Publications

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23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

How One Center of Innovation Lost its Spark

months, three of the four tire manufacturers there ceased to exist as independent corporations. In this excerpt from "From Community of Innovation to Community of Inertia: The Rise and Fall of the Akron Tire Cluster," Sull describes how this seemingly... View Details

Keywords: by Donald Sull; Manufacturing; Transportation; Auto

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

Find at Harvard

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Gary Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School where he has been on the faculty since 1988. From 2018-2023, Pisano was Harvard Business School’s Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Promotion and... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; electronics; health care; manufacturing; pharmaceuticals

24 May 2021
Op-Ed

Can Fabric Waste Become Fashion’s Resource?

COVID-19 has broken fashion’s supply chain. As a result, an already wasteful industry has become more wasteful. Even before the pandemic, the global apparel industry was producing about 92 million tons of textile waste a year. That’s about one garbage truck’s worth of... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Shelly Xu; Fashion

25 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: ‘Can China Lead?’

book excerpt The Importance Of Being Innovative From Chapter 4, Can China Lead: Reaching the Limits of Power and Growth By Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, and F. Warren McFarlan One can surely doubt that creativity can be mandated or... View Details

Keywords: Re: William C. Kirby & F. Warren McFarlan; Education; Technology

September 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Arnold Communications

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Jeremiah Weinstock

The new owner and CEO of Arnold Advertising, a relatively small regional agency, aims to build it into Arnold Communications--a much larger, stronger firm competing successfully for national accounts. As part of this growth strategy, the agency develops a process for... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Creativity; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Business Processes; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; Advertising Industry

December 2007 (Revised April 2008)
Case

Alltech...naturally

By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman

Entrepreneur Pearse Lyons had built Alltech into the fastest growing company in the global animal health industry through innovative technology, creative marketing, and strong branding. Sel-Plex, a proprietary Alltech product, had shown important health benefits for... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Leadership Development; Customer Focus and Relationships; Expansion; Technological Innovation; Intellectual Property; Sales; Value Creation; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry

06 Apr 2007
What Do You Think?

Will Market Forces Stop Global Warming?

it, "When companies have to play by the same rules, then fair competition can take place terms and conditions for all concerned industries worldwide seems to be a must." The one question that is within the realm of management is... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Energy; Utilities

May 1986
Supplement

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

Provides an overview of the two-part video: 1) bake-off participant interviews with managers from Gillette and its advertising agency for Dry Idea, and 2) creative presentations by the two bake-off competitors. View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Consumer Products Industry

10 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

High Note: Managing the Medici String Quartet

Robertson, of the acclaimed ensemble Medici String Quartet. It seemed a perfect opportunity to explore the process of creative collaboration, a central theme not just in music but in knowledge-intensive businesses. The result is... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Music

December 2001
Case

Natural Pork Production

By: Ray A. Goldberg and James M Beagle

An entrepreneurial hog farmer's creative use of contracts and capital structure drives very successful growth and returns in a depressed commodity industry. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Capital Structure; Futures and Commodity Futures; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Goods and Commodities; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Contracts; Success; Consumer Products Industry

September 2006 (Revised September 2007)
Case

Bang & Olufsen: Design Driven Innovation

By: Robert D. Austin and Daniela Beyersdorfer

A successful company, recognized worldwide for exquisite design of consumer electronics products, strives to better integrate software design into its traditional physical product design processes to meet the demands of a post-iPod world. Details the Bang & Olufsen... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Production; Applications and Software; Product Design; Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Electronics Industry

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: John A. Deighton

I teach about the ecosystem of big data, the role of data in advertising and creative industries, and customer management and personal privacy in an era of individual addressability. View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Database Marketing; Social Media; Data Analytics; Information; Advertising; Marketing; Media; Technology; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

22 Jul 2020
Blog Post

Is a Business School-Industry Collaboration Needed to Attract Black Talent to Campus?

Diversity and inclusion in organizations enhances various kinds of performance, from creativity to profitability. A growing body of research tells us this. So they are not just the right things to do; there is both an economic and social... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

23 Oct 2017
News

A Glimpse Into the World's First Italian-Food Theme Park

October 2008 (Revised November 2008)
Case

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue

Examines how successful companies can “jump to the next S-curve” through an analogy to the life's work of Miles Davis, especially his paradigm-shattering Kind of Blue album in 1959. Students consider how and why Davis, who had already proven he was tops in his field,... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Creativity; Music Entertainment; Music Industry

05 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 5, 2018

across countries. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52239 2018 The Nature of Human Creativity Creativity and the Labor of Love By: Amabile, Teresa M. Abstract—This book... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

October 2005 (Revised September 2006)
Case

Sapient Corporation (Abridged)

By: Rakesh Khurana and Joel Podolny

Describes the start-up, growth, organizational design, and operations over the first 10 years of a professional services firm. Focuses on the creative use of organizational purpose and values as an integral part of strategy and alignment of organizational activities. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Organizational Culture; Change Management; Human Resources; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Operations; Business Processes; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Service Industry