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New research on innovation from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including encouraging creativity, managing teams, and problem solving.
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If a Car Can Drive Itself, Can It Make Life-or-Death Decisions?

by Tom Quinn

AI is transforming industries from retail to finance, but what about the moral quandaries posed by thinking machines? Buckle your seatbelts: Joseph Badaracco probes the most consequential questions raised by self-driving cars.

Fawn Weaver’s Entrepreneurial Journey as an Outsider in the Spirits Industry

Re: Hise O. Gibson

In 2017 Fawn Weaver launched a premium American whiskey brand, Uncle Nearest. It became the fastest growing and most awarded whiskey brand in America, despite the challenges Weaver faced as a Black woman and outsider to the spirits industry, which is capital-intensive, highly regulated, competitive, and male-dominated. In October 2023, Weaver announced plans to expand into cognac with the goal of building the next major alcoholic beverages conglomerate. But the company was still heavily reliant on capital. How could Weaver convince new investors that her plans for cognac would yield success? Harvard Business School senior lecturer Hise Gibson discusses Weaver’s leadership style, growth strategies, and her use of storytelling to connect customers with her brand in the case, "Uncle Nearest: Creating a Legacy."

What Happens When Business Owners Turn to ChatBots for Advice

by Ben Rand

Can generative AI help entrepreneurs solve their business problems? Yes, but mostly when companies are already thriving, suggests research by Rembrand Koning that reveals the potential for AI-powered mentors to reach owners around the world.

Shoot for the Stars: What to Know About the Space Economy

by Kara Baskin

Outer space has come a long way since the 1960s. Matthew Weinzierl explains the current state of the space economy, highlighting the various opportunities for businesses hidden among the stars.

Can AI Match Human Ingenuity in Creative Problem-Solving?

by Michael Blanding

Generative AI handles a variety of business tasks, but can it develop creative solutions to problems? Yes, although some of the best ideas emerge when humans and machines work together, according to research by Jacqueline Ng Lane, Karim Lakhani, Miaomiao Zhang, and colleagues.

Angel City Football Club: A New Business Model for Women’s Sports

Re: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Angel City Football Club (ACFC) was founded in 2020 by venture capitalist Kara Nortman, entrepreneur Julie Uhrman, and actor and activist Natalie Portman. As outsiders to professional sports, the all-female founding team had rewritten the playbook for how to build a sports franchise by applying lessons from the tech and entertainment industries. Unlike typical sports franchises that built their teams and track records over many years before extending their brand beyond a local base, ACFC had inverted the model, generating both global and local interest in the club during its first three years. The club’s early success was reflected in its market valuation of $250 million as of its sale in July 2024 — the highest in the National Women’s Soccer League. Equally important, ACFC had started to bend the curve toward greater pay equity in women’s sports — the club’s ultimate goal. But the founders knew there was much more to do to capitalize on the club’s momentum. As they developed ACFC’s first three-year strategic plan in 2024, they weighed the most effective ways to build value for the franchise. Was it better to allocate the incremental budget to investments in digital brand building or to investments in the on-field product? Senior Lecturer Jeffrey Rayport is joined by case co-author Nicole Keller and club co-founder Kara Nortman to discuss the case, “Angel City Football Club: Scoring a New Model.”

Why Competing With Tech Giants Requires Finding Your Own Edge

by Feng Zhu

In the new book Smart Rivals, Feng Zhu and Bonnie Yining Cao show business leaders how to create competitive advantages by uncovering their hidden strengths and leveraging their individual capabilities.

Can AI Save Physicians from Burnout?

by Susanna Gallani, Lidia Moura, and Katie Sonnefeldt

With many physicians suffering from burnout, artificial intelligence could be a potential solution. Yet if health care payment models continue to push doctors to treat as many patients as possible, AI may inadvertently exacerbate the patient volume problem, say Susanna Gallani, Lidia Moura, and Katie Sonnefeldt.

How EdTech Firm Coursera Is Incorporating GenAI into Its Products and Services

Re: Suraj Srinivasan

In early 2023, Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera, started developing the EdTech firm’s strategy for incorporating GenAI into their offerings. By early 2024, the firm had made significant progress in bringing four key capabilities to market, but GenAI was evolving quickly and Coursera needed to continuously improve its offerings. While the firm had been an early mover, competitors were adapting fast. Was Coursera taking full advantage of the opportunities presented by the technology? What more could it do to remain competitive?

