Stefan Thomke, an authority on the management of innovation, is the William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He has worked with firms on product, process, and technology development, customer experience design, operational improvement, organizational change, and innovation strategy.
Professor Thomke is a frequent conference speaker and advisor to global business leaders. He has taught and chaired executive education programs on innovation, R&D management, product & service development, and operations, both at Harvard Business School and in company programs around the world. He chairs the General Management Program (GMP) at HBS and has been a core faculty member of many executive education programs, including the Advanced Management Program (AMP), and the global Senior Executive Leadership Program (SELP) in Dubai, Mumbai, and Shanghai.
He also chairs the Managing Innovation executive education program, which helps business leaders revamp their innovation systems for greater competitive advantage. He was faculty chair of HBS executive education and research in South Asia and has served on advisory and supervisory boards of start-up and established companies. Previously, Thomke was faculty chair of the MBA Required Curriculum and faculty co-chair of the doctoral program in Science, Technology and Management. He is the recipient of many awards, including the Apgar Award for Innovation in Teaching at HBS, a finalist for the Harvard Business Review McKinsey Award, and author of the bestselling article in MIT Sloan Management Review.
His research and writings have focused primarily on the process, economics, and management of business experimentation. He is a widely published author with more than one hundred articles, cases and notes published in books and leading journals, such as: California Management Review, European Business Review, Harvard Business Review, Management Science, Organization Science, Research Policy, Sloan Management Review, Strategic Management Journal and Scientific American. He is also author of the books Experimentation Matters: Unlocking the Potential of New Technologies for Innovation (Harvard Business School Press, 2003), Managing Product and Service Development (McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2006), and Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments (Harvard Business Review Press, 2020).
Professor Thomke holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering, Master’s degrees in Operations Research and Management (MBA equivalent), and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was awarded a Lemelson-MIT doctoral fellowship for invention and innovation research. He has also received honorary degrees in Economics (Doctorate from the HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management), Sciences (Doctorate from the Technical University Graz) and Arts (Master’s from Harvard University).
Contact information: Harvard Business School, Soldiers Field, Morgan Hall 489, Boston, MA 02163 (U.S.A.); E-mail: t@hbs.edu.
For a very detailed biography, see Curriculum Vitae (Additional Information section).
- Featured Work
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by Stefan Thomke (HBR Press)
* Top 10 Technology Books of 2020 (Forbes)
* 10 Best Business Books of 2020 (Inc. Magazine)
* Top Shelf Pick of Best Business Books 2020: Technology & Innovation (Strategy + Business)
* 9 Best Business Books for 2020 (CEO Magazine)
Don’t fly blind. See how the power of experiments works for you.
When it comes to improving customer experiences, trying out new business models, or developing new products, even the most experienced managers often get it wrong. They discover that intuition, experience and big data alone don’t work. What does work? Running disciplined business experiments. And what if companies roll out new products, customer experiences or business models without doing so? They fly blind.
That’s what Harvard Business School professor Stefan Thomke shows in this rigorously researched and eye-opening book. It guides you through what constitutes best experimentation practice, illustrates how that works at leading companies and answers some fundamental questions. What makes a good experiment? How do you test in online and brick-and-mortar businesses? In B2B and B2C? How do you build an experimentation culture? Moreover, best experimentation practice means running many experiments. Indeed, some hugely successful companies, such as Amazon, Booking.com and Microsoft, run tens of thousands of controlled experiments annually, engaging millions of users. Thomke shows us how these and many other organizations have discovered that their experimentation capabilities provide considerable competitive advantages.
How can managers create such a capability at their companies? Essential is developing an experimentation organization that prizes the science of testing and puts the discipline of experimentation at the center of its innovation process. It used to take companies years to develop the tools for such large-scale experimentation but they are now at the fingertips of most organizations. By combining the power of software and the rigor of controlled experiments, today's managers can make better decisions, create magical customer experiences, and generate big financial returns.
