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All HBS Web
(115,816)
- Faculty Publications (104)
- June 2009 (Revised April 2019)
- Case
Crosley
By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen
In October 1941, a top secret envoy from the U.S. military was sent to Crosley Corporation in Cincinnati, Ohio to request their assistance to construct a weapon that would drastically strengthen the defenses of U.S. troops: the proximity fuze. Such a fuze would allow...
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Keywords:
Information Technology;
History;
Production;
National Security;
Organizational Structure;
Corporate Strategy;
Research and Development;
Product Development;
Business and Government Relations;
Creativity;
Innovation and Invention;
Ohio
Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "Crosley." Harvard Business School Case 809-160, June 2009. (Revised April 2019.)
- April 2009 (Revised June 2020)
- Case
Al Capone
By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen
In 1929, Chicago, IL mob boss Al Capone was at the height of his power. As head of the extensive crime organization known as "The Outfit" during most of U.S.'s Prohibition Era (1920-1933), Capone oversaw hundreds of brothels, speakeasies, and roadhouses which served as...
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Keywords:
Bootlegging;
Entrepreneurship;
Crime and Corruption;
Games, Gaming, and Gambling;
Business History;
United States;
Chicago
Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "Al Capone." Harvard Business School Case 809-144, April 2009. (Revised June 2020.)
- April 2009 (Revised December 2015)
- Case
Dot.com: Online Pet Retailing
By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen
From 1995 to 1999, the U.S. experienced a period of tremendous growth in its information technology (IT) sector. The IT industry, although it accounted for less than 10% of the U.S. economy's total output, contributed disproportionately to economic growth. One market...
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Keywords:
Entrepreneurship;
Price Bubble;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Failure;
Competitive Strategy;
Online Technology;
Retail Industry
Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "Dot.com: Online Pet Retailing." Harvard Business School Case 809-117, April 2009. (Revised December 2015.)
- January 2009
- Article
Innovation Lessons from the 1930s
By: Tom Nicholas
Nicholas, Tom. "Innovation Lessons from the 1930s." McKinsey Quarterly (January 2009).
- January 2009
- Article
Spatial Diversity in Invention: Evidence from the Early R&D Labs
By: Tom Nicholas
This article uses historical data on inventor and firm R&D lab locations to examine the technological and geographic structure of corporate knowledge capital accumulation during a formative period in the organization of US innovation. Despite the localization of...
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Keywords:
Factories, Labs, and Plants;
Geographic Location;
Innovation and Invention;
Patents;
Knowledge Acquisition;
Research and Development;
United States
Nicholas, Tom. "Spatial Diversity in Invention: Evidence from the Early R&D Labs." Journal of Economic Geography 9, no. 1 (January 2009).
- September 2008
- Article
Does Innovation Cause Stock Market Runups? Evidence from the Great Crash
By: Tom Nicholas
This article examines the stock market's changing valuation of corporate patentable assets between 1910 and 1939. It shows that the value of knowledge capital increased significantly during the 1920s compared to the 1910s as investors responded to the quality of...
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Keywords:
History;
Technological Innovation;
Patents;
Stocks;
Valuation;
Financial Crisis;
Financial Services Industry;
United States
Nicholas, Tom. "Does Innovation Cause Stock Market Runups? Evidence from the Great Crash." American Economic Review 98, no. 4 (September 2008): 1370–1396.
- April 2008 (Revised April 2022)
- Background Note
The American Dream in History
By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen
Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "The American Dream in History." Harvard Business School Background Note 808-134, April 2008. (Revised April 2022.)
- February 2008
- Case
Cincom Systems, Inc.
By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen
Tom Nies, charismatic CEO of Cincom Systems, is considering a public offering of his software enterprise, but the 1987 stock market crash checks his plans. Nies reflects that capital for expansion will keep Cincom at the frontier of technological development in a...
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Keywords:
Customer Satisfaction;
Capital;
Initial Public Offering;
Organizational Culture;
Going Public;
Corporate Strategy;
Information Technology Industry
Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. "Cincom Systems, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 808-084, February 2008.
- February 2008 (Revised May 2011)
- Case
The Travails of Rubber: Goodyear or Badyear?
By: Tom Nicholas and Andrew Ferguson
Explores the reason why Charles Goodyear, inventor of rubber vulcanization, was unable to profit from his discovery despite securing international property rights over his invention through a patent in 1844. Considers the utility of patents as an incentive for...
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Keywords:
Crime and Corruption;
Entrepreneurship;
Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues;
Innovation and Invention;
Patents;
Motivation and Incentives;
Commercialization
Nicholas, Tom, and Andrew Ferguson. "The Travails of Rubber: Goodyear or Badyear?" Harvard Business School Case 808-118, February 2008. (Revised May 2011.)
- November 2007 (Revised April 2022)
- Case
Control Data Corporation and the Urban Crisis
By: Tom Nicholas and Laura Gaie Singleton
Control Data Corporation is considering its response to the assassination of renowned civil rights activist Martin Luther King. Four months prior, William Norris, president of the Minneapolis-based computer firm had already committed to building a plant in a low-income...
