Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,321)
- Faculty Publications (307)
- May 1997 (Revised July 1997)
- Case
Vermeer Technologies (F): FrontPage 97
By: Ashish Nanda
Vermeer engineers work at the breakneck pace of "Internet time" to develop the next version of their software product, winning accolades from Microsoft management. Even before this version ships, however, they are faced with another punishing development schedule for... View Details
- 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
- December 1996 (Revised June 1998)
- Case
Midnight Networks, Inc.
By: H. Kent Bowen and Marilyn Matis
Midnight Networks, Inc., is a small computer network validation company. This case describes how the five founders built their business from operations earnings and how they established "best practices" operational processes to run their firm successfully. Operational... View Details
- November 1996 (Revised June 1999)
- Case
Living on Internet Time: Product Development at Netscape, Yahoo!, NetDynamics, and Microsoft
By: Marco Iansiti and Alan D. MacCormack
Describes how four companies in the Internet software market approach product development. Drawing upon short case studies of three recent projects, students are invited to synthesize the common attributes of development practice in turbulent environments. View Details
- September 1996 (Revised June 1998)
- Case
InterSoft of Argentina (B)
By: Linda A. Hill and Stacy Palestrant
Focuses on InterSoft of Argentina, a growing software company in Argentina. In 1993, InterSoft acquires a Russian software company and Emilo Lopez, the vice president and director of InterSoft's Systems Software Lab, must manage a creative, cross-cultural, "virtual"... View Details
- January 1996
- Case
Outrage in Cyberspace: CompuServe and the GIF Patent
By: Josh Lerner and Benjamin Conway
CompuServe, an online services vendor, informs its software developers that they must enter into a licensing agreement to use the popular GIF compression. CompuServe claims that it is forced to do so because Unisys is enforcing its patent rights in this area. Others... View Details
- April 1995 (Revised December 1997)
- Case
Silicon Graphics, Inc. (A)
By: Marco Iansiti and Ellen Stein
Based on a Silicon Valley company that has developed the capability to compete in a rapidly growing, highly turbulent environment. This capability hinges on its flexible and rapid development process, which the case characterizes in detail. Focuses on the development... View Details
- July 1994
- Case
Microsoft: Multimedia Publications (A)
By: Marco Iansiti and Ellen Stein
Microsoft Corp. has built a highly successful business around computer software (both applications and system software) using a particular organizational structure. Now that the company has chosen to enter the consumer market with a CD-ROM product, how should Microsoft... View Details
- July 1994 (Revised March 1995)
- Case
Microsoft: Multimedia Publications (B)
By: Marco Iansiti and Ellen Stein
Microsoft is about to release an apparently successful CD-ROM baseball product. The company is trying to determine what product(s) should be developed next, how it should organize itself, and what role it should play in the development of such products. View Details
- April 1993 (Revised July 1994)
- Case
MathSoft, Inc. (A)
MathSoft's VP of sales has doubled the size of the company's direct field sales force to support the launch of a new, high-end workstation software product priced at almost $9,000. However, sales of the new product are far below plan. At the same time, the VP of... View Details
- November 1992 (Revised December 1992)
- Case
Deere & Co. (A): The Computer Aided Manufacturing Services Division - A Window to the World (Abridged)
By: Robert H. Hayes
The Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) Services Division of John Deere has just received approval to sell their software and computer systems to external customers. These tools, initially developed for internal use, have been widely used throughout Deere. Still,... View Details
- June 1992 (Revised March 2006)
- Case
Concordia Casting Company
Describes five years of development in a centralized data processing activity serving a highly decentralized corporation. Data processing manager discovers that a major software system conversion is a full year behind schedule, and subsequently makes several managerial... View Details
- October 1991 (Revised June 1996)
- Case
Lotus MarketPlace: Households
By: Lynn S. Paine
Managers at Lotus and Equifax must decide what to do about their new jointly developed database and software product Lotus MarketPlace which has been criticized as a threat to individual privacy. The Product, which would allow small businesses to buy targeting mail... View Details
- November 1990 (Revised May 1994)
- Case
Microsoft Corp.: Office Business Unit
By: Marco Iansiti
Describes the development of a new word processing software package, Word for Windows. The major focus is how the development process should be improved to reduce schedule slips and cost overruns. Some of the issues raised are: the use of schedules in managing... View Details
- July 1990 (Revised August 1995)
- Case
Symantec--1982-90
By: Nitin Nohria
As Symantec grew from a small, upstart software development company to a major player in the software development industry, the channels of information flow and the internal communication needs of the company became more complex. The geographically-dispersed structure... View Details
- September 1989
- Case
Steve Shirley
By: Shoshana Zuboff
Traces the career development of a well-known British entrepreneur who, as a young girl, was forced to flee the Nazi's occupation of Central Europe. Details her early work experiences in the heavily male dominated workplace of post-war Britain and follows the... View Details
- December 1986 (Revised November 1989)
- Case
Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (A)
By: Benson P. Shapiro and Lawrence B. Levine
In late summer 1986, the management of the Manufacturing Productivity Division (MPD) of Hewlett-Packard (HP) was in the process of making major market selection and product policy decisions. MPD is a small division which develops and markets manufacturing productivity... View Details
- August 1986 (Revised June 1987)
- Case
Lotus Development Corporation: Entering International Markets
By: David B. Yoffie and John J. Coleman
Lotus 1-2-3 exploded on the American market in the spring of 1983. Nine months later Jim Manzi, vice president of marketing, hired Chuck Digate to develop an international strategy for Lotus. Case explores Lotus' rapid rise to the top of the software market in the... View Details
- January 1986 (Revised March 1997)
- Case
Horizon Group
Contains a description of a situation confronting the co-founder of a company planning to produce software for microcomputers. The company has just completed raising money from some wealthy investors by forming an R&D Limited Partnership. Development of the program (an... View Details
- May 1985 (Revised November 1990)
- Case
Spinnaker Software Corp.
Describes the problems faced by a company that has experienced remarkable growth, but growth which is below projections. The management must evaluate the company's position in the turbulent software industry. The two partners must then decide whether to cut back to... View Details