Publications

10 Feb 2020
In Practice

6 Ways That Emerging Technology Is Disrupting Business Strategy

Even though the internet has been publicly available for almost three decades, executives at just about every company are wrestling with how to use digital technology to advance their business strategy. We... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

25 Sep 2006
Research & Ideas

How Software Platforms Revolutionize Business

independent developers to build new features. The cell phone has become a lucrative platform for more than handset makers—also in on the party are makers of digital cameras, music services, and organizer software. Not only are existing... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Video Game; Web Services

2024
Book

Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream: How Technology Is Transforming Lending and Shaping a New Era of Small Business Opportunity

By: Karen G. Mills

The second edition of Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream, builds on the groundbreaking 2019 book with new insights on how technology and artificial intelligence are transforming small business lending. This ambitious view covers the significance of... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; AI; AI and Machine Learning; Small Business; Economy; Technology Adoption; Credit; Financing and Loans; Analytics and Data Science

May 2012 (Revised November 2015)
Case

The National Geographic Society (A) (Abridged)

By: David A. Garvin and Annelena Lobb

In January 2010, John Fahey, president, CEO, and chairman of the board of trustees' executive committee of the Washington, D.C.–based National Geographic Society (NGS), must decide how best to organize the 121-year old mission-driven organization for a world of... View Details

Keywords: General Management; Change Management; Media And Publishing; Digital Convergence; Strategy Development; Business Models; Information Publishing; Online Technology; Business Model; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Publishing Industry

30 Nov 2021
In Practice

What's the Role of Business in Confronting Climate Change?

The 26th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, also known as COP26, ended with a hard-fought pact that called on businesses and governments to meet their climate change goals faster. The event followed an August report by the Intergovernmental... View Details

Keywords: by Lynn Schenk and Dina Gerdeman

04 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Predictions, Prophets, and Restarting Your Business

“Predictions are risky, especially about the future,” according to a popular expression. Still, business is inescapably about the future—that’s what managers’ decisions are about. In the current crisis, we have daily grand predictions... View Details

Keywords: by Frank V. Cespedes

Teaching Interest

The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports (Executive Education)

By: Anita Elberse

In the business of entertainment, digital technologies are dramatically disrupting the way products are developed, marketed, and distributed. As a result of this paradigm shift, entertainment executives and content producers are challenged to effectively allocate... View Details

April 2016
Teaching Note

Whither the Weather (Company): Forecasting 2016

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

This Note was created for the purpose of aiding classroom instructors in the use of the Harvard Business School case, "Whither the Weather (Company): Forecasting 2016." As chairman and CEO, David Kenny guided the Weather Company's transformation from a cable television... View Details

Keywords: Weather Company; IBM; Digital; Technology; David Kenny; Television; Weather Channel; Legacy Business; Mainstream; Newstream; Reorganization; Acquisitions; Transformation; Information Technology; Television Entertainment; Acquisition; Consolidation; Change; Leadership

Teaching Interest

The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports (MBA)

By: Anita Elberse

This second-year MBA course is primarily designed for students pursuing a career in the entertainment, media and sports sectors -- including film, television, music, publishing, video games, the performing arts, sports, fashion, and advertising -- or who plan to work... View Details

14 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Getting Down to the Business of Creativity

business world. Yet any entrepreneur can attest to the creative power required to build an organization where none existed before. "Look, I made a hat /Where there never was a hat," sings Georges Seurat in the musical Sunday in... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Entertainment & Recreation

09 Jan 2024
In Practice

Harnessing AI: What Businesses Need to Know in ChatGPT’s Second Year

will companies and their employees adjust to the new world of AI? Harvard Business School faculty members take a look at emerging AI trends and offer some advice for businesses on how to make the most of... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology

14 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Ethics Bots and Other Ways to Move Your Code of Business Conduct Beyond Puffery

wrote. “They are too general to cause a reasonable investor to rely upon them.” That’s typical of the way that many people and even employees view codes of conduct, says Eugene F. Soltes, Jakurski Family Associate Professor of Business... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

July 2015 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Horst Dassler, Adidas, and the Commercialization of Sport

By: Geoffrey Jones, Michael Norris and Sophi Kim

The case focuses on the career of Horst Dassler, the son of the founder of the German-based sports shoe manufacturer Adidas. The origins of the firm were in the interwar years, and it rose to public prominence after it provided spikes for Jesse Owens, the famous... View Details

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

09 Jan 2020
Book

Rethinking Business Strategy in the Age of AI

World. The book’s authors, Harvard Business School Professors Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani, say Peloton is just one example of how digital technologies such as analytics and artificial intelligence... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Teaching Interest

Harvard Business Analytics Program: Operations and Supply Chain Management

By: Dennis Campbell

Digital technologies and data analytics are radically changing the operating model of an organization and how it connects to its broader supply chain and ecosystem. This course emphasizes managing product availability, especially in a context of rapid product... View Details

07 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

How to Help Small Businesses Survive COVID's Next Phase

small-business owners can take now Mills offers three recommendations to cash-strapped business owners: Focus on social media and email to reach customers. The coronavirus pandemic forced many analog companies to embrace View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Food & Beverage; Service

January 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Huawei: Resilience amid Autarky and Adversity

By: William C. Kirby and Daniel Fu

In September 2023, Huawei made a dramatic return to the global smartphone space with the launch of its Mate 60 Pro smartphone, equipped with an indigenously designed, 7nm chip. This came despite a myriad of export controls and restrictions imposed against the company... View Details