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Keywords:
Urban Development;
Factories, Labs, and Plants;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Urban Scope;
Computer Industry;
District of Columbia;
Minneapolis
Nicholas, Tom, and Laura Gaie Singleton. "Control Data Corporation and the Urban Crisis." Harvard Business School Case 808-096, November 2007. (Revised April 2022.)
- November 2007 (Revised March 2018)
- Case
Maidenform Bras
By: Tom Nicholas
Uses Ida Rosenthal's entrepreneurship in brassieres to explore how economic, social, and demographic changes reshaped gender and business enterprises in early- to mid-20th century America. It shows the importance of timing and geography to Rosenthal's new firm in New...
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Keywords:
Geographic Location;
Marketing;
Entrepreneurship;
Gender;
Change;
Apparel and Accessories Industry
Nicholas, Tom. "Maidenform Bras." Harvard Business School Case 808-095, November 2007. (Revised March 2018.)
- November 2007 (Revised February 2011)
- Case
The Ice King
By: Tom Nicholas and Sandra Nicholas
Provides an opportunity to examine the risk-reward tradeoff and the travails of entrepreneurial venturing in the nascent U.S. economy. Traces the origins and development of Frederic Tudor's Ice Company, a business which developed during the 19th century to hack chunks...
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Keywords:
Business Startups;
Cost vs Benefits;
Entrepreneurship;
Globalization;
Business History;
Operations;
Risk and Uncertainty;
United States
Nicholas, Tom, and Sandra Nicholas. "The Ice King." Harvard Business School Case 808-094, November 2007. (Revised February 2011.)
- August 2007 (Revised June 2020)
- Case
Trouble with a Bubble
By: Tom Nicholas
Examines technology, firm performance, and the stock market during the 1929 Great Crash and the Great Depression of the 1930s. The 1920s was an extraordinary period of technological progress marked by a strong run-up in stock market prices. Firms invested heavily in...
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Keywords:
Bubble;
Stock Market;
Great Depression;
Irving Fisher;
Information Technology;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
History;
Financial Markets;
Performance;
Labor and Management Relations;
Equity;
Financial Crisis;
Innovation and Invention;
United States
Nicholas, Tom. "Trouble with a Bubble." Harvard Business School Case 808-067, August 2007. (Revised June 2020.)
- 2007
- Chapter
Stock Market Swings and the Value of Innovation, 1908–1929
By: Tom Nicholas
Nicholas, Tom. "Stock Market Swings and the Value of Innovation, 1908–1929." In Financing Innovation in the United States, 1870 to Present, edited by Naomi R. Lamoreaux and Kenneth L. Sokoloff. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007.
- May 2004
- Article
Was Electricity a General Purpose Technology: Evidence from Historical Patent Citations
By: Tom Nicholas and Petra Moser
Nicholas, Tom, and Petra Moser. "Was Electricity a General Purpose Technology: Evidence from Historical Patent Citations." American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 94, no. 2 (May 2004).
- 2004
- Chapter
Enterprise and Management
By: Tom Nicholas
Nicholas, Tom. "Enterprise and Management." In The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain, edited by Paul Johnson and Roderick Floud. Cambridge University Press, 2004.
- Article
Why Schumpeter Was Right: Innovation, Market Power and Creative Destruction in 1920s America
By: Tom Nicholas
Are firms with strong market positions powerful engines of technological progress? Joseph Schumpeter thought so, but his hypothesis has proved difficult to verify empirically. This article highlights Schumpeterian market-power and creative-destruction effects in a...
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Keywords:
Innovation and Invention;
Power and Influence;
Emerging Markets;
Rank and Position;
Status and Position;
Capital Markets;
Capital Structure;
Information Technology;
Patents;
Creativity;
Economic Systems;
Development Economics;
United States
Nicholas, Tom. "Why Schumpeter Was Right: Innovation, Market Power and Creative Destruction in 1920s America." Journal of Economic History 63, no. 4 (December 2003).
- November 2000
- Article
Businessmen and Land Ownership in the Late Nineteenth Century Revisited
By: Tom Nicholas
Nicholas, Tom. "Businessmen and Land Ownership in the Late Nineteenth Century Revisited." Economic History Review 53, no. 4 (November 2000).
- Article
Wealth Making in the Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century: The Rubinstein Hypothesis Revisited
By: Tom Nicholas
Nicholas, Tom. "Wealth Making in the Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century: The Rubinstein Hypothesis Revisited." Business History 42, no. 2 (April 2000).
- Article
Clogs to Clogs in Three Generations? Explaining Entrepreneurial Performance in Britain Since 1850
By: Tom Nicholas
Research into culture and entrepreneurship in Britain has been dominated by casual empiricism. This article shows the benefits of using a new method. Lifetime wealth accumulation is specified as a measure of entrepreneurial performance, and applied to data collected...
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Keywords:
Entrepreneurship;
Performance Evaluation;
Biography;
Culture;
Education;
Wealth;
Research;
Great Britain
Nicholas, Tom. "Clogs to Clogs in Three Generations? Explaining Entrepreneurial Performance in Britain Since 1850." Journal of Economic History 59, no. 3 (September 1999).