HBS Cases: Clocky, the Runaway Alarm Clock
| Published: | December 12, 2011 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | HBS Cases |
| Forum: | open for comment; 7 Comments posted |
There had not been an innovative breakthrough in alarm clock design since the snooze button until entrepreneur Gauri Nanda created Clocky. Her runaway hit has been the inspiration for several cases written by Professor Elie Ofek.
Multi-Sided Platforms
| Authors: | Andrei Hagiu and Julian Wright |
|---|---|
| Published: | November 4, 2011 |
| Paper Release Date: | October 2011 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Research in multi-sided platforms (MSPs) studies how payment networks bring together cardholders and retailers, shopping malls bring together shoppers and retailers, and video game systems bring together gamers and game developers. Andrei Hagiu and Julian Wright propose a new definition of MSPs that aims to capture what makes eBay, shopping malls, Yellow Pages directories, and dating websites different from "regular" firms such as a bakery or car dealership, as well as how to characterize less clear-cut examples. They also discuss the economic trade-offs that determine where organizations choose to place themselves on the continuum between MSPs and resellers, or between MSPs and input suppliers.
Sharpening Your Skills: Leveraging Intellectual Property
| Published: | September 29, 2011 |
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| Feature: | Sharpening Your Skills |
Many companies lack a coherent policy for maximizing the value of their intellectual property. In this collection from our archives, Harvard Business School faculty offer insights on the importance of IP and how best to protect and use it.
How Small Wins Unleash Creativity
| Published: | September 6, 2011 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
| Forum: | open for comment; 12 Comments posted |
In their new book, The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work, authors Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer discuss how even seemingly small steps forward on a project can make huge differences in employees' emotional and intellectual well-being. Amabile talks about the main findings of the book. Plus: book excerpt.
Getting to Eureka!: How Companies Can Promote Creativity
| Published: | August 22, 2011 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
| Forum: | open for comment; 19 Comments posted |
As global competition intensifies, it's more important than ever that companies figure out how to innovate if they are going to maintain their edge, or maintain their existence at all. Six Harvard Business School faculty share insights on the best ways to develop creative workers.
Five Discovery Skills that Distinguish Great Innovators
| Published: | July 20, 2011 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
| Forum: | open for comment; 18 Comments posted |
In The Innovator's DNA, authors Jeff Dyer , Hal Gergersen, and Clayton M. Christensen build on the idea of disruptive innovation to outline the five discovery skills that distinguish the Steve Jobses and Jeff Bezoses of the world from the run-of-the-mill corporate managers.
The Contingent Effect of Absorptive Capacity: An Open Innovation Analysis
| Authors: | Andrew A. King and Karim R. Lakhani |
|---|---|
| Published: | April 26, 2011 |
| Paper Release Date: | April 2011 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Does experience with adopting technology improve a person's capacity for inventing better technology? On the other hand, does invention experience increase the capacity for adoption? This paper explores how adoption and invention affect each other, using data from several programming competitions sponsored by The MathWorks Corporation. Research was conducted by Andrew A. King of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and Karim R. Lakhani at Harvard Business School.
Reinventing the National Geographic Society
| Published: | April 4, 2011 |
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| Feature: | HBS Cases |
| Forum: | open for comment; 18 Comments posted |
How do you transform a 123-year-old cultural icon and prepare it for the digital world? Slowly, as a new case on the National Geographic Society by professor David Garvin demonstrates.
Risky Trust: How Multi-entity Teams Develop Trust in a High Risk Endeavor
| Authors: | Faaiza Rashid and Amy C. Edmondson |
|---|---|
| Published: | March 29, 2011 |
| Paper Release Date: | February 2011 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Work that comes with high risk requires a great deal of trust among the individuals involved, whether it's the financial risk of producing a high-budget film or the personal safety risk of working in a war zone. In this paper, reporting on case study research on a high-risk, multimillion-dollar construction project, HBS doctoral candidate Faaiza Rashid and professor Amy C. Edmondson explore the concept of "risky trust," and examine how colleagues can learn to trust each other in the midst of high-risk work situations.
