by investment banks to local governments. Using proprietary data, we show that politicians strategically use these products to increase chances of being re-elected. Consistent with greater incentives to hide the cost of debt, toxic loans... View Details

Keywords: Financial Innovation; Political Elections; Financing and Loans; Innovation and Invention

1999
Book

Marketing Kakushin no Jidai 3: Brand Kouchiku (The Age of Marketing Innovation 3: Brand Building)

By: Mitsuaki Shimaguchi, Hirotaka Takeuchi, Hotaka Katahira and Junzou Ishii

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Marketing

April 2022
Supplement

Mastercard Labs (B)

By: Linda A. Hill, Sunil Gupta, Emily Tedards and Julia Kelley

When Ajaypal (Ajay) Banga became the CEO of Mastercard in 2010, digital technologies were on the rise, and innovation needed to become a strategic imperative at the company. Banga tasked Garry Lyons, who had joined Mastercard through the 2009 acquisition of Orbiscom,... View Details

Summer 1991
Article

Breaking the Chains of Embedded Knowledge: Architectural Innovation as a Source of Competitive Advantage

By: Rebecca M. Henderson

Keywords: Knowledge; Design; Innovation and Invention; Competitive Advantage

May–June 1999
Article

From Spare Change to Real Change: The Social Sector as Beta Site for Business Innovation

By: R. M. Kanter

Keywords: Change; Innovation and Invention; Society

25 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 25, 2018

Taxation and Innovation in the 20th Century By: Akcigit, Ufuk, John Grigsby, Tom Nicholas, and Stefanie Stantcheva Abstract—This paper studies the effect of corporate View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

May 2017
Case

ATH Technologies: Making the Numbers

By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard

An exercise that takes students through five stages of growth in an entrepreneurial start-up in the medical devices industry: 1) founding, 2) growth, 3) push to profitability, 4) relocation process, and 5) takeover by new management. At each stage, students must... View Details

Keywords: Balancing Innovation And Control; Performance Evaluation; Strategy And Execution; Management Control Systems; Risk Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Profit; Geographic Location; Governance Controls; Innovation and Invention; Management Succession; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Educators

July 2016 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Alphabet Eyes New Frontiers (A)

By: Juan Alcacer, Raffaella Sadun, Olivia Hull and Kerry Herman

In October 2015, Google restructured into Alphabet, a holding company, which analysts said would facilitate innovation among its diverse subsidiaries. But when news reports surfaced revealing struggles within Alphabet companies including Nest, the smart thermostat... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Conglomerates; Corporate Restructuring; Google; Corporate Strategy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Research and Development; Diversification; Financial Reporting; Talent and Talent Management; Technology Industry; Computer Industry; California; United States

Educators

26 Mar 2021
News

4 Insights for Growing Faster From Harvard, MIT, and Wharton Professors

Web

Field Course: Business Plans for Innovating in Health Care, Q2 - Course Catalog

seriously on health care innovation because they are either running or want to start a firm immediately. Some, because they think their business will grow rapidly and create a successful career path for... View Details

February 2016
Article

Bridging Science and Technology Through Academic-Industry Partnerships

By: Sen Chai and Willy C. Shih

Partnerships that foster the translation of scientific advances emerging from academic research organizations into commercialized products at private firms are a policy tool that has attracted increased interest. This paper examines empirical data from the Danish... View Details

Keywords: Economic Development; Technological Change; Government Policy; Technological Innovation; Research and Development; Information Technology; Policy; Technology Industry; Denmark

June 2014 (Revised March 2016)
Teaching Note

Starbucks Coffee Company: Transformation and Renewal

By: Nancy F. Koehn