Experimentation Works introduces you to the power of experiments and will guide you through its implementation in your own organizations.
by Stefan Thomke (Harvard Business School Press)
Every company's ability to innovate depends on a process of experimentation whereby new products and services are created and existing ones improved. But the cost of experimentation is limiting. New technologies—including computer modeling and simulation—promise to lift that constraint by changing the economics of experimentation. They amplify the impact of learning, creating the potential for higher R&D performance and innovation and new ways of creating value for customers. In this book, Stefan Thomke argues that to unlock such potential, companies must not only understand the power of new technologies for experimentation, but also fundamentally change their processes, organization, and management of innovation. He shows why experimentation is so critical to innovation, explains the impact of new technologies, and outlines what managers must do to integrate them successfully.
by Stefan Thomke and Gary Loveman
Though they’ve been warned for decades about the dangers of overrelying on gut instinct and personal experience, managers keep failing to critically examine—much less challenge—the ideas their decisions are based on. To correct this problem they need to think and act like scientists. That requires doing five things: (1) being a knowledgeable skeptic and relentlessly questioning assumptions; (2) investigating anomalies—things that are unexpected or don’t look right; (3) devising testable hypotheses that can be quantifiably confirmed or disproved; (4) running experiments that produce hard evidence; and (5) probing cause and effect.
Drawing on the experiences of Harrah’s Entertainment, Sony, Bank of America, and Lego, Thomke and Loveman show how scientific methods can help companies discard ineffective practices, increase marketing and operational efficiency, boost customer satisfaction and sales, find new sources of growth, and even turn around struggling businesses.
by Stefan Thomke
Why don’t organizations test more? After examining this question for several years, I can tell you that a central reason is culture. As companies try to scale up their experimentation capacity, they often find that the obstacles are not tools and technology but shared behaviors, beliefs, and values. For every online experiment that succeeds, nearly 10 don’t—and in the eyes of many organizations that emphasize efficiency, predictability, and “winning,” those failures are wasteful.
To successfully innovate, companies need to make experimentation an integral part of everyday life—even when budgets are tight. That means creating an environment where employees’ curiosity is nurtured, data trumps opinion, anyone (not just people in R&D) can conduct or commission a test, all experiments are done ethically, and managers embrace a new model of leadership. In this article, I look at several companies that have managed to do those things well.
by Stefan Thomke (#1 Bestselling MIT Sloan Management Review Article in 2019)
The field of customer experience (CX) design — which aims to ensure that customers have positive touch points with companies while buying and consuming their products and services — has grown quickly in recent years. Research has shown that memorable experiences, and the ensuing positive word of mouth, can drive customer decisions as much as, if not more than, price and functionality. To that end, consultants have created thoughtful tools and frameworks such as journey mapping, service blueprinting, and problem-solving mindsets. Academics have studied customer engagement models that focus on managerial variables such as employee selection, training, rewards, and service culture. Yet recent research reports suggest that there have been few, if any, meaningful improvements in customer experience over time. Despite the insights gleaned about customers through advanced technologies and data analysis, something still seems to be missing for most companies.
My experience and research points to the missing ingredient: emotion. The most memorable experiences are suffused with emotion — not extra features or value for money.
by Ron Kohavi and Stefan Thomke
In the fast-moving digital world, even experts have a hard time assessing new ideas. Case in point: At Bing a small headline change an employee proposed was deemed a low priority and shelved for months until one engineer decided to do a quick online controlled experiment--an A/B test--to try it out. The test showed that the change increased revenue by an astonishing 12%. It ended up being the best revenue-generating idea Bing ever had, worth $100 million. That experience illustrates why it's critical to adopt an "experiment with everything" approach, say Kohavi, the head of the Analysis & Experimentation team at Microsoft, and Thomke, an HBS professor. In this article they describe how to properly design and execute A/B and other controlled tests, ensure their integrity, interpret results, and avoid pitfalls. They argue that if a company sets up the right infrastructure and software, it will be able to evaluate ideas not only for improving websites but also for new business models, products, strategies, and marketing campaigns--all relatively inexpensively. This will help it find the right path forward, especially when answers aren't obvious or people have conflicting opinions.
