Publications

October 2003 (Revised January 2009)
Case

Transforming Matsui Securities

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Masako Egawa, Jamie Ladge and Haruki Umezawa

Michio Matsui, president and CEO of Matsui Securities, transformed a small regional securities company into a leading player in the online broking industry in Japan. Discusses how he transformed the business model and culture of the company and took advantage of the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Innovation and Invention; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Model; Organizational Culture; Financial Markets; Competitive Advantage; Japan

Keywords: Real Estate, Hotels, Diversified

February 2019 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Electric Car Wars, 2018

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

Electric cars had long been championed by environmentalists as a superior solution to the internal combustion engine (ICE), but, despite large government incentives and strong pioneering efforts by a few automakers over the years, electric and hybrid cars and light... View Details

August 2021 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Data Science at the Warriors

By: Iavor I. Bojinov and Michael Parzen

The case explores the development and early growth of a data science team at the Golden State Warriors, an NBA team based in San Francisco. The case begins by explaining the initial rationale for investing in data science, then covers a debate on the appropriate team... View Details

Keywords: Data Science; Digital Marketing; Analysis; Forecasting and Prediction; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Sports Industry; San Francisco; United States

07 Feb 2019
Book

How Big Companies Can Outrun Disruption

scale might actually be an advantage for innovation motivated me to write this book. Lagace: As you say, innovation is a broad term. What does it mean to you? Pisano: View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

18 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Industrial Decarbonization: Confronting the Hard Challenges of Cement

Cities like Cairo; Chongqing, China; Delhi; and Kinshasa, Congo are experiencing population explosions accompanied by unprecedented demand for homes, offices, factories, and infrastructure. In the United States, the Biden Administration’s policy-driven infrastructure... View Details

Keywords: by by Janelle Conaway; Green Technology; Energy; Industrial Products; Manufacturing

May 1994
Background Note

Managing Market Complexity: A Three-Ring Circus

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Proposes models of organization that address the various product-market environments posed by the product life cycle. Frames these changes along the two dimensions of uncertainty and diversity. Offers three sets of organizational characteristics to reflect the three... View Details

Keywords: Business Processes; Growth and Development Strategy; Complexity; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Product Marketing; Markets; Product

February 2005 (Revised November 2016)
Background Note

Forecasting the Adoption of a New Product

By: Elie Ofek

Provides tools and methodologies that allow forecasting demand for innovative new products. Highlights the Bass model—the theory behind it and ways to determine its parameters. Provides a detailed example of how to use the Bass model to forecast demand for satellite... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Innovation and Invention; Marketing; Demand and Consumers; Mathematical Methods; Competition

29 May 2019
News

A Study of More Than 250 Platforms Reveals Why Most Fail

2013
Article

Industry Equilibrium with Open-Source and Proprietary Firms

By: Gaston Llanes and Ramiro de Elejalde

We present a model of industry equilibrium to study the coexistence of open-source and proprietary firms. Two novel aspects of the model are (i) participation in open source arises as the optimal decision of profit-maximizing firms, and (ii) open-source and proprietary... View Details

Keywords: Open Source Distribution; Balance and Stability; Software; Knowledge Management; Supply and Industry; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Research and Development; Cooperation

January 2002 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Computer Associates International, Inc.

In late 2000, Computer Associates (CA) changed its business model and the way it recognized revenue, ostensibly to better serve its stakeholders. The new subscription-based license model offered customers greater flexibility. Clients could subscribe to any CA software... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Valuation; Corporate Disclosure; Revenue Recognition; Corporate Governance; Technology Industry

October 1997 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Oxford Health Plans: Specialty Management (A)

By: James L. Heskett, Jody H. Gittell and James Slayton

Describes an innovative approach to organizing health care proposed by Oxford CEO Steve Wiggins. Wiggins contends that the primary care physician "gatekeeper" model typically used by health maintenance organizations to control access to and coordinate specialist care... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Groups and Teams; Innovation and Management; Medical Specialties; Health Care and Treatment; Cooperation; Management Teams; Health Industry; United States

In less than a decade, the Internet went from being a series of loosely connected networks used by universities and the military to the powerful commercial engine it is today. This book describes how many of the key innovations that made this possible came from... View Details

29 Jan 2021
Op-Ed

How Influencers, Celebrities, and FOMO Can Win Over Vaccine Skeptics

responders and vulnerable populations, and then the general population. The diffusion of innovations model indicates that each of these groups will have five customer segments based on their willingness to... View Details

Keywords: by Rohit Deshpandé, Ofer Mintz, and Imran S. Currim

June 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Betting on Green Steel

By: George Serafeim and Sofoklis Melissovas

'Betting on Green Steel' traces the innovative journey embarked upon by a group of MBA students who have set out to conceive a novel steelmaker that pioneers the production of green steel. The ensemble is confronted with a series of critical choices that will shape the... View Details

Keywords: Decarbonization; Sustainability Management; Technology; Industrialization; Climate Risk; Energy; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Technology Adoption; Climate Change; Innovation and Invention; Business Strategy; Family Business; Steel Industry; Middle East; India

March 2011
Article

The New M&A Playbook

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Richard Alton, Curtis Rising and Andrew Waldeck

Companies spend more than $2 trillion on acquisitions every year, yet the M&A failure rate is between 70% and 90%. Executives can dramatically increase their odds of success, the authors argue, if they understand how to select targets, how much to pay for them, and... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Model; Disruptive Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Integration

July 2021
Case

Y Combinator

By: John R. Wells

Y Combinator (YC) was a business startup accelerator based in Mountain View, California. Originally founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2005, by 2021, YC listed 2,830 companies amongst its alumni. More than 80% of these companies were still active, had been... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Growth and Development; Business Startups; Decisions; Strategy