Gary Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Since joining the Harvard faculty in 1988, he has taught both MBA and executive level courses on technology and operations management, operations strategy, competitive strategy, product development, the management of innovation, and health care. He currently serves as a director of the Harvard Business School's Division of Research and Faculty Development. Professor Pisano's research has examined technology strategy, the management of product and process development, organizational learning, and vertical integration and outsourcing strategies. For the past 15 years, Pisano's research has focused heavily on organizations in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and health care. His research has led to insights about appropriate licensing, manufacturing, and R&D strategies for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
Pisano is a widely published author with over 25 research papers published in such journals as Management Science, Administrative Science Quarterly, Decision Sciences, Strategic Management Review, and the Harvard Business Review. He has also written case studies on such companies as BMW, Flextronics, ITT-Automotive, Intel, Merck, and Eli Lilly. He is the author of The Development Factory, a book investigating the strategies and practices leading to superior development performance in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Pisano's recent research on cardiac surgery teams (in collaboration with colleagues Richard Bohmer and Amy Edmondson) has uncovered new findings about how organizations can accelerate the pace of team learning. Pisano has recently completed a book on operations strategy, Operations, Strategy, and Technology: Pursuing the Competitive Edge, with co-authors Robert Hayes, David Upton, and Steve Wheelwright. His current research explores the management of R&D portfolios. He is also writing a book on the impact of rapid scientific advance on the evolution of the biomedical industry.
Professor Pisano has served as an advisor to senior managers at such companies as Biogen, Becton Dickinson, CibaVision, Eli Lilly, Genzyme, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Roche, Siegfried, State Street Bank, and Teradyne, assisting them in creating business and technology strategies and in improving product development performance. At several of these companies, Professor Pisano has been directly involved with the management team in the implementation of these efforts. In addition, Pisano has served on the Board of Directors and Advisory Boards of a number of start-up companies.
Professor Pisano holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and B.A. in economics from Yale University.