Innovation Strategy →
- 20 Feb 2019
- Research & Ideas
Rocket-tunity: Can Private Firms Turn a Profit in Space?
Private rocket companies are competing to be the first to send paying tourists into space, perhaps even this year. Matthew Weinzierl lays out the strategic roadmap to the stars. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Feb 2019
- Book
How Big Companies Can Outrun Disruption
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; 0 Comments.
- 12 Nov 2018
- Research & Ideas
'Always On' Isn't Always Best for Team Decision-Making
Is it possible for teams to communicate too frequently? Research by Ethan Bernstein and colleagues suggests that groups that meet less often may be better at problem-solving. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Oct 2018
- Cold Call Podcast
Vodafone’s Innovative Approach to Advanced Technologies
William Kerr discusses how telecom giant Vodafone incorporated big data, automation, and artificial intelligence to improve productivity while ensuring new opportunities were created for the next generation of workers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 01 Oct 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Negative Shocks and Innovation: Evidence from Medical Device Recalls
This study examines Food and Drug Administration data on all medical device approvals and recalls over the years 2003-2015, finding that firms slow down their own innovation processes in response to recalls, while their direct competitors accelerate innovative activities. Recalls may thus pose a greater strategic disadvantage than previously understood.
- 12 Jun 2018
- Research & Ideas
In a Landscape of 'Me Too' Drug Development, What Spurs Radical Innovation?
Pharmaceutical companies are criticized for not producing more breakthrough drugs. But new research by Joshua Krieger and colleagues shows that, given a financial windfall, drug giants turn on the innovation. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 21 May 2018
- HBS Case
How Would You Price One of the World's Great Watches?
For companies with lots of innovation stuffed in their products, getting the price right is a crucial decision. Stefan Thomke discusses how watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne puts a price on its 173-year-old craftsmanship. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Sep 2017
- Cold Call Podcast
Faber-Castell Doubles Down on the Pencil
Some products are just harder to innovate than others. The pencil, for instance. Yet, Faber-Castell has been turning them out for more than 200 years, adding improvements such as color and cosmetic products to the mix. In this podcast, Ryan Raffaelli discusses how older products can become young again. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 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; 0 Comments.
- 09 Mar 2017
- Cold Call Podcast
IDEO is Changing the Way Managers Think About Thinking
IDEO’s human-centered design thinking is a systematic approach used to help create new products and services. Professor Ryan Buell explores this process as a leading movie cinema chain in Peru rethinks the movie-going experience. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 22 Feb 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Platforms, Open/User Innovation, and Ecosystems: A Strategic Leadership Perspective
Focusing on incumbent organizations transitioning to platform, open/user innovation, and ecosystem strategies, this analysis looks at institutional logic shifts associated with transitions to these strategies, and leadership considerations related to them. Leaders should consider how contrasting institutional logics co-exist and manage this duality including potential organizational identity challenges.
- 17 Jan 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Foreign Competition and Domestic Innovation: Evidence from US Patents
US firms in industries exposed to greater change in import competition from China have suffered worse growth in patenting and R&D spending than firms in industries exposed to less change in Chinese competition.
- 04 Jan 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Historical Change and the Competitive Advantage of Firms: Explicating the 'Dynamics' in the Dynamic Capabilities Framework
This study contributes to the re-emerging dialogue between business history and strategy by examining how historical reasoning can contribute to the dynamic capabilities framework currently employed by strategy scholars. It explores how three distinct models of historical change—evolutionary, dialectical, and constitutive—were incorporated into the theoretical tenets of the origins, context, and micro-foundations of the dynamic capabilities framework. In each case, recognizing these historical models of change provides opportunities for sharpening the conceptualization of strategy-making processes and designing research to examine them more deeply. The paper argues that given the need for more extensive empirical research on dynamic capabilities, the methodological value of history for dynamic capabilities scholarship is significant.
- 21 Nov 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Intellectual Property Rights Protection, Ownership, and Innovation: Evidence from China
As China’s top leaders promote innovation as the key to the country’s sustained economic growth, the extent to which the state can drive innovation without sound institutions and economic incentives remains in question. The evidence in this study of innovation and intellectual property rights (IPR) protection strongly supports the view that effective economic institutions matter, even in China. In order to successfully transition the country from a development model dependent on cheap labor and physical investments to one that is innovation-driven, these results suggest that the role of the private sector will be crucial. Private firms are more innovative both in terms of quantity and quality of patents, and are more so in cities with strong IPR protection.
- 22 Sep 2016
- Cold Call Podcast
Innovation Under Constraint: Constructing a Turnaround at Lego
In this podcast, Jan Rivkin takes us behind Lego's iconic building "bricks" and into the minds of its leaders as they tackle digital disruption, staying true to the brand, and engineering an impressive turnaround. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 04 Jul 2016
- Research & Ideas
Is Your Org Chart Stuck in a Rut? Try a Scientific Experiment
Harvard Business School’s Organizational Lab helps businesses solve operational problems by changing the way their company is organized. Ethan Bernstein and Clayton Christensen explain how academics and business leaders can work together to create a better org chart. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Jun 2016
- Research & Ideas
These VC Partners May Make Your Firm Less Innovative
Startups that do business with VCs that also fund competitors may find they get the short end of the attention stick and produce fewer new products, concludes research by Rory McDonald and colleagues. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Apr 2016
- Book
A Three-Box Solution to Managing Innovation
In The Three-Box Solution, Vijay Govindarajan adapts an ancient Hindu philosophy to balance a company's often competing realities of past, present, and future. The more we can plan for opportunity, the better the possibility of creating a successful future. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Apr 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Strategic Channel Selection with Online Platforms: An Empirical Analysis of the Daily Deal Industry
Platform businesses grow by connecting groups of customers. This study sheds light on the relative bargaining power of platforms and merchants, demonstrating that price bargaining power is an important factor to consider in platform competition. When the platform is too big and powerful, its strong bargaining power may push away some business partners and hence slow down growth.
Pursuing Precision Medicine at Intermountain Healthcare
What happens when Intermountain Healthcare invests resources in an innovative precision medicine unit to provide life-extending, genetically targeted therapies to late-stage cancer patients? Professors Richard Hamermesh and Kathy Giusti discuss the case and its connections to their work with the Kraft Precision Medicine Accelerator. Open for comment; 0 Comments.