Publications

November 2008 (Revised June 2009)
Case

Sole-Sourcing the Intel 386: A Company and Industry Transformed

By: Richard S. Tedlow and David Ruben

Intel's precedent-breaking decision not to second-source its groundbreaking 386 microprocessor in 1986 propelled Intel to new heights and fundamentally transformed the computer industry. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Technological Innovation; Production; Information Infrastructure; Transformation; Brands and Branding; Product Development; Computer Industry; United States

February 2008
Teaching Note

DermaCare: Zapping Zits Directly (TN)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh

Teaching Note for [808064]. View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Innovation and Invention; Health Care and Treatment; Financing and Loans; Venture Capital; Advertising; Distribution; Health Industry

February 2008
Teaching Note

Innovation at Timberland: Thinking Outside the Shoe Box (TN)

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Matthew Bird

Teaching Note for [306064]. View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Organizational Culture; Sales; Customer Value and Value Chain; Brands and Branding; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry

February 2008 (Revised August 2008)
Case

Quanta Computer and the One Laptop Per Child Initiative

By: Willy Shih, Chintay Shih and Jyun-Chen Wang

When Quanta Computer, Inc., the world's largest manufacturer of laptop computers, first joined the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative, it faced a challenge trying to balance the cost objectives of a laptop computer targeted at children of the developing world with... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Disruptive Innovation; Demand and Consumers; Supply Chain; Partners and Partnerships; Nonprofit Organizations; Hardware

April 2003
Case

IBM Canada: Global Services (B)

By: Michael L. Tushman, David Kiron and Wendy Smith

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Technological Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Management Teams; Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Information Technology Industry; Canada

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September 1999 (Revised June 2001)
Case

eBay, Inc.

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Kelley Porter

eBay was the world's largest and most popular person-to-person trading community on the Internet. In early 1999, the company was doing very well and seemed to have solved many of its early problems. However, on March 30, 1999, Amazon.com announced that it was entering... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Planning; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Retail Industry; Web Services Industry

June 1989 (Revised May 1993)
Case

Fairfield Inn (A)

By: James L. Heskett

The Fairfield Inn, an economy hotel venture by the Marriott Corp., has developed a novel method for selecting and measuring the performance of its hotel personnel that fits the company's strategy. Because it faces the need to grow rapidly, questions have arisen as to... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Franchise Ownership; Performance Evaluation; Corporate Strategy; Accommodations Industry

01 Jun 2020
News

Homeschooled

Image by John Ritter About a month before schools began to close in the United States in response to the pandemic, Sal Khan (MBA 2003) (pictured above, right), founder and CEO of the online learning platform Khan Academy, began to see traffic pick up in Asia. “Then the... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie; online learning; Educational Services

01 Mar 2017
News

How Deep Brain Stimulation Could Change Medicine

Illustration by Jon Krause Illustration by Jon Krause Roger Frisch, a concert violinist with the Minnesota Orchestra, sees his instrument as an extension of himself—each time he pulls the bow across its strings, the vibrations seem to echo through him. So in June 2009,... View Details

Keywords: Janelle Nanos

01 Jun 2015
News

Rebooting Europe

For centuries, Europe has been at the forefront of innovation: the Greek and Roman architects, the Renaissance inventors, the intrepid navigators in the Age of Exploration. Even in more recent history, Europe has dazzled in its efforts to recover from the devastating... View Details

Keywords: Janelle Nanos; European Union; Government; Health, Social Assistance

01 Jun 2005
News

Profiles from the Class of 2005

Photographs by Webb Chappell Now in its tenth year, the Bulletin’s annual student profiles have become something of a tradition. Faced each spring with a mountain of potential candidates, we puzzle our way through a dizzying array of experiences and achievements to... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Julia Hanna; James E. Aisner; Graduate profiles; Government; Transportation Equipment Manufacturing; Manufacturing

01 Mar 2007
News

Daniel Vasella

Vasella Illustration by Dennis Balogh Twenty years ago a young doctor with a hankering for business experience gave up his clinical practice in Bern, Switzerland, and moved to East Hanover, New Jersey, to try his hand at drug sales with the Swiss conglomerate Sandoz.... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; multinational pharmaceutical company; prescription drugs; vaccines; Medicare; generics business; Health, Social Assistance

December 1999
Case

Agrochemicals at Ciba-Geigy AG (A)

By: Michael L. Tushman, Wendy Smith and Daniel Radov

After spending five years to develop a revolutionary product, the director of Ciba-Geigy's fungicide research department is handed an unfavorable market study. The case details the R&D process for the new product, including information on corporate partnerships,... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Research and Development; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Strategy; Product Launch; Marketing Channels; Change Management; Product Development; Business Processes; Organizational Structure; Corporate Accountability; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

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25 Oct 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Management: Theory and Practice, and Cases

Keywords: by Richard L. Nolan; Education

13 Aug 2024
Op-Ed

Can AI Save Physicians from Burnout?

In the past decade, physician burnout has evolved from a serious concern to a troubling epidemic, affecting 50 percent of physicians and physicians-in-training. Excessive workloads, process inefficiencies, and administrative burdens related to electronic medical... View Details

Keywords: by Susanna Gallani, Lidia Moura, and Katie Sonnefeldt; Health

2024
Book

Smart Rivals: How Innovative Companies Play Games That Tech Giants Can't Win

By: Feng Zhu and Bonnie Yining Cao

A fresh, research-based look at how companies can better compete, on their own terms, with tech giants. View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Product Design; Disruptive Innovation; Competitive Advantage

2023
Working Paper

Centralization and Organization Reproduction: Ethnic Innovation in R&D Centers and Satellite Locations

By: William R. Kerr

We study the relationship between firm centralization and organizational reproduction in satellite locations. For decentralized firms, the ethnic compositions of inventors in satellite locations mostly resemble their host cities, with little link to the inventor... View Details

Keywords: Ethnicity; Business Offices; Research and Development; Innovation and Invention; Organizational Design

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2012
Case

Robert Whelan and the Student Loan Crisis (A)

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Olivia Leskinen

Robert Whelan and the Student Loan Crisis (A) 2009 AL Fellow Bob Whelan developed an idea with partners that was a seed before his fellowship year and seemed to address a significant national challenge - college financing - with a creative concept and experience from... View Details

2018
Working Paper

Ratcheting, Competition, and the Diffusion of Technological Change: The Case of Televisions Under an Energy Efficiency Program

By: Tomomichi Amano and Hiroshi Ohashi

In differentiated goods markets with societal implications, quality standards are commonly implemented to avoid the under-provision of innovation. Firms have clear incentives to engage in strategic behavior because policymakers use market outcomes as a benchmark in... View Details

Keywords: Product Differentiation; Energy Efficiency Standards; Ratcheting; Diffusion Of Innovation; Technological Innovation; Competition; Quality; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy