Publications

January 2010 (Revised April 2011)
Case

Google Inc.

By: Benjamin Edelman and Thomas R. Eisenmann

Describes Google's history, business model, governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation. Reviews Google's recent strategic initiatives and the threats they pose to Yahoo, Microsoft, and others. Asks what Google should do next. One... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Network Effects; Mission and Purpose; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Information Technology Industry

2012
Case

UFIDA (F)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donghong Li and Guo Jia

As an extension of UFIDA (A-E), UFIDA (F) using early 2012 as the time node, looks at UFIDA's major steps taken during 2010-2011, accomplishments, and major future opportunities and challenges. The case focuses on the new market development of Cloud Computing and the... View Details

Keywords: China; Strategy; China

Yuval is a doctoral student in Organizational Behavior and Sociology at HBS. He studies why are similar organizations dissimilarly diverse, especially focusing on extra-organizational dimensions that shape labor market racial and gender segregation. Yuval uses... View Details

July 1994
Case

Microsoft: Multimedia Publications (A)

By: Marco Iansiti and Ellen Stein

Microsoft Corp. has built a highly successful business around computer software (both applications and system software) using a particular organizational structure. Now that the company has chosen to enter the consumer market with a CD-ROM product, how should Microsoft... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Organizational Structure; Applications and Software; Design; Expansion; Consumer Products Industry; Information Technology Industry; Washington (state, US)

October 2019
Case

Feeling Machines: Emotion AI at Affectiva

By: Shane Greenstein and John Masko

In 2016, Affectiva—a Boston-based emotion AI software company with a long track record of building emotion-sensing software for market research—had attempted to expand into new verticals by releasing a mobile software development kit (SDK) that downloaders could adapt... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Market Research; Business Model; Finance; Revenue; Decision Making; Risk and Uncertainty; Market Entry and Exit; Applications and Software; AI and Machine Learning; Information Technology Industry; Auto Industry; United States

10 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

How to Get Companies to Make Investments That Benefit Everyone

behavior. In fact, the code responsible for creating many consumer electronics is widely available and is often used as a springboard for developers to further innovate, sharing ideas and crafting new products for all to use. Everyone... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

2012
Teaching Note

UFIDA (F) (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donghong Li and Guo Jia

As an extension of UFIDA (A-E), UFIDA (F), using early 2012 as the time node, looks at UFIDA's major steps taken during 2010-2011, accomplishments, and major future opportunities and challenges. The case focuses on the new market development of Cloud Computing and... View Details

Keywords: China; Strategy; China

June 1992 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Concordia Casting Company

By: F. Warren McFarlan

Describes five years of development in a centralized data processing activity serving a highly decentralized corporation. Data processing manager discovers that a major software system conversion is a full year behind schedule, and subsequently makes several managerial... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Applications and Software; System; Information Technology; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Human Resources; Conflict and Resolution; Supply Chain Management; Accounting; Auto Industry

November 2016 (Revised November 2016)
Case

Radial Analytics Probes Post-Acute Care

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Olivia Hull

Thaddeus Fulford-Jones and Eric Weiss, founders of healthcare technology startup Radial Analytics, have been busy developing a software program designed to save hospitals money and improve patient outcomes by producing customized care plans for patients leaving the... View Details

Keywords: Electronic Medical Records; Electronic Health Records; Data Science; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Business Model; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Health Industry; Technology Industry; Cambridge; Massachusetts

December 1986 (Revised November 1989)
Case

Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (A)

By: Benson P. Shapiro and Lawrence B. Levine

In late summer 1986, the management of the Manufacturing Productivity Division (MPD) of Hewlett-Packard (HP) was in the process of making major market selection and product policy decisions. MPD is a small division which develops and markets manufacturing productivity... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Marketing; Product Marketing; Market Entry and Exit; Production; Research and Development; Manufacturing Industry

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June 2018 (Revised July 2018)
Teaching Note

Mark43

By: Thomas Eisenmann, Mitchell Weiss and Matt Higgins

Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-016. The founders of Mark43, an early-stage startup that provides software for law enforcement agencies, must decide whether to bid on a request for proposals (RFP) from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). On the one hand, LAPD would... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Customers; Entrepreneurship; Applications and Software; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Making; Technology Industry; District of Columbia; Los Angeles

2006
Case

Infosys Consulting

By: Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble

Aiming to expand their value proposition from software development to consulting, Infosys launched a new business unit, Infosys Consulting. From scratch, it quickly grew to over 200 professionals. The case study illustrates the challenges of launching a new business in... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Information Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Software; Consulting Industry

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July 2000 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Catalyst Medical Solutions

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Richard M.J. Bohmer and Naomi Atkins

Faced with a drop in the NASDAQ, four eHealth entrepreneurs must decide between two distribution strategies for their new company's technology. The team, comprised of three full-time resident physicians and an MBA, has developed software to enable electronic... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Health Care and Treatment; Distribution; Strategy; Venture Capital; Applications and Software; Partners and Partnerships; Borrowing and Debt; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry

Find at Harvard

February 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

HubSpot and Motion AI: Chatbot-Enabled CRM

By: Jill Avery and Thomas Steenburgh

HubSpot, an inbound marketing, sales, and customer relationship management (CRM) software provider, announced that it had acquired Motion AI, a software platform that enabled companies to easily build and deploy chatbots, fueled by artificial intelligence, to interact... View Details

January 2009
Supplement

Yieldex (B)

Yieldex CEO Tom Shields was hired by the company's technical founder, Doug Cosman, in October 2007. One of Shields' top priorities is finding a vice president of engineering to manage the company's software development efforts. Shields and Costman disagree about the... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Applications and Software; Engineering; Decision Choices and Conditions; Product Development; Information Technology Industry