by Stefan Thomke and Jim Manzi (HBR McKinsey Award Finalist)
The data you already have can't tell you how customers will react to innovations. To discover if a truly novel concept will succeed, you must subject it to a rigorous experiment. In most companies, tests do not adhere to scientific and statistical principles. As a result, managers often end up interpreting statistical noise as causation—and making bad decisions. To conduct experiments that are worth the expense and effort, companies need to ask themselves several questions: Does the experiment have a clear purpose? Managers must figure out exactly what they want to learn in order to determine if testing is the best approach. Have stakeholders made a commitment to abide by the results? Are they willing to walk away from a project if the findings suggest they should? Is the experiment doable? The complexity of the variables in a business experiment and their interactions can make it difficult to determine cause-and-effect relationships. Choosing the right sample size is important. How can we ensure reliable results? Randomized field trials, "blind" tests, and big data can help. Have we gotten the most value out of the experiment? Conducting the experiment is just the beginning. Use the data to assess which components of a new initiative might have the highest ROI or the markets where it is most likely to be successful.
by Stefan Thomke and Don Reinertsen
Many companies approach product development as if it were manufacturing, trying to control costs and improve quality by applying zero-defect, efficiency-focused techniques. While this tactic can boost the performance of factories, it generally backfires with product development. The process of designing products is profoundly different from the process of making them, and the failure of executives to appreciate the differences leads to several fallacies that actually hurt product-development efforts. In this article, the authors, an HBS professor and a consultant, expose these misperceptions and others. They look at six dangerous myths: 1) High utilization of resources will make the department more efficient; 2) Processing work in large batches will be more economical; 3) Teams need to faithfully follow their development plan, minimizing any deviations from it; 4) The sooner a project is started, the sooner it will be finished; 5) The more features a product has, the better customers will like it; and 6) Projects will be more successful if teams "get them right the first time." The authors explain the negative effects these "principles" have when applied to product development, offer practical guidelines on overcoming them, and walk readers through a visual tool that will help them keep projects on track.
by Stefan Thomke and Eric von Hippel
Product R&D at many companies is a major bottleneck. The difficulty is that fully understanding the needs of just a single customer can be an inexact and costly process--to say nothing of the needs of all customers or even groups of them. In the course of studying product innovation across many industries, authors Stefan Thomke and Eric von Hippel found several companies that have adopted a completely new, seemingly counterintuitive, approach to product R&D: they have abandoned their efforts to understand exactly what products their customers want; instead, they equip customers with tool kits to design and develop their own products. Doing so can create tremendous value, but capturing that value is hardly a simple or straightforward process. Not only must a company develop the right tool kit, but it must also revamp its business models and management mind-set. When companies relinquish a fundamental task--such as designing a new product--to customers, the two parties must redefine their relationship, and this change can be risky. With customers taking over more of the design, companies must now focus more on providing the best custom manufacturing. In other words, the location where value is created and is captured changes, and companies must reconfigure their business models accordingly. This article offers basic principles and lessons for industries undergoing such transformations.
- Books
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- Thomke, Stefan. Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2020. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. Managing Product and Service Development: Text and Cases. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2006. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. Instructor's Manual to accompany Managing Product and Service Development: Text and Cases. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2006. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. Experimentation Matters: Unlocking the Potential of New Technologies for Innovation. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2003. View Details
- Journal Articles
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- Thomke, Stefan, and Anthony Rodrigo. "Capture New Value from Your Existing Tech Infrastructure." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (May 5, 2022). View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, and Gary W. Loveman. "Act Like a Scientist: Great Leaders Challenge Assumptions, Run Experiments, and Follow the Evidence." Harvard Business Review 100, no. 3 (May–June 2022): 120–129. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, and Jim Euchner. "High Velocity Business Experiments." Research-Technology Management 63, no. 4 (July–August 2020). View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Seize the Power." Indian Management (February 2020). View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Why Is the U.S. Behind on Coronavirus Testing?" Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (March 30, 2020). View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Building A Culture of Experimentation." Harvard Business Review 98, no. 2 (March–April 2020): 40–48. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "How to (Inadvertently) Sabotage Your Organization." MIT Sloan Management Review (website) (September 4, 2019). View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "The Magic That Makes Customer Experiences Stick." MIT Sloan Management Review 61, no. 1 (Fall 2019). View Details
