Research →
- 19 Nov 2012
- Research & Ideas
LEED-ing by Example
When a local government decides to pursue environmentally aware construction policies for its own buildings, the private sector follows suit, according to new research by Timothy Simcoe and Michael W. Toffel. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Sep 2012
- Working Paper Summaries
Colocation and Scientific Collaboration: Evidence from a Field Experiment
In recent years there has been considerable interest in the policy arena on fostering collaborative and especially interdisciplinary collaborations. Yet there is scant evidence on how to do this in practice. To learn how team members find each other in the scientific community and decide to collaborate, the authors designed and carried out an experiment involving Harvard University and its affiliated hospitals. Results suggest that matching between scientists may be subject to considerable frictions, even among scientists in relatively close geographic proximity and in the same organizational system. However, even a brief and focused event facilitating face-to-face interactions can be useful for the formation of new scientific collaborations. Key concepts include: Face-to-face interactions play a central role in the initiation of new collaborations. Creating settings where scientists meet face to face and discuss early-stage research ideas can be useful for fostering collaboration. Matching between scientists is not easy. For example, many factors that affect successful collaboration are not easily observed to both parties until collaboration is well underway, such as personal chemistry and scheduling constraints. Time spent in events that facilitate face-to-face interactions also has opportunity costs. The effect of such activities on scientific productivity and welfare more generally is still unclear. This is the first study to bring field experimental methods to a workplace setting in the scientific community. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 19 Sep 2012
- Research & Ideas
Funding Innovation: Is Your Firm Doing it Wrong?
Many companies are at a loss about how to fund innovation successfully. In his new book, The Architecture of Innovation, Professor Josh Lerner starts with this advice: get the incentives right. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 May 2012
- Working Paper Summaries
Creating an R&D Strategy
This note by Gary P. Pisano provides a framework for designing an R&D strategy. It starts with the simple notion that a strategy is a system approach to solving a problem. An R&D strategy is defined a coherent set of interrelated choices across decision concerning: organizational architecture, processes, people, and project portfolios. To illustrate the framework, we use examples of three pharmaceutical companies and examine how their different R&D strategies were rooted in different assumptions about the core driver of R&D performance. This suggests that the very first question to be answered in strategy development is: What's our shared understanding of the root cause of the problem we are trying to solve? Key concepts include: A good strategy provides consistency, coherence, and alignment. The "game plan" for an R&D organization can be broken down into 4 strategic levers: architecture, processes, people, and portfolio. Together, decisions made in each of these categories constitute the R&D strategy. R&D performance results from the interaction of many different decisions and choices, including the size and location of R&D facilities, the division of labor between various groups, the choice of technologies used inside the R&D organization, the selection of personnel, the allocation of resources, the design of processes for managing projects, and other factors. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Feb 2012
- Research & Ideas
Kodak: A Parable of American Competitiveness
When American companies shift pieces of their operations overseas, they run the risk of moving the expertise, innovation, and new growth opportunities just out of their reach as well, explains HBS Professor Willy Shih, who served as president of Eastman Kodak's digital imaging business for several years. Key concepts include: Outsourcing ends up chipping away at America's "industrial commons"—the collective R&D, engineering, and manufacturing capabilities that are crucial to new product development. If the United States wants to keep from slipping any further in its ability to compete on the industrial stage, the government must increase its support of scientific research and collaborate with the business and academic world. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 20 Oct 2011
- Research & Ideas
Getting the Marketing Mix Right
Marketers have a wide array of selling tools at their disposal, but lack an effective method for predicting their success. Associate Professor Thomas J. Steenburgh and collaborators offer a new model for guiding their marketing investments. Key concepts include: Discrete choice models commonly used to evaluate marketing strategies often provide misleading results, leaving managers with the inability to accurately measure how they can get the best bang for their buck. A new model could help managers figure out which marketing efforts work best, and therefore decide which strategies to invest in. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 31 Aug 2011
- Research & Ideas
Improving Fairness in Flight Delays
Airlines and the FAA don't like flight delays any more than passengers, but what's to be done? Assistant Professor Douglas Fearing and colleagues propose a "fairness" system that could save travelers time and service providers millions of dollars annually. Key concepts include: The model could reduce flight delays by 4 percent or more on some of the worst travel days, resulting in a systemwide savings of $25 to $50 million annually. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Mar 2011
- Research & Ideas
Why Manufacturing Matters
After decades of outsourcing, America's ability to innovate and create high-tech products essential for future prosperity is on the decline, argue professors Gary Pisano and Willy Shih. Is it too late to get it back? From HBS Alumni Bulletin. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Jan 2011
- Working Paper Summaries
Agglomerative Forces and Cluster Shapes
