Creativity - Publications - Faculty & Research

26 Sep 2011
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Lady Gaga

Elberse. "That was just three years ago, and now she is, by many measures, the biggest celebrity on the planet. Gaga is a marketing phenomenon." This fall, Elberse will teach a case on Lady Gaga's meteoric career in her popular second-year MBA course,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Entertainment & Recreation; Music

Web

ICIC - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

Promote a dynamic urban marketplace powered by diversity, creative enterprise, and untapped competitive advantages Determine the industry clusters with the highest market opportunity for inner city business growth and job creation Teach... View Details

Research Summary

3D Negotiaton

By: James K. Sebenius

In articles and books, often with David Lax, I have been developing a broad approach to effective negotiation that encompasses three "dimensions." In this "3D" approach, our first dimension — "tactics"-- is the most familiar territory. Tactics are the persuasive... View Details

25 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Why IT Does Matter

competence, and free up resources, which can be used to combine data bits in creative ways to add value. Relatively bulletproof operational reliability will be a key part of the price of success. Back-office or server farms, help desks,... View Details

Keywords: by F. Warren McFarlan & Richard L. Nolan

05 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

The Accidental Innovator

takes a considerable capability to see the value in an accident, and to build upon it to create even more value. I became interested in this subject when I was interviewing artists about their creative processes and discovered that many... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

10 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Taking Advantage of Life’s (Few and Far Between) Inflection Points

colleagues or bosses why I regularly took time to meet with him. On this particular morning I was telling Howard about my friend Michelle, whose boss had unexpectedly announced her retirement. Michelle is an extraordinarily creative and... View Details

Keywords: Re: Howard H. Stevenson

07 Nov 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Sir Alex Ferguson--Managing Manchester United

Anita Elberse, a Professor of Business Administration in the Marketing unit at Harvard Business School, studies high performers in creative industries—from basketball superstar LeBron James to pop diva Lady Gaga, from actor Tom Cruise to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Sports; Entertainment & Recreation

02 May 2022
What Do You Think?

Can the Case Method Survive Another Hundred Years?

opinion from the instructor, the traditional response from the instructor is, “What do you think?” I’ve been asking it in this space for 22 years this month. "The case method requires that instructors often pass control of the learning process to the class." View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Education

01 Sep 2023
News

End Game

Illustration by James Steinberg In the 1960s and 1970s, as the environmental movement dawned in the United States, a new generation of activist-minded entrepreneurs appeared. Among them were companies like Body Shop, Aveda, Tom’s of Maine, and Whole Foods—all founded... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

Portrait Project

Amy Long

smashing. Now, I write — but only in bullets, always in threes, and never below the fold. In the commodities business, there is only fact, never fiction. Yet even as I tamped down my creative side in favor of the analytical, it reared up... View Details

04 Feb 2010
What Do You Think?

What’s the Best Way to Make Careful Decisions?

to help predict the future, it may be a good idea to refer to it. But in most cases, the decision maker is posed with a unique challenge." Vanitha Rangganathan, arguing for the role of intuition in the creative process, commented... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Jun 2022
News

A Sustainable Solution for Fashion

creative decisions that really matter, while the repeatable actions are done by a sophisticated machine.” Theuerkauf came to HBS with a good understanding of the problem. He and Stockmann formulated the Syrup solution after meeting in... View Details

Keywords: April White

01 Jun 2022
What Do You Think?

Is Stakeholder Management Facing New Headwinds?

Washington Kinyanjui summed it up by saying, “This is a method that sends the students to task, and while at it their creative thinking juices flow, and much as their ideas may differ one from another, the engagement will leave everyone... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

27 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

Rituals Strengthen Couples. Here’s Why They’re Good for Business, Too

Sezer, and Michael I. Norton Garcia-Rada says companies could find creative ways to leverage the research results, for example by figuring out how they can foster relationship rituals in consumers. "Most companies that sell products and... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

23 Apr 2018
Research & Ideas

Sponsorship Programs Could Actually Widen the Gender Gap

participants, the introduction of a sponsor had no significant effect on the choice to compete; this was true even when the protégés were told they had been specially chosen by a sponsor. “I think it’s great that we’re being more creative... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

10 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

The COVID Two-Step for Leaders: Protect and Pivot

keep the team progressing toward their goal, but to properly address all concerns raised along the way. Use the “clean sheet of paper” exercise to think creatively about company processes Another best practice is to perform the clean... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly Baden

16 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

Luxury Isn’t What It Used to Be

ongoing enticement for Birnbaum and the other alumni interviewed for this article. "Luxury goods are in essence a highly creative field," notes Thuy T. Tranthi (HBS MBA '93), president of Thomas Pink USA, the London-based... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Consumer Products

Web

Frequently Asked Questions | HBS Online

participation evaluated? Your participation score will be based on the quality of your contributions across four areas: Required in-course elements, such as in-course reflections, cold calls, and shared reflections Peer Help (answering questions, sharing particularly... View Details

March 2010 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Systems Infrastructure at Google (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Stecker

This case describes how a senior vice president of engineering at Google, Bill Coughran, leads a high-performing engineering organization. The case focuses specifically on Coughran's encouraging two teams of engineers to develop competing solutions for application... View Details

Keywords: Independent Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Leadership Development; Product Design; Groups and Teams; Creativity; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Strategy; Technology Industry; United States

Citation

Educators

Purchase

01 Apr 2020
Blog Post

The Product Design Sprint - 5 Things I Learned in Launch Lab 1

ideas into primary categories, and then use those overarching principals to inform our actual designs. This process helped us be creative in a controlled way and led us to great solutions. 5. Remember, your team is everything. For any new... View Details

Publications