Publications

01 Mar 2004
Lessons from the Classroom

Mission to Mars: It Really Is Rocket Science

In a recent case study, professor Alan MacCormack and research associate Jay Wynn swung for the moon—Mars, actually. After two high-profile missions to Mars failed in 2000, MacCormack wanted to understand the View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

August 2021
Teaching Note

Moderna (A)

By: Marco Iansiti, Karim R. Lakhani, Kerry Herman and Amy Klopfenstein

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 621-032. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Operations; Management; Health Pandemics; Research and Development; Goals and Objectives

April 2009
Case

GSK's Acquisition of Sirtris: Independence or Integration?

By: Toby E. Stuart and James Weber

An executive from pharmaceutical company GSK must choose how much to integrate a recently acquired biotechnology firm, Sirtris. Moncef Slaoui, GSK's global head of R&D, championed the acquisition of Sirtris to gain access to its potentially revolutionary science.... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Resource Allocation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Integration

October 2017
Article

Elevating Repositioning Costs: Strategy Dynamics and Competitive Interactions

By: Anoop R. Menon and Dennis Yao

This paper proposes an approach for modeling competitive interactions that incorporates the costs to firms of changing strategy. The costs associated with strategy modifications, which we term “repositioning costs,” are particularly relevant to competitive interactions... View Details

Keywords: ＂Repositioning Costs; Strategy Dynamics; Strategic Interaction; Capabilities; Cost; Strategy; Change; Game Theory; Organizational Change and Adaptation

Find at Harvard

14 Nov 2007
Research & Ideas

Growing CEOs from the Inside

leadership, to draw on his 40 years of research and teaching experience at Harvard Business School to discuss the issues surrounding CEO succession. Sean Silverthorne: What's wrong with the way most companies today pick CEOs? Joseph... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Employment

30 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

Readers Ask: I Need Tips for Working at Home

School, studies how location and geographic mobility affect worker productivity and innovation. His research also examines how companies benefit by allowing employees to work remotely. Choudhury answered questions from participants in a... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

October 2012
Case

GSK's Acquisition of Sirtris: Independence or Integration? (Abridged)

By: Toby Stuart and James Weber

An executive from pharmaceutical company GSK must choose how much to integrate a recently acquired biotechnology firm, Sirtris. Moncef Slaoui, GSK's global head of R&D, championed the acquisition of Sirtris to gain access to its potentially revolutionary science.... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Resource Allocation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Integration

31 Oct 2006
HBS Case

Governing Sumida Corporation

examines how CEO Shigeyuki ("Shiggi") Yawata moves Sumida toward a U.S.-inspired "committee system" for its board of directors, the first Japanese company to do so. The case was a collaborative project undertaken by Professor Lynn Paine and Japan... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Electronics

June 2014
Supplement

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (B)

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Bethany Gerstein and Melissa Valentine

In 2006, the leadership team at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. had to decide whether to keep its R&D organization in functional departments or restructure it into interdisciplinary teams. This case follows the outcomes of this decision from 2006 to mid-2014, and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Design; Groups and Teams; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Research and Development; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

23 Mar 2020
Working Paper Summaries

The Effects of Hierarchy on Learning and Performance in Business Experimentation

Keywords: by Sourobh Ghosh, Stefan H. Thomke, and Hazjier Pourkhalkhali

02 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 2

Evidence from a Field Experiment Authors: Kevin Boudreau, Tom Brady, Ina Ganguli, Patrick Gaule, Eva Guinan, Karim Lakhani, and Tony Hollenberg Abstract We present the results of a field experiment conducted within the Harvard Medical School system of hospitals and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

Manly Men, Oil Platforms, and Breaking Stereotypes

of dimensions, from leadership style to negotiation skills to work values, but neglects the organizational features that underlie such differences. This body of research runs the risk of reifying... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

13 Mar 2007
First Look

First Look: March 13, 2007

that facilitate teamwork has been a pursuit of researchers for nearly a half-century. We review existing literature on teams and team learning in organizational behavior and technology and innovation to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

14 May 2001
Research & Ideas

Are You Managing To a ‘T’? Time To Break With Tradition

conditions, it also can lead to competition between units, which may hoard, rather than share, expertise. By encouraging collaboration, a T-shaped management system can be a powerful counterbalance to such negative behavior. Our research... View Details

Keywords: by Morten T. Hansen & Bolko Von Oetinger

12 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

‘Hybrid’ Organizations a Difficult Bet for Entrepreneurs

venture. (The researchers corrected for age in their analysis.) Lee and Battilana explain this finding by pointing out that as people stay in a certain type of organization for a number of years, they may become more rigid in their modes... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

30 Dec 2013
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2013

productivity and quality of care can be increased by uncovering organizational factors associated with operational failures so that hospitals can reduce the frequency with which these failures occur. View Details

Keywords: by Staff

March 2008 (Revised June 2008)
Case

The Broad Institute: Applying the Power of Genomics to Medicine

By: Vicki L. Sato and Rachel Gordon

In June 2003, Harvard University and MIT announced an unprecedented partnership to create a biomedical institute, The Broad Institute. The culture of the Broad centered on science, and those involved considered it to be at the edge of the scientific frontier. In just... View Details

Keywords: Education; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Genetics