HBS professor William R. Kerr and doctoral candidate Scott Duke Kominers develop a theoretical model for analyzing the forces that drive agglomeration, or industrial clustering. It is rare that researchers systematically observe the forces like technology sharing, customer/supplier interactions, or labor pooling that lead to firm clustering. Instead, the data only portray the final location decisions that firms make (for example, firms that utilize one type of technology are clustered over 50 miles, while those using another technology are clustered over 100 miles). The researchers' model identifies how these observable traits can be used to infer properties of the underlying clustering forces. Key concepts include: Most industries exhibit spatial clustering. The paper's framework provides a theoretical foundation for inferring properties of agglomerative forces through observed spatial concentrations of industries. The model demonstrates that agglomeration clusters generally cover a substantially larger area than the micro-interactions among firms upon which they build. This structure is present, for example, in the technology and labor flows in Silicon Valley. Agglomerative forces with longer micro-interactions are associated with fewer, larger, and less-dense clusters. These patterns are evident in both technology clusters and industrial agglomerations. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 05 Jan 2011
- Op-Ed
Funding Unpredictability Around Stem-Cell Research Inflicts Heavy Cost on Scientific Progress
Funding unpredictability in human embryonic stem-cell research inflicts a heavy cost on all scientific progress, says professor William Sahlman. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 23 Nov 2010
- Working Paper Summaries
Growth Through Heterogeneous Innovations
Economists have long recognized that innovation is central to economic growth and development. But as a profession, economics is just beginning to model the many types of innovations that exist and the amazing heterogeneity in the firms that conduct research and development--from General Electric to Silicon Valley start-ups. This paper provides theoretical and empirical evidence surrounding how firm size influences the types of R&D undertaken, with particular focus on choices to pursue exploration R&D (capturing new product lines) versus exploitation R&D (refining current product lines internally). From the choices made by individual firms and new entrepreneurs, the model then builds to consider aggregate economic growth. Research was conducted by Ufuk Akcigit of the University of Pennsylvania and William R. Kerr of Harvard Business School. Key concepts include: Exploration R&D seeks to create new technologies and products for the company to build market leadership. Exploitation R&D focuses on improving existing product lines that the firm already owns, in order to build stronger profits. Large firms have many product lines and thus naturally engage in extensive exploitation R&D to improve their current technologies. Small firms and new start-ups have a comparative advantage for undertaking exploration R&D. Quantitative tests find that exploration R&D has had a greater spillover effect into economic growth than exploitation R&D in the United States over the last couple of decades. This illustrates one channel through which small, innovative businesses and start-ups can play an especially important role in economic growth. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Sep 2009
- Working Paper Summaries
Financing Constraints and Entrepreneurship
Financing constraints are one of the biggest concerns impacting potential entrepreneurs around the world. Given the important role that entrepreneurship is believed to play in the process of economic growth, alleviating financing constraints for would-be entrepreneurs is also an important goal for policymakers worldwide. In this paper HBS professors William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda review two major streams of research examining the relevance of financing constraints for entrepreneurship. They then introduce a framework that provides a unified perspective on these research streams, thereby highlighting some important areas for future research and policy analysis in entrepreneurial finance. Key concepts include: Promoting entrepreneurship is an important goal of many governments, and researchers need to define for policymakers a more unified perspective for how studies and samples fit together. The "slice" of entrepreneurship examined is very important for the appropriate positioning of research on financing constraints, but studies too often fail to consider this dimension in the conclusions drawn from empirical results. The framework presented here is useful for thinking about the appropriate role of public policy in stimulating entrepreneurship. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 01 Jun 2009
- Lessons from the Classroom
The Challenges of Investing in Science-Based Innovation
Smart science-based businesses view today's economic turmoil as an opportunity to stoke up research and innovation for long-term competitive advantage, says professor Vicki L. Sato. How about your business? Key concepts include: Companies with highly differentiated products will be able to weather this storm, and come out the other side stronger. Innovation management challenges fall across several key areas, including strategy, organizational design, decision-making, and resource allocation. Different situations will require different business decisions—investing in R&D isn't always the right path to take. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 26 May 2009
- Research & Ideas
Improving Market Research in a Recession
At the same time that marketers must pare research expenditures, they face added pressure to secure high-quality data and insights. What's a CMO to do? Ask HBS marketing professor John Quelch. Key concepts include: The degree of uncertainty in business and consumer markets has soared. Most big consumer marketers are seeking to shave 10 to 20 percent off research budgets. CMOs must make every remaining market research dollar count. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 13 Apr 2009
- Research & Ideas
Kind of Blue: Pushing Boundaries with Miles Davis
Since it hit the airwaves half a century ago, Kind of Blue by Miles Davis has influenced the hearts and minds of jazz fans everywhere. Its songs became instant classics, and it has also converted many a nonfan to appreciate the music's subtlety and complexity. In a new business case, HBS professor Robert D. Austin and Carl Størmer highlight the takeaways for thoughtful managers and executives from this story of creation and innovation. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Aug 2008
- Working Paper Summaries
How Can Decision Making Be Improved?
