Publications

October 2020 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Epic Games: Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite

By: Andy Wu, Miaomiao Zhang and Christopher Zhang

In the midst of intensifying public and political attention towards the market power of big technology, Epic Games in 2020 challenged the status quo that has existed for years in the Apple iOS and Google Android mobile application marketplaces and payment systems.... View Details

Keywords: Mobile Platforms; Mobile App Industry; Mobile Payment Systems; Antitrust; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Lawsuits and Litigation; Entrepreneurship; Competitive Strategy; Digital Platforms; United States

November 2024
Supplement

Epic Games: Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite (B)

By: Andy Wu and Ronald Wang

In a significant ruling on April 24, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld portions of the district court’s decision against Epic Games back in September 2021. However, Apple’s anti-steering provisions, which restricted app developers from... View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Market Transactions; Applications and Software; Technology Industry; Video Game Industry

September 2022
Teaching Note

Epic Games: Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite

By: Andy Wu and Matt Higgins

Teaching Note for HBS Case 721-395. View Details

14 Apr 2020
Cold Call Podcast

'Fortnite' Was a Blockbuster for Epic Games. What’s the Encore?

Keywords: Re: Andy Wu; Entertainment & Recreation; Video Game

February 1988 (Revised March 1988)
Case

General Motors Corp.: The Buick EPIC Project

April 2003 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Leadership in Crisis: Ernest Shackleton and the Epic Voyage of the Endurance

By: Nancy F. Koehn, Erica Helms and Philip Mead

Provides an opportunity to examine leadership and entrepreneurship in the context of Ernest Shackleton's 1914 Antarctic expedition, a compelling story of crisis, survival, and triumph. Summarizes Shackleton's career as an officer in the British Merchant Marine, his... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; History; Leadership; Crisis Management; Management Practices and Processes; Groups and Teams; Behavior; Antarctica

20 Apr 2021
Book

A Simple Question That Can Guide Companies to Epic Success

New Video: Books@Baker Interview with Felix Oberholzer-Gee Click to watch. Some companies gain advantage by commanding premium prices. Others lean on their world-class talent. But, a small slice of companies manages to do both—and dramatically outperform peers. What... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

January 2007
Teaching Note

Leadership in Crisis: Ernest Shackleton and the Epic Voyage of the Endurance (TN)

By: Nancy F. Koehn

Teaching Note to 803127. View Details

Keywords: Leadership Style; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Moral Sensibility; Groups and Teams; Managerial Roles; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Antarctica

24 Apr 2023
HBS Case

What Does It Take to Build as Much Buzz as Booze? Inside the Epic Challenge of Cannabis-Infused Drinks

Legalization turned cannabis into a multibillion-dollar industry seemingly overnight, but this hot new market has had more—and more unusual—growing pains than most. Many experts predict significant market expansion ahead as more states legalize medical and recreational... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage

January 2016
Article

Incorporating Longitudinal Pediatric Patient-centered Outcome Measurement into the Clinical Workflow Using a Commercial Electronic Health Record: A Step Toward Increasing Value for the Patient

By: Kathleen Carberry, Zachary Landman, Michelle Xie, Thomas W. Feeley, John Henderson and Charles Fraser Jr.

Patient-centered outcomes measurement provides healthcare organizations with crucial information for increasing value for patients; however, organizations have struggled to obtain outcomes data from electronic health record (EHR) systems. This study describes how Texas... View Details

Keywords: Epic; Electronic Health Records; Outcomes; Value; Patient-Centered Outcomes Measurement; Value Creation; Information Technology; Health Care and Treatment; Customer Focus and Relationships; Health Industry; Texas

Read Now

29 Feb 2024
HBS Case

Beyond Goals: David Beckham's Playbook for Mobilizing Star Talent

Superstar talent brings the kind of wattage that can power a business to the next level, as recent high-stakes decisions facing soccer legend David Beckham show. Two new Harvard Business School case studies examine the questions Beckham and his team pondered as he... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Sports

September 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Epic: The Future of Health Information Technology

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Brian L. Walker

How should the founder and leadership team of a health IT company with more than 45 years of market leadership prepare for the future, while navigating founder transitions and industry changes? Founded by Judy Faulkner in the late 1970s, Epic pioneered electronic... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Private Ownership; Customer Focus and Relationships; Health Industry; Electronics Industry

December 2007 (Revised August 2014)
Case

Xanadu on Broadway

By: Anita Elberse

Can one of Hollywood's biggest flops magically turn into a Broadway hit? Xanadu, an adaptation of a 1980 Olivia Newton-John roller-disco film described by one critic as "the epic failure to end all epic failures," opened on Broadway in July 2007. Producer Rob Ahrens,... View Details

Keywords: Theater Entertainment; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Demand and Consumers; Risk and Uncertainty; Creativity; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

17 Jan 2024
HBS Case

Psychological Pricing Tactics to Fight the Inflation Blues

Many consumers recovering from the worst inflation in 40 years continue to closely watch their spending—they want to know that every expense is worth it. Now companies must confront a major challenge: gauging how much, if any, of their own higher costs customers are... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Consumer Products; Retail

25 Aug 2016
Cold Call Podcast

Behind IBM's High-Risk Decision to Put Watson on 'Jeopardy'

Keywords: Re: Willy C. Shih

August 2001 (Revised June 2002)
Case

IBM Software Solutions (A)

By: Michael L. Tushman, Charles A. O'Reilly III and Robert Chapman Wood

Executives and managers of key IBM software units struggle to make IBM a top player in the post-mainframe era. When one software unit introduces a visionary product with potential to create a new leadership position for the firm, the result is an epic conflict in the... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Managerial Roles; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Conflict Management; Information Technology Industry

February 2021
Article

Assessment of Electronic Health Record Use Between U.S. and Non-U.S. Health Systems

By: A Jay Holmgren, Lance Downing, David W. Bates, Tait D. Shanafelt, Arnold Milstein, Christopher Sharp, David Cutler, Robert S. Huckman and Kevin A. Schulman

Importance: Understanding how the electronic health record (EHR) system changes clinician work, productivity, and well-being is critical. Little is known regarding global variation in patterns of use.
Objective: To provide insights into which EHR... View Details

Keywords: Electronic Health Records; Health Care and Treatment; Online Technology; Health Industry; Information Technology Industry

March 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Metaverse Wars

By: Andy Wu, David B. Yoffie and Matt Higgins

In 2023, the term metaverse — a combination of “meta” and “universe” — had become a catch-all for a diverse set of expectations about online virtual worlds and the future of the internet. To some, the metaverse conjured images of a massive participatory videogame... View Details

Keywords: Metaverse; Technology; Virtual Reality; Facebook; Social Media; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption

2014
Book

Empire of Cotton: A Global History

By: Sven Beckert

The epic story of the rise and fall of the empire of cotton, its centrality to the world economy, and its making and remaking of global capitalism. Cotton is so ubiquitous as to be almost invisible, yet understanding its history is key to understanding the origins... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Globalized Markets and Industries; Society; Manufacturing Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry