Publications

11 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

E-Commerce Unplugged

In this excerpt, Nohria and Leestma outline the challenges and rewards awaiting businesses that target the mobile-commerce customer. The best place to start? Develop a thorough knowledge of consumer behavior.The race for dominance in View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria & Marty Leestma

August 2024
Article

Heuristics on Call: The Impact of Mobile-Phone-Based Business-Management Advice

By: Shawn Cole, Mukta Joshi and Antoinette Schoar

There is growing evidence that business training for micro-entrepreneurs can be effective. However, in-person training can be expensive and imposes costs on the target beneficiaries. This paper presents the results of a two-site randomized evaluation of a light-touch,... View Details

Keywords: Training; Entrepreneurship; Mobile and Wireless Technology; India; Philippines

March 2018
Case

IBM: Watson and the Internet of Things

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

IBM has recently launched a business unit devoted to the Internet of Things. The group's leadership team needs to figure out the best way to quickly scale its business in a fragmented and nascent market. View Details

Keywords: IBM; Internet Of Things; Watson; Artificial Intelligence; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Industry

October 2012
Supplement

Vodafone's Position in the Wireless Telecom Industry in 2001

By: Juan Alcacer

Instructors may use the supplementary material "Vodafone's Position in the Wireless Telecom Industry in 2001" to demonstrate noticeable differences across countries in terms of: (1) WTP (suggested by the striking differences in ARPU); (2) payment methods (pre-paid vs.... View Details

Keywords: Telecommunications; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry; Japan

November 2017
Case

iRobot: Moving Beyond the Roomba

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

The makers of the Roomba, a robotic vacuum cleaner, connected the latest version of their product to the Internet. This new feature opened up a wealth of new opportunities and challenges for the company. View Details

Keywords: Irobot; Smart Home; Connected Home; Roomba; Vacuum; Mapping; Internet Of Things; Connected Products; Organizational Structure; Organizational Design; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States

26 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

New Winners and Losers in the Internet Economy

computer programmers. “Mobile is getting a lot of attention, but we're not seeing mobile as a big employer yet.” "You might go so far as to say that four or five years ago, the beneficiaries of the Internet economy were very large... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Publishing

November 2019 (Revised February 2022)
Teaching Note

Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL

By: Chiara Farronato and Sarah Mehta

Teaching Note for HBS No. 619-003. Set in March 2018, the Case follows ride-sharing company Uber as it develops and launches a new product called Express POOL. The Teaching Note offers guidance for instructors who wish to use the case either with or without its dataset... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Decision Making; Technology Industry; California; San Francisco

December 2019
Supplement

Korea Telecom: Building a GiGAtopia (B)

By: Shane Greenstein, Feng Zhu and Susie L. Ma

Keywords: Mobile and Wireless Technology; Infrastructure; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Korean Peninsula

October 2016 (Revised January 2020)
Case

All Traffic Solutions

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott F. Johnson

All Traffic Solutions traditionally sold traffic signs that collected vehicle data to cities. In recent years, the firm connected their signs to the internet and began selling software that enabled cities to operate their signs remotely and collect data in a more... View Details

Keywords: IoT; Internet Of Things; Smart Connected Products; All Traffic Solutions; Traffic; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Transportation; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States

02 Aug 2024
HBS Case

How a Mission to Cut Food Waste Launched a Multimillion-Dollar Venture

case. “I remember just being struck and thinking, ‘What are you doing?’” Soon afterward, Domingues began pitching his idea to grocery chains: Customers would use a mobile app to buy food at a discount before it got discarded. Customers... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Technology; Technology

03 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Facebook’s Future

machine that enables marketers to serve targeted messages on the basis of our email address or mobile phone number. But in 2024, technology will make possible real-time marketing possible. As we... View Details

Keywords: by Mikolaj Piskorski

09 Dec 2015
Research Event

When Hosts Attack: The Competitive Threat of Online Platforms

run on Microsoft’s Windows platform, was the dominant web browser in the 1990s until squashed by Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer. In February 2015 there was the launch of Meerkat, an app that lets users broadcast live streaming video through their View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology; Technology; Technology

July 2020
Technical Note

Digital Natives Growing Without a Sales Force

By: Das Narayandas, Michael Norris and Amram Migdal

This brief case describes the rise of so-called digital natives (also called born-in-digital) in the 2000s and 2010s that successfully grew without a sales force. The case highlights the emergence of business-to-business Internet and cloud-based companies and their... View Details

19 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

Codeacademy’s Delicate Work of Adding Monetization Without Crushing Mission

users. Not only does it teach a skill set (coding) that is increasingly in demand in the job market, but its users are so loyal and engaged that they have provided the bulk of the learning content themselves at no cost. Codecademy's community, a collection of View Details

Keywords: Re: Jeffrey J. Bussgang; Technology

February 2018
Case

Amazon, Google, and Apple: Smart Speakers and the Battle for the Connected Home

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

Amazon, Google, and Apple all offer their own smart speaker. The devices represent each firm's entry point into the connected home market. All three companies come into the space with their own strengths and weaknesses. Who will win? View Details

November 2019
Supplement

Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL

By: Chiara Farronato, Alan MacCormack and Sarah Mehta

This multimedia supplement accompanies the case “Innovation at Uber: the Launch of Express POOL” (case no. 619-003). Set in March 2018, the case follows ride-sharing company Uber as it develops and launches a new product called Express POOL. This multimedia supplement... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Technology Industry; California; San Francisco

14 Feb 2005
Research & Ideas

The World in Your Palm?

human physiology (typing is still difficult on a small keyboard), technology (battery life for a fully converged device might be in minutes, not hours), and human preference (would the iPod be as popular if it looked like a cell phone?).... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

16 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Resolving Patent Disputes that Impede Innovation

billions of dollars annually licensing patents for its code-division multiple access (CDMA) technology, which is the heart of several mobile communication standards. Standards bodies often act as regulators, setting rules in order to... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology; Technology

September 2007 (Revised October 2007)
Case

TA Associates - MetroPCS (A)

Hythem El-Nazer, a young investment professional at TA Associates, believes he has found an attractive investment opportunity for the firm, MetroPCS, a wireless telecomm service provider. However, two months earlier, TA had invested considerable resources on this... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Telecommunications Industry