Publications

October 1987 (Revised October 1989)
Background Note

Moving Ideas into Action: Mastering the Art of Change

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Discusses elements in organizing a large scale change effort: defining a shared vision, coalition building, management structure and process, communication and education, local participation and innovation, standards and measures, and symbols and signals. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Communication; Policy; Innovation and Invention; Standards; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy

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February 1985 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Health Stop (A): What Type of Innovation Is It? And Six Factors Alignment

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Joyce Lallman, Nancy Kane, Jefferson C. Grahling and James Wallace

How can we evaluate if innovative health care ventures can do good—benefit society—and do well—become financially viable? This question is the topic of the first module in the Innovating In Health Care course book. This note and case series enables readers to conduct... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Strategy; Valuation; Health Industry; Retail Industry

2001
Chapter

The Technological Dimension of Competitive Strategy

By: M. E. Porter

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Technology

March 1982 (Revised September 1985)
Case

Sealed Air Corporation

By: Robert J. Dolan

Market leadership and technological innovation have marked Sealed Air's participation in the U.S. protective packaging market. Several small regional producers have introduced products which are less effective than Sealed Air's but similar in appearance and cheaper.... View Details

Keywords: Product Marketing; Product; Technological Innovation; Supply and Industry; Competitive Advantage; Consumer Products Industry; United States

September 1981 (Revised August 1987)
Case

CIBA-GEIGY Agricultural Division

By: Benson P. Shapiro and Roy H. Schoeman

In 1979 Leo Bontempo, marketing vice president of Ciba-Geigy Agricultural Division was deciding whether to purchase an $840,000 program for TeleSession. This was a marketing service designed to accelerate the adoption of new products among large innovative growers by... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Communication; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

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October 1976 (Revised February 1987)
Case

Cramer Electronics, Inc.

By: Michael E. Porter

Designed to be the second day of a two-day series on the electronic component distribution industry, following a day spent discussing Note on the Electronic Component Distribution Industry and Raytheon Co.: Diversification. The important teaching themes which this case... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Innovation Strategy; Management Style; Resource Allocation; Opportunities; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry

Forthcoming
Article

Beefing IT Up for Your Investor? Engagement with Open Source Communities, Innovation, and Startup Funding: Evidence from GitHub

By: Annamaria Conti, Christian Peukert and Maria P. Roche

We study the engagement of nascent firms with open source communities and its implications for innovation and attracting funding. To do so, we link data on 160,065 U.S. startups from Crunchbase to their activities on the open source software development platform... View Details

Keywords: Startups; Knowledge; Open Source Communities; GitHub; Machine Learning; Innovation; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Information Technology; Strategy

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Teaching Interest

Competing in the Age of Digital Platforms—(Executive Education)

By: David B. Yoffie

Summary

Without exception, the most valuable companies in the world today are platforms. Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and many other firms have built their fortunes by facilitating innovation across global ecosystems or... View Details

Keywords: Platforms; Technology; Strategy; Digital Business; Social Networks; Self-driving Cars; Mobile Gaming; Esports; Financial Services; Online Retail; Ride-sharing; Search; Auctions; United States; Asia; China; Europe

Forthcoming
Article

Confronting the Limits of Symbolic Actions: How Entrepreneurs Narrow the Presentation-Performance Gap

By: Rebecca Karp and Siobhan O'Mahony

Entrepreneurs often skillfully leverage symbolic actions to manage impressions and gain acceptance for their innovations. Impression management can generate interest, but also heighten expectations beyond an innovation’s capabilities, creating a gap between... View Details

Keywords: Digital Innovation; Integration Strategy; Impression Management; Innovation Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Health Industry; Technology Industry

Research Summary

Creating ‘Smart’ Policy to Promote Entrepreneurship and Innovation

By: Karen Mills

Entrepreneurship is a key to unlocking innovation and fostering regional and national economic productivity. Extensive studies demonstrate that small and young firms contribute to innovation and employment growth. But which of the many types of small firms are... View Details

Teaching Interest

DESIGN THEORY AND PRACTICE ES285

By: Roberto Verganti

Any organization, business or venture grounds its value on how “meaningful” are its products (functionally, symbolically and emotionally). Design Theory and Practice (DTP) empowers students to create products that are meaningful, to people who use them and to... View Details

Keywords: Integrated Design; Leadership; User Experience Design; Design; Strategy; Technology; Product Design

Teaching Interest

Field Course: Social Innovation Lab

By: Brian L. Trelstad

Co-taugh with Prof. John Kim

This course provides students an opportunity to use the discipline of entrepreneurial... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Social Enterprise

Teaching Interest

Harvard Business Analytics Program

By: Michael L. Tushman

The Harvard Business Analytics Program is offered through a collaboration between Harvard Business School (HBS), the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS).

Designed for... View Details

Article

Ideation with Generative AI—In Consumer Research and Beyond

By: Julian De Freitas, G. Nave and Stefano Puntoni

The use of large language models (LLMs) in consumer research is rapidly evolving, with applications including synthetic data generation, data analysis, and more. However, their role in creative ideation—a cornerstone of consumer research—remains underexplored. Drawing... View Details

Keywords: Large Language Model; AI and Machine Learning; Creativity; Innovation Strategy