All Articles About Rebecca Henderson — HBS Working Knowledge

Unplugged: What Happened to the Smart Grid?

Published:	March 8, 2012
Feature:	Research & Ideas
Forum:	open for comment; 13 Comments posted

Replacing the antiquated electrical system in the United States with a super-efficient smart grid always seemed a surefire opportunity for entrepreneurs. So what went wrong? asks Professor Rebecca M. Henderson.

Relational Contracts and Organizational Capabilities

Authors:	R. Gibbons and R. Henderson
Published:	February 14, 2012
Paper Release Date:	January 2012
Feature:	Working Papers

If capabilities are indeed a source of sustained competitive advantage, why don't they diffuse more rapidly? Capabilities diffuse slowly even when managers acknowledge that they are behind and are spending heavily to catch up, and where there appears to be industrywide agreement about best practice. This paper by R. Gibbons and R. Henderson suggests that the often slow diffusion of competitively significant capabilities is because many key managerial practices rely on relational contracts: an economist's term for collaboration sustained by the shadow of the future, as opposed to formal contracts enforced by courts. Building these relational contracts requires moving beyond task knowledge to the development of "relational knowledge." Relational knowledge may be substantially more difficult to develop than task knowledge both because there is much more of it and because its acquisition is complicated by incentive problems. Overall, while it is well established that organizations are replete with relational contracts, these informal understandings may be one of the reasons that competitively important practices are sometimes surprisingly slow to diffuse.

Designing Cities for a Sustainable Future

Published:	October 19, 2011
Feature:	Research & Ideas
Forum:	open for comment; 7 Comments posted

The city of the past is likely not the city of the future—climate change is bringing an end to the traditional model. Harvard Business School faculty are thinking along with government leaders and business practitioners about how to create sustainable places to live and work. From HBS Alumni Bulletin.

HBS Faculty Comment on Environmental Issues for Earth Day

Published:	April 26, 2011
Feature:	Op-Ed
Forum:	open for comment; 4 Comments posted

Harvard Business School faculty members offer their views on the many business facets of "going green."

Schumpeterian Competition and Diseconomies of Scope: Illustrations from the Histories of Microsoft and IBM

Authors:	Timothy Bresnahan, Shane Greenstein, and Rebecca Henderson
Published:	March 18, 2011
Paper Release Date:	January 2011
Feature:	Working Papers

Firms dominant in one era are often less successful in new technological eras, despite being able to exploit economies of scope and other incumbent advantages. What leads to this Schumpeterian creative destruction? Researchers Timothy Bresnahan (Stanford), Shane Greenstein (Northwestern), and Rebecca Henderson (Harvard Business School) look to IBM and Microsoft for an answer.

Water, Electricity, and Transportation: Preparing for the Population Boom

Published:	March 14, 2011
Feature:	Research & Ideas
Forum:	open for comment; 18 Comments posted

By 2050, the world's cities will have to support 3 billion more inhabitants, mostly in developing countries, with crucial investments needed in three areas: water, energy, and transportation. Several of the planet's top city planning and environmental business experts gathered at Harvard Business School earlier this month to discuss available options.

Making the Numbers? 'Short Termism' & the Puzzle of Only Occasional Disaster

Authors:	Nelson P. Repenning and Rebecca M. Henderson
Published:	November 2, 2010
Paper Release Date:	September, 2010
Feature:	Working Papers

Executives at public companies are always under pressure to "meet the numbers" each quarter, often so much so that they sacrifice long-term investments in order to make everything look rosy in the short term. In this paper, Harvard Business School professor Rebecca M. Henderson and Sloan School of Management professor Nelson P. Repenning set out to reconcile the apparently contradictory strategies of short-term results and long-term investments.

How to Speed Up Energy Innovation

Q&A with:	Rebecca Henderson
Published:	August 9, 2010
Feature:	Research & Ideas

We know the grand challenge posed by shifting away from dirty energy sources. The good news, says Harvard Business School professor Rebecca Henderson, is that we have seen such change before in fields including agriculture and biotech, giving us a clearer pathway to what it will take.

Earth Day Reflections

Published:	April 28, 2010
Feature:	Research & Ideas

On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, April 22, Harvard Business School professors Robert G. Eccles, Rebecca Henderson, and Richard H.K. Vietor shared their views on the sustainability-related challenges and opportunities facing today's business leaders.

Accelerating Innovation In Energy: Insights from Multiple Sectors

Authors:	Rebecca M. Henderson and Richard G. Newell
Published:	February 24, 2010
Paper Release Date:	February 2010 (Revised February 2011)
Feature:	Working Papers

How should the energy sector best respond to the threat of climate change? In this introductory chapter to a forthcoming book, Harvard Business School's Rebecca M. Henderson and Richard G. Newell of Duke University frame the discussion by highlighting the volume's contributions concerning four particularly innovative sectors of the U.S. economy: agriculture, chemicals, life sciences, and information technology. These four sectors have been extraordinarily important in driving recent economic growth. Henderson and Newell describe why accelerating innovation in energy could play an important role in shaping an effective response to climate change.