- Gupta, Budhaditya, and Stefan Thomke. "An Exploratory Study of Product Development in Emerging Economies: Evidence from Medical Device Testing in India." R&D Management 48, no. 4 (September 2018): 485–501. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, Daniela Beyersdorfer, and Christina Kestel. "Was kostet die Zeit?" Harvard Business Manager (May 2018), 90–96. View Details
- Kohavi, Ron, and Stefan Thomke. "The Surprising Power of Online Experiments: Getting the Most Out of A/B and Other Controlled Tests." Harvard Business Review 95, no. 5 (September–October 2017): 74–82. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "High-Tech Tools Won't Automatically Improve Your Operations." Harvard Business Review (website) (June 10, 2015). View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, and Jim Manzi. "The Discipline of Business Experimentation." Harvard Business Review 92, no. 12 (December 2014): 70–79. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, and Jason Randal. "The Magic of Innovation." European Business Review (May–June 2014): 2–6. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Unlocking Innovation Through Business Experimentation." European Business Review (March–April 2013): 55–58. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Mumbai's Models of Service Excellence." Harvard Business Review 90, no. 11 (November 2012): 121–126. View Details
- Reinertsen, Don, and Stefan Thomke. "Innovators, Are You Applying the Wrong Lessons from Manufacturing?" Harvard Business Review (website) (April 30, 2012). View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, and Donald Reinersten. "Six Myths of Product Development." R1205E. Harvard Business Review 90, no. 5 (May 2012): 84–94. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Capturing the Real Value of Innovation Tools." MIT Sloan Management Review 47, no. 2 (Winter 2006). View Details
- Lee, Fiona, Amy C. Edmondson, Stefan Thomke, and Monica Worline. "The Mixed Effects of Inconsistency on Experimentation in Organizations." Organization Science 15, no. 3 (May–June 2004): 310–326. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "R&D Comes to Services: Bank of America's Pathbreaking Experiments." Harvard Business Review 81, no. 4 (April 2003). (Translated into German and reprinted in Harvard Business Manager (July 2003)) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, and Walter Kuemmerle. "Asset Accumulation, Interdependence and Technological Change: Evidence from Pharmaceutical Drug Discovery." Strategic Management Journal 23, no. 7 (July 2002): 619–635. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, and Eric von Hippel. "Customers As Innovators: A New Way to Create Value." Harvard Business Review 80, no. 4 (April 2002). (Translated into German and reprinted in Harvard Business Manager (July 2002): 51-61.) View Details
- Loch, C., C. Terwiesch, and S. Thomke. "Parallel and Sequential Testing of Design Alternatives." Management Science 47, no. 5 (May 2001). View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Managing Digital Design at BMW." Special Issue on The Human Dimensions of Managing Digital Design. Design Management Journal 12, no. 2 (Spring 2001): 20–28. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Enlightened Experimentation: The New Imperative for Innovation." Harvard Business Review 79, no. 2 (February 2001). (Reprinted in Harvard Business Review on Innovation. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2001.) View Details
- Thomke, S., and David E. Bell. "Sequential Testing in Product Development." Management Science 47, no. 2 (February 2001). View Details
- Thomke, S., and W. Kuemmerle. "Strategic Assets, Interdependence and Technological Change: An Empirical Investigation of Complementarity in Pharmaceutical Drug Discovery." Academy of Management Proceedings and Membership Directory (2000). View Details
- Thomke, S., and T. Fujimoto. "The Effect of 'Front-Loading' Problem-Solving on Product Development Performance." Journal of Product Innovation Management (March 2000): 1999–2000. (Winner of Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing Research presented by Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.) View Details
- Von Hippel, E., S. Thomke, and M. Sonnack. "Creating Breakthroughs at 3M." Harvard Business Review 77, no. 5 (September–October 1999). (Reprinted in Health Forum Journal (July/August 2000). Also reprinted in Harvard Business Review on Innovation. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2001.) View Details
- Thomke, S., and D. Reinertsen. "Agile Produktentwickler brauchen keine Marktprognosen." Harvard Business Manager (May 1999). View Details
- Thomke, S., M. Holzner, and T. Gholami. "The Crash in the Machine." Scientific American (March 1999): 92–97. (Translated and reprinted in: Investigación y Ciencia (Spain, May 1999), Ke Xue (China, June 1999), Le Scienze (Italy, May 1999), Nikkei Science (Japan, June 1999), Scientific American Hellas SA (Greece, April 1999), Spektrum der Wissenschaft (Germany, September 1999), and Swiat Nauki (Poland, May 1999)) View Details
- Thomke, S., and D. Reinersten. "Agile Product Development: Managing Development Flexibility in Uncertain Environments." California Management Review 41, no. 1 (Fall 1998): 8–30. (Translated into German and reprinted in Harvard Business Manager (May 1999). Also reprinted in Engineering Management Review 28, no. 1 (2000), special issue on Strategy and New Product Design.) View Details
