Publications

February 6, 2024
Article

Find the AI Approach That Fits the Problem You’re Trying to Solve

By: George Westerman, Sam Ransbotham and Chiara Farronato

AI moves quickly, but organizations change much more slowly. What works in a lab may be wrong for your company right now. If you know the right questions to ask, you can make better decisions, regardless of how fast technology changes. You can work with your technical... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; AI and Machine Learning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technological Innovation; Analytics and Data Science

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July 2013 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Carl Zeiss and Free-Form Production: Can We See Clearly Yet?

By: Willy Shih

The prescription eyeglass lens industry was complicated and highly fragmented, and even though many of the tools and techniques employed have been relatively unchanged over the last century, there was still a surprising pace of innovation. An aging population around... View Details

Keywords: History; Demand and Consumers; Disruptive Innovation; Vertical Integration; Theory; Technology Adoption; Health Industry

14 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 14, 2007

are usually faced by two major strategic decisions. The first one concerns the innovation of product languages: To what extent should a firm proactively propose new design languages or, rather, should adopt... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Telewest Communications plc

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Laure Mougeot Stroock

Created in 1992, Telewest has become the second largest broadband communication provider in the United Kingdom, offering telephone, cable television, and cable Internet services, as well as television and online content to the U.K. entertainment market. The first to... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Telecommunications Industry; Europe; United Kingdom

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February 1991
Case

Burlington Northern: The ARES Decision (A)

By: Julie H. Hertenstein and Robert S. Kaplan

Burlington Northern's decision whether to invest in ARES, an automated train control system, is a ($350 million) strategic investment in information technology. Although set in a service industry (railroad) the issues around this decision arise in many organizations... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Rail Transportation; Information Technology; Competitive Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Performance Effectiveness; Cost vs Benefits; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Customers; Quality; Rail Industry

2004
Working Paper

The Accidental Entrepreneur: The Emergent and Collective Process of User Entrepreneurship

We develop a process model of how users, an understudied source of entrepreneurship, create, evaluate, share, and commercialize their ideas. We compare and contrast our model to the classic model of the entrepreneurial process, highlighting the emergent and collective... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Commercialization; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention

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March 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

TOTO: The Bottom Line

TOTO, the leading manufacturer of toilets in Japan, is struggling to penetrate the U.S. market with its premier bidet-toilets, which are present in 63% of homes in Japan. The case examines the behavioral, cultural, and institutional barriers that TOTO faces in gaining... View Details

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Disruptive Innovation; Product Positioning; Market Entry and Exit; Organizational Culture; Consumer Products Industry; Japan; United States

22 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 22, 2019

2019 New York: PublicAffairs Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation By: Pisano, Gary P. Abstract— Creative Construction tackles the myth that larger enterprises are inherently incapable of transformative View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

February 1993 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Sharp Corporation: Technology Strategy

By: David J. Collis and Tomo Noda

Teaches the evolution of the corporate strategy of Sharp Corp., Japan. Sharp Corp., a second-tier assembler of TV sets and home appliances, gradually and consistently improved performance by developing expertise in electronic device technologies such as specialized ICs... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Leadership; Performance Improvement; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Technology Adoption; Electronics Industry; Japan

September 2016 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Pebble: Wearables Pioneer

By: David Yoffie and Allison Ciechanover

In the summer of 2016, wearables “wunderkind” and Pebble founder and CEO, Eric Migicovsky, was pleased with the young startup’s success in the five years since its founding. The Silicon Valley–based company had recently shipped its two millionth smartwatch; held the... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Product; Information Technology; Technological Innovation; Business Startups; Technology Industry; United States; California

January 2025
Case

Davivienda Bank’s Upskilling and Reskilling Strategy in Colombia (Abridged)

By: Jorge Tamayo, Raffaella Sadun and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago

Set in 2022, this abridged case examines the digital transformation strategy of Davivienda— a leading player in Colombia’s commercial banking sector and one of the companies belonging to Grupo Bolívar, a major Colombian conglomerate—and the bank’s upskilling and... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Information Technology; Digital Strategy; Digital Transformation; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Strategy; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Banking Industry; Latin America; Central America; South America; Colombia

January 2017 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Delivering the Goods at Shippo

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Jeffrey F. Rayport and Olivia Hull

Laura Behrens Wu, CEO of software start-up Shippo, prepares her pitch for a Series A funding round following a successful seed round. Customer adoption of Shippo’s e-commerce dashboard application, which allows small and medium retailers to compare delivery rates... View Details

Web

Marketing - Faculty & Research

for the 2022 John D. C. Little Award. They study the effect of Airbnb’s smart-pricing algorithm on the racial disparity in the daily revenue earned by Airbnb hosts. Their empirical strategy exploits Airbnb’s introduction of the algorithm and its voluntary View Details

26 Sep 2023
Book

Digital Strategy: A Handbook for Managing a Moving Target

clearly epitomized by the advent and affirmation of the electronic processing and sharing of data at a magnitude and speed that in no way we have seen before. The digital age is enabled by the emergence and adoption of four key... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Information Technology; Technology

Web

Podcast - Business & Environment

and scaling high-quality projects. They also discuss emerging standards, innovative financial products, and how companies can leverage VCMs to achieve net-zero goals while addressing climate risks. Building Integrity in Carbon Markets: A... View Details

18 Jul 2017
First Look

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

between competitors in health care markets—whether payers or providers. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52843 May 2017 Strategic Organization Firms, Crowds, and Innovation By: Felin, Teppo, Karim R.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2012
Case

CSIRO: The Light Metals Flagship Decision

By: Willy Shih, Margaret P. Pierson and Dawn Lau

This case explores the challenge of investing in basic research as a public good. CSIRO was Australia's leading science and research agency, and it was chartered to enhance national prosperity through R&D. Its Flagships program was designed to align research interests... View Details

01 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 1, 2008

Graduate School of Business Harvard Business School Case 308-010 In fall 2007, Stanford Graduate School of Business adopted a new curriculum that it heralded as a "revolutionary change in management education." The new approach... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2012 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Automating the Paris Subway (A)

By: Michel Anteby, Elena Corsi and Emilie Billaud

In 2001, the head of the Paris Subway reflected on how to transform Line 1 into a driverless line without triggering a social conflict. After the shock of the 2000 Notre Dame de Lorette subway accident, in which a train derailed and caused 25 injuries in a Paris subway... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Technological Innovation; Rail Transportation; Labor Unions; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Conflict Management; Rail Industry; Transportation Industry; Paris