Back Bay Battery

Developed by the late Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen, this simulation is designed to bridge theories in innovation and the impact of emerging, disruptive technologies to the real-world context in which managers must make investment decisions about innovative new technologies under conditions of uncertainty. The exercise simulates the challenges associated with making investment choices between mature and emerging technologies amid uncertain and highly constraining real-world conditions. The primary teaching objectives focus on the challenges of investing in new disruptive innovations, the difficulty of allocating R&D spending, the constraints of short-term financial targets, and the necessity of investing when the core business is healthy.