Publications

September 6, 2022
Article

Creating a Platform for Costless Personalization in Clothing

By: Shane Greenstein

This study analyzes the role of co-invention in the creation of a platform for print-on-demand-clothing, or PODC. Co-invention is the invention of a new business process to complement new technology, and turn it into a valuable commercial service. PODC copies a design... View Details

Keywords: Print-on-demand-clothing; Customization and Personalization; Digital Platforms; Apparel and Accessories Industry

Read Now

September 1995
Teaching Note

Mrs. Fields' Cookies TN

By: Richard L. Nolan

Teaching Note for (9-189-056). View Details

Keywords: Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

13 Dec 2016
First Look

December 13, 2016

institutional accounts (that are not subject to the reporting requirements) at the exact same quarter-end dates. Moreover, the returns to these cloaked trades continue to accrue over the subsequent quarter and do not reverse in the following year, implying that these... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

June 2013 (Revised August 2013)
Case

AVA.ph: Growing a Filipino E-Commerce Company

By: William R. Kerr and Henry Motte-Munoz

AVA is a three-year old e-commerce company in the Philippines. From its early start mimicking the Gilt Groupe concept of online flash sales, the company has grown into a broader e-commerce platform for local fashion commerce. Oliver Segovia needs to evaluate where AVA... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Business Growth and Maturation; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Fashion Industry; Fashion Industry; Philippines

December 1999
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A4): Sun Peak: Helen Yang and Mark Walden on "Running Sun on Sun"

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

SunPeak was the largest project Sun Microsystems, Inc. had ever undertaken: shifting Sun's entire business transaction system from a mainframe-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to a Sun-based system. Making the shift would be complicated and financially... View Details

Keywords: Projects; Transformation; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Complexity; Risk and Uncertainty; Success; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

April 1994 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Frito-Lay, Inc.: A Strategic Transition (1990-1992)

By: Lynda M. Applegate

Describes the changes in structure, management systems, people, and processes instituted by the company. Provides students with an opportunity to explore the nature of "IT-enabled" organizational change and the process through which it is implemented. Also enables a... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology; Business Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry

23 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: ‘Talk, Inc.’

authors The I's Have It From Talk, Inc.: How Trusted Leaders Use Conversation to Power Their Organizations By Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind Organizational conversation, in our use of the term, applies to the full range of patterns and processes by which View Details

Keywords: Re: Boris Groysberg

19 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

How Mercadona Fixes Retail’s ’Last 10 Yards’ Problem

Imagine a retail chain that offers customers not only the lowest prices but also personalized customer service. Employees receive above-average wages and 20 times more training than the average American retailer. Sounds like a recipe for retail suicide, especially in... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Food & Beverage

June 2004 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Cox Communications, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Jonathan Gibbons

Cox Communications, the third largest U.S. cable television system operator, is confronting strategy decisions in mid-2004. Cox managers must decide whether to speed its deployment of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which offers capital and operating costs savings... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Information Technology; Competition; Product Development; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

March 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Supplement

Ant Financial (D)

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

The (D) case updates the case series from the time of Ant’s planned IPO, and the Chinese government’s regulatory shifts. View Details

Keywords: Finance; Information Technology; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; China; Beijing

May 2021 (Revised February 2024)
Teaching Note

THE YES: Reimagining the Future of E-Commerce with Artificial Intelligence (AI)

By: Ayelet Israeli and Jill Avery

THE YES, a multi-brand shopping app launched in May 2020 offered a new type of buying experience for women’s fashion, driven by a sophisticated algorithm that used data science and machine learning to create and deliver a personalized store for every shopper, based on... View Details

01 Mar 2023
News

The Exchange: Micro Management

on soft information could transform how we think about which entrepreneurs to target with larger or more flexible loans. Are these findings making their way into practice? Roth: Not very quickly, so we are working with a microfinance... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Finance

03 Oct 2023
Blog Post

Hire an MBA: The Benefits and Misconceptions for Startups

skills Students gain exposure to a diverse set of industries and functions through the case method, which makes them a great addition to startups where working across functions is part of the environment. In the first year, the HBS... View Details

Keywords: All Industries; All Industries

Web

Loan Assistance Programs - Alumni

evidence of potential for a successful match between the applicant and the job, and applicant’s ability to succeed in that job. Commitment and long-term goals: Applicant's commitment to the relevant industry or sector as well as the... View Details

01 Dec 2021
What Do You Think?

How Will the Metaverse Affect Productivity?

in a U-Stor-It container in Inglewood, California. After losing his day job, he turns to his “auxiliary emergency backup job” as a “freelance stringer for the CIC, the Central Intelligence Corporation of Langley, Virginia.” He, along with thousands of others, uploads... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

March 2024 (Revised April 2025)
Case

TELEXISTENCE Inc.

By: Paul A. Gompers and Akiko Saito

A case about a Japanese robotics startup aiming to enter the U.S. market with its robots that combine AI and human intervention to complete restocking tasks in retail stores. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Market Entry and Exit; Technology Adoption; Decisions; AI and Machine Learning; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; Japan; United States