Publications

October 2013 (Revised April 2015)
Case

Myomo: Getting Sales in Motion

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Shikhar Ghosh and Matthew Preble

In late 2012, the management team of Myomo, a startup which had designed a unique myoelectric arm brace for patients with dysfunctional arms, was deciding which of the three sales models the company had tested to pursue as its sales strategy going forward. Each model... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Marketing Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Sales; Growth and Development Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry

October 1996 (Revised May 1998)
Case

Presenting PenPoint (A)

Containing excerpts from Jerry Kaplan's best-selling book, Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure, this case begins with Kaplan's idea for developing a handheld, pen-operated computer. It follows Kaplan, who becomes the CEO of GO Corp., as he goes on the road to sell his... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Entrepreneurship; Product Marketing; Computer Industry; United States

01 May 2020
News

A Pandemic Won’t Kill the Open Office, but Slack Could

October 2017 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Snap Inc. Goes Public (A)

By: Lynn Sharp Paine and Will Hurwitz

Snap Inc.’s chairman must decide how to address investor concerns about the company’s unprecedented plans to issue only non-voting shares in its upcoming IPO. The case is set in early 2017 following the public availability of Snap’s IPO filing with the U.S. Securities... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Capital Structure; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Going Public; Business and Shareholder Relations; Leadership; Management; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Venture Capital; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; California

19 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 19, 2018

much more limited application. Early diffusion was accordingly rapid in these narrower applications but limited in scope until tractor technology generalized. The sequence of diffusion is consistent with a model of research and... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Web

Lifelong Learning - Alumni

Career Management Climate Change Diversity and Inclusion Economy, Government Entrepreneurship Finance and Operations Governance and Boards Happiness, Purpose and Meaning Health Care Management and Leadership Marketing and Communications Navigating Work and Life... View Details

05 Sep 2023
Book

Failing Well: How Your ‘Intelligent Failure’ Unlocks Your Full Potential

goal that requires breaking new ground and is not just retreading work that’s already been done, such as a copycat drug or a technology that’s similar to another one on the market. “There is no new knowledge to produce the results you... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

31 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

Where Can Digital Transformation Take You? Insights from 1,700 Leaders

is not for the fainthearted. Most of us know how to drive—we have the basics—but we recognize we are ill-prepared to race against world-class competitors. While data and digital technologies were once enablers of efficiency and... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards

April 2001
Supplement

Acer America: Development of the Aspire

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Consists of five segments. Segment 1 shows Culver and Pai discussing the tensions between Taiwan and the United States and the resulting performance problems with Aspire; Segment 2 features Culver and Shih describing the changes Acer made as a result of the problems... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Transformation; Forecasting and Prediction; Marketing Strategy; Outcome or Result; Problems and Challenges; Information Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Computer Industry; Taiwan; United States

28 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 28

of developing its third set of 10‐year goals, with the aim of producing a plan that will ensure the viability of the company 50 years from now. With this end in mind, Dow's leaders understand their obligation to continue investing in the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2021 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Shopify: The Conquest for Chinese E-Commerce

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Avani Patel, Samantha Lin and Ariel Yang

In mid-2020, Tobias Lütke, CEO of Shopify, faced a critical decision on how to time potential expansion into the China market. Over the prior 15 years, his Canadian software-as-a-service company had grown from a small e-commerce solutions provider to a full service... View Details

Keywords: information technology industry; information technology industry; information technology industry; information technology industry; information technology industry; information technology industry; information technology industry; information technology industry; information technology industry; information technology industry

JOSEPH L. BOWER, Donald K. David Professor Emeritus, has been a leader in general management at Harvard Business School for 51 years. He also served on the faculty of the Harvard Kennedy School during its first decade. He has served in many administrative roles... View Details

November 2018 (Revised June 2019)
Case

ofo

By: Mitchell Weiss

Dai Wei and his co-founders grew Beijing-based ofo from a school-based startup to a bike-share behemoth in a matter of months, topped an all-out market-share battle fueled with almost $1 billion in venture capital, provided 2 billion bicycle rides, soaked up the... View Details

05 Dec 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, December 5, 2017

R&D Failures By: Krieger, Joshua Lev Abstract— I analyze project continuation decisions where firms may resolve uncertainty through news about competitors' failures as well as through their own results. I examine the trade-offs and interactions between... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age

senior executives at their organizations have the right mindset and skills to lead in the digital era. Those closer to the nuts and bolts of digital functions—the chief technology officers, chief information officers, and chief digital... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards; Technology

12 Jan 2022
News

Harvard Business School’s Bold Agenda

Web

Value-Based Health Care - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

the correct provider, treatment, and setting. Geography of Care National centers of excellence providing care for exceedingly complex patients. Information Technology An information technology system... View Details

03 Oct 2013
News

Who Wants to Buy BlackBerry? Prem Watsa Does

August 2017 (Revised December 2018)
Case

Tamarin App: Natural Language Processing

By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler

In this case, students explore the challenges of using sentiment analysis to monitor and understand public perception around a software application, Tamarin SEO App. Technical topics include building a filtering classifier using naive Bayes and sentiment analysis This... View Details

Keywords: Data Science; Branding; Data Analytics; Analytics and Data Science; Brands and Branding; Analysis; Perception; Planning