Publications

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October 1995 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Singapore Unlimited: Building the National Information Infrastructure

By: Lynda M. Applegate, John L. King, Soon-Siong Neo and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Describes the actions taken by the government of Singapore to enable the country to survive and prosper after it achieved independence in the late 1960s. Recognizing that its small size, limited natural resources, but excellent location placed it in a vulnerable... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Natural Environment; Expansion; Policy; Infrastructure; Singapore; Southeast Asia

August 2021
Case

Yummy: Delivering Value to Venezuela

By: Ayelet Israeli, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Carla Larangeira

By June 2021, Yummy had become Venezuela’s first and largest food delivery app and last-mile logistics company. In Caracas, the nation’s capital, Yummy held a 55% market share, while operations in other cities had already started to take place, including in three of... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Health Pandemics; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion

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2025
Working Paper

Magnetic Resonance Imaging—High Quality and Radiation Free: Case Histories of Transformational Advances

By: Srikant M. Datar, Amar Bhidé and Katherine Stebbins

This case history describes how Magnetic Resource Imaging (MRI) came to complement – and partially replace -- computed tomography (CT) imaging of soft tissue. Specifically, we chronicle 1) the development of foundational techniques and prototypes (through the 1970s);... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Technology Adoption; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

SSRN

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January–February 2021
Article

Making Space for Emotions: Empathy, Contagion, and Legitimacy’s Double-Edged Sword

By: Andreea Gorbatai, Cyrus Dioun and Kisha Lashley

Legitimacy is critical to the formation and expansion of nascent fields because it lends credibility and recognizability to once overlooked actors and practices. At the same time, legitimacy can be a double-edged sword precisely because it facilitates field growth,... View Details

Keywords: Legitimacy; Collective Identity; Emotional Contagion; Field-congifiguring Events; Empathy; Natural Language Processing; Mixed Methods; Organizational Culture; Emotions; Groups and Teams

June 2025
Case

Accounting for OpenAI at Microsoft

By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli, Nicole Zelazko and Michael Norris

In early 2025, Microsoft was evaluating the impact of its $14 billion investment in OpenAI. As OpenAI’s computing needs expanded, Microsoft positioned Azure as the exclusive provider for training and inference of their large language models. Despite the scale of the... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Financial Reporting; Revenue Recognition; Corporate Finance; Capital; Investment; Revenue; AI and Machine Learning; Valuation; Governance; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States

December 1998
Case

Casto Travel

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Susan Harmeling

Maryles Casto had the vision to build the largest travel agency in Silicon Valley, mirroring the growth pattern of the entire area. In 1997 the travel business changed dramatically as airlines chose not to pay travel agencies the fees they once did. Simultaneously, the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Finance; Internet and the Web; Change Management; Markets; Travel Industry

10 Dec 2015
News

Can Google Street View Images Predict Household Income?

01 Mar 2018
What Do You Think?

Two Decades Later, is the 'New Economy' Finally Here?

in September, 2000. It described the enthusiasm at that time for a "New Economy," one driven by information technology and characterized by “greater growth and lower unemployment than ever before thought possible through the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

25 Feb 2015
Lessons from the Classroom

Scholars and Students Unpack the Digital Business Revolution

hedge fund, an Amazon employee focused on retail data, and a forecaster at General Electric," says HBS David Sarnoff Professor of Business Administration Marco Iansiti, who serves as faculty chair of the initiative and head of the View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Technology; Technology

25 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

Will Machine Learning Make You a Better Manager?

Credit: PhonlamaiPhoto Thirty years ago, the idea of a machine learning on its own would have stoked the worst kind of sci-fi nightmares about robots taking over the planet. These days, machine learning is so commonplace, we barely notice it. View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Information Technology

October 2007
Article

The Art of Designing Markets

By: Alvin E. Roth

Traditionally, markets have been viewed as simply the confluence of supply and demand. But to function properly, they must be able to attract a sufficient number of buyers and sellers, induce participants to make their preferences clear, and overcome congestion by... View Details

Keywords: Market Design; Market Participation; Market Transactions; Information Technology; Internet and the Web

October 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Symbian: Setting the Mobility Standard

By: Fernando F. Suarez and Thomas R. Eisenmann

Symbian, a joint venture owned by companies who collectively sold a dominant share of the world's cell phones, faced competition from Microsoft in developing the operating system for "smartphones," which integrated mobile communications and computing functions. In... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Joint Ventures; Information Technology; Software; Wireless Technology; Mobile Technology; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

December 2021 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Katerra (A)

By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn

In April 2020, Katerra executives struggled with a series of decisions that would determine the fate of one of the best-funded construction startups in history. Katerra was founded in 2015 by technology-industry executive Michael Marks and commercial real estate... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Construction; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States

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12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Confronting the Challenges that Face Bricks-and-Mortar Stores

vegetables at the point of sale, improving the speed and accuracy of the checkout. If the benefit is not immediately apparent, make it obvious through advertising and promotional materials. Lesson 2: Make The Technology Easy To Use. Most... View Details

Keywords: by Raymond Burke; Retail

February 2008 (Revised December 2023)
Case

Digital Music: From MP3 to Streaming

By: Willy Shih

The emergence of the MP3 file-based music format not only disrupted the market for portable audio players, it also impacted the business models of major record labels. Modularity, and the commoditization spillover enabled by modularity in the personal computer... View Details

Keywords: Recording; Digital Devices; Digital Media; Digital Music; Digital; Digital Economics; Consumer Electronics; Customer Value and Value Chain; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States