Publications

December 2001
Case

Cisco China

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Guoqing Chen and David Kiron

Designed to show how Cisco has taken its U.S.-based infrastructure and applied it to China. It is stunning in its impact as one notes how so much of what is being done in the United States in terms of the intranet has been transferred to China. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry; China; United States

February 1997 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Vermeer Technologies (A): A Company Is Born

By: Ashish Nanda

Charles Ferguson has just heard from a venture capital (VC) consortium that it is willing to finance Vermeer Technologies, a company he has cofounded for developing Internet software. The funds are sorely needed, but the VCs have imposed some onerous conditions,... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Selection and Staffing; Applications and Software; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology Industry

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; Computer Industry

Find at Harvard

01 Sep 2003
News

Patrick Moreton

was its reasoning? It argued that the marketplace has changed because new technologies — such as cable, the Internet, and satellite TV — facilitate new and diverse sources of information and content. The competition they provide, the FCC... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Information; Information

March 2017 (Revised February 2018)
Case

VMware and the Public Cloud

By: Raffaella Sadun and Christine Snively

In 2015, VMware, a pioneer in server and network virtualization and a member of parent company EMC’s “federation” of companies, had set its sights on becoming a leading public cloud provider. Two years prior, VMware first entered the public cloud market with its vCloud... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Computer Industry; Computer Industry; Computer Industry

August 2003 (Revised September 2003)
Case

Tower Software

Tower Software (TS) is a publicly traded corporation engaged in multiple facets of the computer software business. Its flagship product, TS SERVE, is a successful proprietary network operating system. TS also develops and sells applications software for word... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Product Launch; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry

Find at Harvard

01 Jun 2014
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for June 2014

care industry to give customers more choices, freedom, power, and information, and at far lower prices. He recommends disruption of the status quo through new business models, new payment models, and new technologies that give patients... View Details

01 Feb 1998
News

HBS Alumni Association Board of Directors: President's Report

very hard...inside! As you may recall from my letter in the October issue of the Bulletin, this year the Board is tackling three important areas of concern to alumni: global alumni issues, information technology, and alumni career... View Details

01 Oct 1997
News

After 27 Years at HBS, Shapiro Shifts Professional Focus

Shapiro taught a wide variety of MBA courses, among them Industrial Marketing, Sales Management, Creative Marketing Strategy, and Integrated Product Line Management. He also taught in many Executive Education programs and held various... View Details

April 1996 (Revised May 1997)
Case

Netscape's Initial Public Offering

By: W. Carl Kester and Kendall Backstrand

In August 1995, Netscape's board of directors was confronted with a decision about what price to offer the company's shares in its initial public offering (IPO). Preliminary demand for shares was high, but the company had not generated any positive earnings at the time... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Information Technology; Problems and Challenges; Valuation; Governing and Advisory Boards; Information Technology Industry

June 2004 (Revised November 2004)
Case

Microsoft in 2004

By: Michael G. Rukstad, David B. Yoffie, Brian DeLacey and Deborah Freier

Surveys Microsoft's expansion into new businesses, such as mobile and embedded devices, home and entertainment, and business solutions, as it faces challenges due to size and maturity and outside threats from Linux and Google. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Applications and Software; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Washington (state, US)

01 Jun 2005
News

School’s Entrepreneurial Spirit Runs Deep

Contrary to popular perception, Harvard Business School isn’t just a training ground for future Fortune 500 CEOs, says author Jeffrey L. Cruikshank (PMD 51, 1986). Just as important, it’s a launching pad for thousands of graduates who bypass the corporate track to take... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Shaping the Waves; A History of Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Publishing Industries (except Internet)

24 Apr 2014
News

Training managers in the developing world

Through the Southern African Development Community Business School Network he established with the University of Botswana and the University of Pretoria, Richard America (MBA 1965) is on a mission to help train first-rate managers in the developing world. The network,... View Details

Person Page

Media

This lists media reports covering my firm dollarDEX Investments or me (or my colleagues), or columns written by me (or my colleagues). There are all... View Details

01 Dec 2013
News

More Newsmakers

Each week, the new Alumni website features stories about HBS alumni, in addition to those that appear in the Bulletin. Recent alumni profiled include Tope Lawani (MBA 1995/JD 1996), Carter Roberts (MBA 1988), Will Rogers (MBA 1985), and Fran Seegull (MBA 1998). For... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Publishing Industries (except Internet)

November 2005 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Oracle vs. PeopleSoft (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Guhan Subramanian and David Millstone

Focuses on the hotly contested takeover battle between software rivals Oracle and PeopleSoft in 2003 and 2004. Raises novel issues of takeover law under Delaware corporate law as well as issues of fair competition under California law. A central issue is whether the... View Details

Keywords: Takeover; Fiduciary Duty; Mergers and Acquisitions; Applications and Software; Ethics; Law; Governing and Advisory Boards; Customer Focus and Relationships; Competition; Strategy; Information Technology Industry; United States