Publications

June 2000 (Revised October 2017)
Case

IDEO

By: Stefan Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Describes IDEO, the world's leading product design firm, and its innovation culture and process. Emphasis is placed on the important role of prototyping and experimentation in general, and in the design of the very successful Palm V handheld computer in particular. A... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Innovation Strategy; Business or Company Management; Time Management; Product Design; Product Development; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Practice; Problems and Challenges; Creativity; Hardware

July 1994 (Revised April 1995)
Case

San Francisco Bay Consulting

By: George P. Baker III and Karin B Monsler

San Francisco Bay Consulting leads the field of economic consulting and litigation support in the application of powerful computers and cutting edge software to manipulate and analyze large data sets. The transfer pricing system, used to facilitate the purchasing and... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Profit; Marketing; Fluctuation; Computer Industry; Computer Industry

March 1995 (Revised September 1997)
Case

Datavision (A)

By: Michael Beer and Gregory C. Rogers

Depicts a "team-building" intervention by an organizational consultant at a small computer company. View Details

Keywords: Employees; Groups and Teams; Social and Collaborative Networks; Computer Industry

September 2010
Case

New Heritage Doll Company

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Heide Abelli

A manufacturer and retailer of specialty doll products must decide which of two projects to fund. The decision requires the student to compute cash flows for the 2 projects, discount values to the present and compare and contrast different project performance measures. View Details

Keywords: Forecasting; Resource Management; Resource Allocation; Forecasting and Prediction; Capital Budgeting; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry

Research Summary

Overview

My research focuses on content marketing, generative AI, digital marketing, and computational social science. View Details

Jennifer Zou

I am a fourth year doctoral candidate in the Business Economics program. My research interests are primarily in industrial organization and innovation, with a particular focus on the economics of artificial intelligence/machine learning and digital technology markets.... View Details

10 Dec 2007
HBS Case

One Laptop per Child

Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It was proposed by Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder and chairman emeritus of the MIT Media Lab. The time seemed ripe: The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Foundation quickly signed up Google, News Corp., AMD, Brightstar, and Red Hat.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Computer

19 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Alfred Chandler on the Electronic Century

public use—major new products of either consumer electronics or computer hardware with their essential software technologies. In the United States, no enterprise had the capability to commercialize new consumer electronics technologies.... View Details

Keywords: by Alfred D. Chandler, Takashi Hikino & Andrew Von Nordenflycht; Computer; Computer; Computer; Computer; Computer

December 2009 (Revised January 2024)
Case

A Letter from Prison

By: Eugene Soltes

Stephen Richards, the former global head of sales at Computer Associates, Inc. (CA), is serving a seven-year prison sentence for financial fraud. In the case, Richards responds to a number of questions about managerial responsibility and the manipulation of financial... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Managerial Roles

16 May 2000
Research & Ideas

The Simple Economics of Open Source

outwardly the situation smells of economic anarchy. Where are the market forces, when thousands of talented programmers—and even many commercial firms—spend inordinate amounts of time writing and sharing computer source code: an activity... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Technology

February 1986 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Donna Dubinsky and Apple Computer, Inc. (A)

Describes a major conflict within Apple Computer in 1985 over control of product distribution. The founder and chairman, Steve Jobs, proposed a new distribution process which would transfer many responsibilities away from distribution manager, Donna Dubinsky. Dubinsky... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Conflict and Resolution; Computer Industry; United States

2010
Case

New Heritage Doll Company: Capital Budgeting: Brief Case No. 4212.

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Heide Diener Abelli

A manufacturer and retailer of specialty doll products must decide which of two projects to fund. The decision requires the student to compute cash flows for the 2 projects, discount values to the present and compare and contrast different project performance measures. View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Projects; Decision Making; Cash Flow; Performance Evaluation; Production

December 2015
Case

Stephen Richards: Addressing FAQ

By: Eugene Soltes

Stephen Richards, former global head of sales at Computer Associates, addresses frequently asked questions from "A Letter from Prison." View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Managerial Roles

March 1999 (Revised December 2001)
Case

Ford Motor Company: Supply Chain Strategy

Describes Ford's examination of its supply chain to evaluate whether the company should "virtually integrate" on the Dell Computers model. View Details

Keywords: Integration; Information Technology; Supply Chain Management; Auto Industry

15 Feb 2011
News

Digital effects

11 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Digital Designs on the Inner City

An increasing number of inner city residents own computers and have online access, but government agencies and private companies need to do more to bridge the digital divide that still exists among income groups, according to business and... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

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 1999 (Revised November 1999)
Case

Hewlett-Packard's Merced Decision

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Matt Verlinden

Describes managing the threat of disruptive technology at the high end of the computer industry. Many aspects of the innovator's dilemma can be explored. View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Risk Management; Disruptive Innovation; Computer Industry; United States

2016
Chapter

Deriving an Optimally Deceptive Policy in Two-Player Iterated Games

By: Elisabeth Paulson and Christopher Griffin

We formulate the problem of determining an optimally deceptive strategy in a repeated game framework. We assume that two players are engaged in repeated play. During an initial time period, Player 1 may deceptively train his opponent to expect a specific strategy. The... View Details

Keywords: Deception; Strategy; Game Theory