- 11 May 2012
- Working Paper Summaries
Creating an R&D Strategy
This note by Gary P. Pisano provides a framework for designing an R&D strategy. It starts with the simple notion that a strategy is a system approach to solving a problem. An R&D strategy is defined a coherent set of interrelated choices across decision concerning: organizational architecture, processes, people, and project portfolios. To illustrate the framework, we use examples of three pharmaceutical companies and examine how their different R&D strategies were rooted in different assumptions about the core driver of R&D performance. This suggests that the very first question to be answered in strategy development is: What's our shared understanding of the root cause of the problem we are trying to solve? Key concepts include: A good strategy provides consistency, coherence, and alignment. The "game plan" for an R&D organization can be broken down into 4 strategic levers: architecture, processes, people, and portfolio. Together, decisions made in each of these categories constitute the R&D strategy. R&D performance results from the interaction of many different decisions and choices, including the size and location of R&D facilities, the division of labor between various groups, the choice of technologies used inside the R&D organization, the selection of personnel, the allocation of resources, the design of processes for managing projects, and other factors. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Mar 2011
- Research & Ideas
Why Manufacturing Matters
After decades of outsourcing, America's ability to innovate and create high-tech products essential for future prosperity is on the decline, argue professors Gary Pisano and Willy Shih. Is it too late to get it back? From HBS Alumni Bulletin. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 19 Feb 2010
- Working Paper Summaries
The Evolution of Science-Based Business: Innovating How We Innovate
Science has long been connected to innovation and thus to the business enterprise. However, the nature of the connection between science and business in recent decades has begun to change in important ways. On the one hand, we have witnessed the decline of corporate industrial laboratories. At the same time, we have seen the emergence of a new class of entrepreneurial firms that are deeply immersed in science in sectors like biotech, nanotech, and more recently energy. HBS professor Gary P. Pisano examines the changing nature of the science-business intersection and describes the emergence of a science-based business as a novel organizational form. He also describes the institutional and organizational challenges created by this convergence. Key concepts include: Science-based businesses face unique challenges as they straddle two worlds with very different time horizons, risks, expectations, and norms. The professions of management and of science are still largely separate: Scientists receive no formal training in management, and MBAs receive no training in science. This is a striking gap. Today the "invisible hand" of markets increasingly governs science-based businesses. Assessing this form of governance against the requirements of science-based businesses suggests the need for organizational innovation. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Aug 2008
- Research & Ideas
Creating Leaders for Science-Based Businesses
The unique challenges of managing and leading science-based businesses—certain to be a driver of this century's new economy—demand new management paradigms. At Harvard Business School, the opportunities start just across the street. From HBS Alumni Bulletin. Key concepts include: Despite the hundreds of billions of dollars invested in biotech in recent decades, most biotech companies do not turn a profit. Science-based companies require a different kind of leadership, which HBS intends to develop through research, analysis and teaching. Harvard's new science complex being built across from Harvard Business School presents many opportunities for cross-fertilization. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 31 Mar 2008
- HBS Case
JetBlue’s Valentine’s Day Crisis
It was the Valentine's Day from hell for JetBlue employees and more than 130,000 customers. Under bad weather, JetBlue fliers were trapped on the runway at JFK for hours, many ultimately delayed by days. How did the airline make it right with customers and learn from its mistakes? A discussion with Harvard Business School professor Robert S. Huckman. Key concepts include: JetBlue's dependence on a reservations system that relied on a dispersed workforce and the Web broke down when thousands of passengers needed to rebook at once. A crisis forces an organization to evaluate its operating processes rapidly and decide where it needs to create greater formalization or structure. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 12 Jul 2007
- Working Paper Summaries
Toward a Theory of Behavioral Operations
Research in psychology over the past several decades teaches us that behavioral biases and cognitive limits are not just "noise"; they systematically affect (and often distort) people's judgment and decision making. Despite such advances, however, most scholarly research in operations management still assumes that agents—be they decision makers, problem solvers, implementers, workers, or customers—either are fully rational or can be induced to behave rationally, usually with economic incentives. This paper builds on earlier studies to explore the theoretical and practical implications of incorporating behavioral and cognitive factors into operations management models. It then points to fruitful areas for future research. Key concepts include: A behavioral approach to operations management can lead to a better understanding of underlying drivers of operating systems performance and also to a better understanding of puzzling "pathologies" such as excess inventory, late product development projects, and overcommitment to research and development projects. A behavioral perspective can lead to better identification of appropriate management interventions. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 13 Nov 2006
- Research & Ideas
Science Business: What Happened to Biotech?
