Publications

July 2019
Case

Instabeat—One More Lap?

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Nicole Tempest Keller and Alpana Thapar

This case follows Lebanese entrepreneur, Hind Hobeika, an engineer and competitive swimmer who spends seven years trying to launch a wearable heartrate monitor and motion sensor to help swimmers track their performance while swimming. While the Beirut-based... View Details

Keywords: Startup; Manufacturing; Prototyping; Female Protagonist; Business Startups; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Design; Organizational Culture; United States; Lebanon

01 Dec 2000
News

Vivek Ranadivé

provides the infrastructure (or"middleware") that makes e-commerce work across disparate computer systems. His meaning, however, is just the opposite.. "The concept of e-business will disappear because every business will be an... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Information; Information; Information; Information; Information; Information; Information; Information; Information; Information

September 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

RightHand Robotics: Choosing the First Market

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Stacy Straaberg

In early 2015, RightHand Robotics’s (RHR) leadership faced a set of decisions in commercializing the startup’s robotic picking solution. RHR’s central product was the RightPick integrated robotic picking system which featured a robotic arm, a three-fingered robotic... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Market Entry and Exit; Product; Research and Development; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Information Infrastructure; Technological Innovation; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts

Fast Answer

Emerging Market/Frontier Market Fellowship Resources

worldwide from Euromonitor International. EMIS (Emerging Markets Information System) - Current country and company information emerging markets in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East. Use country-specific... View Details

29 Sep 2022
News

Securing a Resilient Future for Senegal

industry. The plan’s design was guided by several key outcomes: saving jobs; protecting businesses with liquidity and fiscal incentives; building tech infrastructure to support work-from-home initiatives; providing basic food and View Details

Keywords: Maureen Harmon

September 2004 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Otis Elevator: Accelerating Business Transformation with IT

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Brian DeLacey

Focuses on a major transformation of Otis Elevator's infrastructure. Led by the CEO, this transformation represents a remarkable long-term reengineering of all the processes of the firm to drive its operating costs down and service image up. The transformation is the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Cost Management; Infrastructure; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology

01 Dec 2016
News

Managing Change

In his previous role in Executive Education, Narayandas oversaw a transformation of its portfolio of programs and the facilities and infrastructure that support it. “By fostering careful growth—including via blended programs that draw on... View Details

15 Nov 2018
News

Don’t Be Afraid of AI

disease fighting. There are just a million areas where, you know, they're still looking for help on solving problems with a lot of data and we think we can help there. You know, we've had these infrastructure things, bad things happen,... View Details

Keywords: Computer Systems Design and Related Services; Professional Services

November 2020 (Revised September 2021)
Case

HP Instant Ink: (Self) Disrupting the Consumer Printing Market

By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini, Oded Koenigsberg and George Gonzalez

Seeking to disrupt the consumer printing market (before being disrupted by others), and in response to customer pain points, in 2013 HP Inc. launched an ink replenishment service called Instant Ink, where customers pay a monthly subscription fee based on the number of... View Details

Keywords: Printing; Ink; Subscription Model; Customers; Information Infrastructure; Service Delivery; Business Model; Disruption; Growth and Development Strategy

May 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Symyx Technologies, Inc.

By: H. Kent Bowen, Courtney Purrington and Thomas D. Perry

Symyx is a science-based company spun out of Berkeley. Its unique materials technology has been exploited for 10 years, but the company needs a new business model. The company concept required the invention of hardware and software to do high throughput materials... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Transition; Engineering; Technological Innovation; Resource Allocation; Product Development; Partners and Partnerships; Science-Based Business; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software

Find at Harvard

01 Mar 2025
News

Alumni and Faculty Books

degrees today) to safe, secure, stimulating indoor jobs that provided the infrastructure for society that was necessary for the Modern Era to come about. For so short a book on medieval history, it pays close attention to the... View Details

01 Dec 2017
News

Global Perspectives

vest) tour the Reppie Waste-to-Energy project under construction near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — the first of its kind in Africa. (photo by John Macomber) Those interested in understanding how to successfully build complicated infrastructure... View Details

November 1999 (Revised April 2002)
Case

International Business Machines Corporation (B)

By: David F. Hawkins

IBM changes pension plan from a defined benefit plan to a cash-balance plan. Teaching purpose: To understand pension accounting. View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Transformation; Business Earnings; Private Sector; Personal Finance; Cash; Information Infrastructure; Taxation; Computer Industry; Accounting Industry

March 1991 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Kyocera Corp.

By: John P. Kotter

Examines the three factors critical to this company's remarkable success in the high tech field. The first factor is the founder, Dr. Inamori's powerful leadership. The second is the strong corporate culture or philosophy of the firm. The third element in Kyocera's... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Information Infrastructure; Leadership Style; Management Systems; Management Style; Organizational Culture; Practice; Profit; Planning; Technology Industry; Electronics Industry

01 Jun 2002
News

Africa Business Conference Creates Ongoing Forum for Change

senior associate dean for International Development, welcomed the SRO crowd in Aldrich with a smile, noting, “I'm very pleased with our market share.” Despite the challenges posed by a developing infrastructure and bouts of political... View Details

April 2005 (Revised March 2007)
Case

eAccess, Ltd.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Masako Egawa and Ariko Ota

The managers of eAccess, Japan's third largest provider of digital subscriber line (DSL) service, must decide whether to enter the mobile communications business. Japan's mobile services are among the world's most expensive, and incumbent carriers' profits are high. To... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Diversification; Policy; Business Startups; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Communications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Japan