Idea Generation - Publications - Faculty & Research

20 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Five Discovery Skills that Distinguish Great Innovators

meditation and living in an ashram in India to dropping in on a calligraphy class at Reed College. All these varied experiences would later trigger ideas for innovations at Apple Computer. Collectively, these discovery skills—the... View Details

Keywords: by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gergersen & Clayton M. Christensen

20 Apr 2021
Book

A Simple Question That Can Guide Companies to Epic Success

It’s simple: They create the most value, says Harvard Business School Professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee. In almost every segment of the economy, the very best companies lead their peers by wide margins. They take share by building on proven View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

22 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

Humans vs. Machines: Untangling the Tasks AI Can (and Can't) Handle

Knowing when to use artificial intelligence and when to rely on the human mind is a shifting fine line, one delineated by new research that shows considerable benefit and speed from generative AI—if it’s applied to the right tasks. What... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology; Technology

15 Mar 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

More Than 900 Examples of How Climate Change Affects Business

This word cloud is composed of blog posts by more than 900 students describing how individual organizations are likely to be affected by climate change. Image by Patrick Clapp Last fall, first-year MBA students at Harvard Business School received a new assignment in... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Green Technology

2024
Working Paper

Bounded Solidarity: The Role of Migrants in Shaping Entrepreneurial Ventures

By: Astrid Marinoni and Prithwiraj Choudhury

We explore a previously unexamined aspect of migrants’ contributions to local entrepreneurial ecosystems: the value created by cooperative interactions between migrants and locals in entrepreneurial ventures. Specifically, we analyze whether mixed teams composed of... View Details

Keywords: Migration; Mobility; Entrepreneurship; Immigration; Demographics; Groups and Teams

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23 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

How to Keep Employees Productive: Support Caregivers

Can Apprenticeships Work in the US? Employers Seeking New Talent Pipelines Take Note 5 Companies Where Employees Move Up the Ladder Fast Feedback or ideas to share? Email the Working Knowledge team at hbswk@hbs.edu. Image note:... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

03 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

The Truck Driver Who Reinvented Shipping

got behind the wheel again. Not just one trailer, or two of them, or five, or a dozen, but hundreds, on one ship. During this setback in his life, when he almost lost his business, McLean came across the idea that changed his destiny. The... View Details

Keywords: by Anthony J. Mayo & Nitin Nohria; Manufacturing; Transportation; Aerospace

2017
Article

High-Stakes Innovation: When Collaboration Undermines (and Sometimes Enhances) Innovation

By: Johnathan Cromwell and Heidi K. Gardner

Organizations must constantly innovate, or else they may suffer consequences that range in severity. In low-stakes situations, they may lose a small opportunity for growth; and in high-stakes situations, they may lose significant market share that threatens their... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Collaboration; Teams; Creativity Teams; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Groups and Teams; Creativity

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August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (A)

By: Willy Shih

This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Henry Ford's Model T was a car for the masses. After considerable experimentation, Ford Motor... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Exploration; Dominant Design; Business Growth and Maturation; Business History; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan

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19 Sep 2023
HBS Case

How Will the Tech Titans Behind ChatGPT, Bard, and LLaMA Make Money?

Artificial Intelligence Be Regulated—if at All? Is AI Coming for Your Job? Feedback or ideas to share? Email the Working Knowledge team at hbswk@hbs.edu. Image: AI Generation View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Technology; Information Technology

15 Dec 2021
Research & Ideas

The 10 Most Popular Articles of 2021

by Cynthia Montgomery and Ashley Whillans show how mistreating workers can have deadly consequences. 6. Dying to Lead: How Reaching the Top Can Kill You Sooner A study of General Electric employees by Tom Nicholas shows how the stress of... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

12 Mar 2012
Research & Ideas

Crowded at the Top: The Rise of the Functional Manager

direct reports in 1986 to an average of 10 today. The growth is driven almost entirely by an increase in the number of C-level "functional" managers, rather than by an increase in general managers. These days, along with the CEO... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

09 Jan 2024
In Practice

Harnessing AI: What Businesses Need to Know in ChatGPT’s Second Year

complex issues. This efficiency in content creation not only accelerates innovation but also opens up new avenues for strategic problem-solving. So, what role should humans play? Generative AI’s strength is to develop View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology

March 2018 (Revised January 2020)
Supplement

STRIVR (B): Moving into the Enterprise

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

STRIVR, a company focused on virtual reality training, has decided to shift focus from sports to enterprise customers. The change in strategy requires the CEO to solve a number of issues. The company initally offered training for hard skills, but clients have been... View Details

Keywords: Strivr; Virtual Reality; Soft Skills; Hard Skills; VR; Applications and Software; Market Entry and Exit; Business Strategy; Training; Sports; Technology Industry; Education Industry; United States

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Dec 17 2018
Interview

Challenge Yourself to Change

10 Jan 2013
Working Paper Summaries

The Novelty Paradox & Bias for Normal Science: Evidence from Randomized Medical Grant Proposal Evaluations

Keywords: by Kevin J. Boudreau, Eva C. Guinan, Karim R. Lakhani & Christoph Riedl; Health

13 Dec 2011
News

Harvard Business School Launches U.S. Competitiveness Project

26 Apr 2011
Working Paper Summaries

The Contingent Effect of Absorptive Capacity: An Open Innovation Analysis

Keywords: by Andrew A. King & Karim R. Lakhani

20 Aug 2008
Op-Ed

The Time is Right for Creative Capitalism

integrated into a broad, often global, web of relationships. A fourth catalyst is transparency. Leaders and organizations of all kinds are increasingly operating in glasshouses. The explosion in transparency wrought by a global media, great leaps in connectivity, and a... View Details

Keywords: by Nancy Koehn

February 2024
Case

Adventures Inc: 21st Century Brand Building

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

Founded in 2020, Adventures worked with celebrities in Brazil to create and launch digitally native brands. The idea was to match the celebrity’s skill in creating content and entertaining fans with Adventures’ skill in consumer packaged goods marketing and operations.... View Details