Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(3,831)
- Faculty Publications (529)
- August 2012 (Revised August 2013)
- Background Note
Competency-Destroying Technology Transitions: Why the Transition to Digital Is Particularly Challenging
By: Willy Shih
Some technology transitions are exceedingly difficult for incumbent firms to execute. The bankruptcy filing by the Eastman Kodak Company highlighted the difficulty companies faced when their core business transitioned from an analog to a digital world. Kodak's business... View Details
Keywords: Technology Transitions; Competency-destroying; Digital; Analog; Digital Transition; Modular; Modularity; Technological Change; Radical Innovation; Incremental Innovation; Architectural Innovation; Modular Innovation; Sustaining Innovation; Competency-enhancing; Noise Propagation; Perfect Copying; Digital Music; Digital Media; Consumer Electronics; Kodak; Sony; Panasonic; Disruptive Innovation; Technology Adoption; Transition; Change Management; Consumer Products Industry; United States
- 2012
- Working Paper
Level II Negotiations: Helping the Other Side Meet Its 'Behind the Table' Challenges
A long analytic tradition explores the challenge of productively synchronizing "internal" with "external" negotiations, especially focusing on how each side can best manage internal opposition to agreements negotiated "at the table." Implicit in much of this work is... View Details
- July 2012 (Revised April 2014)
- Case
Research In Motion: The Mobile OS Platform War
By: Alan MacCormack, Brian Dunn and Chris F. Kemerer
The case describes competition in the market for smart phones in the US, and the position of one player, Research In Motion (RIM) who manufacture the popular Blackberry line of products. Early in 2011, RIM is in trouble. Its stock price has plummeted, amidst poor... View Details
Keywords: Innovation; Product Development; Technology Strategy; Platform Strategy; Software; Hardware; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Digital Platforms; Applications and Software; Telecommunications Industry; Technology Industry; Canada; United States
- July 2012
- Case
Performance Management at Vitality Health Enterprises, Inc.
By: John Bingham and Michael Beer
Vitality Health Enterprises, a medium-sized firm that manufactures health and personal care products, has experienced six straight quarters of strong revenue growth. James Hoffman, the new Senior Vice President of Human Resources, fears that the chain of success is... View Details
- July–September 2012
- Article
The (Un)Hidden Turmoil of Language in Global Collaboration
By: Tsedal Neeley, Pamela J. Hinds and Catherine D. Cramton
Companies are increasingly relying on a lingua franca, or common language (usually English), to facilitate cross-border collaboration. Despite the numerous benefits of a lingua franca, our research reveals myriad challenges that disrupt collaboration and contribute to... View Details
- June 2012
- Article
The Transparency Paradox: A Role for Privacy in Organizational Learning and Operational Control
Using data from embedded participant-observers and a field experiment at the second largest mobile phone factory in the world, located in China, I theorize and test the implications of transparent organizational design on workers' productivity and organizational... View Details
Keywords: Transparency; Privacy; Organizational Learning; Operational Control; Organizational Performance; Chinese Manufacturing; Field Experiment; Rights; Interpersonal Communication; Management Practices and Processes; Ethics; Corporate Disclosure; Performance Productivity; Boundaries; Organizations; Social and Collaborative Networks; Labor and Management Relations; Power and Influence; Manufacturing Industry; China
- April 2012
- Case
Bella Healthcare India
By: Dorothy Leonard and Sunru Yong
Bella Healthcare India was originally established in Bangalore as a low-cost manufacturing facility for a U.S.-based cardiology equipment developer. Under country manager Joseph Cherian it evolved considerably, developing its own research and development capabilities.... View Details
Keywords: India; Productivity; Organizational Development; International Business; R＆D; Cross-cultural Relations; Medical Equipment ＆ Devices; Joint Ventures; Medical Specialties; Research and Development; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Care and Treatment; Product Launch; Failure; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Bangalore
