Computers - Publications - Faculty & Research

2012
Chapter

Schumpeterian Competition and Diseconomies of Scope: Illustrations from the Histories of Microsoft and IBM

By: Timothy F. Bresnahan, Shane Greenstein and Rebecca M. Henderson

We address a longstanding question about the causes of creative destruction. Dominant incumbent firms, long successful in an existing technology, are often much less successful in new technological eras. This is puzzling, since a cursory analysis would suggest that... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Opportunities; Competition; Information Technology; Innovation and Management; Organizations; Relationships; Information Technology Industry

Citation

Find at Harvard

23 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

How to Brand a Next-Generation Product

indicating that the product was markedly different than Xeon, its 32-bit predecessor. These types of processors power huge computer servers, which play vital roles in companies' day-to-day operations. Servers are a major expenditure, and... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

06 Aug 2021
Book

Steve Jobs and the Rise of the Celebrity CEO

marketing was dreadful, and its finances would have collapsed had it not been for CFO Fred Anderson’s work. The world of computers was dominated by Microsoft, especially after the introduction of its breakthrough product, Windows 95, in... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

May 2018 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Apple Inc. in 2018

By: David B. Yoffie and Eric Baldwin

Many observers worried about what would happen to Apple when Steve Jobs died in 2011. But Apple had performed above everyone's expectations in Cook's six years as CEO. Apple's core business—the iPhone—continued to deliver spectacular results. In addition, Cook was... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Information Technology; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Technological Innovation; Competitive Advantage; Computer Industry; Computer Industry; Computer Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

Web

Fostering Innovation in Life Sciences - Health Care

Evidence from Europe By: Fiona M. Scott Morton, Ariel Dora Stern and Scott Stern 15 Mar 2019 Science Targeting cancer and careers: Precision Medicine Re: Richard Hamermesh 21 Mar 2019 Working Knowledge Advancing Computational Biology and... View Details

09 Jan 2020
Book

Rethinking Business Strategy in the Age of AI

integrated 21-inch tablet computers have become a fitness sensation. For $39 per month, Peloton offers access to live-streamed classes where members can track their performance on a leader board, virtually connect with fellow classmates,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

12 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

New Research Explores Multi-Sided Markets

sellers), ad-supported media (ad sponsors and readers/viewers), computer operating systems (application developers and users), videogame consoles (game developers and geeks), shopping malls (retailers and consumers), digital media... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

28 Nov 2018
HBS Case

On Target: Rethinking the Retail Website

team with data scientists and others trained in computer science, math, statistics, and physics, including many who held doctorates. To attract the best people, Target knew it had to keep at least part of its data operation in Silicon... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail

25 Mar 2022
Blog Post

Meet the HBS Women's Student Association

husband Or, and our dog, Mini. I have B.Sc. in Computer Science and before HBS I was a software developer team lead in a tech company. Growing up, I often found myself being the only female in the room, whether in the major Physics class... View Details

12 Mar 2021
News

My Favorite Case

Edited by Jen McFarland Flint; illustration by Taylor Callery Scroll the main story to read all alumni submissions or jump to a specific case here: “Suzuki Samurai” Paige Arnof-Fenn (MBA 1991) “Johnson & Johnson: The Tylenol Tragedy” Steven Newman (MBA 1992) “Heublein,... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

2006
Working Paper

The Value of a 'Free' Customer

By: Sunil Gupta, Carl F. Mela and Jose M. Vidal-Sanz

Central to a firm's growth and marketing policy is the revenus and profit potential of its customer assets. As a result, there has been a recent proliferation of work regarding customer lifetime value. However, extant research in this area is silent regarding how to... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Auctions; Network Effects; Business Strategy

Citation

Read Now

11 Apr 2016
HBS Seminar

Pian Shu, Harvard Business School

22 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

Use Artificial Intelligence to Set Sales Targets That Motivate

consistent rate, related to the firm’s growth objectives, only works in a stable market, in a stable industry, in a stable region. “That’s a lot of ‘ifs,’” Chung says. Putting artificial intelligence to work Artificial intelligence—an array of approaches that rely on... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

July 2016 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Alphabet Eyes New Frontiers (A)

By: Juan Alcacer, Raffaella Sadun, Olivia Hull and Kerry Herman

In October 2015, Google restructured into Alphabet, a holding company, which analysts said would facilitate innovation among its diverse subsidiaries. But when news reports surfaced revealing struggles within Alphabet companies including Nest, the smart thermostat... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Conglomerates; Corporate Restructuring; Google; Corporate Strategy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Research and Development; Diversification; Financial Reporting; Talent and Talent Management; Computer Industry; Computer Industry; California; United States

Citation

Educators

Purchase

01 Oct 1999
News

Banking on Success

outlook for the next fifty years, I would say it's sensational. How would you rate your personal computing skills? I've kept up pretty well, by necessity. You can't get a stock quote today without being able to use a computer. Our ability... View Details

Keywords: Deborah E. Blagg

01 Sep 2022
What Do You Think?

Is It Time to Consider Lifting Tariffs on Chinese Imports?

American labor unions. Others argue about the importance of maintaining national security. Could they be persuaded to support such a move if the US government invested in American industries at the same time, perhaps similarly to Congress’s recent decision to fund... View Details

Keywords: Re: James L. Heskett

Profile

Shira Asa-El

what did you want to be when you grew up? A scientist. From a very young age I was not a “usual” girl: I hated dolls and anything pink, I had short hair, loved sports, and found comfort in numbers and solving problems. Thanks to my parents’ encouragement, I learned... View Details

19 Jul 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Open Source Software and Global Entrepreneurship

Keywords: by Nataliya Langburd Wright, Frank Nagle, and Shane Greenstein; Computer

Web

Leadership Transitions | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

also an area of heavy growth. As the 1980s ushered in the rise of high-tech research and start-ups, Lehman Brothers, Kuhn, Loeb & Co. helped finance Cetus, an early biotech firm, as well as Intel, which created the first microprocessor. Advances in View Details

August 2013 (Revised December 2014)
Case

Taking Dell Private

By: David J. Collis, David B. Yoffie and Matthew Shaffer

In July 2012, Michael Dell, CEO and founder of Dell, Inc., met with a representative of Silver Lake Partners to explore taking his company private. The company, which he had founded in his dorm room as a college freshman and which had made him the youngest Fortune 500... View Details