Publications

SSRN

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Research Summary

Career Histories and the Biotechnology Industry

Professor Higgins' other major project focuses on the consequences of individuals' career experiences for firms and industries. This second research stream centers on the careers of executives in the biotechnology industry.

Professor Higgins has written... View Details

Research Summary

Industrial competitiveness in high tech and science-based businesses

By: Willy C. Shih

How do emerging economies develop industrial and technical capabilities that overtake those of advanced economies? Are there some industrial sectors that are especially susceptible to such targeting? What will it take to restore America’s... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Technology Diffusion; Knowledge Flows; Competitive Advantage; Globalization; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; China; Asia

Summer 2021
Article

The Origin and Development of Firm Management

By: Michela Giorcelli

This paper examines the historical origin and diffusion of management practices. Despite their centrality in the modern world, the concepts of ‘management’ developed fairly recently. Only with the Industrial Revolution, due to the increased firm size, owners needed a... View Details

Keywords: Productivity; Kaizen; Management; Management Practices and Processes; History; Performance Productivity; Technology

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24 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

How Kayak Users Built a New Industry

The sport of rodeo kayaking—the use of specialized kayaks to perform acrobatic tricks and maneuvers in rough white water—began around 1968 when an avid sportsman by the name of Walt Blackader developed techniques for entering waves... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation

February 2011 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Product Development at OPOWER

By: Thomas Eisenmann and Rob Go

OPOWER, a software startup that helps utilities engage their customers in ways that reduce energy consumption, is scaling rapidly. The company's new head of product management has designed a system to address a point of constant tension: whether to build custom... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Relationship Management; Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Product Development; Sales; Customization and Personalization; Energy Conservation; Environmental Sustainability; Information Technology Industry; Utilities Industry

March 2013
Case

An Entrepreneur's New Product Development Journey

By: Elie Ofek

This case tracks the new product development process undertaken by Gauri Nanda, the founder and CEO of Nanda Home, as she ventures to innovate beyond her initial product launches. Having achieved commercial success with her first product Clocky, a roll away alarm clock... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Product Development; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry

March 2021 (Revised May 2021)
Case

ALDDN: Advancing Local Dairy Development in Nigeria

By: Meg Rithmire and Debora L. Spar

In 2020, Ndidi Nwuneli, founder and CEO of Sahel Consulting in Nigeria, faced a thorny set of problems. Her firm partnered with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in a large project to develop the local dairy industry as a way to facilitate equitable growth and... View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; Food; Rural Scope; Growth and Development; Nonprofit Organizations; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business and Government Relations; Equality and Inequality; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Nigeria

December 1993 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Hydro-Quebec: Developing Grande Baleine

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Keywords: Energy Industry; Energy Industry; Canada

July 2002
Teaching Note

MAC Development Corporation (TN)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh

Teaching Note for (2-802-140), (9-806-703), and (9-806-706). View Details

Keywords: Construction Industry; Chicago

January 2003 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Southwest Airlines 2002: An Industry Under Siege

By: James L. Heskett

The company's management is faced with long-term questions regarding the rate and manner of growth in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and general industry malaise. View Details

Keywords: Cost; Product; Risk and Uncertainty; Growth and Development; Air Transportation Industry

January 2013
Supplement

EverTrue: Mobile Technology Development (B)

By: William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell

Brent Grinna has one customer signed up for his alumni-networking mobile app, and is now trying to choose among three possibilities for a CTO. He decided to contract with a friend's company, Dashfire, to create a prototype of the app, and has signed up Brown University... View Details

Keywords: Start-up; Mobile App; CTO; Hiring; Scaling; Business Startups; Decisions; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development; Mobile Technology; Technology Industry; Massachusetts; Boston

January 1987 (Revised March 1989)
Background Note

Note on the U.S. Soft Drink Industry in 1986

Demonstrates how knowing the "money mechanics" of the business is essential in developing a successful strategy among industry participants. Deals with the structural attractiveness of the industry from the concentrate producer and bottler perspectives and examines the... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

2019
Chapter

Origins and Development of Global Business

By: Geoffrey Jones

This chapter explores how business enterprises have been powerful actors in the spread of global capitalism between 1840 and the present day. Emerging out of the industrialized Western economies, global firms created and co-created markets and ecosystems through their... View Details

Keywords: Global Business; Multinational; Globalization; Business History; Strategy; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; Middle East; North and Central America; Oceania

November 25, 2015
Article

Developing Bundled Reimbursement for Cancer Care

By: Thomas Feeley, Tracy E. Spinks and Alexis Guzman

This case study describes the development of a bundled reimbursement pilot for head and neck cancer patients treated at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The study describes the steps involved and the challenges to new alternative payment models in... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance Industry; Insurance Industry

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14 Sep 2021
Blog Post

How to Support Your Employees’ Career Development

Kristen Fitzpatrick (MBA 2003), Managing Director, HBS Career & Professional Development, has been a leader in the career development field for 18 years and countless HBS students and alumni have benefited from her coaching and... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

January–February 2023
Article

Data-Driven COVID-19 Vaccine Development for Janssen

By: Dimitris Bertsimas, Michael Lingzhi Li, Xinggang Liu, Jennings Xu and Najat Khan

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred extensive vaccine research worldwide. One crucial part of vaccine development is the phase III clinical trial that assesses the vaccine for safety and efficacy in the prevention of COVID-19. In this work, we enumerate the first... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Testing and Trials; Forecasting and Prediction; AI and Machine Learning; Research; Pharmaceutical Industry