Publications

March 2000
Exercise

Developing Products on Internet Time: A Process Design Exercise

By: Stefan H. Thomke

This team exercise allows students to experience some of the dynamics of developing products in the fast-paced Internet environment and was inspired by the browser war between Netscape and Microsoft. Designed to be taught in a single class session, the exercise... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Internet and the Web; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Design; Decisions; Management Practices and Processes; Integration; Organizations; Competition

December 1999
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A2): Network Visions: Mike Clary on the Product that Hid in HR

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

Chief scientist Bill Joy of Sun Microsystems, Inc. had a vision for a new product called "Jini": a network computing piece of infrastructure that would reinforce Sun's leadership role in the industry for helping define how the Internet and networking technology... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Media; Product Development; Communication; Innovation and Management; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

30 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Commuting Hurts Productivity and Your Best Talent Suffers Most

School Assistant Professor of Business Administration Andy Wu to conduct a study that asked: Does the daily commute affect innovation and productivity for tens of millions of workers? And if so, what are the implications for companies... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

January 2014 (Revised May 2015)
Case

Open English

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Lisa Mazzanti

Open English, a Miami-based startup offering online English language learning services, had more than 30,000 active students across Latin America in 2012. The company had just closed a $43 million financing round in order to rapidly scale its service to the next level.... View Details

Keywords: Technology Strategy; Product Management; Startup; Online Learning; Digital Platforms; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Technology Industry; Miami; Venezuela

27 Sep 2019
Blog Post

Learning the Language of Product at Duolingo

her back in Germany. My efforts paid off - she and I were married this past June in the Bavarian alps. When Duolingo visited campus last October, I figured this could be a good opportunity to get Product Manager (PM) experience (which I... View Details

Keywords: Technology

21 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Are Crummy Products Your Next Growth Opportunity?

How's this for a mission statement: We make crummy products for non-consumers. But if you think that's the idea for an "F" paper in business school, you haven't been paying attention to success stories ranging from Henry Ford's... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Research Summary

Information Technology and Vertical Integration: Evidence from Plant-level Data (with Chris Forman)

We study the relationship between different margins of information technology (IT) use and vertical integration using plant-level data from the U.S. Census of Manufactures. Focusing on the short-run decision of whether to allocate production output to downstream plants... View Details

03 Apr 2018
News

Practice Makes Perfect: Why Chinese Manufacturers Have A Production Advantage

06 Feb 2019
Blog Post

7 Tips for a Successful Technology Venture Immersion

at high-growth companies. The Technology Venture Immersion (TVI) course is co-taught by SEAS and HBS faculty and modeled after HBS’s Startup Bootcamp program, where students are asked to “learn by doing.” During the two-week intensive... View Details

2014
Working Paper

Cleaning House: The Impact of Information Technology on Employee Corruption and Performance

By: Lamar Pierce, Daniel Snow and Andrew McAfee

This paper examines how firm investments in technology-based employee monitoring impact both misconduct and productivity. We use unique and detailed theft and sales data from 392 restaurant locations from five firms that adopt a theft monitoring information technology... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Information Technology; Ethics; Performance Productivity; Employees

SSRN

1997
Book

The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail

By: Clayton M. Christensen

His work is cited by the world's best known thought leaders, from Steve Jobs to Malcolm Gladwell. In this classic bestseller, innovation expert Clayton M. Christensen shows how even the most outstanding companies can do everything right—yet still lose market... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Leadership

Find at Harvard

August 1995
Case

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.: IT Organization and Architecture Challenges

By: Richard L. Nolan

Presents the outcome of Air Products ICON decentralization projects. New issues are explored, including the challenges of having a decentralized MIS staff, global network, client/server architecture, new data center issues, outsourcing, a new highly strategic customer... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Organizational Design; Problems and Challenges

31 Jul 2018
Working Paper Summaries

How Does Product Liability Risk Affect Innovation? Evidence from Medical Implants

Keywords: by Alberto Galasso and Hong Luo

Web

The Reinvention of Kodak | Information Technology

Featured Case The Reinvention of Kodak The Kodak multimedia case highlights the company's reinvention efforts by its leadership to navigate near bankruptcy and industry disruption from new technology. It explores the resurgence of older technologies, examining if a... View Details

27 Jun 2024
News

Gen AI Marketing: How Some 'Gibberish' Code Can Give Products an Edge

February 1996 (Revised May 2002)
Teaching Note

Xerox: Outsourcing Global Information Technology Resources TN

By: F. Warren McFarlan

Teaching Note for (9-195-158). View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Information Technology; Global Range; Resource Allocation; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

March 1991
Article

Requirements for Successful Implementation of New Manufacturing Technologies

By: R. H. Hayes and R. Jaikumar

Keywords: Success; Information Technology; Production