After thirty years the numbers are in on the biotech business—and it's not what we expected. The industry in aggregate has lost money. R&D performance has not radically improved. The problem? In a new book, Professor Gary Pisano points to systemic flaws as well as unhealthy tensions between science and business. Key concepts include: The biotech industry has underperformed expectations, caught in the conflicting objectives and requirements between science and business. The industry needs to realign business models, organizational structures, and financing arrangements so they will place greater emphasis on long-term learning over short-term monetization of intellectual property. A lesson to managers: Break away from a strategy of doing many narrow deals and focus on fewer but deeper relationships. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 05 Jul 2006
- Working Paper Summaries
Learning Tradeoffs in Organizations: Measuring Multiple Dimensions of Improvement to Investigate Learning-Curve Heterogeneity
How and why experience leads to performance improvement has made the learning curve an important management topic for sites ranging from nuclear power plants to cardiac surgical units. This new research looks deeper at learning curves by focusing on learning rates in technology adoption in similar organizations along multiple, potentially competing dimensions. Using longitudinal data from sixteen hospitals that are adopting a new technology for cardiac surgery, it specifically studies two dimensions: efficiency and application innovation and the potential tradeoff between efficiency and application innovation. It also asks how such tradeoffs are influenced. Key concepts include: Organizations should explicitly decide which dimension of learning is of greatest strategic importance to them. Some organizations may learn more slowly on a particular dimension because they are investing in a different, potentially contradictory dimension of learning. Hospitals in the study that focused on increasing the technical difficulty and innovativeness of their use of a new technology were less likely to increase efficiency as quickly as those that were focused on efficiency. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 05 Jul 2006
- Working Paper Summaries
Do Managers’ Heuristics Affect R&D Performance Volatility? A Simulation Informed by the Pharmaceutical Industry
Can the R&D process be managed to provide more certainty and success? The authors explore R&D performance volatility using the pharmaceutical industry as the model. The study looks at two types of heuristics that are commonly used to manage R&D project portfolios: (1) which products to start, and whether to continue or kill a product in development; (2) how resources should be allocated at each phase of development. By changing the heuristics used to make decisions at each stage of development, managers can decrease the amount of uncertainty and failure in the R&D process. Key concepts include: Pay attention to R&D portfolio management, not just portfolio selection. Don't delay in killing bad projects. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 05 Jul 2006
- Working Paper Summaries
Behavioral Operations
Organizations often commit to more product development projects than they can handle. And while people do not always behave rationally, most research on operations management still assumes they do. This paper explores theoretical and practical ways to study the effects of behavior and cognition on operations. Key concepts include: Recognize the role of common cognitive biases such as wishful thinking, overconfidence, and procrastination in order to understand and solve chronic problems in operations management. Such knowledge may help improve the operating systems that people design, implement, and use. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 13 Jun 2005
- Research & Ideas
From Turf Wars to Learning Curves: How Hospitals Adopt New Technology
Turf wars and learning curves influence how new technology is adopted in hospitals. HBS professors Gary Pisano and Robert Huckman discuss the implications of their research for your organization. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Aug 2004
- Research & Ideas
Health Care Research and Prospects
A groundbreaking project at Harvard Business School is bringing together faculty, researchers, and students to probe issues in health care management. An interview with Professor Gary P. Pisano. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 12 Apr 2004
- Research & Ideas
Operations and the Competitive Edge
Many managers expect operations organizations to fulfill only a support role. But an effective operations strategy can give you a competitive advantage. An interview with professor Robert Hayes. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 13 Jan 2003
- Research & Ideas
Making Biotech Work as a Business
What will it take for biotechnology to fulfill its economic potential? Participants need to think twice about the strategies and assumptions that are driving the industry, says HBS professor Gary P. Pisano. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 21 Aug 2000
- Research & Ideas
Inside the OR: Disrupted Routines and New Technologies
A hospital operating room may seem an unlikely place to attract the attention of a group of management professors. But for HBS faculty members Amy Edmondson, Richard Bohmer and Gary Pisano it's a setting that offers great insights into work teams and the ways they adapt and learn. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Aug 2000
- Research & Ideas
The Business of Biotech
On the cusp of what most analysts agree will be the age of biotechology, Professor Gary P. Pisano and four HBS alums on the front lines of the biotech revolution offer their views of the challenges, issues and opportunities facing the industry in the laboratory, the boardroom and the marketplace. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
Can We Bring Back the “Industrial Commons” for Manufacturing?
Summing Up: Does the US have the political will or educational ability to remake its manufacturing sector on the back of an 'industrial commons?' Professor Jim Heskett's readers are dubious.