Publications

November 2012
Case

Edison Schools, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lauren Barley

Edison Schools, Inc., a pioneer in the for-profit management of public schools, demonstrates the challenges and opportunities related to private sector involvement in the delivery of a public good. Follows the organization from its start-up through its initial public... View Details

Keywords: Charter Schools; Conflict of Interests; Initial Public Offering; For-Profit Firms; Public Sector; Market Entry and Exit; Education; Business Startups; Education Industry

October 2011
Article

Under Threat: Responses to and the Consequences of Threats to Individuals' Identities

I review and reconceptualize identity threat, defining it as an experience appraised as indicating potential harm to the value, meanings, or enactment of an identity. I also develop a theoretical model and propositions that generate insights into how individuals... View Details

Keywords: Identity; Value; Theory; Organizations; Research

Find at Harvard

February 2008 (Revised May 2011)
Case

The Travails of Rubber: Goodyear or Badyear?

By: Tom Nicholas and Andrew Ferguson

Explores the reason why Charles Goodyear, inventor of rubber vulcanization, was unable to profit from his discovery despite securing international property rights over his invention through a patent in 1844. Considers the utility of patents as an incentive for... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Motivation and Incentives; Commercialization

June 2007
Tutorial

Congruence Model Tutorial

By: Christopher Marquis and Alison Comings

Utilizes Beer & Tushman's SMA: Microelectronic Products Division (A) case to explore O'Reilly and Tushman's congruence model. Participants learn about the model through a series of video presentations and become familar with the problems facing SMA through an... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Mathematical Methods; Electronics Industry

21 Apr 2017
News

Can a French Political Upstart Ride Obama's Strategy to Victory?

18 Mar 2025
Video

Are corporate AI systems reinforcing inequality? MIT’s Catherine D'Ignazio reveals blind spots in data science

30 May 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Ambidexterity as a Dynamic Capability: Resolving the Innovator’s Dilemma

Keywords: by Charles A. O’Reilly III & Michael L. Tushman

Research Summary

Overview

By: Shunyuan Zhang

Professor Zhang uses machine learning to address marketing problems that have arisen within the nascent sharing economy. She conducts rigorous analyses of structured and unstructured data generated by new sharing economy platforms to address important issues emerging... View Details

Research Summary

Transportation Security Officers’ Work, Motivations, and Practices Study

Because of its unique history, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is a strategic setting to explore employees' possible distinct and evolving relation to their work. Since its inception in the wake of 9/11, the TSA has... View Details

2012
Article

When Does the Glue of Social Ties Dissolve? Syndication Ties and Performance Cues in Withdrawals from Venture Capital Syndicates, 1985-2009

By: Pavel Zhelyazkov

The present study integrates the economic and social perspectives on the stability of collaboration by exploring how performance cues interact with interorganizational embeddedness in affecting firms' withdrawals from venture capital coinvestment syndicates. It finds... View Details

Keywords: Social and Collaborative Networks; Venture Capital; Performance; Cooperation

April 2012 (Revised June 2012)
Case

HP Labs in Singapore

By: Willy Shih, Pankaj Agarwal and Christine Chi

When HP established a branch of its corporate research lab in Singapore, the government played a key role through its Economic Development Board (EDB). Chris Whitney, the lab's director, sought to generate revenue from the lab's innovations, making it financially... View Details

Keywords: Research and Development; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Development Economics; Government and Politics; Motivation and Incentives; Innovation and Invention; Revenue; Technology Industry; Singapore

November 2007 (Revised February 2009)
Background Note

Myths and Lessons of Modern Chinese History

By: William C. Kirby and Brittany Crow

China is an ancient civilization, but it is really a very young country. How we understand modern China is rooted in our understanding of history. Thus, the authors examine several myths surrounding important historical themes, including unity, economic and political... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Globalization; Government and Politics; History; China

October 1989 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Texas Eastman Co.

By: Robert S. Kaplan

The company as part of a commitment to Total Quality Management has installed a computer system that accumulates 30,000 observations on its processes every 2-4 hours. Operating people have found the monthly summaries of financial performance not too useful in this... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Information Technology; Reports; Business or Company Management

September 1992 (Revised October 1992)
Case

Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (B)

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

In addition to the issues of expected cost minimization elucidated in Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (A), problems involving regulatory uncertainty are critical to the firm's Clean Air Act compliance strategy. The regulatory uncertainty affects, and is affected by, the... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Business Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Cost vs Benefits; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategic Planning; Investment Return; Government Legislation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Business and Government Relations; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; United States

July 1993 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Goodyear: The Aquatred Launch

By: John A. Quelch

After many years of R&D, Goodyear has developed the Aquatred, an innovative new tire. However, the tire industry has matured and evolved, raising questions concerning the Aquatred's ability to gain support from Goodyear's independent tire dealers. Students must use... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Consumer Behavior; Distribution Channels; Brands and Branding; Innovation and Invention; Auto Industry; Rubber Industry; United States