Publications

2013
Working Paper

Did Bank Distress Stifle Innovation During the Great Depression?

By: Ramana Nanda and Tom Nicholas

We find a negative relationship between bank distress and the level, quality and trajectory of firm-level innovation during the Great Depression, particularly for R&D firms operating in capital intensive industries. However, we also show that because a sufficient... View Details

Keywords: Great Depression; R＆D; Bank Distress; Patents; Research and Development; Financial Crisis; Innovation and Invention; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; United States

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September 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

X-IT and Kidde (A)

By: Constance E. Bagley and David Lane

Involves a start-up, X-IT Products LLC, whose founders had designed an innovative, lightweight, and easy-to-use--yet strong--escape ladder. After X-IT had filed a patent application for the ladder in the United States, X-IT was approached by Kidde PLC, one of the... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Negotiation Process; Agreements and Arrangements; Ethics; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business Startups; Consumer Products Industry

March 2017 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Edwin Land: The Art and Science of Innovation

By: Tom Nicholas, Christopher T. Stanton and Matthew G. Preble

Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Polaroid first invented—and then continuously reinvented—the field of instant photography. Under the leadership of its mercurial founder Edwin Land, the company regularly released new instant cameras and films, often... View Details

Keywords: Instant Photography; Company History; Change Management; Disruption; Forecasting and Prediction; Entrepreneurship; Business History; Innovation Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Intellectual Property; Patents; Product Marketing; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Development; Chemical Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

April 2010
Teaching Note

Carrot or Stick? Getting Paid for Innovation at Tessera Technologies (TN)

By: Willy C. Shih

Teaching Note for 610085. View Details

Keywords: Patents; Production; Situation or Environment; Law Enforcement; Lawsuits and Litigation; Information Technology; Growth and Development; Innovation and Invention; Technology Industry; Semiconductor Industry

March 2022
Article

Winner Takes All? Tech Clusters, Population Centers, and the Spatial Transformation of U.S. Invention

By: Brad Chattergoon and William R. Kerr

U.S. invention has become increasingly concentrated around major tech centers since the 1970s, with implications for how much cities across the country share in concomitant local benefits. Is invention becoming a winner-takes-all race? We explore the rising spatial... View Details

Keywords: Clusters; Invention; Agglomeration; Artificial Intelligence; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Applications and Software; Industry Clusters; AI and Machine Learning

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16 Sep 2015
Op-Ed

The Real Duty of the Board of Directors

Means, whose 1932 book The Modern Corporation and Private Property has been lauded as the most important business book of all time, our paper unveils new research on the legal framework underpinning fiduciary duty around the world. In the... View Details

Keywords: by Robert G. Eccles & Tim Youmans

28 Jul 2009
First Look

First Look: July 28

209-152 Real estate is an increasingly important component in the portfolios of institutional investors. This note discusses the issues these investors must consider when investing in real estate from the legal forms of ownership, to separate or commingled funds, to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Oct 2021
News

Helping Leaders Chart an Ethical Path

2015, when a dangerously overflowing landfill in southern Lebanon closed. Now, with the country in the midst of an economic collapse and its citizens still reeling from the August 2020 explosion that killed more than 200 and caused $15 billion in View Details

01 Dec 2003
News

The Next Big Thing

remaining committed to principles of academic openness and ethical research, Harvard has decided to review its policies regarding intellectual property and technology transfer, as well as its traditionally cautious approach toward... View Details

Keywords: life sciences; Scientific Research and Development Services

14 Feb 2007
Op-Ed

Tata-Corus: India’s New Steel Giant

this lies within Tata Steel itself, as in its acquisition in Singapore. And the rest lies in the broader ambit of the Tata group through its acquisitions of Daewoo's truck assets in South Korea, Tetley Tea in the U.K. and ritzy hotel View Details

Keywords: by Tarun Khanna

June 2018 (Revised January 2020)
Teaching Note

Qualcomm Inc., 2019

By: David B. Yoffie

Teaching Note for HBS No. 718-514. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Intellectual Property; Information Technology; Standards; Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Telecommunications Industry; Semiconductor Industry

April 1990 (Revised December 1995)
Case

SouthPark IV

By: William J. Poorvu

A young entrepreneur examines an 80,000 square foot office/warehouse building as a potential acquisition. The building is currently fully leased but all four leases will expire shortly. Due to changing market conditions, the protagonist has to look at current market... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Valuation; Property; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Leasing; Cash Flow; Real Estate Industry

01 Jun 2020
News

Check In

boutique style hotel—in other words, a design-forward property with a chef-driven restaurant and often a rooftop bar. Quite often we also change management firms and brand affiliations. And what’s happened over the past ten years is that... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; hotels; COVID-19; real estate; Accommodation; Hospitality

02 Sep 2013
Research & Ideas

The Curse of Double-Digit Growth

Werker's study. "Legal rights were weaker, it took more time to register property [and] more money to start a business, and there were higher corporate taxes and informal payments to government officials. Infrastructure was poorer... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

January 2011
Teaching Note

The Travails of Rubber: Goodyear or Badyear? (TN)

By: Tom Nicholas

Teaching Note for 808118. View Details

Keywords: Profit; Rights; Independent Innovation and Invention; Patents; Commercialization; Motivation and Incentives; Rubber Industry; Manufacturing Industry

May 2002 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Marketing Antidepressants: Prozac and Paxil

By: Youngme E. Moon and Kerry Herman

Describes the marketing of Prozac and Paxil, two of the best-selling mental health drugs in history. Set in 2001, several months before the expiration of Prozac's patent, Eli Lilly (Prozac's manufacturer) and GlaxoSmithKline (Paxil's manufacturer) must decide how to... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Product Positioning; Competition; Ethics; Value; Health Care and Treatment; Brands and Branding; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States