Publications

29 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

For Entrepreneurs, Blown Deadlines Can Crush Big Ideas

your next product, you need to do more than just linearly add time to your original timeline,” Peterson advises. “It's going to vary project by project, and it's hard to say if that's 2x, or 3x, or 4x. But that is the right ballpark you should be thinking of as you... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

Research Summary

Competing on a Common Platform

Why have over 100 firms joined the Eclipse Foundation to collectively produce an open source platform and tools for software application development? What are they trying to accomplish? This research analyzes IBMs divestment of the Eclipse Java Integrated Development... View Details

02 Aug 2016
First Look

August 2, 2016

instead for consumer attention. We model and characterize how households allocate their scarce attention in arguably the largest market for attention: the Internet. Our characterization of household attention allocation operates along... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Research Summary

Overview

Jurgen's research focuses on the challenges and opportunites to the energy sector created by technological change and externalities, in particular those associated with greenhouse gas emissons. Specific areas of interest include the development of potential pathways to... View Details

Keywords: Alternative Energy; Energy Conservation; Energy Generation; Energy Sources; Non-Renewable Energy; Renewable Energy; Disruptive Innovation; Market Design; Strategic Planning; Risk and Uncertainty; Technology Adoption; Sustainable Cities; Business Strategy; Auto Industry; Battery Industry; Energy Industry; Transportation Industry; Utilities Industry

13 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

Why Your Company Wants to be a 'Cognitive Referent' (Hint: SpaceX)

When Rory M. McDonald was working on his PhD at Stanford University in 2007, it was the heyday of the lean startup in Silicon Valley. “It seemed like pretty much every week there was some new market category being touted as the next big... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Aerospace; Food & Beverage; Retail

29 Aug 2018
What Do You Think?

What Should Harley-Davidson’s Management Do?

European market overseas, and (3) concentrate on designing and producing new products for new and existing markets. There were several minority opinions, however. ASGMark commented, “The very idea of moving manufacturing of an American... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Auto

11 Apr 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching a ‘Lean Startup’ Strategy

doing that, and waste a lot of money on sales and marketing trying to sell that wrong product," says Tom Eisenmann, a professor in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School. "It takes a lot of time, time... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology; Computer

December 2023 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Boortmalt: The Master Maltster

By: Forest Reinhardt, Jose B Alvarez, Damien McLoughlin, Lena Duchene and Emer Moloney

By May 2023, Boortmalt was the world’s leading producer of malt, with a production capacity of 3 million tonnes, 15% of global market share, and 27 malting plants across five continents. It had recently acquired a major competitor and had sustained an EBITDA growth of... View Details

September 2024
Case

InfraCredit and the Project Inception Facility

By: John Macomber, Namrata Arora and Maagatha Kalavadakken

Around the world, large infrastructure projects are frequently stymied by the high cost and high uncertainty of the project inception phase: the research and engineering and planning prior to financial close and start of construction. Could there be a new kind of... View Details

Keywords: Infrastructure; Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Cost; Cash Flow; Capital; Assets; Financial Markets; Financial Strategy; Insurance; Energy; Product Development; Financial Services Industry; Energy Industry; Banking Industry; Africa; Nigeria

12 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 12

But there's a growing consensus that ads don't work on mobile devices; consumers just don't like them. Instead of creating tiny banner ads, smart marketers will turn to apps to reach customers and engage them. Effective apps will do one... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 17

buy or sell stock. Read the article: http://hbr.org/2012/07/what-good-are-shareholders/ar/1 Clear and Present Danger: Planning and New Venture Survival amid Political and Civil Violence Authors:Shon R. Hiatt and Wesley Sine... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2011 (Revised September 2012)
Case

Industrial Metrology: Getting In-Line? (A)

By: Willy Shih

Metrology plays a key role in the manufacture of mechanical components. Traditionally it is used extensively in a pre-process stage where a manufacturer does process planning, design, and ramp-up, and in post-process off-line inspection to establish proof of quality.... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Machinery and Machining; Measurement and Metrics; Product Design; Planning; Quality; Opportunities; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Segmentation; Technology Adoption; Theory; Manufacturing Industry

17 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

The Trial of Elizabeth Holmes: Visionary, Criminal, or Both?

difference between what is often called fraud versus “puffery” —general statements of opinion that people are supposed to reasonably interpret as not being factually true. It’s all the marketing ads we read on a day-to-day basis. Silicon... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Biotechnology; Technology; Medical Devices & Supplies

21 Jan 2014
First Look

First Look: January 21

Hervas-Drane Abstract—We analyze the implications of consumer privacy for competition in the marketplace. We consider a market where firms set prices and disclosure levels for consumer information, and consumers observe both before... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 13

within an organization to be effective leaders and to accomplish their personal goals. Executives are urged to examine their lives to discover major themes, interests, and values, using that examination to create a short statement of individual purpose which is then... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 6

workers, the middle class, and the nonpolitical rich, jeopardizing the nation's security in the process. The authors contend that this usurpation is the source of America's economic decline and fading international power and provide an action View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2020
Supplement

Managing Blackout at Aluminum Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) (B)

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Gamze Yücaoğlu and Youssef Abdel Aal

The case opens in 2017 as Tim Murray, CEO of Aluminum Bahrain (Alba), the largest single-site aluminum smelter in the world outside China and a major contributor to the Bahraini economy, was contemplating the recovery options as the company was facing the most severe... View Details

Keywords: Aluminum Industry; General Management; Cultural Change; Change Management; Crisis Management; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Safety; Leadership; Emerging Markets; Bahrain; Middle East