Publications

2024
Working Paper

Dusting Off the Old Ones: Drug Licensing to Startups, Innovation Success and Efficiency

By: Mosab Hammoudeh, Joshua Lev Krieger and Jiajie Xu

This paper investigates whether moving R&D from incumbents to startups can increase innovation. Using comprehensive drug development data, we examine the outcomes of drug projects licensed from large firms to startups. We find that these projects licensed to startups... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Innovation and Invention; Business Startups; Research and Development; Performance Efficiency; Pharmaceutical Industry

2025
Book

The World Is Your Office: How Work from Anywhere Boosts Talent, Productivity, and Innovation

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury

A research-based look at a growing phenomenon—companies allowing their employees to work from anywhere in the world—and how those who adopt this model can boost talent, innovation, and productivity.
In recent years, companies in a wide range of industries have... View Details

Keywords: Remote Work; Telecommuting; Employees; Business Offices; Organizational Culture; Retention; Recruitment; Policy; Competitive Advantage

April–May 2021
Article

Labor Mobility and Antitakeover Provisions

By: Aiyesha Dey and Joshua White

How do firms protect their human capital? We test whether firms facing an increased threat of being acquired strengthen their antitakeover provisions (ATPs) in order to bond with their employees. We use the adoption of the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine (IDD) by U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Labor Mobility; Antitakeover Provisions; Trade Secrets; Implicit Contracting; Employee Bonding; Corporate Governance; Acquisition; Human Capital; Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; Safety

Article

The Art of Balancing Autonomy and Control: What Managers Can Learn from Hackathon Organizers about Spurring Innovation.

By: Hila Lifshitz - Assaf, Sarah Lebovitz and Lior Zalmanson

Today, managers recognize that innovation requires a high level of work autonomy for their employees. This encourages curiosity, enables independent thinking, and provides an environment in which employees can experiment and test new problem-solving approaches with... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Hackathon; Autonomy; Control; Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management

January–February 2019
Article

Corporate Purpose and Financial Performance

By: Claudine Gartenberg, Andrea Prat and George Serafeim

We construct a measure of corporate purpose within a sample of U.S. companies based on approximately 500,000 survey responses of worker perceptions about their employers. We find that this measure of purpose is not related to financial performance. However, high... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Purpose; Purpose; Employee Motivation; Belief Systems; Corporate Performance; Human Capital; Middle Management; Culture; Corporate Culture; Meaning; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Employees; Perception; Values and Beliefs; Performance Effectiveness

SSRN

Article

What Managers Need to Know About Social Tools: Avoid the Common Pitfalls So That Your Organization Can Collaborate, Learn, and Innovate

By: Paul Leonardi and Tsedal Neeley

Workplaces have adopted internal social tools—think stand-alone technologies such as Slack, Yammer, and Chatter, or embedded applications such as Microsoft Teams and JIRA—at a staggering rate. In an ambitious study of 4,200 companies, conducted by the McKinsey Global... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Social Tools; Social and Collaborative Networks; Knowledge Sharing; Performance Improvement; Management

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March 2016 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Michael Milken: The Junk Bond King

By: Tom Nicholas and Matthew G. Preble

Michael Milken, an investment banker who dominated the junk bond market in the 1980s, was sentenced to jail in 1990 after pleading guilty to a number of securities and tax-related felonies. In the preceding decade, Milken had helped usher in a new wave of leveraged buy... View Details

Keywords: Junk Bonds; High-yield Bonds; Financial Innovation; Shareholder Value; Bonds; Capital; Capital Structure; Cost of Capital; Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Finance; Investment Banking; Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Ownership; Private Equity; Restructuring; United States

Educators

Spring 2023
Article

Incentive Contract Design and Employee-Initiated Innovation: Evidence from the Field

By: Wei Cai, Susanna Gallani and Jee-Eun Shin

This study examines how the design of incentive contracts for tasks defined as workers’ official responsibilities (i.e., standard tasks) influences workers’ propensity to engage in employee-initiated innovation (EII). EII corresponds to innovation activities that are... View Details

Keywords: Employee-initiated Innovation; Contract Design; Rank-and-file; Extra-role Behaviors; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Innovation and Management

April 2022 (Revised May 2022)
Case

Mastercard Labs (A)

By: Linda A. Hill, Sunil Gupta, Emily Tedards and Julia Kelley

When Ajaypal (Ajay) Banga became the CEO of Mastercard in 2010, he shifted the company’s competitive focus from card networks to cash itself. Mastercard’s new vision of a “World Beyond Cash” distilled into a three-pronged framework: Grow the core business, Diversify... View Details

Educators

Web

Innovation & the War Effort - Edwin H. Land & Polaroid | Harvard Business School

Polaroid Innovation and Entrepreneurship TIMELINE POLAROID FILMS RESEARCH LINKS Digital Archival Resources Archival Collections Bibliography SITE CREDITS 25. Edwin H. Land, "Annual Christmas Message to View Details

2020
Chapter

Immigrant Networking and Collaboration: Survey Evidence from CIC

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

Networking and the giving and receiving of advice outside of one's own firm are important features of entrepreneurship and innovation. We study how immigrants and natives utilize the potential networking opportunities provided by CIC, formerly known as the Cambridge... View Details

Keywords: Immigrants; Networking; Advice; Entrepreneurs; Inventors; Start-up Employees; Venturing; Co-working; Agglomeration; Immigration; Entrepreneurship; Networks; Innovation and Invention; Social and Collaborative Networks

17 Jun 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Innovation Communication in Multicultural Networks: Deficits in Inter-cultural Capability and Affect-based Trust as Barriers to New Idea Sharing in Inter-Cultural Relationships

Keywords: by Roy Y.J. Chua & Michael W. Morris

2019
Working Paper

Immigrant Networking and Collaboration: Survey Evidence from CIC

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

Networking and the giving and receiving of advice outside of one’s own firm are important features of entrepreneurship and innovation. We study how immigrants and natives utilize the potential networking opportunities provided by CIC, formerly known as the Cambridge... View Details

Keywords: Immigrants; Networking; Advice; Entrepreneurs; Inventors; Start-up Employees; Venturing; Co-working; Agglomeration; Immigration; Entrepreneurship; Networks; Innovation and Invention; Social and Collaborative Networks

2021
Book

The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, Regain It

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta

Trust is the most powerful force underlying the success of every business. Yet it can be shattered in an instant, with a devastating impact on a company’s market cap and reputation. How to build and sustain trust requires fresh insight into why customers, employees,... View Details

July 2012 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Warby Parker: Vision of a 'Good' Fashion Brand

By: Christopher Marquis and Laura Velez Villa

In its third year of existence and poised to double its workforce, Warby Parker attributed its success to an innovative approach in the eyewear industry and to the company culture that supported it. With a mission combining social and business goals, the company had... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Business And Society; Social Responsiblity; Organizational Behavior; Social Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Brands and Branding; Organizational Culture; Marketing Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Health Industry; United States

Educators