Wold War 2 - Publications - Faculty & Research

2019
Working Paper

The Consequences of Invention Secrecy: Evidence from the USPTO Patent Secrecy Program in World War II

By: Daniel P. Gross

This paper studies the effects of the USPTO's patent secrecy program in World War II, under which over 11,000 U.S. patent applications were issued secrecy orders that halted examination and prohibited inventors from disclosing their inventions or filing in foreign... View Details

Keywords: Invention Secrecy; Invention Disclosure; Trade Secrecy; Secrecy Orders; Cummulative Innovation; Wold War 2; Patents; National Security; History; Innovation and Invention; Outcome or Result; Intellectual Property; Policy; Commercialization; United States

Citation

SSRN

Read Now

02 Aug 2011
First Look

First Look: August 2

pharmaceutical and skin care company. During World War I the expropriation of its brands and trademarks revealed its vulnerability to political risk. Following the advent of the Nazi regime in 1933, the largely Jewish owned and managed... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 2

increasing profitability by immersing themselves in the lives of their customers. This book shows how resilient organizations cut through internal barriers that impede action, build bridges between warring divisions, and transform former... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

December 2023 (Revised August 2024)
Supplement

Microsoft Azure and the Cloud Wars (B)

By: Andy Wu and Matt Higgins

By 2023, the global market for cloud infrastructure had consolidated into a three-horse race. As of Q4 2022, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google collectively accounted for 66% of the global market. AWS had a market share of 33%, Microsoft Azure had 23%, and Google Cloud had... View Details

Keywords: Microsoft; Artificial Intelligence; AI; Competition; Information Infrastructure; Market Participation

Citation

Purchase

09 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

War in Ukraine: Soaring Gas Prices and the Return of Stagflation?

researching the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany. In an interconnected corporate world, he says, the pipeline project illustrates how inseparable politics and business are, especially at the edges of old Cold... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Energy

08 Dec 2022
HBS Case

The War in Ukraine and Nestlé’s Moral Dilemma: Stay or Leave Russia?

time you don’t know if you will be making things worse or not.” As the war grinds on, and Ukraine’s key military gains are offset by Russia’s surprising ability to buffer its citizens from sweeping international, political, and corporate... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Consumer Products

16 Aug 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Managing Political Risk in Global Business: Beiersdorf 1914-1990

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones & Christina Lubinski; Beauty & Cosmetics

04 Jan 2017
What Do You Think?

How Much Bureaucracy is a Good Thing in Government and Business?

procedures impedes effective action.” Wars on bureaucracy are waged and often thought to be won in non-governmental organizations. But there's a perception that the war is rarely waged or won in... View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett

09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Unilever—A Case Study

This article considers key issues relating to the organization and performance of large multinational firms in the post-Second World War period. Although foreign direct investment is defined by ownership and control, in practice the... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage; Manufacturing; Retail

16 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Advancing Black Talent: From the Flight Ramp to 'Family-Sustaining' Careers at Delta

carrier in 1929. The company changed its name and moved to Atlanta in 1941, just in time to get lucrative World War II contracts that fueled its first expansion. Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, where Delta is headquartered, has been the... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Air Transportation

18 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Central Banks Missed Inflation Red Flags. This Pricing Model Could Help.

retailers raised prices more frequently, passing the increases to consumers at a quicker pace than before the large shock. The frequency of price adjustments rose across the board, more than doubling globally and across sectors, from an average of View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services; Banking

12 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

COVID Tested Global Supply Chains. Here’s How They’ve Adapted

vulnerability A series of major crises and surprises over the past few years raised concerns of the potential fragility of sprawling supply chains for both companies and governments. The rethinking extends beyond the COVID-19 pandemic and the View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

19 Dec 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 19, 2017

cashmere fibre (14 micrometers in diameter and 36 millimeters in length). It is estimated that only 2 out of 1,000 grams of cashmere measure up to the standard of 1436. Describing the brand evolution over its first 8 years of existence,... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

05 May 2020
Research & Ideas

China Tariffs and Coronavirus a Double Hit to American Retailers

that US companies have disproportionately borne the brunt of the increased tariffs on China, as the ongoing trade war nears the two-year mark. “The situation may get more pressing for some of these companies that will be hit with a... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

19 Oct 2022
Op-Ed

Cofounder Courtship: How to Find the Right Mate—for Your Startup

greatest cofounding teams have war stories about stressful situations in their relationships and what they learned from these experiences. Using insights from the listening tour, along with your personal preferences, write a cofounder job... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

18 Nov 2022
HBS Case

What Does It Take to Safeguard a Legacy in Asset Management?

actually makes you better.” An idea taking root Despite the success of his firm, Brown had not been immune to brushes with bias. Growing up in a small segregated town in Florida after World War II, Brown recalled being awestruck by white... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

02 Jun 2021
Research & Ideas

A Rare Find in Health Care: A Simple Solution to Racial Inequity

hospital systems in New York, Chicago, and Boston pledged to confront inequities in hiring, leadership, and patient care. ‘Embedded in the fabric of this country’ Growing up in India, Chandra says, he absorbed a rosy idea of the United States—its victories in the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

23 Aug 2006
Op-Ed

The Real Wal-Mart Effect

This opinion piece, first published in the New York Times in August 2005, has been updated by Pankaj Ghemawat for HBS Working Knowledge.Mighty Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, must feel less like a hotbed of retailing and more like a View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat & Ken A. Mark; Retail

11 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Strategy Execution and the Balanced Scorecard

management system, downstream from the Stage 2 processes of translating and planning the strategy. You can't focus on the critical processes for improvement until they have been identified in the strategic planning and translation stage.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

03 Dec 2007
Research & Ideas

Authenticity over Exaggeration: The New Rule in Advertising

control," Deighton says. "In the 1950s, Dove's advertising approach was similar to a World War II military campaign with a heavy bombardment of 30- and 60-second messages with very strong, functional content. It was all delivered with... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Publishing; Advertising

Publications