Publications

May 2006
Case

A123Systems

By: H. Kent Bowen, Kenneth P Morse and Douglass Cannon

A 123Systems was a young company that was founded on basic materials science research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A co-founder of the company, Yet-Ming Chiang, was a full professor at MIT and served as scientific adviser. Intellectual property based... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Business Startups; Research and Development; Commercialization; Technological Innovation; Science-Based Business; Product Development; Battery Industry; Battery Industry; Massachusetts

05 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 5, 2017

composition as a key but largely endogenous part of development, while structural economies conceptualizes it as a fundamental driver. Competitiveness policy is about leveraging existing clusters as a platform for upgrading microeconomic fundamentals, where structural... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Jul 2006
Lessons from the Classroom

Developing a Strategy for Digital Convergence

other industry executives don't, including: The tech company's most valuable assets in the form of human capital walk out the door every day. Tech companies largely rely on components from other vendors, meaning that complementary assets... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Computer; Education

22 Oct 2014
HBS Seminar

Koleman Strumpf, University of Kansas School of Business

November 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

eDonkey--Deciding the Future of File Sharing

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Sam Yagan, CEO of the upstart MetaMachine, Inc., received a letter from the Recording Industry Association of America, Inc. (RIAA) asking him to shut down eDonkey, MetaMachine's popular file-sharing system. In September 2005, more than 30 million users relied on... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Crisis Management; Music Entertainment; Legal Liability; Copyright; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

Web

Podcast - Business & Environment

company’s mission to recycle textile waste and build circular supply chains for apparel made of polyester fabric. Patrik brings his prior experience leading Under Armour and other global brands across the textile and footwear industry for... View Details

23 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 23, 2015

important technical problems to be solved. Once the problem is solved, the solution in combination with organizational boundaries and property rights can be used to capture a stream of rents. The tools a firm can use to manage bottlenecks... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2024
Article

Housing Policies and Energy Efficiency Spillovers in Low and Moderate Income Communities

By: Omar Isaac Asensio, Olga Churkina, Becky D. Rafter and Kira E O'Hare

Housing policies address the human dimensions of increasing urban density, but their energy and sustainability implications are hard to measure due to challenges with siloed civic data. This is especially critical when evaluating policies targeting low- and... View Details

Keywords: Energy Efficiency; Public Policy; Climate Change; Energy Conservation; Housing; Analytics and Data Science; Policy; Income; Environmental Sustainability; Real Estate Industry; United States

Read Now

March 2018 (Revised January 2021)
Case

China Vanke: Battle for Control (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Charles C.Y. Wang, Dawn H. Lau and Anthony K. Woo

In June 2016, the board of China Vanke, one of China’s largest and best-known private residential real estate developers, must vote on a proposed acquisition that is opposed by its largest shareholders, state-owned China Resources Co. and the lesser-known property... View Details

Keywords: China Vanke; China Resources; Hostile Takeover; Board Of Directors; Shareholding Structure; Shareholder Rights; Asset Restructuring; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Valuation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Real Estate Industry; China

05 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: January 5

pairwise industry and establishment level and measure agglomeration in a global and continuous metric space. These indices exhibit distinct advantages compared to traditional measures of agglomeration including the independence on the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Jun 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

Monetizing IP: The Executive’s Challenge

firms to focus on their IP? A: In many nations, intellectual property has become increasingly important. In part, this change has reflected the changing mixture of the economy, with the development of knowledge-intensive View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Video Game; Web Services

August 2019
Case

The Allstate Corporation, 2019

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In July 2019, Allstate, the United States’ number-three property and casualty (P/C) insurer, released its second-quarter earnings, which reported first-half revenues of $22.1 billion, up 11.4% year-over-year. Shareholders cheered the top-line growth, but P/C premiums... View Details

Keywords: Insurance Companies; Strategic Analysis; Strategic Change; Insurance; Strategy; Strategic Planning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Insurance Industry; North America

April 2010 (Revised March 2011)
Case

The Auction for Travelport (A)

By: Andrei Hagiu and Misha Sanwal

A senior Blackstone director is deciding how aggressively to bid for Travelport, a travel distribution business containing several key services and platforms. Travelport's most important properties were Galileo, one of the top 3 global distribution systems (GDSs),... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Product Positioning; Cost vs Benefits; Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Competitive Advantage; Auctions; Industry Structures; Travel Industry

February 2022 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Sekisui House and the In-Home Early Detection Platform

By: John D. Macomber and Akiko Kanno

To address an aging population and sales declines, a major Japanese homebuilder considers pivoting to provide and support an in-home health detection platform, in competition with tech companies. This case considers the point of view of major builders regarding how... View Details

Keywords: Voice Assistants; Architecture; Smart Home; Aging Society; Digitalization; Real Estate; Home Automation; Sensors; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Health Care and Treatment; Housing; Age; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Japan

August 2024
Case

Oculii

By: Andy Wu and Lucas Defilippo

It was a bright June day in 2016. Steven Hong, co-founder and COO of Oculii had just signed a letter of intent agreeing to a 51% stake acquisition by Nexteer Automotive, a global steering and driveline supplier company that developed advanced driver assistance systems... View Details

Keywords: Automotive; Autonomous Vehicles; Wireless Communications; Mergers and Acquisitions; Communication Intention and Meaning; Intellectual Property; Growth Management; Negotiation Deal; Supply Chain; Auto Industry; Auto Industry

Web

United Fruit Company Photograph Collection - Photography Collections - Historical Collections

HBS Quick Links MBA Executive Education Doctoral Programs Faculty and Research Alumni HBS Publishing Site Index HBS Home Contact Us Map/Directions Photography Collections Introduction Large Collections Automobile Industry Caterpillar... View Details

Web

Finance - Faculty & Research

Technology Adoption ; Education ; Teaching ; Price ; Customer Relationship Management ; Customer Satisfaction ; Growth and Development ; Technological Innovation ; Education Industry ; Technology Industry ;... View Details

Working Paper

The Composition and Dynamics of Technology-Enabled Entrepreneurship

By: Innessa Colaiacovo, Daniel P. Gross and Jorge Guzman

Using data on nearly all U.S. business registrations since the turn of the twentieth century, and a set of 386 major technologies invented over this period, we study the level, composition, and dynamics of entrepreneurial activity around new technology. We find a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Technology Industry