Publications

June 2007 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Opening Pandora's Box

By: Willy C. Shih, Stephen P. Kaufman, Melissa Marie Blakeley and Marissa Wairy Dent

Pandora.com provided a highly customizable online radio service tailored to listeners' musical preferences and had registered explosive growth since its September 2005 launch. But proposed changes in royalty rates threatened to kill off many Internet radio sites,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Disruptive Innovation; Intellectual Property; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Internet; Media and Broadcasting Industry

03 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 3, 2009

projects. When research activities are noncontractible, we show that it is optimal for the financing company to obtain the option right to terminate the research agreement while maintaining broad property rights to the terminated project.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Forthcoming
Article

How Important Is Editorial Gatekeeping? Evidence from Top Biomedical Journals

By: Joshua L. Krieger, Kyle R. Myers and Ariel D. Stern

We examine editors' influence on the scientific content of academic journals by unpacking the role of three major forces: journals' missions, aggregate supply of and demand for specific topics, and scientific homophily via editorial gatekeeping. In a sample of top... View Details

Keywords: Editors; Biomedical Research; Editorial Gatekeeping; Scientific Homophily; Intellectual Capital; Mission and Purpose; Journals and Magazines; Intellectual Property; Innovation and Invention; Human Capital; Higher Education; Publishing Industry

January 2013 (Revised February 2013)
Case

EverTrue: Mobile Technology Development (A)

By: William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell

Brent Grinna is evaluating different options for the technology development of his start-up's iPhone app, including hiring local programmers, finding a CTO, or outsourcing. He only has a little over two months before he presents his alumni networking app to Brown... View Details

Keywords: Start-up; Mobile App; oDesk; Outsourcing; CTO; Minimum Viable Product; App Development; Business Startups; Decisions; Entrepreneurship; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Intellectual Property; Product Development; Globalization; Technology Industry; Massachusetts; Boston; India

03 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 3, 2006

the footwear industry. So when a well-respected industry leader asked to talk about a merger, Cabot had to admit that with her "crisis of confidence," it might just be time. Purchase this case:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Mar 2016
First Look

March 29, 2016

Through contemporary examples from a variety of industries and geographies, this collection provides students with an appreciation for the importance of consumer empowerment and consumer behavior in shaping both health and corporate... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 1999 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Quickturn Design Systems, Inc. (D)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Katharina Pick

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Patents; Governing and Advisory Boards; Behavior; Lawsuits and Litigation; Organizations; Acquisition; Corporate Governance; Service Industry

Find at Harvard

April 2010
Teaching Note

Carrot or Stick? Getting Paid for Innovation at Tessera Technologies (TN)

By: Willy C. Shih

Teaching Note for 610085. View Details

Keywords: Patents; Production; Situation or Environment; Law Enforcement; Lawsuits and Litigation; Information Technology; Growth and Development; Innovation and Invention; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

March 2017 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Edwin Land: The Art and Science of Innovation

By: Tom Nicholas, Christopher T. Stanton and Matthew G. Preble

Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Polaroid first invented—and then continuously reinvented—the field of instant photography. Under the leadership of its mercurial founder Edwin Land, the company regularly released new instant cameras and films, often... View Details

Keywords: Instant Photography; Company History; Change Management; Disruption; Forecasting and Prediction; Entrepreneurship; Business History; Innovation Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Intellectual Property; Patents; Product Marketing; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Development; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; United States

17 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 17, 2007

turned their attention from local to more distant sources of news and entertainment. While the integration of media markets will raise the private welfare of many consumers, critics of a globalized information and entertainment industry... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

20 Sep 2016
First Look

September 20, 2016

distinctively African-American names are 16% less likely to be accepted relative to identical guests with distinctively White names. Discrimination occurs among landlords of all sizes, including small landlords sharing the property and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

Sorting Out the Patent Craze

The great thing about standards, tech industry pundit Andrew Tanenbaum once said, is that there are so many to choose from. In fact, standard setting organizations (SSOs) are the unsung heroes of the technology age. Without standards, Web... View Details

Keywords: by Sara Grant; Technology

26 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

A Better Way to Negotiate: Backward

technical and management team members. Now running desperately low on cash, Perlman had to contend with many potential deal partners, including VCs, angels, and industrial partners (as potential sources of cash); consumer electronics... View Details

Keywords: by James K. Sebenius

23 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 23, 2018

module boundaries and property rights can be used to capture a stream of rents. In this chapter I extend the functional mapping techniques developed in the last chapter to locate technical and strategic bottlenecks, modules, and View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

01 May 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, May 1, 2018

and examples of how it is impacting the food industry. Purchase this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/517064 Harvard Business School Case 218-085 Patent Trolling The U.S. Intellectual Property (IP) Ecosystem is one of the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Aug 2024
Book

Why Competing With Tech Giants Requires Finding Your Own Edge

significantly reduce their downside risks and quickly begin to benefit from the ecosystem. Ping An’s ecosystems. Ping An started as a thirteen-person small property and casualty insurance office in China’s southern city of Shenzhen in... View Details

Keywords: by Feng Zhu; Technology; Information Technology

23 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Management’s Role in Reforming Health Care

are used to good service from other industries and expect higher performance than they see on the delivery sector. They obviously worry a lot about whether their insurance will cover the medical services they need, but they are also... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Health

18 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 18

the ratings. Our tests examine whether these forms of disclosure reflect firms' real efforts to combat corruption or are cheap talk. We find that the ratings are related to enforcement and monitoring, country and industry corruption risk,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2011 (Revised December 2014)
Case

RentJuice

By: Thomas Eisenmann and Liz Kind

RentJuice, founded in mid-2008, provided a subscription software service—sold via phone and live online webinars—that allowed real estate professionals like brokers and agents to manage and market rental listings, communicate with clients, and complete transaction... View Details

Keywords: Renting or Rental; Product Launch; Applications and Software; Property; Business Startups; Salesforce Management; Product Marketing; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry