Publications

March 1998 (Revised September 1999)
Supplement

Electronic Data Systems (EDS)Supplement: A Personal Diary of A GVD Experience, Mexico City, October 4, 1997

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Thomas Dretler

Supplements the case. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology Industry; Mexico

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March 2019
Article

A Structural Analysis of the Role of Superstars in Crowdsourcing Contests

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Param Singh and Anindya Ghose

We investigate the long-term impact of competing against superstars in crowdsourcing contests. Using a unique 50-month longitudinal panel data set on 1677 software design crowdsourcing contests, we illustrate a learning effect where participants are able to improve... View Details

Keywords: Crowdsourcing Contests; Superstar Effect; Bayesian Learning; Utility; Economics Of Information System; Dynamic Structural Model; Dynamic Programming; Markov Chain; Monte Carlo; Learning; Competition; Performance Improvement

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Article

Association of the Meaningful Use Electronic Health Record Incentive Program with Health Information Technology Venture Capital Funding

By: Samuel Lite, William J. Gordon and Ariel Dora Stern

IMPORTANCE
Although the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act has accelerated electronic health record (EHR) adoption since its passage, clinician satisfaction with EHRs remains low, and the association of HITECH with... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Information Technology; Laws and Statutes; Innovation and Invention; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital

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July 2008
Supplement

The Politics and Economics of Accounting for Goodwill at Cisco Systems (A) and (B) Teaching Note (CW)

By: Karthik Ramanna

Keywords: Goodwill Accounting; Information Technology; Teaching; Information; Computer Industry; Technology Industry

September 2019
Teaching Note

Western Governors University: 10x Vision

By: William R. Kerr and Coelin P. Scibetta

Teaching Note for HBS No. 819-093. View Details

Keywords: Education Systems; Online Learning; Higher Education; Internet and the Web; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; United States

2020
Working Paper

Why Do Firms Automate Production, and How Do They Adjust? Evidence from the Bell Telephone System over the 20th Century

By: Daniel P. Gross and James J. Feigenbaum

Over the course of the 20th century, AT&T's operating companies replaced telephone operators with mechanical switching and dial telephones. Yet it took AT&T 30 years from the invention of the technology to begin using it, and another 60 years to finish installing it... View Details

Keywords: Employment; Labor; Technology Adoption; Technology Networks; History; Telecommunications Industry; United States

September 2018 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Careem: Base Camp or Mountain Peak? Designing an OS for Scaling

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Gamze Yucaoglu and Alpana Thapar

This case focuses on designing a fast growing organization. It is part of a two-case set that is taught together to cover the scaling journey.
Careem, a Dubai-based ride-hailing service aimed to ‘simplify and improve the lives of people, and build an awesome... View Details

Keywords: Scale; Values; Rights; Operating Systems; Business Startup; Transportation; Organizational Design; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Organizational Culture; Values and Beliefs; Decision Making; Managerial Roles; Dubai; United Arab Emirates; Middle East

November 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

MiDAS: Automating Unemployment Benefits

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

In 2015, the state of Michigan considered whether to nominate its Michigan Integrated Data Automated System (MiDAS) for a prestigious state technology award. Launched in 2013 amid severe budget pressures, the $47 million automated fraud detection system was designed to... View Details

February 2017
Case

Yemeksepeti: Growing and Expanding the Business Model through Data

By: William R. Kerr, Gamze Yucaoglu and Eren Kuzucu

In October 2016, Nevzat Aydin, co-founder and CEO of Yemeksepeti, the Turkish online food-ordering company, was looking over the company's quarterly results and projections for the upcoming year with his management team. It had been almost a year and a half since Aydin... View Details

March 2015
Case

Tim Keller at Katzenbach Partners LLC (A) (Abridged)

By: Boris Groysberg and James Weber

Tracks the first six months of a recent MBA grad, Tim Keller, at Katzenbach Partners, a boutique consulting firm focused on organizational change and strategy. Covers how Keller initially struggles with his assignment and ends with a question of whether or not he... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Relations; Organization Behavior; Superior ＆ Subordinate; Managing Projects; Informal Organization; Consulting; Professional Services; Leadership; Work-Life Balance; Decision Choices and Conditions; Organizations; Rank and Position; Product Development; Service Industry; Consulting Industry

