Publications

June 2001 (Revised February 2005)
Background Note

Creative Destruction of Industrial Age Management Principles and Creative Construction of Information Age Management Principles

By: Richard L. Nolan

Traces the creative destruction of industrial age management principles and creative construction of new management principles more appropriate for the information age. Includes self-administered questionnaire to permit managers to assess the status of the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Disruptive Innovation; Goals and Objectives; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Personal Development and Career; System; Information Technology

Find at Harvard

November 2021
Supplement

Ant Group (B)

By: Krishna G. Palepu, Feng Zhu and Susie L. Ma

Keywords: Information Technology; Value Creation; Network Effects; Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Technology Industry; Financial Services Industry; China

February 9, 2015
Article

Uber Needs Our Permission to Grow

By: Derek C. M. van Bever

And it's realizing that now. View Details

Keywords: Business Law; Growth Strategy; Regulation; Law; Disruptive Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Transportation Industry; Service Industry

Register to Read

21 May 2019
Cold Call Podcast

If the Key to Business Success Is Focus, Why Does Amazon Work?

Keywords: Re: Sunil Gupta; Retail

02 May 2005
What Do You Think?

Where is Consumer Generated Marketing Taking Us?

foster disruptive innovation. I was under the impression that ... true disruption would be generated less by popular demand than by hard radical thinking." Flavius Chircu suggested that if we regard... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

19 Nov 2019
Op-Ed

Gender Bias Complaints against Apple Card Signal a Dark Side to Fintech

Apple Card marked another significant innovation in access to financial services. Fast forward two months, and Apple Card may now find its place in history for a less positive reason—the dark side of the technological revolution rearing... View Details

Keywords: by Karen G. Mills; Financial Services

September 2014
Supplement

Netflix: Designing the Netflix Prize (B)

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Wesley M. Cohen, Kynon Ingram, Tushar Kothalkar, Maxim Kuzemchenko, Santosh Malik, Cynthia Meyn, Stephanie Healy Pokrywa and Greta Friar

This supplemental case follows up on the Netflix Prize Contest described in Netflix: Designing the Netflix Prize (A). In the A case, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings must decide how to organize a crowdsourcing contest to improve the algorithms for Netflix's movie... View Details

Keywords: Crowdsourcing; Prizes; Digitization; Algorithms; Recommendation Software; Disruption; Transformation; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Sharing; Applications and Software

September 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Mobile Banking for the Unbanked

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Katharine Lee

The case describes in detail the workings of two mobile banking operators in Africa—WIZZIT in South Africa and M-PESA in Kenya. It explores the dimensions of strategy that make for success in the market for the unbanked. It raises questions regarding the portability of... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Financial Institutions; Disruptive Innovation; Marketing Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Banking Industry; Kenya; South Africa

January 2022
Supplement

Somatus: Value-Based Kidney Care (B)

By: Ariel D. Stern, Robert S. Huckman and Sarah Mehta

Set in early 2020, this (B) case provides an update to the (A) case (no. 622-009) and provides additional context regarding the challenges facing Somatus. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Medical Specialties; Innovation and Invention; Disruptive Innovation; Management; Strategy; Business Strategy; Value; Value Creation; Health Industry; United States; Virginia

August 2001
Case

Aurora Health Care: Finding "a Better Way"

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Kevin M. Dwyer

The largest hospital system in Wisconsin is trying to respond to new threats from nontraditional care providers. This case presents the hospital's dilemma as it tries to create change from within. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Strategy; SWOT Analysis; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry

September 1999 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Roadside Attractions LLC

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, John T. Gourville and Nicole Tempest

Eric d'Arbeloff, producer of independent films, must decide between two offers for distribution of his new movie, "Trick." The case tracks the assembly of resources and the effects of technological change in the film business. View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Distribution; Technological Innovation; Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Film Entertainment; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Find at Harvard

February 2010 (Revised January 2014)
Case

Tennant Company

By: Toby E. Stuart, Lynda M. Applegate and James Weber

Tennant, a leading producer of floor cleaning equipment, must determine how to create, finance, structure, staff, govern, measure, and manage a new venture for developing a fundamentally new product line. In 2005, Tennant Company had developed an innovative,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Change Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Disruptive Innovation; Product Development; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Research and Development

November 1999 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Red Hat and the Linux Revolution

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Kerry Herman

The case describes the history of the Linux operating system and the open-source movement in general. Focuses on a critical decision being made by Red Hat, the largest distributor of Linux, about its future development efforts. The decision allows students to explore... View Details

Keywords: Open Source Distribution; Applications and Software; Product Development; Change Management; Research and Development; Business Processes; Disruptive Innovation; Information Technology Industry; North Carolina

25 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

10 Reasons Customers Might Resist Windows 8

Disappointment of 2007.) "Microsoft has had problems in the past," Kanter says. "The company tries so hard to do something disruptive, but then all it accomplishes is getting disruptive to users." 10. Sometimes the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Computer; Consumer Products

02 Jan 2008
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Stories 2007

in digital distribution. Jumpstarting Innovation: Using Disruption to Your Advantage Fostering innovation in a mature company can often seem like a swim upstream—the needs of the existing business often... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

June 2007 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Opening Pandora's Box

By: Willy C. Shih, Stephen P. Kaufman, Melissa Marie Blakeley and Marissa Wairy Dent

Pandora.com provided a highly customizable online radio service tailored to listeners' musical preferences and had registered explosive growth since its September 2005 launch. But proposed changes in royalty rates threatened to kill off many Internet radio sites,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Disruptive Innovation; Intellectual Property; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Internet; Media and Broadcasting Industry

October 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Background Note

Book Publishing in 2010

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Nancy Bartlett

Legacy book publishers wrangled with ebook retailers over royalty rates, release strategy, and distribution rights as customer demand for cheaper ebooks eroded publishers' profitable print formats. E-readers like Kindle, as well as Apple's iPad that invigorated the... View Details

Keywords: Price; Information Publishing; Books; Disruptive Innovation; Demand and Consumers; Distribution; Strategy; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Publishing Industry