We argue there are certain types of ties … that actually might be detrimental to innovation said HBS Assistant Professor Rory McDonald presenting the paper Exposed Venture Capital Competitor Ties and Entrepreneurial Innovation. The issues became clear when the research group studied VCs participating in a slice of the medical device industry finding that percent were funding direct competitors in the same portfolio. One result percent fewer product introductions.
McDonald s advice Make sure your investment partner is acting in the best interests of your company rather than its own. McDonald coauthored the research with Emily Cox Pahnke Dan Wang and Benjamin Hallen. Ripe for study. In a plenary talk on crowdsourced contests and competitions Lakhani outlined numerous areas in need of further study which is made much easier Chinese Overseas America Number Data by hundreds of crowdsourcing platforms whose data are easily accessible. One area worth more investigation he suggested is developing a better understanding of what motivates people to participate in innovation contests. Money does not seem to be a primary driver so what does it take to attract a larger number of great minds to a great problem The conference was organized by Lakhani.
Carliss Baldwin and Stefan Thomke of HBS Eric von Hippel of MIT and Benjamin Mako Hill of University of Washington in coordination with HBS Digital Initiative. COMMENTS KAPIL KUMAR SOPORY PRIVATE LIMITEDWhy Small Business Lending Is Not Recovering by Karen Mills Lending to small businesses has not returned to levels seen before the financial crisis. Karen Mills former head of the US Small Business Administration explains the reasons and why the situation is not likely to improve anytime soon.