Publications

June 1986 (Revised July 1990)
Case

OTISLINE (A)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Donna B. Stoddard

Describes the company's use of information technology to strengthen its position in the elevator sales and service market. Also demonstrates how information technology can be used to better manage and control a large geographically dispersed service organization. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Sales; Marketing; Rank and Position; Salesforce Management; Service Operations; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Global Range; Accounting; Business Ventures; Industry Growth

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

January 2011 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Paydiant

By: Jose B. Alvarez, Elizabeth C. Williamson and James Weber

Kevin Laracey, founder of Paydiant, needed to figure out how to launch a payment processing company with a new technology based on smart phones. Consumers had increasingly turned to electronic payment methods such as credit cards and debit cards to make purchases.... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Credit Cards; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Industry Structures; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Cooperation; Technology Adoption; Retail Industry

February 2024
Module Note

Collaborate on the Core, Compete on the Edges

By: Frank Nagle

In the rapidly evolving environment of modern business, the digitization of economic activity and the ubiquitous integration of technology across industries are fundamentally altering how companies develop and implement strategy. The rise of digital technologies has... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Competition; Cooperation; Collaborative Innovation and Invention

August 2001 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Worldzap

By: Rohit Deshpande, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Suma Raju and David Kiron

In February 2001, the CEO of a new technology start-up had to decide how to present his firm's value proposition to future clients, customers, and business partners. The technology allowed distribution of full-motion video clips of sports highlights to "third... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Information Technology; Marketing Strategy; Distribution; Technology Adoption; Forecasting and Prediction; Value Creation; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Europe

Article

The Impact of Intangibles on Firm Growth

By: Stefano Denicolai, E. Cotta Ramusino and F. Sotti

Persuading users to try new technologies continues to be a problem confronting organisations and technology vendors alike. To better understand the process of new technology trial and adoption, several theoretical models have been proposed, of which the Technology... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Technology Adoption

Find at Harvard

2017
Working Paper

Equality and Equity in Compensation

By: Jiayi Bao and Andy Wu

Equity compensation is widely used for incentivizing skilled employees, particularly in new technology businesses. Traditional theories explaining why firms offer equity suggest that workers with higher rank should receive compensation packages more heavily weighted in... View Details

Keywords: Inequality Aversion; Compensation; Stock Options; Scarcity; Experiment; Compensation and Benefits; Equity; Equality and Inequality; Perception

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July 1997 (Revised June 2001)
Case

H.E. Butt Grocery Company: A Leader in ECR Implementation (B) (Abridged)

By: Robert D. Austin and F. Warren McFarlan

H.E. Butt Grocery Co. led the grocery industry in adopting many innovations, including category management, electronic data interchange, and continuous replenishment. They have also moved aggressively and profitably into newer applications such as Scanner-based payment... View Details

Keywords: Information Management; Independent Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Business Organization; Risk and Uncertainty; Science-Based Business; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Risk Management; Electronics Industry; Computer Industry

April 2018 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Maersk: Betting on Blockchain

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

In March 2018, international shipping giant Maersk is getting ready to debut a trade digitization platform. Maersk hopes the platform will help streamline global trade since shipping goods internationally is an extraordinarily complicated and inefficient process.... View Details

Keywords: Maersk; IBM; Blockchain; Shipping; Shipping Line; Trade; Bitcoin; Digitization; Container Shipping; Joint Ventures; Ship Transportation; Transportation Networks; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Applications and Software; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

04 Dec 2024
HBS Seminar

Mert Demirer, MIT Sloan School of Management

November 2014
Article

Government Green Procurement Spillovers: Evidence from Municipal Building Policies in California

By: Timothy Simcoe and Michael W. Toffel

We study how government green procurement policies influence private-sector demand for similar products. Specifically, we measure the impact of municipal policies requiring governments to construct green buildings on private-sector adoption of the U.S. Green Building... View Details

Keywords: Public Procurement; Green Building; Quality Certification; Environmental Policy; Buildings and Facilities; Environmental Sustainability; Policy; Government and Politics; Green Technology Industry; Public Administration Industry; California

November 2013 (Revised November 2014)
Case

Freemium Pricing at Dropbox

By: Thales Teixeira and Elizabeth Anne Watkins

Online storage company Dropbox provided remote-storage over the internet of any type of computer file, along with file sharing, synchronization and backup. Using a freemium pricing strategy whereby a basic service was free-of-charge and a premium service was paid,... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Price; Internet; Information Technology Industry