Publications

February 2023
Case

Roblox: Virtual Commerce in the Metaverse

By: Ayelet Israeli and Nicole Tempest Keller

In 2022, Roblox had 58.8 million daily active users, including over half of all children and teens under the age of 16 in the United States. Roblox, a free-to-use “co-experience platform”, allowed users to come together in immersive 3D experiences to socialize, work,... View Details

December 2023 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Monsters in the Machine? Tackling the Challenge of Responsible AI

By: Paul M. Healy and Debora L. Spar

In November of 2022, the small tech company OpenAI released ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot which quickly captured the public’s imagination—becoming the world’s fastest-growing consumer application within months of its release. Though observers from across... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning; Ethics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Technology Adoption; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Technology Industry; United States; European Union; China

January 1995 (Revised November 1996)
Case

Avalon Information Services, Inc.

By: Lynn S. Paine and Wilda White

The Privacy Review Committee of Avalon Information Services must decide how to deal with concerns voiced by its retail supermarket customers about the privacy of consumer data collected through Avalon's point-of-sale data collection program. One customer is proposing... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Safety; Demand and Consumers; Rights; Analytics and Data Science; Information Technology; Ethics; Information Industry

05 Nov 2024
Research & Ideas

AI Can Help Leaders Communicate, But Can't Make Employees Listen

If a chatbot can Slack convincingly in the boss’s voice, will employees follow orders once they realize the CEO is actually a machine? A novel two-part study finds that an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot trained to write like a View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Information Technology; Information Technology

June 2004 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Rambus Inc., 2004

By: David B. Yoffie and Deborah Freier

Examines the role of technology licensing in strategies for high-technology companies. In the 1990s, Rambus developed a revolutionary memory technology that would improve the ability of DRAMs to keep pace with ever-faster microprocessors. To commercialize the... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Lawsuits and Litigation; Strategic Planning; Relationships; Commercialization; Competition; Technology Adoption; Value; Semiconductor Industry

Summer 2018
Article

Why High-Tech Commoditization Is Accelerating

By: Willy C. Shih

Knowledge embedded within state-of-the-art production and design tools is a powerful force that is leveling the global technology playing field. It democratizes innovation and makes future competition more challenging. This paper describes the knowledge flows through... View Details

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December 2022
Case

Taylor Farms: Adding Value to Fresh Produce

By: José B. Alvarez, Forest L. Reinhardt, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Pedro Levindo

In October 2022, Bruce Taylor (HBS MBA, 1981), Chairman and CEO of Taylor Farms, the leading producer of salads and healthy fresh foods in the United States, wondered whether this was the right time for Taylor Farms to venture into the Controlled Environment... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Cost vs Benefits; Logistics; Environmental Sustainability; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

2017
Chapter

Platforms, Open/User Innovation, and Ecosystems: A Strategic Leadership Perspective

By: Elizabeth J. Altman and Michael Tushman

Platform, open/user innovation, and ecosystem strategies embrace and enable interactions with external entities. Firms pursuing these approaches conduct business and interact with environments differently than those pursuing traditional closed strategies. This chapter... View Details

Keywords: Platforms; Open/user Innovation; Ecosystems; Crowdsourcing; Strategic Leadership; Top Management Teams; CEO Role; Business Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Managerial Roles; Digital Platforms

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Suraj Srinivasan is the Philip J. Stomberg Professor of Business Administration, a member of the Accounting and Management faculty unit, and chair of the View Details

Keywords: accounting industry; financial services

2020
Working Paper

Hospital Allocation and Racial Disparities in Health Care

By: Amitabh Chandra, Pragya Kakani and Adam Sacarny

We develop a simple framework to measure the role of hospital allocation in racial disparities in health care and use it to study Black and white Medicare patients who are treated for heart attacks—a condition where virtually everyone receives care, hospital care is... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Equality and Inequality; Race; Analysis

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Research Summary

Overview

The focus of Professor Gross’ research agenda is U.S. technological innovation, innovation policy, and the effects of technological change on economic activity. He is also interested in learning about what drives individual creative behavior. Methodologically, he is... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Technological Innovation; Innovation and Management; Technology Adoption; United States

18 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 18

J.C. Cuddy, Caroline A. Wilmuth, and Dana R. Carney Abstract The current experiment tested whether changing one's nonverbal behavior prior to a high-stakes social evaluation could improve performance in the evaluated task. Participants View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Sep 2021
News

Harvard Business School Study Says Software Overlooks Millions Of Qualified Job Candidates: Here’s How To Fight Back Against The Bots

November 1999
Case

IBM Ireland: Reinventing Education Crosses the Atlantic

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and John R. R Scannell

IBM has just launched an innovation partnership with the Irish Ministry of Education to bring information technology to Irish schools. Wired for Learning was developed in the United States; how well will it be applied in Ireland? View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Partners and Partnerships; Innovation Strategy; Education; Technology Adoption; Government and Politics; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Republic of Ireland

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December 2024
Supplement

5G Networks (B)

By: Andy Wu, Levi Stroud and Ruth Page

Pre-Abstract: This multimedia case should be assigned to students in advance of class. Instructors should consider the timing of making the B and C video available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

Abstract: Featuring Ajit Pai, Former... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States

2010
Working Paper

Venture Capital Investment in the Clean Energy Sector

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Ramana Nanda

We examine the extent to which venture capital is adequately positioned for the rapid commercialization of clean energy technologies in the United States. While there are several startups in clean energy that are well-suited to the traditional venture capital... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Energy Generation; Venture Capital; Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Technological Innovation; Competition; Green Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States

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16 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Weighing Digital Tradeoffs in Private Equity

road,” he says. “At this time, PE firms are finding that there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit in terms of digital value creation, especially in smaller and mid-sized companies. PE firms bring in digitally savvy operating partners who can help their portfolio companies... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

January 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Rural Taobao: Alibaba's Expansion into Rural E-Commerce

By: Tarun Khanna, Ryan Allen, Adam Frost and Wesley Koo

Alibaba's Rural Taobao initiative had been launched in 2014 as a public service initiative to increase e-commerce adoption in China’s remote rural areas. In the first two iterations of the initiative, dubbed “1.0” and “2.0,” Alibaba had partnered with local businesses... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Growth; Ecommerce; Corporate Social Responsibility; Business And Government; Emerging Market; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Emerging Markets; Rural Scope; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Decision Making; E-commerce; China