Publications

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

June 2009 (Revised June 2009)
Case

iPremier (A): Denial of Service Attack (Graphic Novel Version)

By: Richard Nolan, Robert D. Austin and Michael Parent

Describes an IT security crisis, and raises issues of risk management, preparation for crisis, management of crises, computer security, and public disclosure of security risks. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Crisis Management

19 Aug 2002
Research & Ideas

Here Comes Internet2—Time to Shed Dot Vertigo

business has had a skewed perception of information technology, Nolan observed. Business usually looks at IT as a way of automating transactions. Computers were imagined not to change the information structure of a business per se, but to... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

June 1975
Case

Marsh & McLennan (B)

Presents the results of a computer simulation of aircraft hull insurance. Discussion will focus on the interpretation of the results described. Designed to be handed out in class. Rewrite of an earlier supplement by P. Vatter. View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation; Insurance; Air Transportation Industry; Insurance Industry

June 2023 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Optimalen Capital

By: Malcolm Baker, Elisabeth Kempf and Jonathan Wallen

A new client portfolio manager at a quantitative investment management firm must explain why her firm, Optimalen Capital, has rebalanced a client portfolio with a set of trades that seem unintuitive. In particular, Optimalen has added to its position of Walmart (ticker... View Details

Keywords: Investments; CAPM; Capital Asset Pricing Model; Investment Portfolio; Asset Pricing; Stocks

TeachingInterests

Immersive Field Course: China and Taiwan

By: Willy C. Shih

I designed this course to enable students to examine cross-strait issues between the Peoples Republic of China and the Republic of China—(Taiwan) at a critical juncture. Many products produced for the global marketplace—televisions, computers and computer components,... View Details

Code.org

During a break after starting and selling several successful technology based startups, Hadi Partovi decided to make a short film to inspire students to learn computer science. “Code.org started as a hobby project,” Hadi said. “I had helped pay my way through... View Details

January 1997 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Computron, Inc. (2006)

By: John A. Quelch

In July 1996, Mr. Thomas Zimmermann, European Manager of Computron, must select a price for a new computer for his largest customer. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Price; Product; Europe

11 Feb 2019
Blog Post

John Bracaglia, MBA 2020: “I Want to Find the Machine Learning Strategy That Avoids the Pitfalls While Fulfilling the Promise.”

For John Bracaglia, his academic and professional careers have been driven by two themes: “machine learning and behavioral economics,” he says. “The two work together. Machine learning is about how computers understand information, while... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Entrepreneurship

January 2007
Exercise

Multifactor Models

By: Malcolm P. Baker

Students evaluate the performance of four mutual funds and compute the cost of capital for two companies using fixed benchmarks, the CAPM, and a multifactor model of returns. View Details

Keywords: Cost of Capital; Performance Evaluation; Business Model; Investment Funds; Investment Return; Motivation and Incentives; Markets

September 1991
Case

Rethinking the Corporate Workplace: Case Managers at Mutual Benefit Life

By: Robert G. Eccles Jr.

In early 1991, a spirit of innovation and organizational change was in the air at Mutual Benefit Life, with the success of the new "case manager" program its most concrete manifestation. Using powerful computer workstations, case managers could see insurance... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technological Innovation; Change Management; Information Technology; Insurance; Human Resources; Insurance Industry

Silvan Baier is a doctoral student in Organizational Behavior at HBS and the Department of Sociology at Harvard University. He studies how social structures shape and are shaped by the organization, spread, and evaluation of ideas and people. In his research, he... View Details

Jenny Wang

Jenny Shan Wang is a doctoral student in the Technology and Operations Management program at Harvard Business School (HBS). She is broadly interested in interpretable machine learning (ML), identity and inequality, and improving existing methods... View Details

1978
Article

Sequential Structure of Futures Markets and the Value of Improving Information: An Example

By: Jerry R. Green

In an example, the value of improving information is computed under alternative structures for the timing of futures markets. It is always beneficial if futures markets are active both before and after the information is revealed. View Details

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November 1993 (Revised July 1995)
Case

OfficePro (A)

By: John A. Quelch

The international procurement manager of an off-price office supply retail chain has to recommend which of several bids to accept for the right to supply computer diskettes to OfficePro's new French subsidiary. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Globalized Firms and Management; Business Subsidiaries; Supply Chain Management; Retail Industry; France

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