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      Cold Call
      A podcast featuring faculty discussing cases they've written and the lessons they impart.
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      • 06 Apr 2021
      • Cold Call Podcast

      Disrupting the Waste Industry with Technology

      Rubicon began with a bold idea: create a cloud-based, full-service waste management platform, providing efficient service anywhere in the US. Their mobile app did for waste management what Uber had done for taxi service. Five years after the case’s publication, Harvard Business School Associate Professor Shai Bernstein and Rubicon founder and CEO Nate Morris discuss how the software startup leveraged technology to disrupt the waste industry and other enduring lessons of professor Bill Sahlman’s case about Rubicon.  Open for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      Read the Transcript

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      DisruptionRemove Disruption →

      New research on disruption from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including how disruptive innovation is remaking businesses, health care organizations, and universities; insights from observations by the theory's founder, Clayton Christensen; and how to use disruption to your advantage.
      Page 1 of 18 Results
      • 21 Jan 2020
      • Research & Ideas

      Lessons for Retailers from the Rebirth of Indie Bookstores

      by Michael Blanding

      Independent bookstores are resurging. Their strategies offer lessons for many disrupted industries to compete against Amazon and other digital retailers, says Ryan Raffaelli. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 14 Aug 2019
      • Sharpening Your Skills

      The Manager's Guide to Leveraging Disruption

      by Sean Silverthorne

      Clayton M. Christensen's seminal book, The Innovator's Dilemma, helped ignite the idea of innovative disruption. His Harvard Business School colleagues have been adding to innovation research ever since. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 08 Jul 2019
      • Research & Ideas

      Are Paywalls Saving Newspapers?

      by Kristen Senz

      Newspapers with reputable brands and unique content are finding success behind paywalls. For most papers, however, the future is not so clear, says Doug J. Chung. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 18 Feb 2019
      • Book

      What’s Really Disrupting Business? It’s Not Technology

      by Danielle Kost

      Technology doesn't drive disruption—customers do. In a new book, marketing professor Thales Teixeira argues that successful disruptors are faster to spot and serve emerging customer needs than larger competitors. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 07 Feb 2019
      • Book

      How Big Companies Can Outrun Disruption

      by Martha Lagace

      Large companies can be easy targets for disruption, but Gary Pisano says there are steps that can keep them ahead of the innovation curve. Rule 1: Don't emulate startup cultures. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 20 Dec 2018
      • Cold Call Podcast

      Using Fintech to Disrupt Eastern Bank from Within

      When Eastern Bank decided to battle a threat from new competitors, it hired a fintech executive to set up Eastern Labs and start innovating. Karen Mills discusses her case study on what happened next. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 28 Nov 2018
      • HBS Case

      On Target: Rethinking the Retail Website

      by Dina Gerdeman

      Target is one big-brand retailer that seems to have survived and even thrived in the apocalyptic retail landscape. What's its secret? Srikant Datar discusses the company's relentless focus on online data. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 20 Apr 2018
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Executive Education in the Digital Vortex: The Disruption of the Supply Landscape

      by Mihnea Moldoveanu and Das Narayandas

      The competitive landscape of executive education is feeling a tectonic shift even as demand grows for managerial skills. This study maps and analyzes the major providers of executive education programs, including business schools, consultancies, and corporate universities, to better understand and explain the industry’s present and future dynamics.

      • 20 Sep 2017
      • Research & Ideas

      The Three Types of Leaders Who Create Radical Change

      by Carmen Nobel

      Every successful social movement requires three distinct leadership roles: the agitator, the innovator, and the orchestrator, according to institutional change expert Julie Battilana. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 02 Mar 2015
      • Research & Ideas

      Retail Reaches a Tipping Point—Which Stores Will Survive?

      by Sean Silverthorne

      Part 1: The new book Retail Revolution: Will Your Brick and Mortar Store Survive? argues that ecommerce is about to deal severe blows to many familiar store-based brands—even including Walmart. Here's how retailers can fight back, according to Rajiv Lal, José Alvarez, and Dan Greenberg. Open for comment; 7 Comment(s) posted.

