Publications

June 2016 (Revised August 2017)
Case

AnswerDash

By: Elie Ofek and Jeffrey D. Shulman

It is 2014, and AnswerDash, a startup backed by venture capital, has not seen the widespread adoption of their online self-service customer support solution that they were expecting based on early success in helping clients save and generate substantial amounts of... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Economic Value Estimation; Price Metrics; Organizational Selling; Innovation Adoption; Business To Business; Marketing; Customer Lifetime Value; Venture Capital; Customer Relationship Management; Price; Marketing Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Technology Adoption; Business Startups; Sales; Innovation and Invention; Product Marketing; Financial Services Industry

August 2021
Article

Information Seeding and Knowledge Production in Online Communities: Evidence from OpenStreetMap

By: Abhishek Nagaraj

The wild success of a few online communities (like Wikipedia) has obscured the fact that most attempts at forming such communities fail. This study evaluates information seeding, an early-stage intervention to bootstrap online communities that enables contributors to... View Details

Keywords: Online Communities; Knowledge Production; Crowdsourcing; Innovation; Digitization; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Social and Collaborative Networks; Analytics and Data Science; Knowledge Dissemination

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2014
Discussion Paper

The Promise of Microfinance and Women's Empowerment: What Does the Evidence Say?

By: Dina D. Pomeranz

The microfinance revolution has transformed access to financial services for low-income populations worldwide. As a result, it has become one of the most talked-about innovations in global development in recent decades. However, its expansion has not been without... View Details

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Research Summary

Do Leaders Lead in Business Process Innovation? The Case(s) of E-Business Adoption

This paper investigates how market position influences firm propensity to adopt new process innovations. Using detailed data from the U.S. Census of Manufactures, I study the adoption of frontier e-business practices during the early diffusion of the commercial... View Details

20 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

Gaps in the Historical Record: Development of the Electronics Industry

innovative record is unsurpassed in the annals of modern industry, Matsushita's success was based on entering new product lines on the basis of continued learning in product... View Details

Keywords: by Alfred D. Chandler Jr.; Consumer Products

19 Apr 2017
News

Chicago Becomes a Hub of Startup Action

destroyed several square miles of the city feeds directly into the energy and vision required to start a new business, he said. (A hub for early-stage ventures located in the city’s Merchandise Mart is named 1871 for just that reason.)... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Emmanuel

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Making the Most of Government Upheaval

Beginning with Chile more than twenty years ago, Latin America has experienced a wrenching yet exciting transformation of its predominantly inward-looking, state-driven economies to a robust acceptance and practice View Details

Keywords: by Nancy O. Perry

July 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Case

Qihoo

By: Feng Zhu

Qihoo, one of the largest Internet companies in China today, was founded in 2005. The company started its business by offering a security software product, and quickly dominated the market in China after its unusual move of giving its product away for free in 2009.... View Details

Keywords: Platform Strategy; Business Model Innovation; Chinese Internet Market; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Information Technology Industry

Web

Continuity of Strategic Direction - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

assets related to the strategy Establishing a clear identity with customers, channels, and vendors Does this mean a company should never change? The answer is no. Innovation and growth ensure success. However, the value proposition stays... View Details

05 Feb 2001
Research & Ideas

The Ten Deadly Mistakes of Wanna-Dots

policies, purchasing procedures. Allocate just enough resources to keep it alive but not enough to risk its becoming an innovator — because that would require more investment. Under the banner of... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

June 2011
Supplement

Q and A Sessions with Akhil Gupta, Deputy Group CEO and Managing Director of Bharti Enterprises

This tape includes the highlights of question and answer sessions with Akhil Gupta, Deputy Group CEO and Managing Director of Bharti Enterprises, one of the largest mobile phone companies in India. The video focuses on the challenges and lessons learned from Bharti's... View Details

Keywords: Management; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Agreements and Arrangements; Innovation and Invention; Telecommunications Industry; India

01 Mar 2012
News

Learning to Speak the Language of Business

Mikitani Main article: Where Innovation Rules Case study: Englishnization at Rakuten From Pinterest to Kobo, how Japan's Rakuten is building a global internet giant (Wired.co.uk) You might call Hiroshi Mikitani (MBA 1993) the Jeff Bezos... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; e-commerce; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

22 Feb 2019
News

Empowering a New Generation of Business Leaders

Clubs News Clubs News Ten alumni from the HBS Club of Atlanta spent a day in early February mentoring and coaching 70 middle-schoolers as they learned how to launch a small business. Working with Junior Achievement (JA) View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Arts, Entertainment

07 Sep 2016
News

Appreciating the Big Role of Small Business

and Royce Yudkoff are leading the course Financial Management of Smaller Firms, in which students learn how to identify, acquire, and run small firms. This popular class has led to a shift in mindset, helping HBS MBAs see new... View Details

17 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

The Lessons of Business History: A Handbook

research is widely confirmed throughout the essays of the Handbook. Chandler was primarily concerned with understanding the growth of large, diversified, and professionally managed firms from the late 19th... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

23 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

The Future of the Venture Capital Cycle

magnitude of fundamental technological innovation in the economy, the presence of liquid and competitive markets for venture capitalists to sell their investments (whether... View Details

Keywords: by Paul A. Gompers & Josh Lerner; Financial Services

18 Jul 2019
Lessons from the Classroom

The Internet of Things Needs a Business Model. Here It Is

in the business-to-business space.” Indeed, the kinds of innovation possible in the B2B world seem limitless. By placing sensors on machinery and connecting them to the internet, companies can capture... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Computer

Research Summary

Reinvention and "Technology Reemergence"

By: Ryan L. Raffaelli

The prevailing view of industry and technology evolution has emphasized displacement, on the assumption that old technologies and organizational forms will disappear when newer ones arrive. Professor Raffaelli's research challenges this view by illuminating how and... View Details

Keywords: Turnarounds; Innovation And Management; Technology Evolution; Change Management; Disruption; Transformation; Transition

September 2013
Case

Boeing 787: More Electric Architecture

By: Willy Shih

The "more electric architecture" of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner represented a significant shift in the design of secondary power systems for commercial aircraft, compared to traditional designs that employed a mix of hydraulic, pneumatic, and electrical power. While the... View Details

Keywords: Boeing; 787; Airbus; A350XWB; Architectural Innovation; Technological Substitution; Technological Innovation; Vertical Integration; Air Transportation; Aerospace Industry; United States