Managing the Open Source vs. Proprietary Decision
| Published: | March 2, 2011 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
| Forum: | open for comment; 2 Comments posted |
In their new book, The Comingled Code, HBS professor Josh Lerner and London School of Economics professor Mark Schankerman look at the impact of open source software on economic development. Our book excerpt discusses implications for managers.
Published in 2010
When Does a Platform Create Value by Limiting Choice?
| Authors: | Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Hanna W. Halaburda |
|---|---|
| Published: | October 26, 2010 |
| Paper Release Date: | September, 2010 (Revised January, 2011) |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Platforms such as video games and smartphones need to attract users, and the best way to do so is to offer more and more applications. Is there ever a point where a platform should limit the variety available? Researchers Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Hanna Halaburda observe that in many situations users enjoy consuming applications together. When such consumption complementarities are present, users may benefit if the platform limits choice. With fewer applications to choose from, it is easier for users to take full advantage from shared consumption.
Published in 2009
Understanding Users of Social Networks
| Published: | September 14, 2009 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Many business leaders are mystified about how to reach potential customers on social networks such as Facebook. Professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski provides a fresh look into the interpersonal dynamics of these sites and offers guidance for approaching these tantalizing markets.
Markets or Communities? The Best Ways to Manage Outside Innovation
| Q&A with: | Karim R. Lakhani |
|---|---|
| Published: | July 20, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
No one organization can monopolize knowledge in any given field. That's why modern companies must develop a new expertise: the ability to attract novel solutions to difficult or unanticipated problems from outside sources around the world. A conversation with Harvard Business School professor Karim R. Lakhani on the keys to managing distributed innovation.
Don't Just Survive—Thrive: Leading Innovation in Good Times and Bad
| Authors: | Lynda M. Applegate and J. Bruce Harreld |
|---|---|
| Published: | June 24, 2009 |
| Paper Release Date: | April 2009, revised May 2009 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
The financial crisis provides a sobering reminder of what happens when innovation fails to drive productive economic growth. For over a decade, money from around the world poured into the United States seeking innovation. Despite these massive investments, when adjusted for inflation, U.S. GDP grew slowly with much of the growth coming from government, professional, and business services, including real estate and outsourcing. What's more, inflation adjusted wages stalled for many, even as consumer spending increased. This paper argues that innovation is not a side business to a real business: rather, innovation is the foundation of a successful business.
Published in 2008
Radical Design, Radical Results
| Published: | February 19, 2008 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Consumers appear increasingly willing to make purchase decisions based upon their emotions about a product—how it looks, or sounds, or makes them feel using it. But the traditional design process based on user experience goes only so far in creating radical innovation. Harvard Business School visiting scholar Roberto Verganti is exploring the new world of "design-driven innovation."
Published in 2007
What Is Management's Role in Innovation?
| Published: | November 30, 2007 |
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| Feature: | What Do YOU Think? |
| Forum: | closed | 93 Comments posted |
Online forum closed. It's an open question whether management, as it is currently practiced, contributes much to creativity and innovation, says HBS professor Jim Heskett. What changes will allow managers, particularly in larger organizations, to add value to the creative process? What do you think?
High Note: Managing the Medici String Quartet
| Q&A with: | Robert D. Austin |
|---|---|
| Published: | September 10, 2007 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
As one of the top ensembles in classical music, the Medici String Quartet has enjoyed a long and creative collaboration. But it hasn't always been harmonious. HBS professor Robert Austin explains what innovative businesses can learn about managing creative people.
Jumpstarting Innovation: Using Disruption to Your Advantage
| Published: | September 4, 2007 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Fostering innovation in a mature company can often seem like a swim upstream—the needs of the existing business often overwhelm attempts to create something new. Harvard Business School professor Lynda M. Applegate shows how one of the forces that threatens established companies can also be a source of salvation: disruptive change. Plus: Innovation worksheets.