Corporate Boards Are Failing in Their No. 1 Duty

by Bill George

General Electric, Wells Fargo, and Boeing all chose the wrong CEOs for the job, says Bill George, creating big problems for the companies. George outlines five common mistakes boards of directors make when selecting leaders and provides advice for picking the appropriate person for this all-important role.

Weighing Digital Tradeoffs in Private Equity

by Michael Blanding

Private equity firms often streamline the operations of portfolio companies, but cost-cutting isn't the only road to efficiency. The right technology improvements can increase the value of PE investments, says research by Brian Baik and Suraj Srinivasan.

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Brand Building

Re: Scott Duke Kominers

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which allow individuals to own their digital assets and move them from place to place, are changing the interaction between consumers and digital goods, brands, and platforms. Professor Scott Duke Kominers and tech entrepreneur Steve Kaczynski discuss the case, “Bored Ape Yacht Club: Navigating the NFT World,” and the related book they co-authored, The Everything Token: How NFTs and Web3 Will Transform The Way We Buy, Sell, And Create. They focus on the rise and popularity of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs and the new model of brand building created by owning those tokens.

Chance Encounters: What's at Stake in Return-to-Office Decisions

by Jen McFarland Flint, HBS Alumni Bulletin

What's the role of the office in an increasingly virtual world? How can organizations spark collaboration among people who prefer to isolate? Andy Wu and Maria Roche discuss the value of bringing people together—and why that’s still so hard to do.

The Critical Computer Science Principles Every Strategic Leader Needs to Know

by Ben Rand

Technology is such an integral part of so many industries now that business executives can't afford to leave all the digital know-how to their tech teams. Andy Wu explains the five essential principles of computer science that all leaders need to grasp to gain an edge.

Gen AI Marketing: How Some 'Gibberish' Code Can Give Products an Edge

by Ben Rand

An increasing number of consumers are turning to generative AI for buying recommendations. But if companies can subtly manipulate the technology to favor their own products, some businesses may gain unfair advantage, says Himabindu Lakkaraju.

The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2024

by Avery Forman

What's on your vacation reading list? Harvard Business School faculty members plan to explore not only sober themes, such as philosophy and climate policy, but classic mysteries and hip-hop history.

How One Insurtech Firm Formulated a Strategy for Climate Change

Re: Lauren H. Cohen

The Insurtech firm Hippo was facing two big challenges related to climate change: major loss ratios and rate hikes. The company used technologically empowered services to create its competitive edge, along with providing smart home packages, targeting risk-friendly customers, and using data-driven pricing. But now CEO and president Rick McCathron needed to determine how the firm’s underwriting model could account for the effects of high-intensity weather events. Harvard Business School professor Lauren Cohen discusses how Hippo could adjust its strategy to survive a new era of unprecedented weather catastrophes in his case, “Hippo: Weathering the Storm of the Home Insurance Crisis.”

Banned or Not, TikTok Is a Force Companies Can’t Afford to Ignore

by Rachel Layne

It may be tempting to write off TikTok, the highly scrutinized social media app whose cat clips and dance videos propelled it to the mainstream. However, business leaders could learn valuable lessons about engaging consumers from the world's most-used platform, says Shikhar Ghosh in a case study.

A Major Roadblock for Autonomous Cars: Motorists Believe They Drive Better

by Rachel Layne

With all the advances in autonomous vehicle technology, why aren't self-driving cars chauffeuring more people around? Research by Julian De Freitas, Stuti Agarwal, and colleagues reveals a simple psychological barrier: Drivers are overconfident about their own abilities, so they resist handing over the wheel.

Called Back to the Office? How You Benefit from Ideas You Didn't Know You Were Missing

by Ben Rand

As companies continue to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of remote work, a study of how knowledge flows among academic researchers by Karim Lakhani, Eamon Duede, and colleagues offers lessons for hybrid workplaces. Does in-person work provide more opportunities for innovation than people realize?