While scholars can describe how people make decisions, and can envision how much better decision-making could be, they still have little understanding of how to help people overcome blind spots and behave optimally. Chugh, Milkman, and Bazerman organize the scattered knowledge that judgment and decision-making scholars have amassed over several decades about how to reduce biased decision-making. Their analysis of the existing literature on improvement strategies is designed to highlight the most promising avenues for future research. Key concepts include: People put great trust in their intuition. The past 50 years of decision-making research challenges that trust. A key task for psychologists is to identify how and in what decision-making situations people should try to move from intuitive, emotional thinking to more deliberative, logical thinking. The more that researchers understand the potentially harmful effects of some biased decision-making, the more important it is to have empirically tested strategies for reaching better decisions. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Mar 2008
- Working Paper Summaries
Incompatible Assumptions: Barriers to Producing Multidisciplinary Knowledge in Communities of Scholarship
Just as flows of knowledge within and across communities of practice improve the quality of new products, knowledge sharing among knowledge workers within interdisciplinary communities may be critical for new discoveries and for a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of phenomena. In spite of this, biologists tend to talk to biologists, economists tend to talk to economists, and lawyers tend to talk to lawyers. This paper argues that producing and disseminating knowledge within a multidisciplinary community of practice is enhanced when knowledge workers hold compatible assumptions, even when the form and content of knowledge generation across those workers varies. Key concepts include: Generating multidisciplinary knowledge may require communities of scholarship to acknowledge the presence and limitations of their assumptions. Within a community of scholarship, interpretive barriers to sharing knowledge arise when subgroups hold contrary assumptions about the appropriate questions to be asked or the fundamental nature of the phenomenon under investigation. Cross-discipline understanding may stem from the potential for members to recognize the relevance of others' findings to their own scholarship. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 12 Mar 2008
- Working Paper Summaries
Allocating Marketing Resources
Deciding how to allocate marketing resources is particularly difficult because decisions need to be made at many different levels—across countries, products, marketing mix elements, and different vehicles within elements of the mix (e.g., television versus the Internet for advertising). With the increasing availability of data and sophistication in methods, it is now possible to more judiciously allocate marketing resources. In this paper, HBS professors Gupta and Steenburgh discuss a two-stage process where a model of demand is estimated in stage-one and its estimates are used as inputs in an optimization model in stage-two. The researchers propose a matrix with three approaches for each of these two stages, and discuss the pros and cons of these methods. They highlight each method with applications and case studies to present rigorous yet practical approaches to making marketing resource allocation decisions. Key concepts include: This paper lays out a framework for managers who are responsible for allocating marketing resources for their products and services. Scores of studies in the area of allocating marketing resources now make it possible to form empirical generalizations about the impact of marketing actions on sales and profits. In practical terms, information about marketing resource allocation makes a significant impact at all levels of an organization. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Jun 2007
- Research & Ideas
Remembering Alfred Chandler
Alfred D. Chandler Jr., who died in May, defined the field of business history and shaped the way we think about the modern corporation. Harvard Business School colleagues share their thoughts on his legacy as well as their personal reminiscences. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
Fostering Translational Research: Using Public-Private Partnerships to Improve Firm Survival, Employment Growth, and Innovative Performance
The authors demonstrate that a unique Danish mediated public-private partnership model for fostering the translation of basic science into commercial applications help firms significantly decrease the likelihood of bankruptcy while substantially increasing the average level of employment. Funded firms in the study were granted significantly more patents and published more peer-reviewed papers, and the impact of these publications was significantly higher. In addition, the mediated partnership model improved the knowledge produced as well as the collaborative behavior of scientists with a significantly higher level of citations and more cross-institutional coauthored publications. Key concepts include: Mediated public-private partnership funding affects firm performance especially in the mid-term, three to four years after funding. From a policy standpoint, by providing a public-private partnership funding scheme coupled with strong mediation, governments are able to incentivize firms to take on more basic science research and development and make the results more successful. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.