- Thomke, S., E. von Hippel, and R. Franke. "Modes of Experimentation: An Innovation Process - and Competitive - Variable." Research Policy 27, no. 3 (July 1998): 315–332. View Details
- Thomke, S. "Managing Experimentation in the Design of New Products." Management Science 44, no. 6 (June 1998): 743–762. View Details
- Thomke, S. "Simulation, Learning and R&D Performance: Evidence from Automotive Development." Research Policy 27, no. 1 (May 1998): 55–74. View Details
- Thomke, S. "The Role of Flexibility in the Development of New Products: An Empirical Study." Research Policy 26, no. 1 (March 1997): 105–119. (Translated and reprinted in Comportamento Organizacional E Gestao (October 1998): 135-157.) View Details
- Thomke, S., and B. Mittmann. "SPC bei mehreren Ausgangsgrössen." QZ: Qualität und Zuverlässigkeit 37 (September 1992): 546–550. View Details
- Book Chapters
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- Thomke, Stefan. "The Innovators' Tools." In Revolutionizing Innovation: Users, Communities, and Open Innovation, edited by Dietmar Harhoff and Karim R. Lakhani. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2016. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Learning by Experimentation: Prototyping and Testing." In Handbook of New Product Development Management, edited by Christoph Loch and Stylianos Kavadias. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Experimentation Strategies and Technological Change." In Handbuch Technologie- und Innovationsmanagement, edited by S. Albers and O. Gassmann, 341–358. Wiesbaden: Gabler Verlag, 2005, German ed. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Die Kunst des Experimentierens - vom Fehler zur Innovation." In Innovationen - Verspechen an die Zukunft, edited by Thomas Ganswindt. Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe, 2004, German ed. View Details
- Lee, F., A Caza, A. Edmondson, and S. Thomke. "New Knowledge Creation: A Study in Positive Organizing." In Positive Organizational Scholarship, edited by K. S. Cameron, J. E. Dutton, and R. E. Quinn. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2003. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Enlightened Experimentation: The New Innovation Imperative." In Harvard Business Review on Innovation. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2001. View Details
- von Hippel, E., S. Thomke, and M. Sonnack. "Creating Breakthroughs at 3M." In Harvard Business Review on Innovation. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2001. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "The Impact of Technology on Knowledge Creation: A Study of Experimentation in Integrated Circuit Design." In Knowledge Emergence: Social, Technical, and Evolutionary Dimensions of Knowledge Creation, edited by Ikujiro Nonaka and Toshihiro Nishiguchi, 76–92. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. View Details
- Thomke, S., and A. Nimgade. "Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc." In Inside Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals.Harvard Business School From the Field Series. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2000. View Details
- Thomke, S., and A. Nimgade. "BMW AG: The Digital Auto Project." In Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation. 2nd ed. by R. Burgelman, M. A. Maidique, and S. C. Wheelwright. Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 1996. View Details
- Thomke, S., and A. Nimgade. "Innovation at 3M Corporation." In Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation. 2nd ed. by R. Burgelman, M. A. Maidique, and S. C. Wheelwright. Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 1996. View Details
- Thomke, S., and A. Nimgade. "Note on Lead User Research." In Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation. 2nd ed. by R. Burgelman, M. A. Maidique, and S. C. Wheelwright. Chicago: Irwin, 1996. View Details
- Thomke, S., and A. Nimgade. "Note on New Drug Development in the United States." In Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation. 2nd ed. by R. Burgelman, M. A. Maidique, and S. C. Wheelwright. Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 1996. View Details
- Thomke, S., V. Krishnan, and A. Nimgade. "Product Development at Dell Computer Corporation." In Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation. 2nd ed. by R. Burgelman, M. A. Maidique, and S. C. Wheelwright. Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 1996. View Details
- Thomke, S., A. Nimgade, and P. Pospisil. "Eli Lilly and Company: Drug Development Strategy." In Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation. 2nd ed. by R. Burgelman, M. A. Maidique, and S. C. Wheelwright. Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 1996. View Details
- Thomke, S., and Don Reinertsen. "Flexible Product Development." In Technology Management Handbook CRCnetBASE, edited by R. Dorf. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 1999. View Details
- Thomke, S. "The Changing Economics of Problem-Solving: Some Implications for Innovation and Competitiveness." In Innovationsforschung und Technologiemanagement, edited by N. Franke and C. F. von Braun. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1998. View Details
- Working Papers
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- Cases and Teaching Materials
