Publications

September 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Ze-gen: Commercializing Clean Tech

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Kaitlyn Lyons and Scott Prozeller

The Ze-gen case covers the first five years in the life of a clean-tech start-up. Ze-gen had developed an innovative technology that converted solid waste into synthesis gas (called syngas). This technology was in testing at the company's pilot plant, built next to the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Renewable Energy; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Environmental Sustainability; Commercialization; Green Technology Industry; New Bedford

September 2023 (Revised May 2025)
Teaching Note

On

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karolin Frankenberger, Sascha Mader, Jordan Mitchell and Karen Elterman

Teaching Note for "On," HBS Case No. 723-430. On is a premium performance running shoe company founded in Switzerland in 2010. The company rapidly gained traction through its unique CloudTec cushioning technology, its innovative midsole plate called the Speedboard, and... View Details

Web

Research - Global

company grew, it expanded into the mass market and developed a network of... June 2025 Case Bessemer Venture Partners (2025) By: Jo Tango and Srimayi Mylavarapu Bessemer Venture Partners, one of the oldest venture capital firms in the View Details

25 Sep 2006
Research & Ideas

How Software Platforms Revolutionize Business

Software Platforms Drive Innovation and Transform Industries, available October 4 from MIT Press. Evans is Managing Director of the Global Competitive Policy Practice at LEGC LLC. Hagiu is a professor in the Strategy View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Video Game; Web Services

September 2023 (Revised September 2023)
Supplement

On

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karolin Frankenberger, Sascha Mader, Jordan Mitchell and Karen Elterman

Slides to support the teaching of the On case, 723-430. On is a premium performance running shoe company founded in Switzerland in 2010. The company rapidly gained traction through its unique CloudTec cushioning technology, its innovative midsole plate called the... View Details

01 Sep 2023
News

Money Does Grow on (Family) Trees

stories of his great-grandmother Georgia Joyner, a sales agent for Madam C.J. Walker, the Black entrepreneur considered to be the first female self-made millionaire in the United States, and his great-great-great grandfather William... View Details

Keywords: April White; Illustrations by Fabio Consoli; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

Web

About | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

A Catalyst for Creating Social Value The Social Enterprise Initiative applies innovative business practices and managerial disciplines to drive sustained, high-impact social change. It's grounded in the mission of Harvard Business School... View Details

Web

California - Global

United States California – Silicon Valley Established in 1997, the California Research Center (CRC) enriches the intellectual activities of HBS faculty and fortifies the connection between the Boston campus and the West Coast. The... View Details

Web

Business & Environment - Faculty & Research

because this gap discourages research effort directed towards clean technologies. Carbon taxes and research subsidies may nonetheless encourage production and innovation in clean technologies, though the transition will typically be slow.... View Details

2008
Article

Market Leadership and Strategic Investments in Innovation: The Adoption of E-Business Capabilities

By: Kristina Steffenson McElheran

This study focuses on whether more-productive firms are more likely to adopt process innovations and why. The empirical context is the adoption of e-business practices among U.S. manufacturing plants in early 2000. Based on detailed data from the U.S. Census of... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Innovation Strategy; Leadership; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Advantage; Technology Adoption; Manufacturing Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

Web

General Management - Faculty & Research

more innovative subject areas in favor of incumbent vested interests. About the Unit The General Management Unit is concerned with the leadership and management of the... View Details

08 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

The Death of the Global Manager

coauthored the textbook and its updates with the late Sumantra Ghoshal (HBS DBA '86) and Paul W. Beamish of the University of Western Ontario. "The Japanese juggernaut had just come driving through the United States, challenging the... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

August 2014
Background Note

The Structure and Functioning of Art Markets

By: Mukti Khaire and Eleanor Kenyon

The production, valuation, and consumption of contemporary art are guided by cultural and economic forces that play out in primary and secondary markets. Artists seek the attention of art dealers, who, along with auction houses, play a large role in determining what is... View Details

Keywords: Art Dealer; Art Market; Arts; New York (city, NY)

06 Feb 2020
Research & Ideas

What We Learned from Reading Jeff Bezos’ Patents

patent activities at Amazon. To do so, we began by looking at Amazon’s patent history using the Derwent Innovation database for the years 1998-2018, which included more than 11,000 published patents in the View Details

Keywords: by Tricia Gregg and Boris Groysberg; Retail

March 1997 (Revised March 1997)
Case

Business Teams at Rubbermaid, Inc.

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Dean Whitney

Rubbermaid, a consumer-products company widely praised for its innovation, has instituted a company-wide experiment to stimulate innovation even further. The experiment consists of creating small cross-functional business teams within each division, with each team... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Innovation Strategy; Groups and Teams; Innovation and Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Consumer Products Industry; United States

Web

HBS - The year in Review

Black Boys United Raymond J. McGuire JD/MBA 1984 President, Lazard Antonis C. Samaras MBA 1976 Member, Hellenic Parliament, Greek Prime Minister, 2012–2015 Stephen A. Schwarzman MBA 1972 chairman, CEO, and cofounder, Blackstone More on... View Details

April 2011
Article

The Origins of Japanese Technological Modernization

By: Tom Nicholas

Explanations of Japanese technological modernization from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century have increasingly focused on domestic capabilities as opposed to the traditional emphasis on knowledge transfers from the West. Yet, the literature is mostly... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Sharing; Body of Literature; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Patents; Measurement and Metrics; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Economic Growth; Developing Countries and Economies; Information Technology; Technology Industry; Japan; Germany; Great Britain; United States