Publications

2015
Chapter

Innovating without Information Constraints: Organization, Communities, and Innovation when Information Costs Approach Zero

By: Elizabeth J. Altman, Frank Nagle and Michael Tushman

Innovation has traditionally taken place within an organization's boundaries and/or with selected partners. This Chandlerian approach to innovation has been rooted in transaction costs, organizational boundaries, and information processing challenges associated with... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Sharing; Cost; Innovation and Management; Collaborative Innovation and Invention

2009
Chapter

Creating Superior Customer Value in a Connected World

By: Ranjay Gulati

"In the early twenty-first century, customers are more demanding than ever, and difficult economic times make them all the more so. As customers tighten their wallets and increase their demands, firms face greater pressure to provide superior customer value. Reducing... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Customer Value and Value Chain; Consumer Behavior; Product Design; Social and Collaborative Networks; Value Creation

16 Jul 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Principles that Matter: Sustaining Software Innovation from the Client to the Web

Keywords: by Marco Iansiti; Video Game; Web Services

2016
Working Paper

Do Network Dynamics Undermine Idea-based Network Advantages? Experimental Results from an Entrepreneurship Bootcamp

By: Rembrand Koning

Do networks plentiful in ideas provide early stage startups with performance advantages? On the one hand, network positions that provide access to a multitude of ideas are thought to increase team performance. On the other hand, research on network formation argues... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Performance; Business Startups; Business Strategy

Read Now

15 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 15

failure resulting from asymmetric information. However, if platforms can impose exclusive dealing, then they will do so, which results in market inefficiency. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-080.pdf Creating a Venture View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

February 2024
Case

Does “Matter” Matter? Amazon and Open Standards in the Smart Home Industry

By: Frank Nagle

In early 2023, the smart home industry stood at a pivotal juncture. The recent launch of “Matter” version 1.0, an ambitious interoperability standard developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), promised to unify a fragmented market plagued by incompatible... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Resource Allocation; Standards; Business Strategy

September 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Public Entrepreneurs? Picking a Path

By: Mitchell Weiss and Matthew Segneri

Direct entry into government remained an uncommon post-HBS path, with only 1%–2% of recent classes going directly into the public sector. But, for public-minded MBAs, government wasn’t the sole province for public problem-solving. MBAs could join or launch companies... View Details

Research Summary

Research Summary

By: Ranjay Gulati

My research focuses on how to unlock organizational potential and unleash human potential.

Unlocking organizational potential involves a deep dive into how enterprises can achieve enduring success. This includes applying strategic frameworks to drive... View Details

July 2020 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Oxygen Esports

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On May 4, 2020, a press release from Boston, Massachusetts, announced the launch of Oxygen Esports (Oxygen), a new organization that hoped to dominate the rising esports scene in New England. Oxygen was created from a merger between Helix eSports (Helix), an owner and... View Details

Keywords: Esports; Sports; Online Technology; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Entrepreneurship; Strategy

December 2005
Case

IBM and Eclipse (A)

IBM faces a collective action problem: It open sourced its $40 million application platform and has to convince other companies to contribute. Explores the events leading up to IBM's decision to make the Eclipse platform available as an Open Source project. In 1998,... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Open Source Distribution; Cooperation; Adoption; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

Research Summary

Overview

Professor Huang examines the micro-foundations of entrepreneurship: the individual-level decision-making processes that influence entrepreneurs’ ability to acquire resources that they need, yet lack, especially financial capital. Deploying a variety of methods from... View Details

07 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 7

PublicationsRaise Your Prices! Authors:Frank V. Cespedes, Elliot Ross, and Benson P. Shapiro Publication:The Wall Street Journal, May 24, 2010 An abstract is unavailable at this time. Integrated Reports Voluntary Filing Authors:Robert G. Eccles and Mervyn King... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2022
Technical Note

Addressing Social Determinants of Health in the American Landscape

By: Susanna Gallani and Jacob Riegler

Social determinants of health (SDOH) have gained significant attention in recent years. A growing body of research shows that a person’s health is influenced by a large number of non-genetic factors, most of which operate outside the realm of health care and are... View Details

Keywords: Socioeconomic Determinants Of Health; Social Determinants Of Health; Population Health; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Social Issues; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

March 1, 2022
Article

Widespread Use of National Academies Consensus Reports by the American Public

By: Diana Hicks, Matteo Zullo, Ameet Doshi and Omar Isaac Asensio

In seeking to understand how to protect the public information sphere from corruption, researchers understandably focus on dysfunction. However, parts of the public information ecosystem function very well, and understanding this as well will help in protecting and... View Details

Keywords: Reports; Surveys; AI and Machine Learning; Knowledge Dissemination; Knowledge Use and Leverage

Read Now

September 2008 (Revised August 2009)
Case

VMware, Inc., 2008

By: David B. Yoffie, Andrei Hagiu and Michael Slind

Paul Maritz took the helm of VMware in July 2008, just as the company confronted a radically new competitive environment. Since its founding in 1998, VMware had been the leading provider of virtualization software. Now it faced the kind of threat that every software... View Details

Keywords: History; Digital Platforms; Competition; Decision Choices and Conditions; Applications and Software; Business Strategy

March–April 2025
Article

Getting Value from Digital Technologies

By: Frank Cespedes and Georg Krentzel

Companies need digital technologies in an omni-channel buying world where online and in-person interactions are complements, not either/or substitutes. Multi-channel hybrid sales solutions are required, but what are the key requirements for using the available... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Technology Adoption; Competitive Advantage

Read Now

February 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Taffi: Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia

By: Paul A. Gompers and Fares Khrais

Taffi was a tech-enabled fashion styling startup founded by Shahad Geoffrey in Saudi Arabia in 2020. Within three years of operating, Geoffrey had pivoted the business multiple times. In 2023, Geoffrey was attempting the business’s most ambitious pivot yet, shifting... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; AI and Machine Learning; Fashion Industry; Technology Industry; Saudi Arabia; Arabian Peninsula

March 2018
Article

Global Business over Time

By: Geoffrey Jones

This article explores how business enterprises have been powerful actors in the spread of global capitalism between 1840 and the present day. It also shows how global firms, emerging out of industrialized Western economies, created and co-created markets and ecosystems... View Details

Keywords: Global; Multinational; Business History; Globalization; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Economic Systems