Publications

January 2013
Supplement

Microsoft Server & Tools (C)

By: Marco Iansiti and Alain Serels

Supplement for case 613031. Update on progress of Microsoft's Server & Tools Business through August 2012. Pleased with the Windows Azure product, Satya Nadella must decide how to attract customers to the cloud based platform. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Computing; Enterprise Computing; Servers; Cloud Computing; Microsoft; Technology Evolution; Technological Innovation; Disruptive Innovation; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry

March 2014 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Prodigy Network: Democratizing Real Estate Design and Financing

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Katja Hutter and Greta Friar

This case follows Rodrigo Nino, founder and CEO of commercial real estate development company Prodigy Network, as he develops an equity-based crowdfunding model for small investors to access commercial real estate in Colombia, then tries out the model in the U.S. U.S.... View Details

01 May 2020
In Practice

COVID-19’s Hard Lessons Might Prepare Business for Climate Change

The coronavirus pandemic caught the business world by surprise, but the catastrophe might force companies to face a crisis that has been unfolding in plain sight: climate change. We asked faculty members affiliated with the Business and Environment Initiative at... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

January 2024 (Revised April 2024)
Teaching Note

Somatus: Value-Based Kidney Care (A) & (B)

By: Ariel D. Stern, Robert S. Huckman and Sarah Mehta

This teaching note accompanies case no. 622-009 and 622-045 (Somatus: Value-Based Kidney Care, A and B). View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Medical Specialties; Innovation and Invention; Disruptive Innovation; Management; Business Strategy; Value Creation; Health Industry; United States; Virginia

September 2014 (Revised June 2016)
Case

edX: Strategies for Higher Education

By: David Collis, Matthew Shaffer and Ashley Hartman

In May 2012, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) founded edX, a new non-profit joint venture that would provide a platform for massive open online courses (MOOCs). edX did not produce original courses or instructional content—it made... View Details

Keywords: MOOCS; edX; Online Platforms; Online Education; Harvard University; MIT; Execution; Monetization; Brand Management; Higher Education; Information Technology; Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Digital Platforms; Education Industry

March 2011
Supplement

Cree, Inc.: An Update

By: David J. Collis and Mary Furey

An update to "Cree Inc.: Which Bright Future?" View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Consumer Behavior; Strategy; Technology Adoption; Electronics Industry

March 2003 (Revised August 2005)
Case

Making SMaL Big: SMaL Camera Technologies

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Scott Duncan Anthony

SMaL Camera Technologies CEO Maurizio Arienzo was trying to decide what market opportunities SMaL should target. The company had developed a revolutionary imaging technology that powered small digital still and video cameras. Its first-generation product--a kit to... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Decision Making; Disruptive Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Electronics Industry; Computer Industry; Massachusetts

2007
Book

Prophet of Innovation: Joseph Schumpeter and Creative Destruction

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Creativity; Disruption

Find at Harvard

2002
Report

Technology Strategy: The Theory and Application of the Christensen Model

By: C. M. Christensen and Steven Milunovich

Keywords: Technology; Business Strategy; Disruptive Innovation

29 May 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 29, 2018

link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53918 forthcoming Journal of Management Studies Disruptive Innovation: An Intellectual History and Directions for Future Research By: Christensen, Clayton M., Rory McDonald, Elizabeth... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

08 Apr 2015
What Do You Think?

Are Technology Companies Ripe for Disruption?

Summing Up What's the Downside to Disruption in High Tech? This month's column gave many readers an opportunity to join my rant about the need for disruption to combat the increasing inscrutability and waste... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Computer; Technology

29 May 2020
Op-Ed

How Leaders Are Fighting Food Insecurity on Three Continents

are experiencing increased food insecurity among vulnerable populations, disruptions throughout food systems, and difficulty getting excess supply to the people who most need it. Responses range from international food programs to... View Details

Keywords: by Howard Stevenson and Shirley Spence; Agriculture & Agribusiness

June 2023
Case

Russia's Invasion of Ukraine in 2022: Consequences for Agriculture

By: José B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

Russia's brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine that begain in February 2022 caused major destruction to Ukraine's agriculture sector, one of the most productive and important in the world. This note provides a brief overview of certain singificant moments and moments... View Details

Keywords: Food; Agribusiness; War; Disruption; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Shipping Industry; Ukraine; Russia

November 2014
Teaching Note

Carl Zeiss and Free-Form Production: Can We See Clearly Yet?

By: Willy Shih

Keywords: Free-form; Business Model; Disruption

January 2020 (Revised March 2020)
Case

LOLA: Do You Know What's in Your Tampon?

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Aldo Sesia

LOLA is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) business launched in 2015. What started as a company to provide women with organic and transparent material-labeled tampons via a subscription model, had, by 2019 evolved to include additional menstrual and sexual wellness products.... View Details

Keywords: Direct-to-consumer; Channels; Disruption; Business Model; Brands and Branding; Internet and the Web; Strategy; Retail Industry; United States; Canada

April 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Shanzhai! MediaTek and the "White Box" Handset Market

By: Willy C. Shih, Chen-Fu Chien and Jyun-Cheng Wang

The term "white box" is often used to describe products without a brand name. Such products are assembled from standardized parts, and they became a very popular category of desktop PCs. Hsinchu, Taiwan based MediaTek is a fabless semiconductor company that unleashed a... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; Competitive Advantage; Wireless Technology; Semiconductor Industry; Taiwan

07 Dec 2016
HBS Case

Why Millennials Flock to Fintech for Personal Investing

Millennials are disruptive bunch. The first generation to grow up with the internet, consumers born after 1980 are used to relying on technology and engineering to do almost everything—including shopping (Amazon), listening to music... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

May 2018
Teaching Note

AT&T: Managing Technological Change and the Future of Telephone Operators in the 20th Century

By: Daniel P. Gross and William R. Kerr

Teaching Note for HBS No. 718-486. View Details

Keywords: AT＆T; Bell Telephone; Phone Lines; Phone Operators; Mechanical Switching; Layoffs; Technological Change; Transition; History; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Disruption; Change Management; Communications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States