It’s one of the paradoxes of being human: even when we know what’s good for us, we often make choices that are less than optimal. Wharton Professor Iwan Barankay researches how incentives can be used to create positive behavioral changes even after the incentive goes away.…Read More
More than ever before, companies have at their disposal immense streams of customer data. Professor Kartik Hosanagar highlights how companies can make use of this data to attract customers online.…Read More
The road to successful commercialization is a steep and difficult one — a fact which entrepreneurs know all too well. But like hikers who use a zig-zag trail to ease their ascent up a mountain, entrepreneurs may be able to more effectively reach their goals by taking an indirect route.…Read More
Conventional wisdom says brainstorming works best when people from different departments or groups come together to think of new ideas or solve problems. But research from Senior Fellow Sarah Kaplan shows that diversity is not enough.…Read More
Recent research by Senior Fellow Gary Dushnitsky measures the innovation success of new biotech ventures by tracking their patenting and publishing rates. He and coauthor Elisa Alvarez-Garrido find that the identity of the investor makes a big difference.…Read More
When established companies explore opportunities to innovate, they typically consider strategies that fall into one of two well-known categories: incremental or disruptive. According to Wharton Professor David Robertson, they should be considering a third way: complementary innovation.…Read More
Does intensive internal training of employees lead to higher profits? In knowledge-based industries where the main asset is skilled professionals such as software engineers, the answer is yes, according to Senior Fellow Joydeep Chatterjee. But not all training yields equal benefits.…Read More
Patent trolls are maligned for impeding innovation, but new research by Penn professor David Abrams suggests that they actually play a more complex and sometimes beneficial role.…Read More
Mack Institute senior fellow Charlotte Ren researches how a firm’s past experience can impact their present performance. In her article “Does Experience Imply Learning?” with Louis Mulotte and Jaideep Anand, Ren emphasizes that activities which led to previous success, while tempting for firms to repeat, may actually prove detrimental. This so-called “competency trap” distracts firms from exploring new opportunities.…Read More
As the Internet penetrates more and more aspects of day-to-day life, a company’s regulatory strategy has an increasingly significant impact on its innovation outcomes.…Read More
New research indicates that individuals’ investment decisions may outperform those of the group. How can firms make better decisions?…Read More
If you’ve ever thought that the quest for more clicks is affecting the sorts of articles that get published in the media, Wharton marketing professor Pinar Yildirim wants you to know that you’re right. But it’s not quite the overarching impact that you might expect. …Read More
Wharton management professor Exequiel Hernandez searches for the optimal mix of domestic and foreign partners in a firm’s network. The answer depends on what type of innovative solution a firm is trying to produce.…Read More
The “experience engineering” approach to innovation encourages designers to think about the series of emotions a user needs to feel in order to buy a product. Elisa Jagerson, CEO of Speck Design, argues that managers need to adopt a similar approach when trying to establish a culture of innovation.…Read More
To be more innovative, organizations need to adopt the practice of testing and experimenting with new ideas. Nate Fink of Microsoft Yammer explains why abolishing the fear of failure is essential to this process.…Read More
Hospitals and academic medical centers are hiring chief innovation officers to transform the way they deliver care. But what makes an effective CIO in this industry?…Read More
How Technology is Transforming Market Research Take a typical adult to an ice cream parlor, says Richard Thorogood, and before making a choice they’ll weigh as many factors as there are flavors. “Well, I kind of want strawberry,” they’ll think, “but I always get strawberry, so maybe I should…Read More
Mobile and social technology have introduced a major cultural shift in the way we communicate. Why companies need to tailor their market research strategies – and their cycle times – accordingly.…Read More
Executives from the new company Avia explain how their innovation cohort model helps struggling health systems while creating new marketplaces for entrepreneurs.…Read More
In new research sponsored by the Mack Institute, Rahul Kapoor and coauthor Thomas Klueter analyze how alliance-based strategies may help companies successfully manage the challenge of disruptive technology.…Read More
