Publications

October 2018
Case

The Drone Racing League: Building the Sport of the Future

By: Robert F. Higgins and James Barnett

Drone Racing League (DRL) sees itself as the world’s preeminent professional drone racing league. The company is in its third season of racing and is focused on future seasons and the negotiation of a new media agreement. How should the company proceed? View Details

Keywords: Drones; Racing; Sports; Entrepreneurship; Media; Strategic Planning; Sports Industry

November 2020 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Zipline: The World's Largest Drone Delivery Network

By: Tarun Khanna and George Gonzalez

Zipline established the world's largest logistics network in Rwanda and Ghana by delivering medical supplies to hospitals via automated drones. The company is now looking to expand in the U.S. and partnered with Walmart to expand into home delivery. Zipline must... View Details

Keywords: Drones; Business Startups; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States; Africa

June 2019
Teaching Note

The Drone Racing League: Building the Sport of the Future

By: Robert F. Higgins and James Barnett

Drone Racing League (DRL) sees itself as the world’s preeminent professional drone racing league. The company is in its third season of racing and is focused on future seasons and the negotiation of a new media agreement. How should the company proceed? Teaching Note... View Details

Keywords: Drones; Racing; Sports; Entrepreneurship; Media; Strategic Planning

June 2019 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Parrot: Navigating the Nascent Drone Industry

By: Rory M. McDonald, Emilie Billaud and Vincent Dessain

In 2018, Henri Seydoux, CEO and Founder of Parrot, believed that his company was at an inflection point in its history. Parrot had been a European leader in consumer electronics since the 1990s, first developing Bluetooth kits for cars before moving on to electronic... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Competitive Advantage; Information Technology; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; Europe; France; Paris

July 2023
Teaching Note

Zipline: The World’s Largest Drone Delivery Network

By: Tarun Khanna and Felicia Belostecinic

Teaching Note for HBS Case 721-366, "Zipline: The World’s Largest Drone Delivery Network." View Details

Keywords: Design Thinking; Emerging Markets; Strategy; Innovation and Invention

Web

Drone Policy | About

Drone Policy Purpose Statement HBS community members have requested information on using UAS or drones on campus. The FAA maintains strict regulations on commercial UAS flights; the purpose of this policy is... View Details

10 Feb 2016
News

Drone Racing League Launches

Keywords: Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Arts, Entertainment

Video

HBS drone video for website

August 2024
Case

Zipline: Expanding the World's Largest Autonomous Drone Delivery Network

By: Tarun Khanna and George Gonzalez

Zipline initially established the world's largest logistics network in Rwanda and Ghana by delivering medical supplies to hospitals via automated drones from a centralized hub. The company is now looking to expand to the U.S. home delivery market and designed a... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Logistics; Expansion; Air Transportation; Business Model; Rwanda; Ghana; United States

06 Oct 2016
News

Drone Racing League Signs ESPN Deal

(Sports Illustrated) (Sports Illustrated) Sports Illustrated recently profiled Nicholas Horbaczewski (MBA 2008), founder of the Drone Racing League—which just signed a ten-episode deal with ESPN. Drone... View Details

July 2020 (Revised October 2020)
Teaching Note

Parrot: Navigating the Nascent Drone Industry

By: Rory McDonald, Anibha Singh and Matt Higgins

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 619-085 View Details

20 Jun 2017
News

Inside the $20 Million Plan to Take Drone Racing Mainstream

25 Apr 2016
News

Meet The New Mavericks: An Inside Look At America's Drone Training Program

11 Nov 2021
Blog Post

ZONE DEFENSE: These self-driving, AI-powered drones do recon so soldiers don’t have to

be—skeptical of his younger brother,” Brandon says, laughing. It’s easy to laugh: Today, the brothers are cofounders of Shield AI, a rapidly growing artificial intelligence company based in San Diego, with offices in Washington, DC, and Pittsburgh, and Shield AI’s... View Details

08 Nov 2023
Blog Post

Zone Defense: These self-driving, AI-powered drones do recon so soldiers don’t have to

Shield AI’s unmanned Nova drones are used in war zones around the world. Brandon Tseng calls it “self-driving technology for defense.” The long-distance, 2.8-pound quadcopter drones, running on Shield AI’s Hivemind software, can navigate... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Entrepreneurship

October 2015 (Revised September 2016)
Technical Note

Flight: Now without Humans Aboard

By: Mitchell Weiss, Karim Lakhani, HT Kung and Kerry Herman

This note provides an overview of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones) industry in September 2015. UAVs offered many potential applications in industries as diverse as aerial imaging and photography, agriculture, construction, infrastructure inspection and... View Details

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Drones; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Product Design; Research and Development; Technological Innovation; Rights; Ethics; Strategy; Transportation Networks; Market Entry and Exit; Innovation and Management; European Union; Asia; United States

January 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

DJI- Striving for Innovation Amid Contestation

By: William C. Kirby and Daniel Fu

DJI was founded in a college dorm room in Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong. By 2020, DJI, a company manufacturing drones, occupied a 77% share of consumer drone sales in the United States with a wide array of clients including law enforcement and government agencies. Its... View Details

Keywords: Drones; Hong Kong; China; Chinese Manufacturing; Chinese Dream; China's Political Economy

15 Jun 2021
News

Zone Defense

be—skeptical of his younger brother,” Brandon says, laughing. It’s easy to laugh: Today, the brothers are cofounders of Shield AI, a rapidly growing artificial intelligence company based in San Diego, with offices in Washington, DC, and Pittsburgh, and Shield AI’s... View Details

Keywords: April White; drone technology; military; security; entrepreneurship; leadership; Air Transportation; Transportation

February 2018 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Rise of the Drones: Identified Technologies

By: Andy Wu and George Gonzalez

The founder and CEO of Identified Technologies, a Pittsburgh-based drone software and services company, faces a dilemma when San Francisco–based DroneDeploy begins to disrupt the industry with its drone software platform. Identified Technologies needs to consider... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Disruption; Network Effects; Computer Industry; Web Services Industry; Pittsburgh; San Francisco