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    • COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      Cold Call
      A podcast featuring faculty discussing cases they've written and the lessons they impart.
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      • 20 Apr 2021
      • Cold Call Podcast

      What Went Wrong with the Boeing 737 Max?

      How did the evolution of Boeing’s organization and management lead up to two tragic plane crashes—the crash of Lion Air flight 610 on October 29, 2018, in Indonesia, and the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 on March 9, 2019, in Ethiopia—in which a total of 346 people died? What role did cost cutting, FAA pressure, and CEO succession play in laying the foundation for this tragedy? Professor Bill George discusses the long roots that ultimately led to two tragic Boeing 737 Max crashes, and examines the response of Boeing executives to the crisis in his case, “What Went Wrong with Boeing's 737 Max?”  Open for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      Read the Transcript

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      Innovation and ManagementRemove Innovation and Management →

      New research on innovation and management from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including the importance of workplace transparency, how to manage 'creative types,' and crowdsourcing solutions.
      Page 1 of 94 Results →
      • 24 Nov 2020
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Accounting for Product Impact in the Consumer Finance Industry

      by George Serafeim and Katie Trinh

      A framework and method for measuring and monetizing product impact across industries, applying it to two competitors in the consumer finance space.

      • 22 Jun 2020
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Iterative Coordination and Innovation

      by Sourobh Ghosh and Andy Wu

      Do Agile methodologies promote innovation? Results of a field experiment with Google show that increasing the frequency and goal orientation of stand-up meetings reinforces integration and value but reduces specialization and novelty in outcomes.

      • 30 Jul 2019
      • Working Paper Summaries

      ‘Organizing’, ‘Innovating’, and ‘Managing’ in Complexity Space

      by Michael C. Moldoveanu

      This paper explores organizational complexity by proposing a two-dimensional framework to help us understand organizational coping mechanisms and failure modes. The framework makes it possible to ask new questions about organizational adaptations to complexity that investigate its underlying structure and dynamics.

      • 21 May 2019
      • Cold Call Podcast

      If the Key to Business Success Is Focus, Why Does Amazon Work?

      Sunil Gupta explores the infiltration of Amazon into dozens of industries including web services, grocery, and movie production. What’s the big plan? Is the company spread too thin? Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 17 Apr 2019
      • Research & Ideas

      How Managers Stifle Creativity

      by Danielle Kost

      3QUESTIONS: Teresa Amabile discusses the roots of creativity, how to achieve more of it, and combining it with artificial intelligence. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 27 Feb 2019
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Judgment Aggregation in Creative Production: Evidence from the Movie Industry

      by Hong Luo, Jeffrey T. Macher, and Michael Wahlen

      Selecting early-stage ideas in creative industries is challenging because consumer taste is hard to predict and the quantity to sift through is large. Using The Black List that ranks scripts annually based on nominations from film executives, this study shows that aggregating expert opinions helps reduce quality uncertainty and can influence high-budget production.

      • 19 Sep 2018
      • Sharpening Your Skills

      Say Again? Uncommon Advice for Common Business Problems

      by Sean Silverthorne

      Sometimes the right answer is far from obvious. Learn why an introvert may be the best choice to lead your team, taking a pay cut might make you a better manager, and why you should not trust your gut when the pressure is on. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 20 Dec 2017
      • Lessons from the Classroom

      How to Design a Better Customer Experience

      by Dina Gerdeman

      With the help of LEGO bricks, Stefan Thomke helps business executives discover how design principles can serve as building blocks to create a great customer experience. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 15 May 2017
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Flexing the Frame: TMT Framing and the Adoption of Non-Incremental Innovations in Incumbent Firms

      by Ryan Raffaelli, Mary Ann Glynn, and Michael Tushman

      Organizations continuously face decisions about whether or not to adopt innovations. Often, however, senior teams do not adopt an innovation even when the organization has the resources to do so. Using real examples, this paper theorizes how the processes of cognitive and emotional framing inform managerial choices about whether or not to adopt innovations.

