Publications

November 2019
Teaching Note

Magnus Resch: Transforming the Art Market Through Transparency

By: Henry McGee and Sarah Mehta

Teaching Note for HBS No. 319-002. This teaching note pairs with a case on economist and entrepreneur Magnus Resch, who is on a mission to make the art market more transparent. He has built the Magnus app, which catalogues the price and transaction history of millions... View Details

Keywords: Art Market; Transparency; Art Pricing; Business Startups; Innovation Strategy; Culture; Business Strategy; Mobile Technology; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

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

May 2019 (Revised February 2022)
Background Note

The Gig Economy: Leasing Skills to Pay the Bills

By: Joseph Fuller, William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg

This primer provides a comprehensive exploration into the gig economy and how it is reshaping global business. It shows how the Uber driver, the freelancing programmer in India, and the independent corporate consultant are all different variants of the modern-day gig... View Details

Keywords: Gig Economy; COVID-19 Pandemic; Talent and Talent Management; Human Resources; Labor; Strategy; Management; Globalization; North America; Europe; United States; United Kingdom

September 2024
Case

TechEnergy Ventures: Innovating Through Corporate Venture Capital

By: Rebecca Karp and Lena Duchene

This case examines TechEnergy Ventures, the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of the Techint Group, and its role in scaling innovation within the energy sector. Founded in 2021, TechEnergy Ventures operates with a mandate to invest in disruptive technologies to... View Details

August 2014
Case

Netflix in 2011

By: Willy Shih and Stephen Kaufman

Reed Hastings founded Netflix to provide a home movie service that would do a better job satisfying customers than the traditional retail rental model. But as it encountered challenges it underwent several major strategy shifts, ultimately developing a business model... View Details

July 2011 (Revised September 2012)
Case

Intraoperative Radiotherapy for Breast Cancer (A)

By: Willy Shih

"This trial is going to take longer." Those were words that Michael Kaschke, CEO of Carl Zeiss AG, was not surprised to hear as he nurtured the intraoperative radiotherapy business inside his company's microsurgery unit. But he also didn't expect it to take 13 years to... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Business History; Disruptive Innovation; Emerging Markets; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Research and Development; Safety

January 2009 (Revised February 2009)
Case

F-Secure Corporation: Software as a Service (SaaS) in the Security Solutions Market

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Robert D. Austin, Kalle Lyytinen, Esko Penttinen and Timo Saarinen

Describes the development of a business model based on "software as a service" (SaaS) for security solution distributed through Internet Service Providers (ISPs). F-Secure disruptively entered a mature business with dominant players by executing an innovative new... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Disruptive Innovation; Service Delivery; Internet; Information Technology Industry

16 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 16

paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-043.pdf Walking Through Jelly: Language Proficiency, Emotions, and Disrupted Collaboration in Global Work Authors:Tsedal Beyene, Pamela J. Hinds, and Catherine Durnell Cramton Abstract In an... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

The Secret of How Microsoft Stays on Top

Knowledge editor, Sean Silverthorne, Iansiti and MacCormack discuss their findings.Silverthorne: Although many large companies have been swamped by so-called disruptive technologies, Microsoft has remained at the top of its game for more... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

08 Aug 2016
News

Harvard B-School’s New Online Finance Course

Blog

Understanding the Benefits of Our Virtual Programs

protocol, and dig into the footnotes. DO NOT search online for what happened. Honor the discussion framed in the case. Nina Olle (NO): As long as the technology is reliable and the virtual classroom properly facilitated, a virtual... View Details

November 2000 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Bush Boake Allen

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Bush Boake Allen, a flavor and fragrance firm, is considering strategic options that would integrate customers into its innovation process via a potentially disruptive Internet-based technology. As this approach could result in dramatic changes to the firm's business... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Management Teams; Product Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Conflict Management; Internet; Chemical Industry

21 Nov 2014
Working Paper Summaries

The Decoupling Effect of Digital Disruptors

Keywords: by Thales S. Teixeira & Peter Jamieson

Marco Iansiti

Marco Iansiti, David Sarnoff Professor of Business Administration,is a codirector of the Laboratory for Information Science at Harvard and of the Digital Initiative at HBS.

Prof. Iansiti's research examines the digital transformation of companies and... View Details

Keywords: high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology

June 2015 (Revised May 2017)
Case

LOYAL3: Own What You Love™

By: Luis M. Viceira and Allison M. Ciechanover

This case features San Francisco–based financial technology startup, LOYAL3. Founded in 2008, the company seeks to disrupt the capital markets and democratize access to those markets for retail investors. By the fall of 2014, LOYAL3 had three products. In the first,... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Stocks; Strategic Planning

July–August 2016
Article

The Decoupling Effect of Digital Disruptors

By: Thales S. Teixeira and Peter Jamieson

A new wave of Internet startups is disrupting established businesses by the process of “decoupling.” In this article, the authors discuss how these new digital disruptors allow consumers to benefit from one activity (e.g., watching shows) without incurring the cost of... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Internet and the Web; Business Startups; Product Marketing; Customization and Personalization

Register to Read

Lynda M. Applegate is a Baker Foundation Professor at HBS and is Chair of the Advisory Committee for Harvard University’s Masters Degree of Liberal Arts in Finance and Management at the Harvard University Extension School. She has also played a... View Details

05 Aug 2015
What Do You Think?

What Happened to the ‘Innovation, Disruption, Technology’ Dividend?

technology is being diverted to the creation of more variations on basic ideas faster instead of “an economy based on new products/platforms/ideas.” Donald Shaw cited “problems in finding qualified people to hire.” He also said that,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology; Technology

February 2018
Case

Redfin

By: Marco Di Maggio and Julia Kelley

Redfin, a technology-powered residential real estate brokerage, was founded in 2002 with the intention of using technology to disrupt the real estate industry. Over the next 15 years, Redfin made several changes to its business model. Initially, the company provided... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Strategy; Decision Making; Real Estate Industry