The Forum for Growth and Innovation is a research project guided by Professor Clayton Christensen, the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration and one of the world’s top experts on growth and innovation. The goal of the Forum is to discover, develop, and disseminate robust, accessible theory in the areas of innovation and general management. We judge our success by our ability to shape debate among students of management theory and to make a difference in the lives of general managers worldwide by bringing useful new approaches to bear on their most critical growth and innovation challenges.
Each year, the Forum invites a few highly qualified MBA graduates to engage in a yearlong residency program. Associates collaborate with Professor Christensen on theory development intended for publication in Harvard Business Review and other leading business journals.
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Membership
The Forum’s membership is made up of both academics and practitioners. Forum practitioners are typically general managers with an interest in developing and employing prescriptive theory in their organizations. Practitioners participate through a series of events, both in person and online. The Forum hosts regular conferences and webinars to present and discuss its latest research. An annual conference allows faculty, practitioners, and HBS students to discuss and shape the leading edge of general management theory. The Forum also maintains a vibrant online community to discuss ideas and develop new theory. Practitioners are expected to remain active through attendance at events and contributions to research.
Research
The purpose of the Forum’s research activities is to develop actionable, prescriptive theory that can guide general managers in their most critical growth and innovation decisions. There is a growing need for general managers to sift through the many sources of information and advice available to them to identify the theories that can serve as a reliable guide for future action. Much academic research is only descriptive in nature, identifying the factors that correlate with success rather than those that cause it. The Forum aims to re-invigorate general management research by following a proven process for building sound theory, refining it through collaboration with practitioners, and then distributing it to a broad audience.
Clay’s Take:
“We launched the Forum for Growth and Innovation with the goal of pushing innovation and growth research in new directions, all while keeping an eye on the practical implications for people running actual companies. Our goal is not so much to teach our community what to think, but rather to continually better understand how to think.”