In applied ethnographic praxis, how should we use theory? Exploring how existing theory from a variety of domains has supported and advanced our work, this paper justifies and demonstrates how theory can be used in an accessible and practical manner when framing research and analyzing experience in the field.

ReD Associates and Edison Energy spent more than a year meeting with hundreds of people who have a hand in energy management at large companies and organizations conducting what is perhaps the most comprehensive study ever done on the role of energy in large organizations and the challenges and changes in corporate energy management.

Elevating And Innovating Fieldnotes In Applied Ethnography, Using A Collaborative Online Tool As A Case Study. Presented at the EPIC conference 2015 in Sao Paulo.

Anthropologists in popular culture - 6 prominent clichés.

Innovation inside many of these companies is characterized by strong teamwork across disciplines, business units, and professional functions. There is a very widespread idea that innovation is driven by a lonely genius, a specific department, or a very special group of innovation champions, but this does not appear to be the case in these high-performing cultures.

A ReD partner recounts his meeting with a man who has lived through China’s enormous transformation.

To understand and diagnose an illness requires acknowledging the ecology in which it takes place and collecting multiple perspectives.

With the new reality of pharmaceutical R&D, companies must deliver impact and value. This paper explores how ethnographic research can fill that role in early stages of pharmaceutical clinical trials.

How understanding the social, psychological, and emotional experience of psoriasis is fueling the pharmaceutical industry.

“Deep listening means dwelling long enough at the unfamiliar, until something jumps out as meaningful”

A nonprofit cultural institute approached ReD with a immersive research project to understand the value systems of everyday Egyptians.

Surveys can provide validate insights about consumers, but when it comes to understanding what keeps people from going green, they’re often unreliable.

ReD was tasked with understanding what shared values Egyptians had across religious, gender, age, and economic groups. As our project ended, the Arab Spring erupted.

In our experience, as with art and science, creative business thinking flows best when it pivots on a “big idea”—a “structural design,” or a “paradigm.”

Here are five biases that complicate consumers’ adoption of environmentally friendly solutions.

The idea that for something to be original it has to be radically new still permeates business conversations about innovation.

A brewery’s story shows how “sensemaking” can facilitate transformations of product development, organizational culture, and corporate strategy.

While the “20% time” rule might have worked at Google, it is doubtful whether it would work outside Silicon Valley.

In business thinking, ‘core competencies’ have long been seen as the critical factor that distinguishes great from good. Great companies have strong core competencies that they constantly leverage and develop. On the other hand, companies who do not understand their own strengths and weaknesses cannot execute at the highest proficiency.