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- Thomke, Stefan H. "Ferrari." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 621-020, July 2020. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "A. Lange & Söhne." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 621-015, July 2020. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Sony." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 620-140, June 2020. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Jørgen Vig Knudstorp: Reflections on LEGO's Transformation." Harvard Business School Background Note 620-133, May 2020. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Booking.com." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 620-080, January 2020. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, and Daniela Beyersdorfer. "Booking.com." Harvard Business School Case 619-015, October 2018. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, Atsushi Osanai, and Akiko Kanno. "Sony." Harvard Business School Case 618-045, June 2018. (Revised January 2020.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, Elena Corsi, and Ashok Nimgade. "Ferrari." Harvard Business School Case 618-047, April 2018. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Designing Transformational Customer Experiences." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 618-014, July 2017. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, and Daniela Beyersdorfer. "A. Lange & Söhne." Harvard Business School Case 617-058, March 2017. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Designing Transformational Customer Experiences." Harvard Business School Exercise 617-051, March 2017. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, Nikolaos Trichakis, Jérôme Lenhardt, and Daniela Beyersdorfer. "Lotus F1 Team." Harvard Business School Case 616-055, March 2016. (Revised February 2021.) View Details
- Rivkin, Jan W., and Stefan Thomke. "LEGO (A): The Crisis." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 714-464, January 2014. View Details
- Rivkin, Jan W., Stefan H. Thomke, and Daniela Beyersdorfer. "LEGO (A): The Crisis." Harvard Business School Case 713-478, February 2013. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, and Jan W. Rivkin. "LEGO." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 614-008, July 2013. (Revised February 2014.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "The Dabbawala System: On-Time Delivery, Every Time." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 613-062, October 2012. (Revised September 2013.) View Details
- Rivkin, Jan W., Stefan Thomke, and Daniela Beyersdorfer. "LEGO." Harvard Business School Case 613-004, July 2012. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, and Jason Randal. "Innovation Magic." Harvard Business School Background Note 612-099, May 2012. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Barbara Feinberg. "Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple." Harvard Business School Case 609-066, January 2009. (Revised May 2012.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Mona Sinha. "The Dabbawala System: On-Time Delivery, Every Time." Harvard Business School Case 610-059, February 2010. (Revised January 2013.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Daniela Beyersdorfer. "Dassault Systemes." Harvard Business School Case 610-080, March 2010. (Revised June 2010.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 610-105, June 2010. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Bush Boake Allen." Harvard Business School Case 601-061, November 2000. (Revised June 2010.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Briana Doerr Luthra. "Innovation at Mahindra & Mahindra (A)." Harvard Business School Case 609-065, January 2009. (Revised May 2009.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Briana Doerr Luthra. "Innovation at Mahindra & Mahindra (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 609-067, January 2009. (Revised May 2009.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Briana Doerr Luthra. "Innovation at Mahindra & Mahindra (C)." Harvard Business School Supplement 609-068, January 2009. (Revised May 2009.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Pfizer Inc: Building an Innovation Center." Harvard Business School Case 609-037, September 2008. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan, and Ashok Nimgade. "IDEO." Harvard Business School Case 600-143, June 2000. (Revised October 2017.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Experimentation Matters: New Opportunities for Innovation." Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing Class Lecture, 2006. Electronic. (Faculty Lecture: HBSP Product Number 9-370-6C.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., Ashok Nimgade, and Paul Pospisil. "Eli Lilly and Company: Drug Development Strategy (A)." Harvard Business School Case 698-010, October 1997. (Revised September 2003.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Managing Product Development." Harvard Business School Module Note 603-088, May 2003. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Building Capabilities for Experimentation, Learning, and Prototyping." Harvard Business School Module Note 603-089, May 2003. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Product Development Process Design and Improvement." Harvard Business School Module Note 603-090, May 2003. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Managing Development Networks." Harvard Business School Module Note 603-091, May 2003. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A) and (B) (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 603-085, March 2003. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Developing Products on Internet Time: A Process Design Exercise (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 603-087, March 2003. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Bank of America (A) and (B) TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 603-086, March 2003. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Eli Lilly and Company: Drug Development Strategy (A) and (B) TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 698-033, February 1998. (Revised March 2003.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "BMW AG: The Digital Car Project (A) and (B) (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 603-117, March 2003. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Innovation at 3M Corporation (A)&(B) TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 699-135, February 1999. (Revised February 2003.