Publications

January 2025
Supplement

Go Mobile: Aligning District Managers and Store Teams (B)

By: Tatiana Sandino and Samuel Grad

In January 2025, Modi reflects on the past decade of Go Mobile and looks ahead to new growth strategies. View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth Management; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Salesforce Management; Motivation and Incentives; Management Practices and Processes; Telecommunications Industry; India

November 2024
Case

Helium: Crowdsourcing a National Telecom Network

By: Jorge Tamayo and Mahesh Ramakrishnan

In 2024, Helium is running a pilot to test pricing models for their innovative crowdsourcing approach to building out a national telecom network. View Details

Keywords: Networks; Price; Telecommunications Industry; United States

January 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Private 5G Networks

By: Andy Wu and Maggie Yang

In the late 2010’s, 5G emerged as a new standard in communication technology. 5G was designed to enable ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), massive machine-type communication (MMTC), and enhanced mobile broadband (EMBB) (see Exhibit 1 for a detailed... View Details

Keywords: 5G; Communication Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Telecommunications Industry

March 1984 (Revised June 1998)
Case

MCI Communications Corp.--1983

MCI Communications Corp. is faced with a large need for external financing to support rapid growth and substantial uncertainty due to the AT&T antitrust settlement. The case illustrates the value of convertible debt as a financing instrument in these circumstances. View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Emerging Markets; Financing and Loans; Telecommunications Industry; United States

2020
Working Paper

Automation and the Plight of Young Workers: Evidence from the Automation of Telephone Operation in the Early 20th Century

By: Daniel P. Gross and James J. Feigenbaum

Telephone operation was one of the most common jobs for young American women in the early 1900s. Between 1920 and 1940, AT&T adopted dial service in over half of U.S. telephone exchanges, automating away a legion of operators. We show that upon a city's adoption of... View Details

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

April 2019 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Clear Link Technologies, LLC: Driving Sales with Peer Effects

By: Christopher Stanton, Richard Saouma and Olivia Hull

The importance of a good peer or coworker is widely discussed, but understanding the glue that makes coworkers valuable is less understood. This case sheds light on the importance of peers and the practices and environments that make a group greater than the sum of its... View Details

October 2017
Supplement

Maggie Wilderotter: The Evolution of an Executive: Video Supplement

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott and Robin Abrahams

In a career that spanned over 30 years, Maggie Wilderotter served as CEO of two publicly traded companies and served on 32 corporate and nine association and non-profit boards of directors. The case looks at the progression of Wilderotter’s career; the decisions she... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Managing People; Networks; Strategy And Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Personal Characteristics; Leadership Style; Social and Collaborative Networks; Gender; Power and Influence; Telecommunications Industry; United States

September 1997 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Adelphia Communications Corporation

By: Paul M. Healy

A bank officer must make a loan application decision for a large but financially troubled cable broadcaster. View Details

Keywords: Financial Condition; Financing and Loans; Decision Choices and Conditions; Contracts; Telecommunications Industry

May 1997 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Prestige Telephone Company

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

An independent regulated telephone company has established a computer services subsidiary that seems to remain unprofitable. Managers must determine whether it is profitable or not and consider changes in pricing or promotion that might improve profitability. A... View Details

Keywords: Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Profit; Cost vs Benefits; Business Subsidiaries; Telecommunications Industry

January 2015
Supplement

Chorus and Telecom: Building the Boards. An Interview with Sarah Naudé and Matt Stanley

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2011, Telecom, the largest telecom provider in New Zealand, was being divided into two publicly traded companies. In connection with this split, Sarah Naudé and Matt Stanley worked with the chairman of Telecom, Wayne Boyd, to create two new boards of directors for... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Women's Empowerment; Governance; Leadership; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Structure; Decision Making; Human Resources; Diversity; Telecommunications Industry; New Zealand

October 2014 (Revised July 2015)
Case

Indus Towers: From Infancy to Maturity

By: Ranjay Gulati, Maxim Sytch and Rachna Tahilyani

Indus Towers, the world's largest telecom tower company, is a joint venture between three telecom rivals in India. These rivals—Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, and Idea Cellular—combined their telecom towers to provide "shared telecom infrastructure" to wireless telecom... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Judgments; Customer Focus and Relationships; Management; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Information Infrastructure; Telecommunications Industry; India

February 2014 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Go Mobile: Aligning District Managers and Store Teams

By: Tatiana Sandino

Indian cell phone retailer Go Mobile had implemented high-powered incentives to motivate its store employees to behave as owners and provide exceptional service. As the company scaled up, it faced multiple challenges in building a layer of district managers that were... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth Management; Organizational Design; Salesforce Management; Motivation and Incentives; Management Practices and Processes; Telecommunications Industry; India

November 2013
Supplement

Arch Wireless, Inc. (B): Food for Vultures

By: Stuart C. Gilson

In 2002, a hedge fund investor acquires the distressed bank debt of a bankrupt wireless paging company and converts his holding into common stock of the reorganized entity. Determining his likely return from this investment is challenging, given that the entire... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy Reorganization; Distress Investing; Capital Structure; Restructuring; Investment Funds; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Borrowing and Debt; Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry

October 2013 (Revised May 2014)
Supplement

The TELUS Share Conversion Proposal, Spreadsheet Supplement

By: Lucy White and Benjamin C. Esty

A proxy battle between a Canadian firm and a US hedge fund over a proposal to unify the firm's dual class share structure. View Details

Keywords: Stock Shares; Capital Structure; Investment Funds; Telecommunications Industry; Canada; United States

2016
Working Paper

The Impact of Patent Wars on Firm Strategy: Evidence from the Global Smartphone Market

By: Feng Zhu

Strategy scholars have documented in various empirical settings that firms seek and leverage stronger institutions to mitigate hazards and gain competitive advantage. In this paper, we argue that such “institution-seeking” behavior may not be confined to the pursuit of... View Details

Keywords: Patent Wars; Patent Litigation; Intellectual Property (IP) Enforcement; Institutions; Smartphone; Patent Thicket; Digital Platforms; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business Strategy; Telecommunications Industry

August 2013
Case

Atento: Managing the Employee Lifecycle in Brazil

By: F. Asis Martinez-Jerez, Pablo Casas-Arce, Christopher D. Ittner and Joshua Petersel

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Telecommunications Industry; Brazil

December 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Supplement

Qualcomm Incorporated 2011 Update

By: David B. Yoffie

Qualcomm in 2009 and 2010 experienced both the worst of times and the best of times. During the "great recession" of 2009, smartphones growth stalled, stalling Qualcomm's revenue, but in 2010 growth surged again, and was predicted to continue its upward trajectory in... View Details

Keywords: Television Entertainment; Growth and Development Strategy; Opportunities; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry

January 2010 (Revised May 2011)
Teaching Note

Qualcomm Incorporated 2009 and Qualcomm Incorporated 2011 Update (TN)

By: David B. Yoffie

Teaching Note for 710433. View Details

Keywords: Telecommunications Industry

August 2009
Case

SK Telecom: Pursuing Happiness through Corporate Social Responsibility

By: Christopher Marquis, Kwang Y. Ryu, Philip H. Mirvis and Bobbi Thomason

Since 2006, SK Telecom has worked to develop strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs that are aligned with its business operations and corporate mission. The case tracks the original assessment process the company went through and successive... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Corporate Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; South Korea