Publications

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12 Mar 2024
HBS Case

How Used Products Can Unlock New Markets: Lessons from Apple's Refurbished iPhones

Some of Apple’s most loyal customers think nothing of upgrading to the latest iPhone every time one comes out. But what about consumers who can’t splurge on a $1,000 iPhone 15 Pro? And what about the electronic waste that would accrue if people threw away functional... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Electronics; Information Technology

September 2017
Case

Sensing (and Monetizing) Happiness at Hitachi

By: Ethan Bernstein and Stephanie Marton

Inspired by research linking happiness and productivity, Hitachi had invested in developing new “people analytics” technologies to help companies increase employee happiness. Hitachi had begun manufacturing high-tech badges that quantify a wearer’s activity patterns.... View Details

Keywords: People Analytics; Japan; Sociometers; Wearables; Interpersonal Communication; Human Resources; Happiness; Technology Industry; Japan

05 Jul 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Designing an Agile Software Portfolio Architecture: The Impact of Coupling on Performance

Keywords: by Alan MacCormack, Robert Lagerström, Martin Mocker, and Carliss Y. Baldwin; Tourism

May 2008
Background Note

The Producing Manager: A Double-Barreled Role

By: John J. Gabarro and Thomas J. DeLong

The purpose of this note is to ground and amplify on the characteristics and challenges of the producing manager role. It is in response to requests from participants for a piece of "take away" material that can be shared with colleagues in professional service firms... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Production; Service Operations; Practice

December 2007
Case

Cinergy and Duke Energy 2005: Think BIG

By: Boris Groysberg, Nitin Nohria, Colleen Kaftan and Geoff Eckman Marietta

Jim Rogers, CEO of Cinergy Energy, has just announced the company's merger with Duke Energy to Employees. Rogers has had success in the past leading his firm though a merger, but will he be able to achieve similar results this time around? This case also illustrates... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Leading Change; Integration; Energy Industry

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March 2003
Case

Compaq's Struggle

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and David Lane

In 1997, Compaq Computer was locked in price competition with industry leader Dell. Although Compaq sought to escape difficulty by acquiring Digital Equipment Corp. ,a maker of more lucrative servers and minicomputers, in 1998 the simultaneous effort to remain a... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Exit or Shutdown; Asset Pricing; Alliances; Competitive Strategy; Computer Industry

20 May 2015
News

Are You Solving The Right Business Problem? Here Are 5 Ways To Get To Your Question Zero

20 Dec 2013
News

Learning a lesson from venture capital

08 Nov 2017
News

China's Tencent buys about 12% of Snapchat maker Snap

Launching Technology Ventures

Launching Technology Ventures (LTV) is an MBA elective designed for students who will join startups, launch their own companies, or work in established firms launching information technology products, in particular, new... View Details

03 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Why a Failed Startup Might Be Good for Your Career After All

In August, mega venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz announced a $350 million investment in residential real estate company Flow—the single largest investment the VC titan had ever made. But a bigger surprise than the investment... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

31 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 31

Voids Authors:Tarun Khanna and Krishna G. Palepu Publication:The World Financial Review (May-June 2011) An abstract is unavailable at this time. Read the paper: http://www.worldfinancialreview.com/?p=483 Working PapersThe Institutional Logic of Great Global View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

South Asia - Global

the Lakshmi Mittal Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University. The session explored AI's potentially transformative effects on the workforce and emphasized the importance of strategic, evidence-based reskilling initiatives for View Details

October 2023
Case

Kevin O'Leary: Building a Brand in Shark-infested Waters

By: Reza Satchu and Patrick Sanguineti

For more than fifteen years, successful Canadian entrepreneur and investor Kevin O’Leary had developed his brand into a global powerhouse. Since his first appearance on the Canadian television program Dragons’ Den in 2006 and his meteoric rise to stardom through the... View Details

Keywords: Personal Brand; Crisis; Brands and Branding; Entrepreneurship; Crisis Management; Social Media; Public Opinion; Power and Influence; Financial Services Industry

November 2022 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Replika AI: Monetizing a Chatbot

By: Julian De Freitas and Nicole Tempest Keller

In early 2018, Eugenia Kuyda, co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based chatbot Replika AI, was deciding how to monetize the app she had built. Launched in 2017, Replika was a consumer AI “companion app” developed by a team of AI software engineers originally based in... View Details

Keywords: Mental Health; Subscriber Models; TAM; Monetization Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Product Positioning; Health Disorders; Technology Industry

TeachingInterests

Strategy and Technology

By: Andy Wu

The Strategy and Technology elective course explores the unique aspects of creating effective strategies for technology-intensive businesses.

What strategies win in markets with network effects?
How can technology be... View Details

February 2018
Article

Retention Futility: Targeting High-Risk Customers Might Be Ineffective.

By: Eva Ascarza

Companies in a variety of sectors are increasingly managing customer churn proactively, generally by detecting customers at the highest risk of churning and targeting retention efforts towards them. While there is a vast literature on developing churn prediction models... View Details

Keywords: Retention/churn; Proactive Churn Management; Field Experiments; Heterogeneous Treatment Effect; Machine Learning; Customer Relationship Management; Risk Management

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2015
Discussion Paper

The Roles of Import Competition and Export Opportunities for Technical Change

By: Claudia Steinwender

A variety of empirical and theoretical trade papers have suggested and documented a positive impact of trade on the productivity of firms. However, there is less consensus about the underlying mechanism at work. While trade papers focus on access to export markets,... View Details

Keywords: Performance Productivity; Trade

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September 2013
Exercise

An Exercise in Designing a Travel Coffee Mug

By: Elie Ofek and Michael Norris

In recent years design has emerged as a critical factor in the success of many new products. This case exercise provides a hands-on way to experience the design process and offers a structured approach for incorporating key considerations that can aid in effective... View Details

Keywords: New Product Development; Innovation; Market Research; Competitive Positioning; Design; Product Development; Consumer Products Industry