- March 2012
- Article
Fixing What's Wrong with U. S. Politics
By: David A. Moss
In America today there's a growing sense that the political system is broken and that its ineffectiveness is a major threat to U.S. competitiveness. Why do so many think the political system is not working? Research shows that in Congress, Republicans and Democrats are... View Details
- January 2012
- Article
How Leaders Kill Meaning at Work
By: Teresa Amabile and Steven J. Kramer
Senior executives routinely undermine creativity, productivity, and commitment by damaging the inner work lives of their employees in four avoidable ways. This article is based on analysis of hundreds of work diaries from professionals describing everyday events that... View Details
- November 2011 (Revised August 2012)
- Background Note
Customer Discovery and Validation for Entrepreneurs
By: Frank V. Cespedes, Thomas Eisenmann and Steven G. Blank
Provides practical guidelines for conducting market research to explore and validate demand for entrepreneurial offering. Explains how the research objectives of entrepreneurs might differ from those relevant to managers evaluating product or service offerings to... View Details
- September 2011
- Teaching Note
Tengion: Bringing Regenerative Medicine to Life (TN)
By: Elie Ofek and Natalie Kindred
Teaching Note for 510031. View Details
- September 2011 (Revised July 2012)
- Case
Building Watson: Not So Elementary, My Dear!
By: Willy Shih
This case is set inside IBM Research's efforts to build a computer that can successfully take on human challengers playing the game show Jeopardy! It opens with the machine named Watson offering the incorrect answer "Toronto" to a seemingly simple question during the... View Details
- July 2011 (Revised January 2013)
- Case
Digital Microscopy Is Making Me Crazy!
By: Willy Shih
For Carl Zeiss Microimaging, modular hardware and software enabled customers to tailor Zeiss's broad range of microscopy systems hardware and software to meet a wide range of needs from basic scientific research in the biological and medical sciences to clinical... View Details
- July – August 2011
- Article
The Paradox of Samsung's Rise
By: Tarun Khanna, Jaeyong Song and Kyungmook Lee
Twenty years ago, few people would have predicted that Samsung could transform itself from a low-cost original equipment manufacturer to a world leader in R&D, marketing, and design, with a brand more valuable than Pepsi, Nike, or American Express. Fewer still would... View Details
- June 2011 (Revised July 2012)
- Case
Reversing the AMD Fusion Launch
By: Elie Ofek and Ryan Johnson
AMD management needs to make a critical decision on the launch sequence of its next-generation technology called Fusion. The Fusion processor concept merges the central and graphics processing units (CPU and GPU) onto one chip-- yielding advantages in performance... View Details
- June 2011 (Revised October 2012)
- Case
IBM China Development Lab Shanghai: Capability by Design
By: Willy Shih, Kamen Bliznashki and Fan Zhao
When IBM shifted from a traditional territory-based multinational organization to what it called a globally integrated enterprise, it established its headquarters for "Growth Markets" in Shanghai and "Established Markets" in New York. This positioned its China... View Details
- June 2011
- Case
Reed Supermarkets: A New Wave of Competitors
By: John A. Quelch and Carole Carlson
Reed Supermarkets is a high-end supermarket chain with operations in several Midwestern states. Meredith Collins, vice president of marketing, visits stores located in Columbus, Ohio, an important region with the largest market and the greatest impact on revenue... View Details
- May 2011
- Teaching Note
Baria Planning Solutions, Inc.: Fixing the Sales Process (Brief Case)
By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt
Teaching Note for 4568. View Details
- May 2011
- Teaching Note
The Morrison Company (Brief Case)
By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Paul Meyers
Teaching Note for 4564. View Details
- May 2011
- Article
The Best Way to Name Your Product 2.0
By: Marco Bertini, John Gourville and Elie Ofek
Although there's ample research to guide marketers in naming new products, little of it has addressed follow-on offerings, even though these make up the bulk of new products in many industries. Companies have two basic strategies to choose from. They can stick with a... View Details