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Microsoft Office: Finding the Suite Spot TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 699-136, April 1999. (Revised February 2003.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "IDEO." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 602-060, August 2001. (Revised November 2017.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Bush Boake Allen (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 603-115, February 2003. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Product Development at Dell Computer Corporation TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 699-134, February 1999. (Revised February 2003.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Siemens AG: Global Development Strategy (A) and (B) TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 603-009, February 2003. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (A) & (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 603-106, February 2003. (Revised March 2020.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Bank of America (A)." Harvard Business School Case 603-022, September 2002. (Revised October 2002.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Bank of America (B)." Harvard Business School Case 603-023, September 2002. (Revised October 2002.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Eli Lilly and Company: Drug Development Strategy (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 698-026, December 1997. (Revised September 2002.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Innovation at 3M Corporation (A)." Harvard Business School Case 699-012, August 1998. (Revised July 2002.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Innovation at 3M Corporation (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 699-013, August 1998. (Revised July 2002.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Siemens AG: Global Development Strategy (A)." Harvard Business School Case 602-061, October 2001. (Revised March 2002.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Siemens AG: Global Development Strategy (B)." Harvard Business School Case 602-062, October 2001. (Revised January 2002.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "BMW AG: The Digital Auto Project (B)." Harvard Business School Case 699-045, November 1998. (Revised November 2001.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "BMW AG: The Digital Car Project (A)." Harvard Business School Case 699-044, November 1998. (Revised November 2001.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "BMW AG: The Digital Auto Project-An Interview With Chris Bangle, Head of Global Design." Harvard Business School Video Supplement 602-802, October 2001. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 602-063, September 2001. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (A)." Harvard Business School Case 600-038, December 1999. (Revised August 2001.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Developing Products on Internet Time: A Process Design Exercise." Harvard Business School Exercise 600-121, March 2000. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Andrew Robertson. "Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B)." Harvard Business School Case 600-029, September 1999. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Andrew Robertson. "Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A)." Harvard Business School Case 600-028, September 1999. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Steven Sinofsky. "Learning from Projects: Note on Conducting a Postmortem Analysis." Harvard Business School Background Note 600-021, September 1999. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Managing Experimentation: Module Overview Note for Managing Product Development(Note for Instructor)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 699-138, April 1999. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., Vish V. Krishnan, and Ashok Nimgade. "Product Development at Dell Computer Corporation." Harvard Business School Case 699-010, August 1998. (Revised February 1999.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Steven Sinofsky. "Microsoft Office: Finding the Suite Spot." Harvard Business School Case 699-046, November 1998. (Revised February 1999.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Note on Lead User Research." Harvard Business School Background Note 699-014, August 1998. (Revised October 1998.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Ashok Nimgade. "Note on New Drug Development in the United States." Harvard Business School Background Note 698-028, February 1998. (Revised October 1998.) View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H., and Paul Pospisil. "STOCKO Singapore Pte Ltd." Harvard Business School Case 697-059, January 1997. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan H. "Design for Manufacturing: An Exercise TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 696-072, June 1996. View Details
- Other Publications and Materials
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- Thomke, Stefan. "The Economics of Experimentation in the Design of New Products and Processes." Diss., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 1995. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Multivariate Quality Control of Flexible Manufacturing Processes." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 1992. View Details
- Thomke, Stefan. "Parameter Prediction and Visualization to Aid the Decision-Making Process in an Automated Fabrication Environment." Thesis, 1990. View Details
- Research Summary
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Please contact Professor Thomke for the most current description of his research on managing automotive development and/or copies of research articles (published and working papers).
