R&D

Disruption isn't the only approach.

You don’t need a time line; you need a time cone.

Covid-19 has shown how companies can work together to solve problems.

It takes more than good tools. It takes a complete change of attitude.

Author’s note: Alistair Hanna, Michael Reopel, and Stuart Flack, all of McKinsey & Company, contributed to this article. The U.S. defense industry is struggling to reorganize itself for growth, if not for survival. The disappearance of the communist threat and the desperate need to revive the U.S. economy have taken the defense industry for a […]

The study: Henrich Greve and Marc-David Seidel studied the role of first-mover advantage in determining which technologies get adopted and which do not. They tracked the sales history of two wide-body jets: the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. The researchers concluded that the DC-10’s one-year head start contributed to its greater success […]

From December 2000 to February 2008, the top 15 companies in the pharmaceutical industry lost roughly $850 billion in shareholder value. Although a number...

For even the toughest of R&D problems, there are often people out there with innovative solutions already on their shelves or in their back pockets. The trick for corporate executives is finding and gaining access to those individuals. Our research with a company that broadcasts technological problems into the ether—and gets back solid results—has given […]

Companies realize the importance of providing spare parts and after-sales services, but most could make far more money in the aftermarket than they do. Here’s how.

This "old school" practice still has relevance today.

Tap creative people from analogous fields.

Talking to fellow employees can be as valuable as talking to customers.

They're the ones with the data.

CEO Daniel Vasella explains why his company is placing a big bet on China's future as a world scientific power.

Everyone knows that corporate growth--true growth, not just agglomeration--springs from innovation. And the common wisdom is that companies must spend...

Leadership is often presented as an abstract undertaking, a matter of vision and values rather than practical details. But in the author's world, the...

How does a company that gets two million hack attempts each week think about security?

In 1976, Genentech, the first biotechnology company, was founded by a young venture capitalist and a university professor to exploit recombinant DNA technology....

Squeezing today’s innovations into yesterday’s system simply won’t work.

The strength of the American economy does not rest on its manufacturing prowess, its natural resources, or the size of its market. It turns on one factor--the...