Publications

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Research Summary

Research Focus

By: Anita Elberse

My research focuses on "creative industries," defined as industries that supply goods that we commonly associate with artistic, cultural, or entertainment value -- including book and magazine publishing, film, music, television, video games, the performing... View Details

November 2004 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Launching the New MINI

By: Douglas B. Holt and John A. Quelch

Focuses on how strategy is transformed into creative branding materials. Reports on the development of a wide variety of brand communication materials produced to support the MINI launch in the United States. MINI USA executives worked with their ad agency Crispin... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Creativity; Auto Industry; United States

Research Summary

Overview

By: Rebecca M. Henderson

My work focuses on two tightly related topics. I explore why purpose or mission driven firms might be significantly more productive and creative than their more conventional rivals, focusing particularly on the role of trust in building path dependent relational... View Details

March 2013 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally

By: Bill George and Natalie Kindred

Omar Ishrak, Medtronic's first non-American CEO, aims to reinvigorate the medical device maker's growth by focusing on emerging markets, therapy innovation, and creative business models. In 2012, budget constraints in mature economies, the lack of new medical therapies... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Medical Devices; Medtronic; Globalization; Innovation; Reverse Innovation; Leadership; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Management Teams; Business Model; Emerging Markets; Global Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Acquisition; Innovation and Invention; Manufacturing Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; China

17 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 17, 2018

a product of the international Communist movement’s model of revolution in the developing world that envisioned new states following a “non-capitalist path of development.” In Iran, this was compounded by the use of Allende-era Chile as a... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

16 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

Luxury Isn’t What It Used to Be

refreshing their product lines and extending their brand to more affordable items. Pressure to innovate is intense, says HBS professor Nancy F. Koehn, a business historian and author of Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers' Trust... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Consumer Products

03 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 3, 2007

Business School Case 806-044 Fred Khosravi is a serial medical device entrepreneur. In his latest venture, he must decide whether to sell now or continue to develop his current product and whether to market it, sell the company, or IPO.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 2011 (Revised March 2012)
Case

Nanda Home: Preparing for Life after Clocky

By: Elie Ofek and Jill Avery

Gauri Nanda, the inventor of Clocky, the alarm clock that rolls off the bed stand and forces its owner to find it, has to make critical decisions regarding the future of her nascent company. As sales of Clocky show signs of declining, she must decide whether to... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Management; Electronics Industry

November 2007
Article

The Accidental Entrepreneur: The Emergent and Collective Process of User Entrepreneurship

By: Sonali K. Shah and Mary Tripsas

We develop a process model of how users, an understudied source of entrepreneurship, create, evaluate, share, and commercialize their ideas. We compare and contrast our model to the classic model of the entrepreneurial process, highlighting the emergent and... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Valuation; Business Model; Commercialization; Adoption; Adaptation; Product; Civil Society or Community

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August 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Background Note

Competency-Destroying Technology Transitions: Why the Transition to Digital Is Particularly Challenging

By: Willy Shih

Some technology transitions are exceedingly difficult for incumbent firms to execute. The bankruptcy filing by the Eastman Kodak Company highlighted the difficulty companies faced when their core business transitioned from an analog to a digital world. Kodak's business... View Details

May 1986
Supplement

Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (B), Video

Presents an audiovisual account of the bake-off competition between Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne (BBDO) and a second advertising agency: Ames. The videotape is divided into two parts: 1) interviews with bake-off participants from Gillette and BBDO, and 2)... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Consumer Products Industry

December 2011 (Revised September 2014)
Case

The Kid Grows Up: Decisions at the Sundance Institute

By: Mukti Khaire and Eleanor Kenyon

The Sundance case raises the question of how markets for innovative cultural products can be created and what the role of intermediaries in creative industries ought to be. The case describes the history of the Sundance Institute, which was founded by actor/director... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Film Entertainment; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; United States

October 2014
Article

Making Charity Pay

By: Michael I. Norton and Jill Avery

Companies are increasingly experimenting with the use of philanthropy to enhance consumer loyalty, brand awareness, and sales. But even highly creative approaches that garner a lot of buzz often fall short of sales goals, leading many companies to conclude,... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy; Charitable Giving; Charity; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Advertising; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

02 Oct 2008
What Do You Think?

Workout vs. Bailout: Should Government Take Advantage of the Buffett Effect?

down" and "bottom up" provisions, the product of a political compromise. Some would claim that markets that were too free and not sufficiently regulated got us into this mess. That will be a topic of debate (not unlike the one that led to... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

January 2009 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple

By: Stefan Thomke and Barbara Feinberg

Describes Apple's approach to innovation, management, and design thinking. For several years, Apple has been ranked as the most innovative company in the world, but how it has achieved such success remains mysterious because of the company's obsession with secrecy.... View Details

Keywords: Design; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management; Product Design; Product Development; Research and Development; Creativity; Technology Industry

2004
Working Paper

The Accidental Entrepreneur: The Emergent and Collective Process of User Entrepreneurship

We develop a process model of how users, an understudied source of entrepreneurship, create, evaluate, share, and commercialize their ideas. We compare and contrast our model to the classic model of the entrepreneurial process, highlighting the emergent and collective... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Commercialization; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention