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- All HBS Web (142)
- Faculty Publications (33)
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- December 2012 (Revised April 2025)
- Case
AmTran Technology Ltd.
By: Willy Shih, Jyun-Cheng Wang and Karen E. Robinson
As an original design manufacturer (ODM) of television sets and leading supplier to Vizio, a market leader in the U.S. for LCD flat panel TVs, AmTran Technology Ltd. uses what founder Alpha Wu describes as a "WE" model in which western companies perform sales,... View Details
Keywords: Modularity; Technology Transitions; Analog; Digital; Television; TV; Flat-panel; ATSC; NTSC; Video; Global Strategy; Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Product Design; Supply Chain; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Electronics Industry; Taiwan; United States; Japan
Shih, Willy, Jyun-Cheng Wang, and Karen E. Robinson. "AmTran Technology Ltd." Harvard Business School Case 613-069, December 2012. (Revised April 2025.)
- March 2021
- Article
Increasing the Level of Abstraction as a Strategy for Accelerating the Adoption of Complex Technologies
By: Willy C. Shih
Many new technologies are complex and embody high levels of technical sophistication, and applying them should require significant knowledge and experience. Yet, the rapid adoption and incorporation of these technologies into other innovations seems inconsistent with... View Details
Keywords: Abstraction; Technological And Scientific Innovation; Technological Progress; Diffusion Of Innovation; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Complexity; Information Technology; Strategy
Shih, Willy C. "Increasing the Level of Abstraction as a Strategy for Accelerating the Adoption of Complex Technologies." Strategy Science 6, no. 1 (March 2021): 54–61. (ISSN 2333-2050 (print), ISSN 2333-2077 (online))
- 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
Shih, Willy. "Digital Microscopy at Carl Zeiss: Managing Disruption." Harvard Business School Case 613-039, September 2012. (Revised April 2013.)
- January 2022 (Revised August 2022)
- Case
Geely SEA: New Electric Vehicle Platforms
By: Willy C. Shih and Shu Lin
Kent Bovellan, the Chief Engineer and Head of the Vehicle Architecture Center for Geely Holding, the Hangzhou, China headquartered global automotive group, was debating the platform choice for an upcoming "D" segment midsized battery electric vehicle (BEV). He had led... View Details
Keywords: Product Innovation; Product Architecture; Product Engineering; Platform Design; Platform Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Product Design; Product Development; Cost Management; Decision Making; Competitive Strategy; Industry Structures; Auto Industry; China; Sweden
Shih, Willy C., and Shu Lin. "Geely SEA: New Electric Vehicle Platforms." Harvard Business School Case 622-001, January 2022. (Revised August 2022.)
- November 2023
- Teaching Plan
Geely SEA: New Electric Vehicle Platforms
By: Willy Shih
Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 622-001. Kent Bovellan, the Chief Engineer and Head of the Vehicle Architecture Center for Geely Holding, the Hangzhou, China headquartered global automotive group, was debating the platform choice for an upcoming "D" segment midsized... View Details
- 14 Aug 2012
- First Look
First Look: August 14
entails the risk of becoming dependent on outside owners of IP. To address this tension we propose the concept of "IP modularity." We argue that, by managing a system's modular structure in conjunction with its IP, firms can... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
- 20 Dec 2011
- First Look
First Look: December 20
innovation in open systems is an important trend in the modern global economy. In general, distributed innovation is made possible by the modularity of the underlying product... View Details
Keywords: Carmen Nobel
- May 2009
- Case
Tokyo Electron Ltd.
By: Willy C. Shih and Andrew A. King
Tokyo Electron Ltd. operates in a constrained innovation environment, defined by modular boundaries that are long standing in the industry that it serves, the global semiconductor manufacturing industry. While the original motivation for these boundaries was division... View Details
Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Governance Controls; Technological Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Boundaries; Manufacturing Industry; Semiconductor Industry
Shih, Willy C., and Andrew A. King. "Tokyo Electron Ltd." Harvard Business School Case 609-096, May 2009.
- Article
Reflections on the 2013 Decade Award: 'Exploitation, Exploration, and Process Management: The Productivity Dilemma Revisited' Ten Years Later
By: Mary Benner and Michael Tushman
This paper reflects on Benner and Tushman (2003): "Exploitation, Exploration, and Process Management: The Productivity Dilemma Revisited." Our paper received the Academy of Management Review's best paper award in 2003 and the decade award in 2013. We consider the... View Details
Keywords: Organizations; Innovation and Invention; Performance Productivity; Innovation and Management
Benner, Mary, and Michael Tushman. "Reflections on the 2013 Decade Award: 'Exploitation, Exploration, and Process Management: The Productivity Dilemma Revisited' Ten Years Later." Academy of Management Review 40, no. 4 (October 2015): 497–514.
