Publications

June 2020
Teaching Note

Catalant's Operating System for the Future of Work

By: Christopher Stanton, William R. Kerr, James Palano and Kendall Smith

This case touches on the topics of project-based work, agile methodology, and skill and talent management through Catalant's evolution as a company. Catalant’s journey to becoming a software platform and talent marketplace provides context for students to explore new... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Transformation; Business Startups

2009
Working Paper

Informed and Interconnected: A Manifesto for Smarter Cities

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Stanley S. Litow

The need for a fresh approach to U.S. communities is more urgent than ever because of the biggest global economic crisis since the Great Depression. Through examination of the barriers to solving urban problems (and the ways they reinforce each other), this paper... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Investment; Urban Scope; Leadership; Safety; Civil Society or Community; Technology Networks; United States

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Research Summary

Competitive Dynamics of the Textile-Apparel-Retail Channel

By: Janice H. Hammond

Janice H. Hammond established in 1991 (with Frederick H. Abernathy and John Dunlop of Harvard University and David Weil of Boston University) the Harvard Center for Textile and Apparel Research. Funding provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has supported the... View Details

November 2016 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Lenovo to Buy IBM PC: Integration Challenges

By: David G. Fubini and Christine Snively

In December 2004, Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo announced its purchase of IBM’s PC division. At the time, few industry observers were optimistic about the merger of these entities with seemingly opposite company cultures. How should the two entities plan to... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Strategy; Organizational Culture; Computer Industry; Computer Industry; United States; China

18 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

When In-House Research Isn’t Enough

Advanced Management Program and a founding member of Intel. Now executive vice president of that corporation, he is also president of Intel Capital, a corporate venture capital unit investing in companies in this country and companies abroad whose new products and... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

September 1996
Case

Silicon Graphics, Inc. (B)

By: Marco Iansiti and Alan D. MacCormack

After the release of the "Challenge" computer in 1993, Silicon Graphics executives meet to discuss the follow-up project. Should they pursue an incremental improvement to the Challenge, or opt for a radically new design recently demonstrated at Stanford University? View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Technological Innovation; Management Practices and Processes; Product Development; Hardware; Computer Industry

October 2023 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Rheaply: Circularity For Every Business

By: Rembrand Koning and Alicia Dadlani

In March 2023, Garry Cooper, cofounder and CEO of Chicago-based Rheaply, needed to demonstrate that Rheaply’s expanded vision could translate into building cash flows and metrics needed to raise a Series B and turn the business into a model for financial and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Social Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Environmental Sustainability; Entrepreneurial Finance; Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Illinois; Chicago

December 2021 (Revised January 2023)
Supplement

Katerra (B)

By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn

In May 2020, SoftBank executives, having invested nearly $2 billion in Katerra, decided the vision of an end-to-end, vertically-integrated construction process was worth saving—with some major changes to company structure. The SoftBank Vision Fund invested $200 million... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Failure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Entrepreneurship; Construction; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States

21 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

What Machine Learning Teaches Us about CEO Leadership Style

performance. “Machine learning is able to utilize data that is both large in size, but also in a different form than what would traditionally fit into an Excel spreadsheet,” says Harvard Business School’s Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury, the Lumry Family Associate Professor... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

November 1990 (Revised September 1991)
Case

The Transformation of IBM

By: Andrall E. Pearson and David B. Yoffie

John Akers, IBM's chairman, must confront how to transform a $60 billion, full line, global computer company that is the leader in every market it serves, yet losing share across the board. The case explores senior management's perspective on the process of... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Corporate Strategy; Adoption; Management Teams; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Multinational Firms and Management; Computer Industry

23 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Partnering and the Balanced Scorecard

assets, including customer relationships; innovative products and services; high-quality and responsive operating processes; skills and knowledge of the workforce; the information technology that supports the workforce and links the firm... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton

March 2020
Case

Sizmek Chapter 11: Surviving Walled Gardens in Their Ad Tech Empire

By: Ayelet Israeli, Danilo Tauro and Sarah Gulick

This case provides a post-mortem of the advertising technology (adtech) company Sizmek. Sizmek grew via multiple acquisitions, with the vision of becoming an integrated adtech company that could leverage AI to buy digital media, while creating and serving display and... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Competition; Marketing; Advertising Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; Europe

April 2025
Case

Lisa Su and AMD (A)

By: Joshua D. Margolis, Matthew Preble and Dave Habeeb

This multimedia case study focuses on CEO Lisa Su’s turnaround and subsequent transformation of the technology company Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD). When Su accepted the top position in 2014, AMD was on the verge of collapse. Su focused on the company’s culture,... View Details

June 2011 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Reversing the AMD Fusion Launch

By: Elie Ofek and Ryan Johnson

AMD management needs to make a critical decision on the launch sequence of its next-generation technology called Fusion. The Fusion processor concept merges the central and graphics processing units (CPU and GPU) onto one chip-- yielding advantages in performance... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Performance Effectiveness; Strategic Planning; Competition; Value Creation; Computer Industry; Computer Industry

Karim R. Lakhani is the Dorothy & Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He specializes in technology management, innovation, digital transformation and artificial... View Details

Keywords: computer; computer; computer; computer; computer; computer; computer; computer; computer; computer

April 1993 (Revised May 1994)
Case

Prodigy Services Company (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine

Top executives of Prodigy Services Co. must decide how to respond when publicly accused of allowing anti-Semitic messages to be posted on the electronic bulletin boards of the company's interactive computer service. Can they defend free expression while at the same... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Communication Intention and Meaning; Information Technology; Decision Making; Law; Management Teams; Information Technology Industry