Publications

Educators

June 2005
Article

Failing to Learn and Learning to Fail (Intelligently): How Great Organizations Put Failure to Work to Innovate and Improve

By: M. D. Cannon and A. C. Edmondson

Keywords: Failure; Learning; Organizations; Labor; Innovation and Invention; Performance Improvement

March 2025
Article

Novice Risk Work: How Juniors Coaching Seniors on Emerging Technologies Such as Generative AI Can Lead to Learning Failures

By: Katherine C. Kellogg, Hila Lifshitz-Assaf, Steven Randazzo, Ethan Mollick, Fabrizio Dell'Acqua, Edward McFowland III, François Candelon and Karim R. Lakhani

The literature on communities of practice demonstrates that a proven way for senior professionals to upskill themselves in the use of new technologies that undermine existing expertise is to learn from junior professionals. It notes that juniors may be better able... View Details

Keywords: Rank and Position; Competency and Skills; Technology Adoption; Experience and Expertise; AI and Machine Learning

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1997
Dissertation

Dynamic Coordination and Creative Destruction--A Comparative Analysis of Incumbent Success and Failure in the Worldwide Hard Disk Drive Industry

By: Henry W. Chesbrough

December 2003
Article

Focusing Failures in Competitive Environments: Explaining Decision Errors in the Monty Hall Game, the Acquiring a Company Problem, and Multiparty Ultimatums

By: Avishalom Tor and Max H. Bazerman

Keywords: Failure; Competition; Decision Making; Problems and Challenges

December 2012 (Revised November 2014)
Case

W.R. Grace & Co.: Dealing with Asbestos Torts

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

A manufacturer of building products and specialty chemicals, W. R. Grace & Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001 in response to a flood of lawsuits alleging that its products contained asbestos, and had caused hundreds of thousands of people to contract... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy Reorganization; Business Failures; Environmental Regulations; Class Action Lawsuits; Natural Environment; Valuation; Health Disorders; Capital Structure; Restructuring; Lawsuits and Litigation; Chemicals; Crisis Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Legal Liability; Construction Industry; Chemical Industry; United States

Educators

2002
Working Paper

Effects of Demographic Factors and Provider Structures on the Cost and Length of Stay for Hemodialysis Patients with Vascular Access Failure

By: Louis Brenner, Dennis Campbell, Frances X. Frei and Ajay Singh

Article

The Social Purpose of Corporations

By: Nien-he Hsieh, Marco Meyer, David Rodin and Jens van ‘t Klooster

To think about the purpose of corporations is to think about what corporations are for. In this article, we argue that the concept of a purpose has an important role in thinking about the moral evaluation of corporations. We make three contributions. First, we... View Details

Keywords: Social Purpose; Corporate Purpose; The Corporation; Market Failures; Measurement Of Purpose; Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Ethics

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Article

Decreases In Readmissions Credited to Medicare's Program to Reduce Hospital Readmissions Have Been Overstated

By: Christopher Ody, Lucy Msall, Leemore S. Dafny, David Grabowski and David Cutler

Medicare’s Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) has been credited with lowering risk-adjusted readmission rates for targeted conditions at general acute care hospitals. However, these reductions appear to be illusory or overstated. This is because a... View Details

Keywords: Readmission Rates; Hospitals; Acute Care Hospitals; Medicare; Myocardial Infarction; Heart Failure; Health Care and Treatment

2023
Book

Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well

By: Amy Edmondson

A revolutionary guide that will transform your relationship with failure, from the pioneering researcher of psychological safety and award-winning Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson.

We used to think of failure as the opposite of success. Now,... View Details

Keywords: Failure; Success

05 Sep 2023
Book

Failing Well: How Your ‘Intelligent Failure’ Unlocks Your Full Potential

In the 1990s, after drugmaker Eli Lilly spent more than a decade and millions of dollars developing the new drug Alimta to treat lung cancer, the medication came up short in effectively treating cancer in expanded trials. While the View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

01 Nov 2017
What Do You Think?

What Are the Real Lessons of the Wells Fargo Case?

Duke do when she becomes chairman of Wells Fargo on January 1?” What do you think? ORIGINAL COLUMN Case studies used in business schools portray dilemmas faced by managers. Students diagnose the problem and recommend actions. They are thought to learn at least as much... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Banking

05 Sep 2023
Book

Thriving After Failing: How to Turn Your Setbacks Into Triumphs

Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson experienced her first big-stakes professional failure when she was just starting out in her academic career, some 30 years ago, after a decade working in engineering and consulting. Little... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

27 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

The Hidden Cost of a Product Recall

quantify the innovation risks and opportunities that recalls pose in one of the most R&D-intensive industries, medical technology. Product failures in medtech, where the cost to bring a device to the market can top $90 million, can... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Auto; Medical Devices & Supplies

November–December 2023
Article

Keep Your AI Projects on Track

By: Iavor Bojinov

AI—and especially its newest star, generative AI—is today a central theme in corporate boardrooms, leadership discussions, and casual exchanges among employees eager to supercharge their productivity. Sadly, beneath the aspirational headlines and tantalizing potential... View Details

Keywords: Generative Models; AI and Machine Learning; Success; Failure; Product Development; Technology Adoption

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2021
Book

Why Startups Fail: A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Why Startups Fail explores entrepreneurial failure, examining its predictable patterns, how to avoid them, and how to cope when failure does occur. Part I looks at three common failure patterns for early-stage startups, illustrating each with an anchor case... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Failure; Success; Framework

16 May 2023
In Practice

After Silicon Valley Bank's Flameout, What's Next for Entrepreneurs?

muted-than-expected impact of SVB’s failure indicates that many startups might be less limited by financing frictions than we thought. This is a good thing! While there are many barriers to venture growth—from challenges in getting the... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Technology; Financial Services

May 2018
Case

Harvest City: The Intelligent Procurement System Project

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Ramiro Montealegre

The Harvest City case describes the implementation of a cloud- and IoT-based intelligent procurement system at a new convention complex in the U.S. Midwest. The decision to build a convention complex is a strategic initiative for this city and involves extensive use of... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Projects; Management; Decision Making; Business and Government Relations; Information Technology Industry

Educators