Publications

December 2014
Technical Note

The Thermostat Industry: Transformation from Analog to Digital

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Kerry Herman and Christine Snively

This note examines the evolution of the thermostat industry as it transitioned from analog to digital technologies. It presents an overview of key industry participants and the shift in value creation and value capture models for firms. View Details

Keywords: Digital; Digital Convergence; Business Models; Digital Transition; Technology Change; Technology Strategy; Information Technology; Digital Transformation; United States

July 2015 (Revised April 2016)
Case

Lomography: Analog in a Digital World

By: John T. Gourville, Karol Misztal and Emer Moloney

In spite of the world's move to digital photography, in 2013 Lomography continues to design and offer analog (film) cameras to a loyal following of artistic photographers. Now it must decide whether to stick to its traditional offerings, to expand into artistic lenses... View Details

Keywords: Positioning; Product Lines; Product Line Management; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technological Innovation; Brands and Branding; Fine Arts Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry

2020
Article

Humanizing Management and Innovation

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi

This article is an excerpt from The Wise Company book that Ikujiro Nonaka and I published in October 2019 from Oxford University Press. It is a sequel to The Knowledge-Creating Company book we published 25 years ago. As our thinking evolved from information to... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Creation; Knowledge Practice; Phronesis; Practical Wisdom; Ba; Continuous Innovation; Fusion Of Analog And Digital; Management As A Way Of Life; Management Style; Emotions; Innovation and Management

Read Now

August 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Background Note

Competency-Destroying Technology Transitions: Why the Transition to Digital Is Particularly Challenging

By: Willy Shih

Some technology transitions are exceedingly difficult for incumbent firms to execute. The bankruptcy filing by the Eastman Kodak Company highlighted the difficulty companies faced when their core business transitioned from an analog to a digital world. Kodak's business... View Details

Article

Capabilities, Cognition and Inertia: Evidence from Digital Imaging

By: M. Tripsas and G. Gavetti

There is empirical evidence that established firms often have difficulty adapting to radical technological change. Although prior work in the evolutionary tradition emphasizes the inertial forces associated with the local nature of learning processes, little... View Details

Keywords: Business Offices; Organizations; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

Find at Harvard

31 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

Where Can Digital Transformation Take You? Insights from 1,700 Leaders

decision-making” as one of the most critical success factors in the digital era, judgment—an analog skill—is still required. Digitally mature... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards

December 2012 (Revised March 2015)
Case

AmTran Technology Ltd.

By: Willy Shih, Jyun-Cheng Wang and Karen E. Robinson

As an original design manufacturer (ODM) of television sets and leading supplier to Vizio, a market leader in the U.S. for LCD flat panel TVs, AmTran Technology Ltd. uses what founder Alpha Wu describes as a "WE" model in which western companies perform sales,... View Details

January 1996 (Revised April 1996)
Case

Digital Imaging in 1995: Opportunities in the Descent to the Desktop

The dramatic shifts of the imaging industry from analog to digital technology is creating emerging markets in 1995. How can a competitor position itself to enter the market successfully? This case describes the key technologies, market segments, competitors, and... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

25 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Cyber-Marketing: Scouting the Digital Communications Frontier

Seated before a computer with an Internet link, consumers today can flip through an estimated 800 million Web pages of public information by merely clicking a mouse. Add to this that television, now in 98 percent View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

16 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Delivering the Digital Goods: iTunes vs. Peer-to-Peer

the Market for Digital Information Goods," is among the first efforts to study the interactions of two entirely new and radical business models operating in the same... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Music

November 2018 (Revised February 2019)
Teaching Plan

Gimlet Media: A Podcasting Startup

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

When digital distribution becomes an option for an analog industry, the effects on the incumbents can be devastating. Is podcasting the beginning of the end of radio? Can it do what streaming video did to television and websites did to print? Two former public radio... View Details

Keywords: Platforms And Ecosystems; Startup; Creative Industries; Digital Marketing; Podcasting; Business Startups; Media; Entertainment; Growth and Development Strategy; Digital Platforms; United States

October 2007 (Revised January 2008)
Case

The Transformation of Thomson

By: David J. Collis and Troy Smith

Thomson, a French multinational, went through a decade of dramatic change in the early years of the 21st century. From a state-owned enterprise earning 97% of its revenue from television sets and other analog consumer electronics, Thomson had become a publicly traded... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; France

November 2018 (Revised August 2020)
Case

The Reinvention of Kodak

By: Ryan Raffaelli and Christine Snively

The Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) was a name familiar to most Americans. The company had dominated the film and photography industry through most of the 20th Century and was known for making affordable cameras (and the “Kodak Moment”) and supplying the movie industry... View Details

Keywords: CEO; Leadership; Asset Management; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy

25 Apr 2022
Video

IFC Intro: Hirotaka Takeuchi

01 Mar 2024
News

Alumni and Faculty Books and Podcasts

retribution. Fusion Strategy: How Real-Time Data and AI Will Power the Industrial Future By Vijay Govindarajan (MBA 1976, DBA 1978) and Venkat Venkatraman Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

24 May 2023
Blog Post

Innovating, Funding, and Scaling Climate Solutions at Harvard Business School: Day Three of Harvard Climate Action Week

Capital, drew applause for challenging the notion that digital apps, instead of skilled people, could solve climate problems. “We don’t need more digital solutions to save the... View Details

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Birth of the American Salesman

aluminum-siding salesmen; and David Mamet's play Glengarry Glen Ross, realtors. The figure of the professional salesperson simply does not hold the same dramatic appeal. Q: You have called your last chapter... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

01 Mar 2024
News

Unlocking the Power of Community

brand and its audience when the audience feels heard.” To showcase the power and ethos of Web3-built businesses firsthand, the Co:Create team recently launched an incubated... View Details

Keywords: April White

April 2018 (Revised February 2019)
Case

Gimlet Media: A Podcasting Startup

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

When digital distribution becomes an option for an analog industry, the effects on incumbents can be devastating. Is podcasting the beginning of the end of radio? Can it do what streaming video did to television and websites did to print? Two former public radio... View Details

Keywords: Podcasting; Business Ecosystem; Business Startups; Media; Disruption; Strategy