- November 2012 (Revised May 2013)
- Case
ASUSTeK and the Google Nexus 7 Tablet
By: Willy C. Shih and Jyun-Cheng Wang
Days after Jerry Shen introduced a new tablet computer at the Consumer Electronics Show, a Google meeting convinced him to go with a lower price point and co-branding as the Nexus 7. While his company would have a premier position at launch, companies like Samsung... View Details
Keywords: Nexus; Google; ASUSTeK; Android; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Notebook Computers; ODM; Apple; Price Point; App Store; Ecosystem; Open Handset Alliance; Reference Design; iPad; EMS; Electronic Manufacturing Services; Smartphone; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Industry Structures; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Taiwan; United States
Shih, Willy C., and Jyun-Cheng Wang. "ASUSTeK and the Google Nexus 7 Tablet." Harvard Business School Case 613-056, November 2012. (Revised May 2013.)
- 30 Mar 2021
- Research & Ideas
Commuting Hurts Productivity and Your Best Talent Suffers Most
School Assistant Professor of Business Administration Andy Wu to conduct a study that asked: Does the daily commute affect innovation and productivity for tens of millions of workers? And if so, what are the implications for companies... View Details
Keywords: by Lane Lambert
- 15 Jan 2008
- First Look
First Look: January 15, 2008
Working PapersCompetition in Modular Clusters Authors:Carliss Y. Baldwin and C. Jason Woodard Abstract The last twenty years have witnessed the rise of disaggregated "clusters," "networks," or "ecosystems"... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
- 27 Mar 2008
- Working Paper Summaries
Exploring the Duality between Product and Organizational Architectures: A Test of the Mirroring Hypothesis
- December 2019
- Case
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Shaping the Vaccine Manufacturing Ecosystem (Abridged)
By: Willy Shih
This case describes the efforts of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to lower the cost of producing vaccines to prevent polio infections. It is an abridged version of HBS Case No. 620-021 with less emphasis on comparison between traditional and the new compact... View Details
Keywords: Vaccine; Manufacturing; Barriers To Entry; Production; Cost; Technological Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Pharmaceutical Industry
Shih, Willy. "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Shaping the Vaccine Manufacturing Ecosystem (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 620-071, December 2019.
- February 2008 (Revised December 2023)
- Case
Digital Music: From MP3 to Streaming
By: Willy Shih
The emergence of the MP3 file-based music format not only disrupted the market for portable audio players, it also impacted the business models of major record labels. Modularity, and the commoditization spillover enabled by modularity in the personal computer... View Details
Keywords: Recording; Digital Devices; Digital Media; Digital Music; Digital; Digital Economics; Consumer Electronics; Customer Value and Value Chain; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Music Industry; Technology Industry; Electronics Industry; United States
Shih, Willy. "Digital Music: From MP3 to Streaming." Harvard Business School Case 608-119, February 2008. (Revised December 2023.)
- July 2011 (Revised January 2013)
- Case
Digital Microscopy Is Making Me Crazy!
By: Willy Shih
For Carl Zeiss Microimaging, modular hardware and software enabled customers to tailor Zeiss's broad range of microscopy systems hardware and software to meet a wide range of needs from basic scientific research in the biological and medical sciences to clinical... View Details
Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Corporate Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Science-Based Business; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Business Conglomerates; Digital Platforms; Opportunities; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Computer Industry
Shih, Willy. "Digital Microscopy Is Making Me Crazy!" Harvard Business School Case 612-002, July 2011. (Revised January 2013.)
- 17 Dec 2013
- First Look
First Look: December 17
management of innovation and conclude with research opportunities. Download working paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2362855 Modularity and Intellectual Property Protection By: Baldwin, Carliss Y., and... View Details
Keywords: Carmen Nobel
- 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
Shih, Willy, Chintay Shih, and Jyun-Chen Wang. "Quanta Computer and the One Laptop Per Child Initiative." Harvard Business School Case 608-102, February 2008. (Revised August 2008.)
- March 2012
- Article
Does America Really Need Manufacturing?
By: Gary P. Pisano and Willy C. Shih
Too many U.S. companies base decisions about where to locate production largely on narrow financial criteria. They don't consider whether keeping manufacturing at home makes more sense strategically or take into account the impact it might have on their ability to... View Details
Keywords: Production; Geographic Location; Innovation and Invention; Competitive Advantage; Product Design; Risk Management; Manufacturing Industry; United States
Pisano, Gary P., and Willy C. Shih. "Does America Really Need Manufacturing?" Harvard Business Review 90, no. 3 (March 2012).
- February 2014
- Case
BGI: Data-driven Research
By: Willy Shih and Sen Chai
BGI has the largest installed gene-sequencing capacity in the world, and to Zhang Gengyun, general manager of the Life Sciences Division, this represented an opportunity to apply his training as a plant breeder and his early career work as a biochemist to improving... View Details
Keywords: Genomics; Gene Sequencing; Life Sciences; Plant Breeding; Human Genome Program; Beijing Genomics Institute; BGI; Rice Genome; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Research; Research and Development; Science; Genetics; Science-Based Business; Strategy; Commercialization; Corporate Strategy; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; China; United States
Shih, Willy, and Sen Chai. "BGI: Data-driven Research." Harvard Business School Case 614-056, February 2014.