Please contact Professor Thomke for the most current description of his research on experimentation strategies and/or copies of research articles (published and working papers).
Please contact Professor Thomke for the most current description of his research on simulation and R&D performance and/or copies of research articles (published and working papers).
Building and Managing Product Centric Organizations
- Teaching
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For several years, Apple has ranked as the most innovative business in the world. How does this winning company continue to achieve success in its quest to develop—in the words of Steve Jobs—insanely great products? This program takes a deep dive into the latest innovation tools, business models, and positioning strategies used by market-leading companies across the globe. You will emerge fully prepared to build and manage a highly creative culture that can transform customer experiences into a long-term competitive advantage.
Change is everywhere in the Middle East today, as many countries seek to diversify their economies and encourage new industries. While the region's complexity includes distinct political and economic conditions in each country in addition to an uncertain global economy, exciting opportunities still exist. To take full advantage of the best opportunities for growth in this intricate part of the world, businesses need exceptional leaders—executives who are bold decision-makers, global thinkers, and skilled strategists.
Designed to address this need, the Senior Executive Leadership Program—Middle East from Harvard Business School (HBS) helps companies transform experienced senior executives into leaders with vision who can seize opportunities for sustained business growth. Taught in a series of modules offered in Boston and Dubai, this program helps you become a stronger leader who can deliver value in a global context, drive new levels of innovation, and build accountable, high-performance organizations.
Today's global business environment offers many exciting prospects for talented executives and ambitious organizations. To take full advantage of emerging opportunities in Greater China and beyond, businesses need exceptional leaders—forward-thinking executives who are skilled at strategy and ready to tackle challenges in the Chinese market, such as copycat competitors, labor costs, and other factors that can slow growth.
Taught in a series of modules offered in Boston and Shanghai, this China senior executive leadership program helps you become a stronger leader who can deliver value in a global context, drive new levels of innovation, and build accountable, high-performance organizations.
Over the past two decades, India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. To seize growth opportunities in this promising economy and sustain success under shifting global business conditions, companies need executives who are exceptional leaders—confident decision-makers, skilled strategists, global thinkers, and effective change agents. The Senior Executive Leadership Program—India from Harvard Business School (HBS) accelerates the transformation of experienced senior executives into leaders well suited to drive the region's high-growth businesses. Taught in a series of modules offered in Boston and Mumbai, this program is designed to take your leadership skills, your career, and your contribution to the next level. You will become a stronger leader who is able to design competitive strategies that deliver real value in a global context, promote continuous innovation, and build accountable, high-performance organizations.
As global business challenges become more complex, companies are turning to exceptional general managers who can take on greater cross-functional responsibilities and contribute to corporate growth on a more strategic level. Moving beyond your field of expertise, however, can take years of on-the-job training. The General Management Program (GMP) at Harvard Business School (HBS) is designed to help you accelerate this leadership transformation and play a greater role in your company's success. Through a unique modular format that blends personalized learning on campus with practical application on the job, GMP minimizes your time away from work and maximizes your learning investment. Working with the HBS faculty, a diverse group of senior executives, and a professional HBS Executive Coach, you will expand your leadership skills, mindset, and network—and emerge with a personal action plan for taking your career and your company to a new level of performance.
- Awards & Honors
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Awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Sciences by the Technical University Graz in 2022.
Finalist for the 2014 McKinsey Award for the best article in Harvard Business Review for "The Discipline of Business Experimentation" (December 2014) with Jim Manzi.
Awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Economics by the HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management in 2015.
Received the 2012 Apgar Award for Innovation in Teaching.
Winner of the 2000–2001 Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing Research for "The Effect of 'Front-Loading' Problem-Solving on Product Development Performance" (with T. Fujimoto, Journal of Product Innovation Management, March 2000).
First Prize Winner of the 1994 Product Development & Management Association’s (PDMA) International Dissertation Competition for “The Economics of Experimentation in the Design of New Products and Processes” (Ph.D. diss., Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Awarded the 1993 Lemelson-MIT Doctoral Fellowship for Invention and Innovation.
Awarded a Dr. Jost Henkel Foundation Fellowship in 1985.
- Additional Information
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- Areas of Interest
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- In The News
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