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A New Approach to Innovation Investment
Innovation Digital ArticleOver the years, we’ve seen a lot of potentially valuable innovations flop because the companies sponsoring them were using the fundamentally wrong logic in managing them. For instance, as Clayton Christensen recently described in the Harvard Business Review, they insist on valuing projects in terms of Net Present Value. A different approach, we’ve argued, is […] -
Why Business Should Oppose Net Neutrality
Web-based technologies Digital ArticleEditor’s note: For an opposing viewpoint on this topic, see Kevin Werbach’s entry “Why Network Neutrality Is Good for Business.” Most business executives likely have never come across the concept. Yet despite its limited reach to a small audience of policy wonks, President Obama made it a campaign issue in 2008, the Federal Communications Commission […] -
Staples’ New Run at Strategic Innovation
Innovation Digital ArticleWhat do you do when the very breakthrough strategy that once made your business uniquely powerful now threatens to turn you into a commodity? That’s the question stationery supplier Staples is facing. I still remember when Staples changed my life. Before its 1986 opening, buying stationery and office supplies was a time-consuming, inconvenient, and expensive […] -
Better Healing from Better Hospital Design
Design thinking Digital ArticleHow physical space can reduce pain, lower costs, and save lives. -
MySpace's Disruption, Disrupted
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleIn 2005, Rupert Murdoch was the toast of the media world. News Corp's septuagenarian CEO had swooped in and picked up social networking darling MySpace... -
Debriefing: A Simple Tool to Help Your Team Tackle Tough Problems
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleIt will also bring your team closer together. -
Anatomy of a Failed Launch — The Michelin PAX Tire
Innovation Digital ArticleIt is always instructive to examine how successful firms can go wrong, even in markets that they think they understand well. The market failure of the Michelin run-flat PAX tire illustrates the common mistake of failing to realize that even a groundbreaking product has to create a complete consumption chain. Broken links in the chain […] -
Research: Cloud Computing Is Helping Smaller, Newer Firms Compete
Technology & Operations ResearchThe ability to rent computing power is leveling the playing field. -
Five Rules for Innovating in a Shaky Economy
Innovation Digital ArticleWhen stock markets gyrate and growth prospects darken, it’s tempting to rein in innovation programs and hoard cash. The S&P 500 did exactly that during the Great Recession, increasing their cash levels by over 50% to nearly $1 trillion today. As it looked like the economic storm clouds were dissipating (ah, the good old days…) […] -
Creating Breakthroughs at 3M
Innovation Magazine ArticleCompanies say they want breakthrough products, but most are far more adept at making incremental improvements to existing lines. A pioneering division at 3M successfully navigated a process that leads to breakthrough thinking. -
The Google Phone's Disruptive Potential
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleThe coverage of Google's Nexus One "superphone" - officially unveiled today - was swift and almost universally positive. The HTC-designed device looks... -
Five Warning Signs Your Innovation Efforts Are Going Off the Rails
Innovation Digital ArticleFor the past ten years, my colleague, Chris Trimble, and I have studied one critical question: What are the best practices for executing an innovation initiative? Execution is the poor stepchild of the innovation challenge. People love to engage in the hunt for the big ideas, but, let’s face it, without execution capability, an idea […] -
We Need More Transparency on the Cost of Specialty Drugs
Health and behavioral science Digital ArticleDecisions about drug formularies need to be made in broad daylight. -
What Does Pixar's Collective Genius Look Like?
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleThe whole is greater than the sum of its parts. -
Failure Is a Gold Mine for India’s Tata
Innovation Digital ArticleIndia’s iconic Tata Group is a remarkably diversified company with investments as divergent as tea and steel. As the company seeks to grow beyond its Indian roots and compete with the best globally, innovation is becoming increasingly central to its strategy. Toward that end, chairman Ratan Tata has instituted a surprising competition: A prize for […] -
The State of Socially Responsible Investing
Financial markets Digital ArticleNew types of investments are tied to ESG goals. -
How Thomson Reuters Is Creating a Culture of Innovation
Organizational Development Digital ArticleThe key is experimentation. -
Visualizing Hip-Hop Lyrics as Cultural Indicator
Design thinking Digital ArticleGraphics aren’t just an alternative to representation in words. -
Business Plans and Other Works of Fiction
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleGlossy descriptions of fantasy markets should not be confused with real customers. -
3 Strategies for Rolling Out New Tech Within Your Company
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleBased on an analysis of more than 7,000 engineering projects.