November 2020 (Revised February 2022)
Case

CommonSpirit Health: Integrating a Merger of Equals

By: Robert S. Huckman, Hise Gibson and Nicole Gilmore

Soon after closing the 2019 merger of Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) and Dignity Health to create CommonSpirit Health, Lloyd Dean and Kevin Lofton-–jointly appointed to the role of CEO—must make several operational and strategic decisions related to the integration... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Delivery; Hospital; Merger; Merger Integration; Hospital Mergers; Health Information Technology; CEOs; Health Care and Treatment; Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Leadership; Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governance; Information Technology; Health Industry; United States

November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 13: Identifying Strategic Risk

By: Robert Simons

This module reading begins by describing the three sources of strategic risk—operations risk, asset impairment risk, and competitive risk—and demonstrates how these risks can undermine an entire business. To assist in the identification of these risks, the risk... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Risk Assessment; Operational Control; Asset Impairment; Franchise Risk; Fraud; Strategy; Information Management

October 2020 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Epic Games: Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite

By: Andy Wu, Miaomiao Zhang and Christopher Zhang

In the midst of intensifying public and political attention towards the market power of big technology, Epic Games in 2020 challenged the status quo that has existed for years in the Apple iOS and Google Android mobile application marketplaces and payment systems.... View Details

Keywords: Mobile Platforms; Mobile App Industry; Mobile Payment Systems; Antitrust; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Lawsuits and Litigation; Entrepreneurship; Competitive Strategy; Digital Platforms; United States

December 2011
Article

Egalitarianism and International Investment

By: Jordan I. Siegel, Amir N. Licht and Shalom H. Schwartz

This study identifies the effect of a key cultural dimension—egalitarianism—on a set of international investment outcomes. Egalitarianism expresses a society's cultural orientation with respect to intolerance for abuses of market and political power. We show... View Details

Keywords: Egalitarianism; International Investment; Culture; Cultural Distance; Foreign Direct Investment; Informal Institutions; Social Institutions; Cross-listing; Investment; Equality and Inequality; Mergers and Acquisitions

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Article

Multivariate Unsupervised Machine Learning for Anomaly Detection in Enterprise Applications

By: Daniel Elsner, Pouya Aleatrati Khosroshahi, Alan MacCormack and Robert Lagerström

Existing application performance management (APM) solutions lack robust anomaly detection capabilities and root cause analysis techniques that do not require manual efforts and domain knowledge. In this paper, we develop a density-based unsupervised machine learning... View Details

Keywords: Big Data; Data Science And Analytics Management; Governance And Compliance; Organizational Systems And Technology; Anomaly Detection; Application Performance Management; Machine Learning; Enterprise Architecture; Analytics and Data Science

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October 2016 (Revised December 2016)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 6: Evaluating Strategic Profit Performance

By: Robert Simons

This module reading demonstrates how to calculate and analyze the profit generated by different business strategies. Formulas and examples are provided to calculate profit generated by changes in market share, revenue growth, efficiency improvements, and support costs.... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Evaluating Business Performance; Profitability Analysis; Variance Analysis; Measuring Effectiveness; Measuring Efficiency; Activity-Based Costing; Flexible Budget; Accounting; Strategy

June 2017
Teaching Note

Google to Alphabet: Two Job Opportunities

By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard

This is the teaching note for "Google to Alphabet: Two Job Opportunities" HBS No.116-046 The case describes two job postings for positions at Google. The first job posting is for a Software Engineer in the Google Maps unit and the second job posting is for an Account... View Details

Keywords: Strategy And Execution; Span Of Control; Span Of Accountability; Span Of Support; Management Control Systems; Entrepreneurial Gap; Motivation; Job Design; Strategy; Information Technology; Organizational Design; Jobs and Positions; Technology Industry

September 2014 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling

By: Ethan Bernstein, Saravanan Kesavan, Bradley Staats and Luke Hassall

With 24,000 staff and over 300 stores, Belk Inc. sought to replace its entirely manual labor scheduling system with an automated software solution from Reflexis. Belk hoped the upgrade would simplify scheduling, reduce time employees spent in non-customer-facing roles,... View Details

November 2024
Supplement

AlphaGo (C): Birth of a New Intelligence

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

This case, the final of a three-part series, explores DeepMind's pivotal transition from mastering games to solving real-world scientific challenges. In December 2020, DeepMind's AI system AlphaFold 2 achieved a breakthrough by solving protein folding—a 50-year-old... View Details

Keywords: AI; Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning; Research; Autonomy; Deep Learning; Drug Discovery; Healthcare Innovation; Neural Networks; Information Technology; Research And Development; Scientific Research; Technology Startup; AI and Machine Learning; Technological Innovation; United States