      • 25 Jul 2011
      • Research & Ideas

      How Disruptive Innovation is Remaking the University

      by Clayton M. Christensen & Henry J. Eyring

      In The Innovative University, authors Clayton M. Christensen and Henry J. Eyring take Christensen's theory of disruptive innovation to the field of higher education, where new online institutions and learning tools are challenging the future of traditional colleges and universities. Key concepts include: A disruptive innovation brings to market a product or service that isn't as good as the best traditional offerings, but is less expensive and easier to use. Online learning is a disruptive technology that is making colleges and universities reconsider their higher education models. Closed for comment; 20 Comment(s) posted.

      • 05 Apr 2010
      • Research & Ideas

      HBS Cases: iPads, Kindles, and the Close of a Chapter in Book Publishing

      by Julia Hanna

      Book publishing is changing before our very eyes, even if the industry itself is fighting the transition with every comma it can muster. Harvard Business School professor Peter Olson, former CEO of Random House, wonders if books themselves may be in jeopardy. Key concepts include: The traditional book publishing and distribution system is under pressure to change to digital e-books. Publishers should consider a strategy of cooperation rather than competition with online retailers. Adding video and other multimedia capabilities will make e-books more attractive in the textbook industry. The fundamental question to be asked in the Internet age is, how popular will books remain? Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      • 24 Apr 2009
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Corporate Social Entrepreneurship

      by James E. Austin & Ezequiel Reficco

      Accelerated organizational transformation faces a host of obstacles well-documented in the change management literature. Because corporate social entrepreneurship (CSE) expands the core purpose of corporations and their organizational values, it constitutes fundamental change that can be particularly threatening and resisted. Furthermore, it pushes the corporation's actions more broadly and deeply into the area of social value creation where the firm's experiences and skill sets are less developed. The disruptive social innovations intrinsic to the CSE approach amplify this zone of discomfort. Fortunately, the experiences of innovative companies such as Timberland and Starbucks show how these challenges may be overcome. Key concepts include: Values-based leadership, the synergistic generation of social and economic value, and strategic cross-sector alliances are key ingredients to achieving a sustainably successful business. For companies to move their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to the next level, they need to rethink their current approaches to CSR, tapping into the creativity of each individual. Like all entrepreneurship, CSE is about creating disruptive change in the pursuit of new opportunities. It combines the willingness and desire to create joint economic and social value with the entrepreneurial redesign, systems development, and action necessary to carry it out. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      • 08 Apr 2009
      • Research & Ideas

      Clayton Christensen on Disrupting Health Care

      by Deborah Blagg

      In The Innovator's Prescription, Clayton Christensen and his coauthors target disruptive innovations that will make health care both more affordable and more effective. From the HBS Alumni Bulletin. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      • 04 Sep 2007
      • Research & Ideas

      Jumpstarting Innovation: Using Disruption to Your Advantage

      by Lynda M. Applegate

      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. Key concepts include: Jumpstarting innovation is a critical business imperative. Executives realize that radical change is needed but do not feel equipped to make such change. Disruptions in the business environment allow new entrants or forward-thinking established players to introduce innovations that transform the way companies do business and consumers behave. Disruptive changes that might serve as the source of innovation include technology shifts, new business models, industry dynamics, global opportunities, and regulatory changes. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      • 15 Sep 2003
      • Research & Ideas

      The Lessons of New-Market Disruption

      by Clark Gilbert

      Teradyne was successful. Hewlett-Packard was not. Professor Clark Gilbert writes about how two companies had such different results with disruptive innovation. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      • 09 Mar 2003
      • Research & Ideas

      Six Keys to Building New Markets by Unleashing Disruptive Innovation

      by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor & Scott D. Anthony

      Managers know they need growth to survive—but innovation isn't easy. In this classic Harvard Management Update article from 2003, Clayton Christensen and co-authors detail the six keys to creating new-growth businesses. Open for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      • 16 May 2000
      • Research & Ideas

      Getting the Message: How the Internet is Changing Advertising

      by Susan Young

      In the six years since the first banner ad appeared on the World Wide Web, advertising has been transformed. With powerful technologies that can track responses and target customers, the Internet offers marketers a new world of opportunities. HBS Professors Alvin J. Silk and John A. Deighton and others offer perspectives, in this article from the HBS Bulletin, on advertising in the age of the Web. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

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