Publications

September 2006 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Medtronic Vision 2010

By: Lynda M. Applegate

Describes the company's year-long efforts to transition from a medical device company selling products to physicians for use with patients suffering chronic end-stage disease, to a medical technology company providing life-long solutions for people with chronic... View Details

Keywords: Business Plan; Transition; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Financial Management; Financing and Loans; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Strategic Planning; Health Industry

2011
Working Paper

Platform Competition under Asymmetric Information

In the context of platform competition in a two-sided market, we study how ex-ante uncertainty and ex-post asymmetric information concerning the value of a new technology affects the strategies of the platforms and the market outcome. We find that the incumbent... View Details

Keywords: Information; Technological Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Two-Sided Platforms; Outcome or Result; Performance Efficiency; Risk and Uncertainty; Competitive Strategy

Read Now

June 2000 (Revised June 2000)
Case

Microsoft Office 2000

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Kerry Herman

Describes the history of Microsoft's Office product suite. Discusses evolution of the Office 2000 project. Set at the end of the project when Steven Sinofsky, Office vice president, must decide upon the direction for the next version of Office, as well as make changes... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Product Development; Risk and Uncertainty; Change; Innovation and Management; Information Technology Industry

March 2024
Case

Biomanufacturing Decentralization by Stämm

By: Paul A. Gompers, Jenyfeer Martínez Buitrago and Mariana Cal

In Buenos Aires, Argentina, cousins Llamazares and D’Alvia founded Stämm, a startup based on the idea of decentralizing biomanufacturing processes and downsizing biotech facilities. After raising its seed and series A rounds, and while finalizing its series B round in... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Selection and Staffing; Technological Innovation; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Launch; Research and Development; Biotechnology Industry; Latin America; South America; Argentina; Buenos Aires

February 2009
Teaching Note

Pitney Bowes: Employer Health Strategy (TN)

By: Michael E. Porter and Jennifer F Baron

Teaching Note for 709458. View Details

Keywords: Health; Employees; Cost; Policy; Situation or Environment; Innovation and Invention; Contracts; Programs; Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Service Industry; United States

March 2011
Teaching Note

InnoCentive.com (A) (TN)

By: Karim R. Lakhani

Teaching Note for 608170. View Details

Keywords: Research and Development; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; System; Open Source Distribution; Competition; Web Services Industry

January 2024
Teaching Note

Frank Cornelissen: The Great Sulfite Debate (A) & (B)

By: Tiona Zuzul

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 724-391 and 724-398. In 2018, artisanal Italian vineyard Frank Cornelissen was one of the world’s leading natural wine vineyards. Its founder, Frank Cornelissen, faced weather related conditions that forced him to have to decide between... View Details

November 2000
Case

FireDrop

By: William A. Sahlman and Michael J. Roberts

Describes the evolution of FireDrop, a new venture-backed company that has developed a new platform for e-mail communication. The FireDrop application--called a Zaplet--allows for e-mails to be continually updated so they are current when read (rather than when sent).... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Internet and the Web; Communication Technology; Venture Capital; Technological Innovation; Information Technology Industry

December 1981 (Revised October 1985)
Case

Computer Retailing at Macy's California

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Marketing; Retail Industry; California

Find at Harvard

25 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 25

expiration, and forum shopping. We find, moreover, that NPE litigation has a real negative impact on innovation at targeted firms: firms substantially reduce their innovative... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 16, 2008

is therefore more likely to succeed, they will be more willing to commit resources to the firm. In this way, success breeds success and strengthens performance persistence. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-028.pdf... View Details

06 Jan 2012
Op-Ed

Where Green Corporate Ratings Fail

News Corporation—a multinational media conglomerate that includes BSKYB, Dow Jones, Fox News, 20th Century Fox and Star, among other units—announced earlier this year that it has become climate neutral, meaning that its operations have no net impact on global climate... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Toffel & Auden Schendler; Information; Publishing

15 Nov 2016
First Look

November 15, 2016

protection affects innovation in China in the years around the privatizations of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Innovation increases after SOE privatizations, and this... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 5

"reliability" and increase "relevance," partly due to their tendency to propose fair-value methods. We find opposite results for FASB members affiliated with the Democratic Party, although only when excluding a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 6

U.S. corporations, which enjoy ready access to the deepest capital markets in the world. Venture capital, for example, and the public equity markets that support it, has channeled money to innovative ideas... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2010
Teaching Note

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (TN)

By: C. Fritz Foley and Matthew Johnson

Teaching Note for 211032. View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Financing and Loans; Sales; Problems and Challenges; Credit; Markets; Innovation and Invention; Organizational Structure; Value; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States; United Arab Emirates

21 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

7 Successful Battle Strategies to Beat COVID-19

Drawing on lessons from the battlefield is common practice for business leaders seeking tested strategies to succeed against adversity. Today, the battle against COVID-19, an invisible enemy, feels to many observers like a military engagement. Readers familiar with... View Details

Keywords: by Euvin Naidoo

October 2001 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Bluefin Robotics

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron

Concentrates on the consequences of the choice of corporate partners on the growth alternatives available to a new company, in a new industry, based on a new technology. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Partners and Partnerships; Markets; Growth and Development Strategy; Technological Innovation