The Value of Openness in Scientific Problem Solving
| Authors: | Karim R. Lakhani, Lars Bo Jeppesen, Peter A. Lohse, and Jill A. Panetta |
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| Published: | February 7, 2007 |
| Paper Release Date: | January 2007 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Scientists are generally rewarded for discoveries they make as individuals or in small teams. While the sharing of information in science is an ideal, it is seldom practiced. In this research, Lakhani et al. used an approach common to open source software communities—which rely intensely on collaboration—and opened up a set of 166 scientific problems from the research laboratories of twenty-six firms to over 80,000 independent scientists. The outside scientists were able to solve one-third of the problems that the research laboratories were unable to solve internally.
Published in 2006
Open Source Science: A New Model for Innovation
| Q&A with: | Karim R. Lakhani |
|---|---|
| Published: | November 20, 2006 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Borrowing a practice that is common in the open source software community, HBS professor Karim R. Lakhani and colleagues decided to see how "broadcasting" might work among scientists trying to solve scientific problems. The results? Promising for many types of innovation, as he explains in this Q&A.
How Kayak Users Built a New Industry
| Q&A with: | Carliss Y. Baldwin |
|---|---|
| Published: | July 24, 2006 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Customers have produced some of the most important innovations in industries ranging from oil refining to scientific instruments. But how do user innovations take place? How do they get to market? Professor Carliss Baldwin discusses research into the rodeo kayak industry to understand the world of user innovation.
Developing a Strategy for Digital Convergence
| Published: | July 17, 2006 |
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| Feature: | Lessons from the Classroom |
Technology was getting dull earlier this decade, says David Yoffie. But the sudden arrival of digital convergence has turned the tech world upside down. What are the right bets to place?
The Accidental Innovator
| Q&A with: | Robert D. Austin |
|---|---|
| Published: | July 5, 2006 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Many important innovations are the byproduct of accidents—the key is to be prepared for the unexpected. Professor Robert D. Austin discusses his research and practical implications on the concept of accidental innovation.
Lessons from the Browser Wars
| Q&A with: | Pai-Ling Yin |
|---|---|
| Published: | April 10, 2006 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
The first-mover advantage is well chronicled, but it didn't help Netscape when Microsoft launched Internet Explorer. What drives technology adoption, and do browser upstarts such as Firefox stand a chance? A Q&A with professor Pai-Ling Yin.
Published in 2005
Microsoft vs. Open Source: Who Will Win?
| Q&A with: | Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pankaj Ghemawat |
|---|---|
| Published: | June 6, 2005 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Using formal economic modelling, professors Pankaj Ghemawat and Ramon Casadesus-Masanell consider the competitive dynamics of the software wars between Microsoft and open source. Read our interview.
The Knowledge Coach
| Published: | January 10, 2005 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Make sure the knowledge gained by top employees doesn't leave with their retirement, say Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap in their new book, Deep Smarts. One solution: Develop a knowledge transfer coach.
Published in 2004
Caves, Clusters, and Weak Ties: The Six Degrees World of Inventors
| Q&A with: | Lee Fleming |
|---|---|
| Published: | November 29, 2004 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Your company's scientists and investors can be antennas that bring great ideas into your company. The key, says HBS professor Lee Fleming, is understanding small-world networks.
Why Innovations Sit on the Shelf
| Published: | July 19, 2004 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Why can't your organization capitalize on great ideas? Surprise! The answer may have more to do with communication than inventiveness. From Strategy and Innovation.
How Team Leaders Show Support–or Not
| Q&A with: | Teresa M. Amabile |
|---|---|
| Published: | May 31, 2004 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
What does a team leader do so that employees know they are being supported? A Q&A with HBS professor and creativity expert Teresa Amabile about new research.
A Clear Eye for Innovation
| Published: | April 26, 2004 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
How did a weakening contact-lens company set its sights on a series of breakthroughs? A Harvard Business Review excerpt by Charles A. O’Reilly III and HBS professor Michael L. Tushman.
