Publications

23 Jul 2018
Blog Post

Summer Snapshot: Interning at a Robotics Start-Up

early stage and stealth mode robotics start-up in the agriculture space as a Business Analysis & Operations Intern. I am the fourth and the only non-technical employee of the company. After working as a View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Technology

April 2009 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Linden Lab: Crossing the Chasm

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

In early 2008, managers at Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life, faced decisions about the company's growth strategy. Despite profound initial skepticism about demand for a user-generated virtual world that was not a traditional game, Second Life had... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Infrastructure; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms

March 2017 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Flashion: Art vs. Science in Fashion Retailing

By: Kris Ferreira and Karim R. Lakhani

Kate Wilson, retail analytics manager at Flashion, a fashion flash-sale site, is tasked with developing analytics to optimize pricing for first-exposure products on the site. Many in the industry have relied on years of experience and intuition to determine pricing—can... View Details

Keywords: Analytics; Pricing; Data; Service Operations; Forecasting and Prediction; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Mathematical Methods; Decision Making; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; United States

July 2013
Article

Ethnic Innovation and U.S. Multinational Firm Activity

By: C. Fritz Foley and William R. Kerr

This paper studies the impact that immigrant innovators have on the global activities of U.S. firms by analyzing detailed data on patent applications and on the operations of the foreign affiliates of U.S. multinational firms. The results indicate that increases in the... View Details

Keywords: Technology Transfer; Innovation; Ethnic Networks; Patents; Diasporas; Ethnicity; Multinational Firms and Management; Competitive Advantage; Research and Development; Foreign Direct Investment; Innovation and Invention; United States

March 2010 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Dassault Systemes

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Daniela Beyersdorfer

Dassault Systèmes, a leader in product lifecycle management software, has enjoyed a very profitable business model in 3D engineering design. In the past, it has successfully managed market disruptions and opportunities through acquisition and organic innovations. Its... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Product Marketing; Technology Industry

May 2003
Module Note

Product Development Process Design and Improvement

By: Stefan H. Thomke

Describes the conceptual foundations and pedagogy for a module on the design and improvement of processes for the development of products and services. Can also be used as part of a more general course on Managing Technology and Innovation. Central to Managing Product... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Design; Performance Improvement; Innovation and Management; Information Technology; Customers; Information Management; Business Processes; Learning; Transformation; Service Operations

24 Oct 2016
Research & Ideas

Bernie Madoff Explains Himself

brokerage business though, in his growing investment management practice, Madoff started to feel greater strain in generating profits. He began “naked shorting” to clients. Another controversial but legal practice, this involved... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

January 2013
Supplement

Wanxiang Group: A Chinese Company's Global Strategy (B)

By: William C. Kirby, Nancy Hua Dai and Erica M. Zendell

Supplements the A Case 308-058. With an almost forty-year history as a business in China, the Wanxiang Group has navigated through the significantly different political and economic changes in China to succeed as a global leader in the auto parts industry, and to... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Global Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Vertical Integration; Goals and Objectives; Mergers and Acquisitions; Auto Industry; China; United States

18 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

The Best Person to Lead Your Company Doesn't Work There—Yet

the operations expertise that PE firms bring to bear. CEO selection may soon become even more critical for PE funds, which have been grappling with inflation and rising interest rates that dampened fundraising, investments, and exits last... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

2022
Article

Reversible Power-to-Gas Systems for Energy Conversion and Storage

By: Gunther Glenk and Stefan Reichelstein

In the transition to decarbonized energy systems, Power-to-Gas (PtG) processes have the potential to connect the existing markets for electricity and hydrogen. Specifically, reversible PtG systems can convert electricity to hydrogen at times of ample power supply, yet... View Details

13 Mar 2025
Blog Post

Advancing Health Care Innovation and Impact with Anita Gupta (GMP 29, 2020)

Learn about the career resources available to HBS alumni through HBS Career & Professional Development When I came to Harvard Business School (HBS) to participate in the Executive Education General Management Program, I wasn’t looking... View Details

2016
Working Paper

The Reference Wars: Encyclopedia Britannica's Decline and Encarta's Emergence

By: Shane Greenstein

The experience of Encyclopædia Britannica provides the canonical example of the decline of an established firm at the outset of the digital age. Competition from Microsoft's Encarta in 1993 led to sharp declines in the sales of books, which led to the distressed sale... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Service Operations; Emerging Markets; Applications and Software; Books; Information Technology Industry; Information Industry

March 2008 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Linden Lab: Opening Second Life

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

In early 2008, managers in Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life, faced decisions about the company's strategy. Despite profound initial skepticism about demand for a user-generated virtual world that was not a traditional game, Second Life had achieved... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Open Source Distribution; Partners and Partnerships; Software

Find at Harvard

October 1978 (Revised July 1991)
Case

U.S. Pioneer Electronics Corp.

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi

Focuses on the problem of the means by which a manufacturer controls its channel of distribution. U.S. Pioneer's retail outlets have turned "dissident" and management has to decide what tactics to employ to stop further erosion (short-run) and what long-run... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Growth and Development Strategy; Distribution Channels; Production; Problems and Challenges; Software; Electronics Industry; United States

03 Oct 2011
News

Kodak's Patent Portfolio, Bankruptcy

January 1997 (Revised September 1997)
Case

Improving the Product Development Process at Kirkham Instruments Corp.

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Describes the efforts of a manufacturer of scientific instruments to implement new methods of managing new product development, which its executives had learned in a Harvard Business School seminar. The executives left the seminar excited to implement a new way of... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Product Launch; Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; United States

September 2007 (Revised December 2008)
Case

Michael Fernandes at Nicholas Piramal

By: Michel Anteby and Nitin Nohria

Michael Fernandes, the Director of Custom Manufacturing Operations at the pharmaceutical company Nicholas Piramal India Limited (NPIL), schedules a meeting with three of his reports, whose interpersonal conflicts with one another are causing his business development... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Management Skills; Groups and Teams; Conflict Management; Cooperation; Pharmaceutical Industry; India; United Kingdom; Canada