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Wendell Weeks at Corning Inc.: Extending a History of Life-Changing Innovations (A)
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details This case examines the leadership challenges associated with maintaining a culture of innovation in established organizations. It asks students to step... -
BRAC in 2014
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details In the early 1970s BRAC was a startup nongovernmental organization (NGO) working in Bangladesh. By 2014, it was the world's largest NGO. It had a strong... -
James Chen's Entrepreneurial Odyssey (A): Adlens
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details This three-part case study explores the development of Adlens, a commercial firm, and Vision for a Nation as the social venture developed in parallel.... -
Hermes Systems
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details Covers the history of Hermes, a large telecommunications and network equipment company, as it grows from a single business firm to a diversified firm... -
Change at Whirlpool Corp. (C)
Strategy & Execution Case Study5.00View Details Supplements the (A) case. -
A Note on Direct Selling in Developing Economies
Sales & Marketing Case Study8.95View Details Informal and formal direct selling play a particularly important role in developing countries characterized by markets with limited retail sectors. This... -
Nike: Changing the Sneakers Game
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details "Our goal is to be the kind of start-up that would terrify Nike-if Nike didn't already own us." Ron Faris, general manager of S23NYC, a Manhattan-based... -
Walmart's Blockchain Quest: Integrating New Technology into a Complex Supply Chain
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details Blockchain is a digital, distributed, immutable ledger designed to build trust among parties without requiring an independent, third-party arbitrator... -
Hewlett-Packard: Creating a Virtual Supply Chain (A)
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details Describes a decision to be made on the future of manufacturing for tape drives at Hewlett-Packard. HP has used several different manufacturing partners... -
HBR's 10 Must Reads 2021: The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year from Harvard Business Review (with bonus article "The Feedback Fallacy" by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall)
24.95View Details A year's worth of management wisdom, all in one place. We've reviewed the ideas, insights, and best practices from the past year of Harvard Business Review... -
Commonwealth Bank of Australia: Unbanklike Experimentation
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details In August 2017, Commonwealth Bank of Australia was looking for ways to differentiate itself from competing banks, and was also trying to improve the financial... -
The Reinvention of Kodak (Multimedia Case)
Management Tool25.00View Details The Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) was a name familiar to most Americans. The company had dominated the film and photography industry through most of the... -
Assessing Hong Kong's Human Resources in Its Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Gen Ys Fill the Gap?
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details The case examines two major transitions currently taking place in Hong Kong-the transformation into a knowledge-based economy (KBE) and the replacement... -
IBM Corp. Turnaround
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details Describes the details of IBM's dramatic corporate turnaround in the early 1990s led by CEO Louis V. Gerstner. Accounts of events are from interviews with... -
JetBlue and Gladly: Omnichannel Customer Service
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Facing increased customer service scrutiny in the airline industry, JetBlue, in August 2017, announced a partnership with Gladly, a relatively new entrant... -
Whose Life is This? A Creativity Exercise
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study8.95View Details The purpose of this technical note is to introduce a creativity exercise based on photo stimuli to business-school faculty and to discuss how it can be... -
Design-Driven Innovation: Changing the Rules of Competition by Radically Innovating What Things Mean
38.00View Details Until now, the literature on innovation has focused either on radical innovation pushed by technology or incremental innovation pulled by the market.... -
Academic Entrepreneurship: Navigating Commercialization Challenges
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details In September 2015, Pooja Viswanathan, a post-doctoral research scientist, emerged perplexed after a meeting with her post-doc supervisor. The purpose... -
Bharti Airtel in Africa
Global Business Case Study11.95View Details In June 2010, Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile services operator, acquired the African assets of Bahrain-based Zain Telecom for $10.7 billion-the... -
Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details As CEO of leading executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles for the past 18 months, Kevin Kelly was pleased with his accomplishments so far but concerned...
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A New Approach to Innovation Investment
Innovation Digital ArticleOver the years, we’ve seen a lot of potentially valuable innovations flop because the companies sponsoring them were using the fundamentally wrong logic in managing them. For instance, as Clayton Christensen recently described in the Harvard Business Review, they insist on valuing projects in terms of Net Present Value. A different approach, we’ve argued, is […] -
Why Business Should Oppose Net Neutrality
Web-based technologies Digital ArticleEditor’s note: For an opposing viewpoint on this topic, see Kevin Werbach’s entry “Why Network Neutrality Is Good for Business.” Most business executives likely have never come across the concept. Yet despite its limited reach to a small audience of policy wonks, President Obama made it a campaign issue in 2008, the Federal Communications Commission […] -
Staples’ New Run at Strategic Innovation
Innovation Digital ArticleWhat do you do when the very breakthrough strategy that once made your business uniquely powerful now threatens to turn you into a commodity? That’s the question stationery supplier Staples is facing. I still remember when Staples changed my life. Before its 1986 opening, buying stationery and office supplies was a time-consuming, inconvenient, and expensive […] -
Better Healing from Better Hospital Design
Design thinking Digital ArticleHow physical space can reduce pain, lower costs, and save lives. -
MySpace's Disruption, Disrupted
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleIn 2005, Rupert Murdoch was the toast of the media world. News Corp's septuagenarian CEO had swooped in and picked up social networking darling MySpace... -
Wendell Weeks at Corning Inc.: Extending a History of Life-Changing Innovations (A)
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details This case examines the leadership challenges associated with maintaining a culture of innovation in established organizations. It asks students to step... -
Debriefing: A Simple Tool to Help Your Team Tackle Tough Problems
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleIt will also bring your team closer together. -
Anatomy of a Failed Launch — The Michelin PAX Tire
Innovation Digital ArticleIt is always instructive to examine how successful firms can go wrong, even in markets that they think they understand well. The market failure of the Michelin run-flat PAX tire illustrates the common mistake of failing to realize that even a groundbreaking product has to create a complete consumption chain. Broken links in the chain […]