Publications

November 2013
Teaching Note

Barnes & Noble: Managing the E-Book Revolution

By: Alan MacCormack, Brian Kimball Dunn and Chris F. Kemerer

In 2012, Barnes & Noble found itself in a difficult position. While the company had weathered the advent of online retailing relatively well, the arrival of electronic books (e-books) threatened the company's viability. Primary competitor Borders had already fallen by... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Adaptation; Books; Retail Industry

June 2010
Background Note

A Note on Corporate Entrepreneurship: Challenge or Opportunity?

This note provides an overview of the rationale and the challenges associated with building new businesses within established companies. It provides a framework for understanding why corporations pursue entrepreneurial ventures and the various levers that they employ.... View Details

Keywords: Business Plan; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities

April 2008
Case

Four Products: Predicting Diffusion (2008)

By: John T. Gourville

An updated "Four Products" case. This 2008 version includes: sliced peanut butter, foldable bicycle tires, high-end wooden puzzles, and artificial dirt for thoroughbred race tracks. These four products form the basis to assess the drivers of new product adoption. In... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Innovation and Invention; Product Marketing; Demand and Consumers; Adoption

September 2007 (Revised October 2010)
Case

DermaCare: Zapping Zits Directly

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Lauren Barley

DermaCare has developed an innovative new product for the treatment of acne that they hope to sell to consumers via direct-response television. The unconventional nature of the product and its distribution has led the company to seek angel financing. The Silicon Valley... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Venture Capital; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Product; California

October 2000 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Z Corporation

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Matthew C. Lieb and Tom Clay

Tom Clay, president of Z Corp., and founder/CEO Marina Hatsopolous must decide between using a direct sales force or using a value-added reseller to begin selling the company's new 3-D printing prototype manufacturing system. View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Salesforce Management; Distribution Channels; Conflict and Resolution; Technology Industry

December 1999
Case

American International Group, Inc.

By: Kenneth A. Froot and Heidi Cruz

American International Group, Inc. (AIG), one of the world's largest and most innovative insurers and financial intermediaries, is considering new strategies in an era of new competition and Internet distribution. View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Competitive Strategy; Internet and the Web; Distribution; Innovation and Invention

Find at Harvard

September 1996
Case

Silicon Graphics, Inc. (B)

By: Marco Iansiti and Alan D. MacCormack

After the release of the "Challenge" computer in 1993, Silicon Graphics executives meet to discuss the follow-up project. Should they pursue an incremental improvement to the Challenge, or opt for a radically new design recently demonstrated at Stanford University? View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Technological Innovation; Management Practices and Processes; Product Development; Hardware; Computer Industry

March 2014
Teaching Note

Tesla Motors

By: Eric Van den Steen

In mid-2013, Tesla Motors was riding a wave of success: It had launched its first really mass-produced car—the model S—to rave reviews, had recently raised first-year production targets, and had started taking orders for its next car, the Model X. Tesla seemed to be on... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Production; Product Launch; Business Strategy; Auto Industry; United States

2020
Book

Work, Mate, Marry, Love: How Machines Shape Our Human Destiny

By: Debora L. Spar

Covering a time frame that ranges from 8000 BC to the present, and drawing upon both Marxist and feminist theories, the book argues that nearly all the decisions we make in our most intimate lives—whom to marry, how to have children, how to have sex, how to think about... View Details

03 Jun 2020
News

Keeping a Community Connected

Justin Pasquariello (MBA 2010) Justin Pasquariello (MBA 2010) At the end of most days, Justin Pasquariello (MBA 2010) feels like he hasn’t done enough. As executive director of East Boston Social Centers (EBSC), a century-old grassroots organization that provides... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

21 Feb 2020
News

Style for Everyone

Nadia Boujarwah and Lydia Gilbert (both MBA 2013) cofounded Dia & Co right out of HBS, producing fashion and online services for plus-size women. In this interview, they talk about the inspiration for the idea and the need it serves. “Dia & Co derives from Dia, which... View Details

Keywords: Apparel Manufacturing; Manufacturing

23 Apr 2018
News

Sowing the Seeds of Leadership

The online bio of EARTH University’s new president Arturo Condo (DBA 2000) describes him as “Ecuadorian by birth, Latin American by heart.” Condo, a distinguished scholar and author, and the former president of INCAE, followed both his heart and a lifelong passion for... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg

23 Mar 2016
News

Curing Parkinson’s Disease

HBS alumni Jonathan Solomon and Hampus Hillerstrom (both MBA 2007) play an important role in Jon Palfreman’s recent book Brain Storms: The Race to Unlock the Mysteries of Parkinson’s Disease. As the cofounders of NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals, the pair is working to... View Details

17 Dec 2014
News

The Sharing-Economy PR Stunt That Turned Into a Real Business

04 Dec 2014
News

Hacking Health Care

The health care industry needs so much improvement, it will take a whole movement to fix it. “The more leaders, the better,” says Luc Sirois (MBA 1997), who sees progress coming not through a single organization, but rather from groups of passionate medical and IT... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken

14 May 2014
News

(Re)moving the Needle

You wouldn't think that the lowly, annoying mosquito would have anything to teach researchers working on the cutting edge of drug delivery methodology, but you would be wrong. Have you ever noticed that you don't become aware of a mosquito biting you until it's too... View Details

Keywords: Robert S. Benchley; medical technology; Scientific Research and Development Services

November 2012
Case

CSIRO: The Light Metals Flagship Decision

By: Willy Shih, Margaret P. Pierson and Dawn Lau

This case explores the challenge of investing in basic research as a public good. CSIRO was Australia's leading science and research agency, and it was chartered to enhance national prosperity through R&D. Its Flagships program was designed to align research interests... View Details