Publications

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September 2011 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Building Watson: Not So Elementary, My Dear!

By: Willy Shih

This case is set inside IBM Research's efforts to build a computer that can successfully take on human challengers playing the game show Jeopardy! It opens with the machine named Watson offering the incorrect answer "Toronto" to a seemingly simple question during the... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Standards; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mathematical Methods; Research and Development; Information Technology

November 2007 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Mubadala: Forging Development in Abu Dhabi

By: Rawi E. Abdelal and Irina Tarsis

In 2007, Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, the CEO of Mubadala Development Company (Mubadala), had every reason to be optimistic about the future of his home, Abu Dhabi, one of the emirates comprising the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The tiny, sandy, and dry emirate with a... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Economy; Non-Renewable Energy; Globalization; Leading Change; State Ownership; Diversification; Abu Dhabi

Research Summary

Overview

By: Joshua Lev Krieger

In examining the competitive dynamics of R&D strategy, Josh has become particularly interested in how the introduction of new knowledge generated by rivals impacts the direction of R&D efforts. Understanding how new information alters project portfolio decisions is... View Details

December 2018 (Revised May 2021)
Background Note

Making UK Energy Smarter

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

This case describes the history of the United Kingdom's domestic energy industry and the country's efforts to create a more competitive, greener, and distributed power sector. On July 24, 2017, the United Kingdom government and the industry regulator, the Office of Gas... View Details

December 2022 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Iberdrola: Leading the Energy Revolution

By: Juan Alcácer and Emer Moloney

At the end of 2019, Ignacio Galán, the Chairman and CEO of the world's third largest utility, Iberdrola, reflected on his almost 20 years at the company. He managed a portfolio of three very different businesses, each with their own specific opportunities and... View Details

Portrait Project

Haley Brown

will carry on this legacy. I will use my privilege to create opportunity for the next generations of my family. I will ensure that they can access the excellent education that my family allowed me to attain. I will teach them to live and... View Details

08 Sep 2008
HBS Case

The Value of Environmental Activists

There are many methods, most financial, to measure the success of companies in meeting goals. But the question becomes a lot harder at Harvard Business School when MBAs are challenged to measure the efforts of environmental organizations like Greenpeace and the World... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

01 Oct 1997
News

High Fives

for a multitude of sins.” Investment outlook over the next five years: “I'm generally bullish.” Views on investing in emerging markets: “We're conservative at Berkshire. We've made major commitments in New Zealand, Great Britain, and... View Details

Blog

Celebrating 100 Years of the HBS Case Method

was a one-page narrative about a management challenge facing leaders at the General Shoe Company. The case proved to be a very successful teaching tool, and many more cases followed. Today, the case method is just as relevant as it was... View Details

15 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Businesses Beware: The World Is Not Flat

foreign direct investment. The other thing that surprised me was that some indicators of globalization aren't increasing as many experts have claimed. There is general agreement that the international share of total Internet traffic is... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

12 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

In a Landscape of 'Me Too' Drug Development, What Spurs Radical Innovation?

than 10 percent chance of approval. Me toos have greater than 20 percent chance of reaching the market, and generally require lower investment. For patients, of course, it’s the novel blockbusters that can be the most life-changing.... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Health; Pharmaceutical

08 Sep 2020
Blog Post

2+2 Where Are They Now Spotlight: Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes (MBA 2017)

supporting the Vaca Muerta in Neuquén, Argentina (although also working China, Qatar, Siberia, and Colombia). Due to the exploratory nature of our projects, my group was generally the first group in country and our team was quite lean, so... View Details

Web

Privacy Policy & Legal Info | HBS Online

disclosure of the information, the resolution of any pending or threatened disputes, and enforcement of our agreements. COLLECTION OF DATA FROM CHILDREN Our Services are generally not intended for users under the age of 18. We do not... View Details

20 Dec 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Zooming In: A Practical Manual for Identifying Geographic Clusters

Keywords: by Juan Alcácer & Minyuan Zhao

21 Feb 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Developing the Guts of a GUT (Grand Unified Theory): Elite Commitment and Inclusive Growth

Keywords: by Lant Pritchett & Eric D. Werker

08 Mar 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Customer-Driven Misconduct: How Competition Corrupts Business Practices

Keywords: by Victor Manuel Bennett, Lamar Pierce, Jason A. Snyder & Michael W. Toffel; Auto

Research Summary

Developing Organizational Capabilities to Compete

By: Michael Beer

Michael Beer’s current research focuses on the question of what makes an Effective Organization. Based on his extensive research and practice about this question Beer has identified six highly interrelated core capabilities:

Capacity of the... View Details

2016
Working Paper

Operations in the On-Demand Economy: Staffing Services with Self-Scheduling Capacity

By: Itai Gurvich, Martin Lariviere and Antonio Moreno

Motivated by recent innovations in service delivery such as ride-sharing services and work-from-home call centers, we study capacity management when workers self-schedule. Our service provider chooses capacity to maximize its profit (revenue from served customers minus... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Servers; On-demand Economy; Independent Capacity; Distributed Systems; Uber; Service Operations; Performance Capacity

SSRN

March 2015 (Revised December 2016)
Case

American Well: The DTC Decision

By: Elie Ofek and Natalie Kindred

In late 2013, telehealth company American Well, which developed a digital platform that allowed patients to conduct online medical consultations with physicians, is considering pursuing a direct-to-consumer (DTC) strategy. Founded in 2006, American Well had, to date,... View Details