Publications

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February 2000 (Revised April 2000)
Case

Microsoft, 2000

By: Michael G. Rukstad, David B. Yoffie and Carl Johnston

Surveys five threats to the sustainability of Microsoft's strategy (imitation, substitution, hold-up, slack, and saturation) and examines Microsoft's response to these threats. Teaching purpose: To evaluate the sustainability of Microsoft's competitive advantage. View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry

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July 2008
Supplement

The Politics and Economics of Accounting for Goodwill at Cisco Systems (A) and (B) Teaching Note (CW)

By: Karthik Ramanna

Keywords: Goodwill Accounting; Information Technology; Teaching; Information; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

September 2018 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Sigfox: Building a Global IoT Network

By: Rajiv Lal, Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej and Emilie Billaud

In 2018, Ludovic Le Moan and Christophe Fourtet, co-founders of the French tech startup Sigfox, reflected on the evolution of their venture and the way forward. Founded in 2009, Sigfox was a company that provided a global connectivity network for devices connected to... View Details

Keywords: Internet Of Things; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Transition; Information Technology; Business Strategy; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; France; Europe

01 Feb 2001
News

Books

as by the innovative technology that makes them possible. Companies must learn to build and foster these relationship networks because they engender speedy and seamless interaction, encourage creativity and collaboration, and release the... View Details

Keywords: books; research; Information; Information

12 May 2003
Research & Ideas

How Hot is the “Hot Spot” Business?

be totally ubiquitous, part of the air you breathe," Dayton said. But he also acknowledged challenges for the technology to overcome. First, the hot spots that exist today are fragmented, nowhere near ubiquitous. Ease of use is an... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne & Martha Lagace; Technology; Technology; Technology

01 Sep 2009
News

E Ink’s Wild Ride

“Some decent-looking pixels and a really excellent vision.” That’s all it took for Russ Wilcox to fall for the technology that would become E Ink, a company supplying the electronic ink for a new world of digital reading devices. Now, as... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; e-books; e-reading; Information; Information; Information; Information

March 2006
Case

EMC Corporation: Proposed Acquisition of VMware

By: Constance E. Bagley, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Chris Lombardi

Involves the decision by the CEO of EMC Corp. whether to acquire VMware, a small software firm in California that makes virtualization software. Among the factors to be considered are a pending patent case involving WMare and Microsoft and integration challenges... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Decision Choices and Conditions; Lawsuits and Litigation; Applications and Software; Acquisition; Information Technology Industry; California

August 2000 (Revised September 2000)
Case

Extraprise

By: Srikant M. Datar, Krishna G. Palepu and Sarah S. Khetani

In the three years since it was founded, the Boston-based Internet strategy consulting firm, Extraprise, has changed its strategy three times. Jennifer Gabler, the CFO, considers what kinds of control systems she can put in place to ensure the company can continue to... View Details

Keywords: Information Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Mathematical Methods; Information Technology; Outcome or Result; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Boston

February 2006 (Revised March 2008)
Case

ChoicePoint (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Zack Phillips

The CEO of ChoicePoint, a leading company in the rapidly growing U.S. personal data industry, must reexamine the company's business model after a serious breach of data security affecting some 145,000 U.S. citizens. He must decide on steps to strengthen data protection... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Safety; Rights; Analytics and Data Science; Ethics; Information Technology; Information Industry; United States

25 Aug 2022
News

Labs Enable Large-scale Research

opportunities to use new technologies for enhancing financial inclusion. By working with communities of crypto business practitioners, the researchers aim to help shape the way this industry evolves, inform... View Details

01 Oct 2000
News

After the Revolution: Putting the Internet in Perspective

technology for the dizziness, said Nolan. "The Internet is the fastest-growing technology to ever reach fifty million users, and it did it in four years." In contrast, he said, "television took thirteen... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

23 May 2013
News

Crime-fighting platform wins President's Challenge

Keywords: Information

May 2010 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Data.gov

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Robert D. Austin and Yumi Yi

This case presents the logic and execution underlying the launch of Data.gov, an instantiation of President Obama's initiative for transparency and open government. The process used by Vivek Kundra, the federal CIO, and his team to rapidly develop the website and to... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Rights; Analytics and Data Science; Internet and the Web; Ethics; Cost vs Benefits; Innovation and Management; Information Management; Information Industry; Information Industry; United States

February 2024
Case

SundaySky: Changing Customer Experiences through Personalized Video

By: David C. Edelman and James Barnett

In June 2023, SundaySky CEO Jim Dicso considers growth strategies. The software-as-a-service company provided software to create advertising videos, customer service videos, and other videos, like employee training modules, and had begun to pilot a new generative... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Strategy; Technology Adoption; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States

1998
Chapter

Developing Products for the Internet

By: A. D. MacCormack and M. Iansiti

Keywords: Product Development; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Technology Industry

October 2017
Supplement

Snap Inc. Goes Public (B)

By: Lynn Sharp Paine and Will Hurwitz

Supplements the (A) case.

Snap Inc.’s chairman must decide how to address investor concerns about the company’s unprecedented plans to issue only non-voting shares in its upcoming IPO. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Capital Structure; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Going Public; Business and Shareholder Relations; Leadership; Management; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Venture Capital; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; California

September 2013
Case

PadFone vs. FonePad

By: Willy Shih and Sen Chai

To Jonney Shih, Chairman of ASUSTek Computer, the introduction of Apple's iPad made clear the need to transition his company to a new cloud-computing era. But the company's roots in the manufacture of Windows-powered desktop and notebook PCs bounded the creativity of... View Details

01 Mar 2013
News

Cyberposium

Hosted and organized by the student-run TechMedia Club, Cyberposium is the world's largest MBA technology conference. Some 700 people attended the 18th annual event, "The Battle for Access," held at HBS on November 4, to learn more about... View Details

June 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Microsoft in 2005

By: David B. Yoffie, Darmesh M Mehta and Rudina I Seseri

Focuses on Microsoft's strategy for sustaining competitive advantage in the global software industry. Also, explores Microsoft's history and its current position, as it tries to diversify its product and service revenue streams. View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Business History; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Applications and Software; Globalized Markets and Industries; Information Technology Industry