Innovation and Management
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- 30 Jul 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
‘Organizing’, ‘Innovating’, and ‘Managing’ in Complexity Space
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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?
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
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
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
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.
- 29 Aug 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Patent Trolls
Clearly defined property rights are essential for well-functioning markets. In the case of intellectual property (IP), however, property rights are complex to define; unlike ownership of physical assets, the space of ideas is difficult to clearly delineate. A solution employed by the United States and many other countries is the patent-a property right allowing an idea's owner sole commercialization rights for a period of time. A new organizational form, the non-practicing entity (NPE), has recently emerged as a major driver of IP litigation. NPEs amass patents not for the sake of producing commercial products, but in order to prosecute infringement on their patent portfolios. In this paper the authors provide the first large-sample evidence on the litigation behavior of NPEs. They show precisely which corporations NPEs target, when NPEs litigate, and how NPE litigation impacts the innovative activity of targeted firms. NPEs behave, on average, as patent trolls. This means that NPEs target firms that are flush with cash or that have just had positive cash shocks. NPEs even target conglomerate firms that earn their cash from segments having nothing to do with their allegedly infringing patents. The stakes of how to organize intellectual property disputes are massive. If the United States becomes a less desirable place to innovate because NPEs are left unchecked, innovation and human capital, and the returns to that innovation and human capital, will likely flee overseas. But innovators will also leave if they feel they are not are protected from large, well-funded interests that might infringe on innovative capital without recourse. Key concepts include: The rise of non-practicing entities (NPEs) has sparked a debate regarding their value and their impact on innovation. This study provides evidence that NPEs do not protect innovators from large interests in the intellectual property space. On average, NPEs behave as patent trolls that chase cash and negatively impact future innovation. Policy should be to more carefully limit the power of NPEs or, in the framework of the authors' model, increase the cost of bringing suit against commercializers of innovative ideas. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
Iterative Coordination and Innovation
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.