      • 20 Mar 2017
      • Book

      Why Companies Are Placing Users at the Core of Their Innovation Strategies

      by Dina Gerdeman

      In his recent edited volume Revolutionizing Innovation, Karim Lakhani brings together the latest thinking around open innovation, users, and communities. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 12 Oct 2016
      • Research & Ideas

      Break the Rules of How Business is Done

      by Julia B. Austin

      Making just small changes to how you do business inside and outside the company can help you attract bright employees and increase innovation, argues Julia B. Austin. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 03 Aug 2015
      • Research & Ideas

      Why Fierce Competitors Apple and Amazon Became ’Frenemies’ Over eReaders

      by Michael Blanding

      New research by Feng Zhu and colleagues reveals why sometimes it's better for fierce competitors like Apple and Amazon to work together. Open for comment; 5 Comment(s) posted.

      • 04 May 2015
      • Research & Ideas

      Need to Solve a Problem? Take a Break From Collaborating

      by Carmen Nobel

      Organizations spend a lot of money enabling employees to solve problems collectively. But inducing more collaboration may actually hinder the most important part of problem-solving: actually solving the problem. Research by Jesse Shore, Ethan Bernstein, and David Lazer. Open for comment; 11 Comment(s) posted.

      • 02 Apr 2015
      • Research & Ideas

      Digital Initiative Summit: The Business of Crowdsourcing

      by Dina Gerdeman

      Gaining the community's trust is vital to building a successful business with crowdsourcing. Open for comment; 1 Comment(s) posted.

      • 09 Mar 2015
      • Research & Ideas

      Why Entrepreneurs Should Go Work for Government

      by Michael Blanding

      In a new Harvard Business School course on public entrepreneurship, Mitchell B. Weiss explores how fresh thinkers can work with—and within—the halls of government. Open for comment; 10 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.

      • 13 Feb 2015
      • Working Paper Summaries

      A Methodology for Operationalizing Enterprise Architecture and Evaluating Enterprise IT Flexibility

      by Alan MacCormack, Robert Lagerstrom & Carliss Y. Baldwin

      When dealing with complex information system architectures, changes often propagate in unexpected ways, increasing the costs of adapting the system to future needs. In this paper the authors use data from a real firm and develop a robust network-based methodology by which to visualize and measure any firm's enterprise architecture. They also explore the dynamics of how different types of coupling influence the flexibility of enterprise architectures. They conclude with insights for practicing managers who must, for example, allocate resources and identify opportunities for system redesign. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      • 05 Feb 2015
      • Research & Ideas

      How New BofA Executives Learn its ’Deep Smarts’

      Bank of America's stringent onboarding process for new execs ensures they understand role expectations, quickly develop networks, and learn from other leaders what it takes to succeed. From the new book by Dorothy Leonard and colleagues, Critical Knowledge Transfer. Open for comment; 2 Comment(s) posted.

      • 12 Dec 2014
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Bottlenecks, Modules and Dynamic Architectural Capabilities

      by Carliss Y. Baldwin

      Large technical systems made up of many interoperable components are becoming more common every day. Many of these systems, like tablet computers, smartphones, and the Internet, are based on digital information technologies. Others, like the electrical grid, the financial payments system, and all modern factories, rely on digital technologies. How do firms create and capture value in large technical systems? To answer this question, the author argues, it is first necessary to develop ways of describing such systems. One useful lens is architecture. Architectural capabilities are an important subset of dynamic capabilities that provide managers with the ability to see a complex technical system in an abstract way and change the system's structure by rearranging its components. Purposeful architectural change can then be used to create and capture value at different points in the technical system. Furthermore, value-enhancing architectural change arises through the effective management of bottlenecks and modules in conjunction with the firm's organizational boundaries and property rights. Key concepts include: Bottlenecks are points of value creation and capture in any complex man-made system. The architecture of a system defines its components, describes interfaces between components, and specifies ways of testing performance. The tools a firm can use to manage bottlenecks are 1) an understanding of the modular structure of the technical system and how it can be changed; and 2) an understanding of the contract structure of the firm, especially its organizational boundaries and property rights. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      • 29 Oct 2014
      • Research & Ideas

      Inventing Products is Less Valuable Than Inventing Ideas

      by Michael Blanding

      When companies create new products, they are often also inventing new ideas—and that's where the real value resides. Gautam Ahuja discusses why companies fall short in fully exploiting their intellectual capital. Open for comment; 5 Comment(s) posted.

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