Publications

August 2019
Case

Huawei and the U.S.-China Trade War

By: Elie Ofek and John Masko

In 2019, Chinese smartphone maker and telecommunications empire Huawei was preparing to launch its new flagship smartphone series, the Mate 30. After years of explosive growth, the previous 18 months had been a challenge for the company. In early 2018, Huawei’s planned... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Global Strategy; International Relations; National Security; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Information Infrastructure; Volatility; Adaptation; Telecommunications Industry; China; United States; European Union

February 2008 (Revised September 2008)
Case

Apple Inc., 2008

By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind

In January 2007, three decades after its incorporation, Apple Computer shed the second word in its name and became Apple Inc. With that move, the company signaled a fundamental shift away from its historic status as a vendor of the Macintosh personal computer (PC)... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Leadership; Industry Growth; Corporate Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry; Technology Industry

14 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 14

that decays over time, similar to that of advertising. A major challenge is that privacy laws prevent us from observing information about the applicant pool. I overcome this challenge by using order statistic distribution to infer... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Apr 2024
In Practice

Getting to Net Zero: The Climate Standards and Ecosystem the World Needs Now

With each month clocking record-breaking temperatures across the planet, this Earth Day reflected the renewed urgency of regulators and businesses to find climate-change solutions. The US Securities and Exchange Commission recently adopted new rules that will mandate... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

04 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Need to Solve a Problem? Take a Break From Collaborating

Structure and Performance in Information and Solution Spaces, with Jesse Shore, an assistant professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business, and David Lazer, a political science professor at Northeastern University. The... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Video Game; Web Services

11 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

The High Risks of Short-Term Management

developed a long-term-oriented approach through formal (e.g., incentive systems) or informal institutions (e.g., building the corporate culture over time and employee selection). The finding that more long-term-oriented firms have lower... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

January 2023 (Revised April 2023)
Case

Cobalt Robotics: Scaling Workplace Robotics

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Nicole Tempest Keller and Kyung Keun Park

Founded in 2016, Cobalt Robotics, based in Fremont, California, was a Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) company that built autonomous workplace robots that were designed to replace or supplement human security guards. Outfitted with over 60 sensors, Cobalt robots patrolled... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Invention; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Channels; Customers; Technology Industry; United States; California

18 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Industrial Decarbonization: Confronting the Hard Challenges of Cement

Cities like Cairo; Chongqing, China; Delhi; and Kinshasa, Congo are experiencing population explosions accompanied by unprecedented demand for homes, offices, factories, and infrastructure. In the United States, the Biden Administration’s policy-driven infrastructure... View Details

Keywords: by by Janelle Conaway; Green Technology; Energy; Industrial Products; Manufacturing

22 Feb 2018
Book

The New History of American Capitalism

infrastructure for transactional activity, new scholarship asks what forces shape modern patterns of economic activity and how those patterns sort people and resources. Instead of reproducing conventional dichotomies, current historians... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing

September 2020
Case

Drinkworks: Home Bar by Keurig

By: Sunil Gupta, Jonathan Levav and Julia Kelley

In the summer of 2018, Drinkworks CEO Nathaniel Davis needed to make a number of go-to-market decisions ahead of his company’s upcoming product launch. Formed through a joint venture between Keurig Dr. Pepper and Anheuser-Busch InBev, Drinkworks had developed an... View Details

March 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Reinventing Best Buy

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

On March 1, 2017, Best Buy Company, Inc., North America’s largest retailer of consumer electronics and appliances, announced a third year of comparable-store sales increases and a 20.8% increase in domestic comparable online sales. These results were in marked contrast... View Details

26 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

How Toyota Turns Workers Into Problem Solvers

systems of factories, hotels, hospitals, or agencies as reflected in (a) the structure of who gets what good, service, or information from whom, (b) the coordinative connections among people so that they can express reliably what they... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston; Manufacturing; Transportation; Auto

March 2022 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Doubling Down: Elon Musk's Big Bets in 2022

By: David Yoffie and Daniel Fisher

2021 was a banner year for Elon Musk. CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, the aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, and a few smaller startups, Musk became the richest person on Earth after Tesla reached a market capitalization of $1 trillion and SpaceX a private... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Transportation; Strategic Planning; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Goals and Objectives; Aerospace Industry; Auto Industry; Battery Industry; United States; Europe; China

05 Jun 2023
What Do You Think?

Is the Anxious Achiever a Post-Pandemic Relic?

infrastructure (support systems).” They have accounted for a substantial portion of the output and productivity of the world’s most developed economies. Now the anxious achievers occupying many leadership positions are confronted with a... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

07 Aug 2007
First Look

First Look: August 7, 2007

community and local entrepreneurs in India's software industry. We find that entrepreneurs located outside software hubs—in cities where monitoring and information flow on prospective clients is harder—rely significantly more on diaspora... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2022 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Geely SEA: New Electric Vehicle Platforms

By: Willy C. Shih and Shu Lin

Kent Bovellan, the Chief Engineer and Head of the Vehicle Architecture Center for Geely Holding, the Hangzhou, China headquartered global automotive group, was debating the platform choice for an upcoming "D" segment midsized battery electric vehicle (BEV). He had led... View Details

Keywords: Product Innovation; Product Architecture; Product Engineering; Platform Design; Platform Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Product Design; Product Development; Cost Management; Decision Making; Competitive Strategy; Industry Structures; Auto Industry; China; Sweden

31 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 31, 2018

infrastructure presents an excellent opportunity to avoid the pitfalls of complex, restrictive, digital health systems that have evolved elsewhere. We propose here a federated, patient-centric, application programming interface... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

November 2018 (Revised June 2019)
Case

ofo

By: Mitchell Weiss

Dai Wei and his co-founders grew Beijing-based ofo from a school-based startup to a bike-share behemoth in a matter of months, topped an all-out market-share battle fueled with almost $1 billion in venture capital, provided 2 billion bicycle rides, soaked up the... View Details