Mission to Mars: It Really Is Rocket Science
| Q&A with: | Alan D. MacCormack |
|---|---|
| Published: | March 1, 2004 |
| Feature: | Lessons from the Classroom |
Do the successful Mars missions mean NASA again has the right stuff? Professor Alan MacCormack dissects the space agency’s "Faster, Better, Cheaper" program.
Failing to Learn and Learning to Fail (Intelligently): How Great Organizations Put Failure to Work to Improve and Innovate
| Authors: | Mark D. Cannon and Amy C. Edmondson |
|---|---|
| Published: | July 5, 2006 |
| Paper Release Date: | February 2004 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Successful companies see failure as a part of the innovative process, but there are social (organizational) and technical (skill-based) reasons why it is difficult to turn failures into learning opportunities. First, executives need to develop the skills to probe failures and analyze the root causes. Then improve management's technical skills in problem diagnosis, statistical process design, and qualitative and quantitative analysis. Organizationally, executives should create an environment where people are encouraged to identify failures, rather than encourage a "shoot the messenger" mindset.
What Developing-World Companies Teach Us About Innovation
| Published: | January 26, 2004 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
A mini case study by professor Donald N. Sull and coauthors on how three businesses in developing countries overcome a lack of resources to succeed. From Strategy & Innovation.
Published in 2003
Sometimes Success Begins at Failure
| Published: | December 1, 2003 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Projects that appear to be duds may have unintended upsides—Viagra started life and failed as a drug for hypertension. Here are tips for turning negative test results into gold.
How to Pick Managers for Disruptive Growth
| Published: | October 13, 2003 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
"Right stuff" managers may be entirely wrong to lead a new-growth business. An excerpt from The Innovator's Solution by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael Raynor.
Is "the Innovator’s Solution" to Sustained Corporate Growth an Unnatural Act?
| Published: | October 6, 2003 |
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| Feature: | What Do YOU Think? |
| Forum: | closed | 11 Comments posted |
In their new book, The Innovator’s Solution, HBS professor Clayton Christensen and co-author Michael E. Raynor propose four guidelines for developing a "disruptive growth engine." The problem: According to the authors, few organizations have been able to achieve more than one disruptive technology in their lifetimes. Why is it so difficult?
Why Managing Innovation is Like Theater
| Published: | September 29, 2003 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
A stage production and the development of your next product have a lot in common. An excerpt from Artful Making by HBS professor Robert D. Austin and dramaturge Lee Devin.
Cheap, Fast, and In Control: How Tech Aids Innovation
| Q&A with: | Stefan H. Thomke |
|---|---|
| Published: | August 11, 2003 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Companies don’t need to spend a fortune on research and innovation. HBS professor Stefan Thomke explains how new technologies enable businesses to experiment on the cheap in his new book, Experimentation Matters.
The Benefits of "Not Invented Here"
| Published: | June 9, 2003 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Not all the smart people work for you. By leveraging the discoveries of others, companies can produce spectacular results. A Q&A with professor Henry Chesbrough on his new book.
How Bank of America Turned Branches into Service-Development Laboratories
| Published: | May 5, 2003 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
In this Harvard Business Review excerpt, HBS professor Stefan Thomke describes how Bank of America applies a systematic R&D process to create services.
Published in 2002
Understanding the Process of Innovation
| Published: | August 5, 2002 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Just what is the BIG idea? In this Harvard Management Update piece, Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen helps us understand the sources of innovation inside companies and what blocks it.
Published in 2000
The Dynamics of Standing Still: Firestone Tire & Rubber and the Radial Revolution
| Published: | November 27, 2000 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
In the late 1960s, Firestone was perhaps the best managed company in its industry. But when Michelin introduced the radial tire and shook up the U.S. market, writes HBS professor Donald Sull, Firestone's historical success proved its own worst enemy.
