Defense Innovation Unit - Publications - Faculty & Research

2016
Working Paper

Big History, Global Corporations, Virtual Capitalism

Homo sapiens has mastered its environment so thoroughly that, for the first time in history, a small minority of the population is capable of creating enough food and fuels to support not only itself, but also a growing majority of the 6 billion people now living on... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Internet and the Web; Innovation and Invention; United States

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11 Jan 2021
Research & Ideas

Is A/B Testing Effective? Evidence from 35,000 Startups

inexperience in how to apply the methodologies. Another possibility? Their ideas just weren’t that good. “I think one of the coolest findings in our paper is that experimentation doesn’t necessarily drive startup growth,” says Rembrand Koning, an assistant professor in... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

18 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

When It Comes to Climate Regulation, Energy Companies Take a More Nuanced View

Common wisdom holds that oil and gas companies, electric utilities, and other industries known for their large carbon emissions generally oppose clean energy policies. Now, a study of corporate advocacy spanning 30 years reveals that many companies are more flexible... View Details

Keywords: by Desmond Dodd; Energy; Utilities

28 Nov 2023
Book

Economic Growth Draws Companies to Asia. Can They Handle Its Authoritarian Regimes?

case of China, businesspeople outside of China have found the regime’s efficiency and the country’s market size and innovation ecosystem attractive, and with good reason. But many people misunderstand how power is practiced in China. The... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

07 Dec 2021
Op-Ed

Want to Build Better Leaders? Focus on Mindset, Skills, Knowledge

down and gain insight into how they think. When you engage with direct reports, inquire about the beliefs that underpin their assumptions. Avoid questions that begin with “why,” as they tend to place people on the defensive and stifle... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and Shawnette Rochelle

06 Sep 2004
Research & Ideas

The Innovator’s Battle Plan

cramming? Managers tend to adopt innovations in ways that make sense to their businesses. They know the markets their companies serve. Those markets appear large and measurable. The companies have established processes to help them... View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen, Scott D. Anthony & Erik A. Roth

22 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

Restoring a Global Economy, 1950–1980

United States in a uniquely powerful position. While Europe and Asia had experienced extensive destruction and loss of life, no battles had been fought on the soil of the United States. The U.S. dollar... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

22 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

Open Source Software: The $9 Trillion Resource Companies Take for Granted

Hoffmann, a postdoctoral scholar at the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH) at the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard, and Yanuo Zhou, a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto. To quantify the dollar value... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Computer; Information Technology; Technology

Web

Sample Student Projects - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

Cluster (2012) Turkey Automotive (2011) Turkey & The Construction Services Cluster (2007) Uganda Uganda Fishing Cluster (2010) United Arab Emirates Dubai Logistics Cluster (2015) Abu Dhabi (UAE) Petrochemical Cluster (2012) Dubai (UAE)... View Details

20 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

The 5 Strategy Rules of Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

If there were a Mount Rushmore for technological innovation, Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs would be the faces looking outward. The longtime CEOs of Microsoft, Intel, and Apple have done more than anyone to popularize the modern-day personal computer, and in... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Computer

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

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01 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Encouraging Dissent in Decision-Making

along" seem crude and outdated workplace mantras when contrasted with the sophistication of modern business, yet they are still considered sound advice. Compensating Candor HBS professor Max Bazerman of the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

05 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 5, 2006

outgroup victims after a natural disaster, and whether these inferences predict intergroup helping. Two weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck the southern United States, White and non-White participants were asked to infer the emotional... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Human Behavior & Decision-Making - Faculty & Research

Across a field setting (three entrepreneurial pitch competitions in the United States) and two experiments, we identify a profound and consistent gender gap in entrepreneur persuasiveness. Investors prefer pitches presented by male... View Details

29 Jan 2018
Book

How 'Teaming' Saved 33 Lives in the Chilean Mining Disaster

We offer the rescue as an extraordinary example of extreme teaming, to illustrate the enormous potential of diverse experts coming together to innovate to overcome a nearly impossible challenge. The case illustrates the centrality of... View Details

Keywords: by Amy C. Edmondson; Mining

Profile

Merve Ciplak

“I worked with a small group of former consultants,” she says, “who become the Innovation and Change Management Team for the Programme. We worked with operations teams all over the world, doing ad hoc consulting projects for field offices... View Details

March 1991 (Revised April 1995)
Case

IBP and the U.S. Meat Industry

By: David J. Collis and Nancy Donohue

IBP, the largest U.S. beef and pork processor, is facing deteriorating earnings and undertakes a fundamental strategic review in 1990. Having grown from its founding in 1961 to its current position as a low cost, innovative producer of boxed beef, and more recently... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Product; Competition; Business Earnings; Geography; Vertical Integration; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

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01 Aug 2006
First Look

First Look: August 1, 2006

early strategic contingencies tend to misfit later ones. Over time, innovating units must either minimize the negative effects of misfit, or make difficult changes in design. Using four paired case studies,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Dutch Leonard

Herman B. ("Dutch") Leonard is Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and the George F. Baker, Jr. Professor of Public Sector Management at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In... View Details

Keywords: education industry; federal government; health care; nonprofit industry; state government

May 2003
Case

Sun Hydraulics: Leading in Tough Times (A) (Abridged)

By: Linda A. Hill and Jennifer Suesse

Sun Hydraulics, 32-year-old global hydraulics engineering and manufacturing company headquartered in Sarasota, Florida; confronts tough choices due to the economic downturn in 2001. The company leadership debates how to maintain profitability and reduce labor costs... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Mission and Purpose; Financial Crisis; Crisis Management; Manufacturing Industry; Florida

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