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November 2000
Case

Wit Capital: Evolution of the Online Investment Bank (B)

Describes the evolution of Wit Capital from its origins as a small brewery to an online investment bank advising both small technology-based companies seeking to raise capital and large companies seeking to acquire Internet companies, as well as offering retail... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Disruptive Innovation; Service Delivery; Investment Banking; Entrepreneurship

25 Jul 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

The Evolution of Apple

success as it continues to expand its product line into handheld devices like the iPod and, now, the iPhone? The Apple case originally appeared in 1992 and has been rewritten 5 times since. "The company always looks a little... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Computer; Technology

September 2012 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Digital Microscopy at Carl Zeiss: Managing Disruption

By: Willy Shih

Ulrich Simon, the head of the Microscopy business group at Carl Zeiss AG knew that his unit was facing a disruptive threat, so he chartered a special team to tackle the industrial segment. Given a high degree of autonomy, the project team developed an understanding of... View Details

Keywords: Modularity; High Technology Products; Emergent Strategy; Product Lines; Corporate Strategy; Digital Platforms; Disruptive Innovation; Technology Industry; Germany

August 2015
Case

Yabbly (A)

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Christopher Payton

In November 2013, with less than 10 months of cash on hand, Tom Leung, the founder and CEO of Yabbly, must decide where to focus his resources. His startup, a question-and-answer application for shopping decisions, had benefited from a strong showing at the SXSW... View Details

Keywords: Startup; Mobile; Online Product Reviews; Consumer Products; Business Model; Business Plan; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Innovation Strategy; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Internet and the Web; North America; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle

07 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 7, 2015

economies. But only a handful of companies have managed to do it successfully until now. In this article, an MIT engineering professor and a Tuck professor of management explain why. After conducting a three-year study of reverse View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Jun 2023
HBS Case

3 Ways to Gain a Competitive Advantage Now: Lessons from Amazon, Chipotle, and Facebook

capabilities that they as a firm can hone, monitor, and manage,” she says. Those capabilities then allow the company to continuously produce innovative products at the same time they are creating more... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

07 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 7

opportunities to develop skills (“crucible experiences”) and a greater motivation to relocate out of the challenging context. We also find that managers deployed to a challenging context early in their careers continue to experience... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2025
Case

Kleiner Perkins (2019)

By: Jo Tango and Srimayi Mylavarapu

Kleiner Perkins, founded in 1972, quickly rose to prominence as one of Silicon Valley’s leading venture capital firms, earning a reputation for early investments in industry giants like Google, Amazon, and Citrix. However, a bold, strategic pivot to cleantech investing... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment Funds; Technological Innovation; Entrepreneurial Finance; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Financial Services Industry

23 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 23

Principles that Matter: Sustaining Software Innovation from the Client to the Web Author:Marco Iansiti Abstract Economic analysis often reviews the role of principles—such as respect for intellectual property rights—in driving innovation.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2022
Book

Empires of Ideas: Creating the Modern University from Germany to America to China

By: William C. Kirby

The modern university was born in Germany. In the twentieth century, the United States leapfrogged Germany to become the global leader in higher education. Will China challenge its position in the twenty-first?
Today American institutions dominate nearly every... View Details

Keywords: University; Higher Education; History; United States; Germany; China

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December 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Blockbuster Inc. & Technological Substitution (D): The Threat of Direct Digital Distribution

Examines the emergence of technologies for delivering video content to consumer homes via direct digital distribution and investigates the strategic options facing video rental giant Blockbuster Inc. as it tries to respond to the new technological substitutes. Examines... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Decisions; Technological Innovation; Competition; Change Management; Service Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

04 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Is Health Care Making You Better—or Dead?

the needs of human beings, not around the needs of the status quo, didn't happen. Consumer-Driven Health Care was another book that I wrote to help change the demand for health care, to get innovation in the insurance industry. That was... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Health

18 Jul 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, July 18, 2017

this be a Pyrrhic victory? Purchase this case:https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/217062-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 817-107 Edwin Land: The Art and Science of Innovation Throughout the second half of the 20th century,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 May 2024
Research & Ideas

How Much Does Proximity Influence Startup Innovation? 20 Meters' Worth to Be Exact

COVID-19 pandemic. Four years after the pandemic sent workplaces into lockdown, organizations continue to weigh the benefits of collaboration from time together against the focus gained remotely. “The reality today is, we are unlikely to... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

07 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Digital Transformation: A New Roadmap for Success

digital transformation an even more urgent need, companies must also morph iteratively to keep up with the speed of emerging technologies. It’s a process of continuous learning and pivoting to adapt to an evolving competitive landscape.... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards

December 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Blockbuster Inc. & Technological Substitution (B): Confronting New Digital Formats

Investigates how the rise of digital video formats threatens to make videocassette technology obsolete; how this technological substitution might alter the economics and structure of the video rental and retail industries; and how Blockbuster Inc., the industry leader,... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Decisions; Technological Innovation; Competition; Change Management; Service Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

31 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

Where Can Digital Transformation Take You? Insights from 1,700 Leaders

is not for the fainthearted. Most of us know how to drive—we have the basics—but we recognize we are ill-prepared to race against world-class competitors. While data and digital technologies were once enablers of efficiency and cost-cutting, today, they’re the engines... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards

Research Summary

Sustainability and Integrated Reporting

A sustainable strategy for a company is one that enables it to create value for shareholders over the long term while contributing to a sustainable society. In doing so, it must balance the needs of different types of providers of financial capital (e.g.,... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainability Reporting

January 2018 (Revised May 2018)
Case

AT&T Managing Technological Change and the Future of Telephone Operators in the 20th Century

By: Daniel P. Gross and William R. Kerr

By the 1930s, AT&T dominated the American phone industry, serving 10 million telephones and employing over 100,000 switchboard operators. But beginning in the mid-1910s, the company began changing from manually operated switchboards to mechanical switching systems that... View Details

Keywords: AT＆T; Bell Telephone; Phone Lines; Phone Operators; Mechanical Switching; Layoffs; Technological Change; Transition; History; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Disruption; Change Management; Communications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States