Publications

December 1999
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A3): Network Computer: Robert Gianni on Answering the Skeptics

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

The concept behind the network computer (NC) at Sun Microsystems, Inc. was simple: bringing workstation performance to the desktop. Recent technological breakthroughs and changes in the marketplace made the NC project timely. But internal and external skeptics wondered... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Technology Adoption; Fluctuation; Risk and Uncertainty; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

Bharat N. Anand is the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning at Harvard University, and the Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

Professor Anand is an expert in digital strategy, media and... View Details

Keywords: broadcasting; entertainment; information; media; motion pictures; music; publishing industry; sports; television

June 2017
Article

Does Aggregated Returns Disclosure Increase Portfolio Risk Taking?

By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian

Many experiments have found that participants take more investment risk if they see returns less frequently, see portfolio-level returns (rather than each individual asset’s returns), or see long-horizon (rather than one-year) historical return distributions. In... View Details

Keywords: Information; Investment Portfolio; Investment Return

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November 2008
Case

Syngenta International AG: Tropical Sugar Beet

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Alwin R. Kopse

Syngenta has developed a new sugar beet crop especially useful to tropical climates that enable double cropping to take place and provide both food and energy from the soil. Thus both the governments of Colombia and India are enthused about the new technological... View Details

Keywords: Food; Government and Politics; Technological Innovation; Performance Improvement; Performance Productivity; Research and Development; Environmental Sustainability; Technology Adoption; India; Colombia

February 1999
Case

Tele-Communications, Inc. (A): Cascading Miracles

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

John Malone, CEO of Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI), the largest U.S. cable television company, is in the midst of a strategic and operational turnaround. TCI has been losing market share to direct-to-home satellite broadcasters, and Malone is considering a bold new... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Operations; Television Entertainment; Business Strategy; Volatility; Telecommunications Industry; United States

April 1994 (Revised September 1994)
Case

KENETECH Corporation

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Involves a strategic decision about how fast to ramp up sales. Improvements in technology have driven down the cost of electric power generated from wind turbines to the point where they are competitive with fossil-fuel plants. KENETECH needs to raise equity capital to... View Details

Keywords: Renewable Energy; Borrowing and Debt; Equity; Initial Public Offering; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Going Public; Sales; Competition; Energy Industry

03 May 2019
News

It’s All About Mindset

Web

PhD Programs - Doctoral

program has four areas of study: Accounting and Management , Marketing , Strategy , and Technology and Operations Management . All areas of study involve roughly two years... View Details

October 2018 (Revised August 2019)
Case

Everybody Knows: Russia and the Election

By: Rawi Abdelal, Rafael Di Tella and Galit Goldstein

Following a contentious presidential race, Donald Trump’s 2016 election destabilized America’s status quo. Academics, journalists, politicians and the public at large examined why Trump had won. Many Americans, inside and outside the government, asserted that a... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Industry; Strategic Alliances (Business); Business And Government; Business And Public Policy; Business And Society; Media Businesses; Media Content; Media Slant; Media Regulation; Internet Of Everything; Government Policy; Politics; Political Campaigns; Political Strategy; Political Turmoil; Government; Government Regulation; Security; International Business; International Relations; National Security; Political Elections; News; Media; Internet and the Web; Rights; Problems and Challenges; Globalization; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Government Legislation; Risk and Uncertainty; Cognition and Thinking; Conflict and Resolution; Identity; Civil Society or Community; Culture; Public Opinion; Social Issues; War; Social Media; Public Administration Industry; United States; Russia

October 1996
Case

Jim Bender and Alert, Inc. (A)

Jim Bender has just been hired as CEO of Alert, Inc. Alert, founded in 1986 by a charismatic technologist, has accumulated an impressive portfolio of patents and leading edge technology projects in a variety of fields. The company has never, however, shown a profit and... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Entrepreneurship; Management Skills; Business Startups; Technology Industry

03 Mar 2020
Cold Call Podcast

Do Universities Need 2U To Create Digital Education?

Keywords: Re: Karim R. Lakhani & Marco Iansiti; Education

September 2013
Article

Prizes, Publicity, and Patents: Non-Monetary Awards as a Mechanism to Encourage Innovation

By: Petra Moser and Tom Nicholas

This paper exploits the selection of prize-winning technologies among exhibitors at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 to examine whether—and how—ex post prizes that are awarded to high-quality innovations may encourage future innovation. U.S. patent data... View Details

Keywords: Prizes; Innovation; Motivation and Incentives; Patents; Innovation and Invention

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April 1998
Case

Geffen Records

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Geffen Records faces new challenges due to emerging technologies, namely, streaming audio and CD-recordable drives. These technologies have the ability to reshape the foundation on which the music industry is founded. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Change Management; Distribution Channels; Music Industry

April 1999
Teaching Note

Value Networks and the Impetus to Change: Managing Innovation: Overview Teaching Note for Module 1

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Provides instructors with an overview teaching note for the first module of the Managing Innovation course in which the disruptive technology framework is explored and used. Summarizes this framework and provides a brief synopsis of each of the cases used in the... View Details

Keywords: Change; Framework; Disruptive Innovation; Technology; Value

25 Mar 2022
Video

Omobola Johnson

Omobola Johnson, the former Minister of Communication Technology in Nigeria, discusses her participation in the co-founding of WimBiz, a Nigerian non-profit organization that seeks “to be the catalyst that elevates the status and influence of women and their... View Details

15 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 15

innovation, our results also help to explain why technological development was still robust following one of the largest shocks in the history of the U.S. banking system.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Jan 2017
Working Paper Summaries

The Ties that Bind: Railroad Gauge Standards, Collusion, and Internal Trade in the 19th Century US

Keywords: by Daniel P. Gross; Rail

June 1990 (Revised August 1990)
Supplement

Sun Microsystems, Inc.--1987 (B)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Describes a specific opportunity to seek financing from AT&T as part of a proposed technological joint venture. Students must consider the price paid and control rights attached to a large block of shares and outline a negotiating position for each side. View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Stock Shares; Financing and Loans; Price; Governance Controls; Rights; Negotiation; Opportunities; Computer Industry