Small Business - Publications - Faculty & Research

13 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

How to Pick Managers for Disruptive Growth

stay away from the small business marketspace. The company inked distribution and implementation agreements with the same IT consulting firms that had served as such capable channel partners for SAP's... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Raynor

14 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Can Entrepreneurs Drive People Movers to Success?

personal rapid transport, or PRT for short, has been percolating since the mid-1950s and is finally gaining ground, according to HBS professor Benjamin G. Edelman. Business and communities small and large... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Transportation

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Depression or Euphoria? Navigating the Market’s Mood Swings

called a "true credit crunch," rendering capital scarce, new companies need to look more seriously at outsourcing. "Money was so easy [that small companies] could own and employ everything they need," he said. Instead,... View Details

Keywords: by Carrie Levine

26 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

How Electronic Patient Records Can Slow Doctor Productivity

subtle way that you might be changing existing communication patterns among staff," says Harvard Business School Professor Robert S. Huckman, who recently cowrote The Impact of Electronic Health Record Use on Physician Productivity with... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Health

07 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

Big Infrastructure May Not Always Produce Big Benefits

create the environment to have financiers show up. In India, there is bank branching by the state bank of India that provided capital to farmers, consumers, and small businesses in rural areas, where private... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Construction

10 Apr 2019
HBS Case

How Entrepreneurs Can Turn Lead Into Gold

writer based in the Boston area. Image credit: Gremlin Related Reading: Venture Investors Prefer Funding Handsome Men Amazon Web Services Changed the Way VCs Fund Startups Fintech's Game-Changing Opportunities for Small View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Angels Face the Innovator’s Dilemma

said. "There was financial protection in their business plan, that in the first year it would generate $10 million in revenue, in the second year $20 million, in the third year, $30 to $50 million. "And it was such a piddly... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

13 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Experimental Researcher Helps Improve Health Care in Zambia

Sometimes big ideas start with small experiments. That's been the experience of Harvard Business School professor Nava Ashraf, whose experimental approach to research in developing countries has produced... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Health

30 Jan 2019
What Do You Think?

Who Will Measure up to These Two Remarkable Leaders?

value for customers, and extraordinary returns to investors. Neither had extensive schooling in business administration. John Bogle earned a liberal arts degree from Princeton. Herb Kelleher received his from Wesleyan, with majors in... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Air Transportation; Financial Services

16 Nov 1999
Lessons from the Classroom

Leading Change and Organizational Renewal

organizations, and what managers must do to effectively lead the change process. Tushman and O'Reilly are the coauthors of Winning Through Innovation: A Practical Guide to Leading Organizational Change and Renewal, Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

20 Aug 2014
Research & Ideas

Dragging Patent Trolls Into the Light

place for original work.) If it weren't for NPEs, the argument goes, resource-rich companies would be free to steal ideas of small inventors without fearing retaliatory lawsuits—and this would poison the View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Legal Services

14 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

How Can Start Ups Grow?

those one-out-of-ten firms grow into successful, sustained enterprises? Assistant professor Mukti Khaire believes that small companies can grow by developing intangible social resources such as legitimacy, status, and reputation. In an... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Advertising

22 Jan 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Why You Are Unhappy at Work

feeling. What can be done to improve the office environment? Research by Harvard Business School professors suggests these problems are not only common—but solvable. Here are some of our most insightful stories about unmotivated employees... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

15 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

The Lessons of New-Market Disruption

rewarded with a new line of business that created revenues in excess of $200 million over the next several years. HP backed out of its efforts after two years with multimillion-dollar losses and a considerable amount of bad press. How did... View Details

Keywords: by Clark Gilbert; Technology

30 Jun 2020
Book

Capitalism Is More at Risk Than Ever

The book Capitalism at Risk first appeared in 2011. The problems it identified with social inequality, global trade strife, and environmental degradation have only accelerated by 2020. The new edition of Capitalism at Risk, subtitled How Business Can Lead, is expanded... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

10 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 10

into group processes, study diversity in the context of virtual interaction, and take advantage of opportunities for cross-disciplinary research. February 2015 European Business Review Preparing for Uncertainty: How to Use Creaction at... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The ‘Mother of Fair Trade’ was an Unabashed Price Protectionist

small businesses like her own, succeeded in pushing the boundaries of antitrust legislation. Edna Gleason, known as the “Mother of Fair Trade.” Courtesy of the journal Pharmacy in History. The photo first... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail; Health; Legal Services

05 Dec 2012
What Do You Think?

Should Managers Bother Listening to Predictions?

favors so-called "barbell strategies" in which a portion of the business portfolio is created to guarantee survival in the event of a Black Swan so that the more innovative and entrepreneurial remainder of the portfolio can be... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

26 Feb 2001
Research & Ideas

David, Goliath, and Disruption

"disrupting" is of course the goal of their business activities, panelists said, it is also no small trick to cut through the entrenched practices surrounding established incumbents. Nor is it... View Details