Publications

26 Jan 2021
News

Numbers Talk at Tesla

When Zachary Kirkhorn (MBA 2013) became CFO of Tesla in early 2019, few envied him. The electric carmaker had just reduced headcount by 7 percent. Tesla needed to cut costs and its vehicle prices to avoid bankruptcy, CEO Elon Musk told analysts. Then longtime View Details

Keywords: finance; automotive; manufacturing; innovation; Manufacturing

24 Apr 2014
News

Outside-the-box innovation for off-the-grid energy

Andreas Jaegle (MBA 2014) and his Harvard University colleagues use the Harvard Innovation Lab as a co-development hub for their startup, elementa energy solutions, which brings low-cost electricity to the most underserved communities in... View Details

April 1993 (Revised October 1995)
Case

ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (A): Technological and Financial Innovation

By: Josh Lerner and Peter Tufano

To develop the next generation of risky products, ALZA, a mature and profitable biotechnology firm specializing in drug delivery systems, must raise $40 million. Organizational constraints and competitive concerns demand that the work be done inside the firm. However,... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Technological Innovation; Business Subsidiaries; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Finance; Biotechnology Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

November 2024
Supplement

Clara Wu Tsai and Brooklyn Loan Innovation (B)

By: Archie Jones, Mathieu Davis, Mourya Mamidala and Max Hancock

This (B) case provides an update on “Clara Wu Tsai and Brooklyn Loan Innovation (A)” View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Social Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Banks and Banking; United States; New York (city, NY)

15 Feb 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Can Financial Innovation Solve Household Reluctance to Take Risk?

Keywords: by Laurent Calvet, Claire Celerier, Paolo Sodini, and Boris Vallée; Financial Services; Computer

October 2011 (Revised June 2014)
Case

inge watertechnologies, GmbH

By: Ramana Nanda, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Markus Mittermaier

Using the financing history and exit choices of a German clean-tech startup as a lens, this case explores the reasons why venture-backed entrepreneurship is much lower in Germany than the US, despite a robust SME sector and large-corporate innovation in Germany. It... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Finance; Venture Capital; Negotiation; Entrepreneurship; Technology Industry; Germany

winter 1992
Article

Financial Innovation and Economic Performance

By: Robert C. Merton

Keywords: Finance; Innovation and Invention; Economics; Performance

Web

Technology & Innovation - Faculty & Research

worst non-recipients. Our results suggest that while receiving the grant does bring an injection of funding that alleviates financing constraints, its core effect on the firm's innovative behavior is in... View Details

March – April 2009
Article

Market Research and Innovation Strategy in a Duopoly

By: Dominique Lauga and Elie Ofek

We model a duopoly in which ex-ante identical firms must decide where to direct their innovation efforts. The firms face market uncertainty about consumers' preferences for innovation on two product attributes and technology uncertainty about the success of their R&D... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Innovation and Management; Demand and Consumers; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Research and Development; Competitive Strategy

November 2022
Case

Ajax Health: A New Model for Medical Technology Innovation

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Ben Creo

This case teaches key success factors for both startup and established MedTech firms. It examines how to structure a firm to maximize innovation and financial returns with organizational structures that better align the incentives for the different skill sets... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Success; Innovation Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Market Entry and Exit; Financial Strategy; Business Model; Partners and Partnerships; Entrepreneurship; Private Equity; Technology Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

07 Sep 2012
News

Global Innovation through Risk Resilience

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

"In the end, Enron was at the center of a truly delinquent society. Once Enron's ethical drift took hold, its collapse was only a matter of time," says HBS professor emeritus Malcolm S. Salter. As he explains in this Q&A and in his new book, View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

winter 2000
Article

Assessing the Impact of Venture Capital to Innovation

By: Samuel Kortum and Josh Lerner

We examine the influence of venture capital on patented inventions in the United States across twenty industries over three decades. We address concerns about causality in several ways, including exploiting a 1979 policy shift that spurred venture capital fundraising.... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Innovation and Invention

Read Now

November 2007
Case

Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington

Translating innovative ideas form the clinician to the patient remains a major problem in the field of medicine. Dr. John Parrish and colleagues created an organization (CIMIT) that brings the technical, financial, and administrative resources to these innovative... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Resource Allocation; Alliances; Research and Development; Health Industry; Service Industry

January 2007
Case

AMD: A Customer-Centric Approach to Innovation

By: Elie Ofek and Lauren Barley

AMD's launch of the Opteron microprocessor in 2003 has allowed the company to make inroads into the lucrative server segment. A long-time follower to Intel, AMD management felt it was in a position to lead the microprocessor industry in new directions. However, in 2006... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Price; Leadership; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Development; Competitive Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Semiconductor Industry

Web

Disruptive Innovation Online Course | HBS Online

This course is part of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Strategy track. Introduction to Disruptive Strategy ENROLL NOW No application needed for our certificate programs. Start your journey today! Disruptive Strategy $1,850 Next... View Details

April 2011
Article

Private Equity and Long-Run Investment: The Case of Innovation

By: Josh Lerner, Morten Sorensen and Per Stromberg

A long-standing controversy is whether LBOs relieve managers from short-term pressures of dispersed shareholders, or whether LBO funds themselves are driven by short-term profit motives and sacrifice long-term growth to boost short-term performance. We investigate 495... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Investment; Innovation and Invention

2022
Chapter

Immigration Policy Levers for U.S. Innovation and Startups

By: William R. Kerr and Sari Pekkala Kerr

Immigrants account for about a quarter of US invention and entrepreneurship despite a policy environment that is not well suited for these purposes. This chapter reviews the U.S. immigration policy environment that governs how skilled migrants move to America for... View Details

Keywords: High-tech; H1-B; Immigration; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Business Startups; Venture Capital

Read Now

2003
Conference Paper

Follow the Money: What Really Drives Technology Innovation in Construction

By: John D. Macomber

Technology enthusiasts, academics, and software companies remain concerned about the slow pace of innovation in the construction industry. Tools are widely available that seem to provide eminently sensible and clearly apparent improvement to the process of design and... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Technological Innovation; Construction; Design; Performance Improvement; Motivation and Incentives; Knowledge Management; Adoption; Business Model; Capital Structure; Supply Chain