Publications

February 2001 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Extricity Inc.

Extricity provides software that triggers and automates information flows between collaborating businesses. Its products interface with the legacy information systems already in use by customers, extract information from them, and send this information over the... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Information Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

November 2014 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Micromax: Scaling the Largest Indian Mobile Handset Company

By: Ranjay Gulati, Rachna Tahilyani and Alicia DeSantola

It is January 2014 and Rahul Sharma, cofounder of Micromax Informatics (Micromax), the largest Indian mobile handset company, is preparing for an emergency conference call with his private equity investors. In the last six years, Micromax had grown its annual product... View Details

Keywords: Mobile; Scaling; Indian Software Development; Consumer Behavior; Management Turnover; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Management; E-commerce; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; India

17 Feb 2015
HBS Case

HBS Cases: The Battle for San Francisco

home for restaurants, art, and culture at night. And more and more, tech businesses are locating here. “This is a place where the effects of inequality appear to be heightened and most palpable” In doing so, however, technology workers... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology

19 Sep 2019
News

Predicting Human Behaviors

Above: Sid Misra (MBA 2013) cofounder, Perceptive Automata (Len Rubenstein; courtesy of Perceptive Automata) Amid the hubbub of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s largest technology tradeshow, Sid Misra (MBA 2013)... View Details

Keywords: April White

March 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Case

TELEXISTENCE Inc.

By: Paul A. Gompers and Akiko Saito

A case about a Japanese robotics startup aiming to enter the U.S. market with its robots that combine AI and human intervention to complete restocking tasks in retail stores. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Market Entry and Exit; Technology Adoption; Decisions; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Japan; United States

April 2015 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Resuscitating Monitter

By: Benjamin Edelman and Wei Sun

After a Twitter API change and policy change block his fledgling startup, solo entrepreneur Alex Holt evaluates his options. Should he double-down with a major investment in new servers, rewriting his app from scratch, and charging users for a service that he had... View Details

Keywords: Platform Strategy; Envelopment; Dependence; Social Media; Business Strategy; Vertical Integration; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Australia

04 Apr 2018
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Why Private Investors Must Fund 'New Nuclear' Power Right Now

CO2 emissions are forecast to grow for the foreseeable future, according to the United States Energy Information Association. Fossil fuels are winning the race to fill urgent demand for power, especially in Asia. Chart courtesy Joseph Lassiter. I have high hopes for... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Lassiter; Green Technology; Green Technology

March 2017 (Revised March 2017)
Case

OpenNotes

By: Jeffrey Rayport and Annelena Lobb

In 2017, executives at OpenNotes, a national movement to improve the relationship between doctors and patients by sharing doctors’ visit notes about patients with patients, were considering options in efforts to achieve scale. The movement hoped to reach 50 million... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Technology Adoption; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States

08 Nov 2023
Blog Post

Zone Defense: These self-driving, AI-powered drones do recon so soldiers don’t have to

Shield AI’s unmanned Nova drones are used in war zones around the world. Brandon Tseng calls it “self-driving technology for defense.” The long-distance, 2.8-pound quadcopter drones, running on Shield AI’s Hivemind software, can navigate... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Technology

September 2013
Case

PadFone vs. FonePad

By: Willy Shih and Sen Chai

To Jonney Shih, Chairman of ASUSTek Computer, the introduction of Apple's iPad made clear the need to transition his company to a new cloud-computing era. But the company's roots in the manufacture of Windows-powered desktop and notebook PCs bounded the creativity of... View Details

November 2012 (Revised May 2013)
Case

ASUSTeK and the Google Nexus 7 Tablet

By: Willy C. Shih and Jyun-Cheng Wang

Days after Jerry Shen introduced a new tablet computer at the Consumer Electronics Show, a Google meeting convinced him to go with a lower price point and co-branding as the Nexus 7. While his company would have a premier position at launch, companies like Samsung... View Details

September 1998 (Revised March 1999)
Case

Sun Microsystems and the N-tier Architecture

By: Richard L. Nolan and Kelley Porter

Sun Microsystems is a pioneer in networking computing. Sun's servers maintain a large market share and are considered highly scaleable. The case describes the n-tier architecture for building and managing large networks in which thousands of workers and customers are... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Technological Innovation; Business Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Information Technology Industry

June 2013
Background Note

Mobilizing an Online Business

By: Peter Coles and Benjamin Edelman

Entrepreneurs starting online businesses often need to mobilize multiple sets of users or customers, each of whom hesitates to participate unless others join also. This case presents several challenges with similar structure. View Details

Keywords: Mobilization Strategy; Network Effects; Platforms; Internet; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Two-Sided Platforms; Technology Adoption; Innovation Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

03 Jul 2018
What Do You Think?

Should CEO Satya Nadella Cancel Microsoft’s Contract with ICE?

it was doing for ICE in a January blog post. Microsoft’s Azure Government software allows organizations to move operations and processing to the cloud. Employees: Use technology for good On June 19, an open letter was posted on... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology; Technology

March 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Supplement

ZBJ: Building a Global Outsourcing Platform for Knowledge Workers (B)

By: Feng Zhu, Weiru Chen and Shirley Sun

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Outsourcing; Disintermediation; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Problems and Challenges; Global Strategy; Information Technology Industry; China

27 Jan 2014
Blog Post

Opportunity Abounds

the US, with our global partners on a pressing business issue. The project concludes with a 10-day trip to work in the FIELD with our partners, formally ending with a business recommendation from the HBS team. I traveled to New Delhi to work with a start-up in the... View Details

Keywords: Technology

01 Jun 2018
News

Up by the Roots

In 2010, Maria Gotsch (MBA 1989) called a meeting with the chief information and technology officers at five of the largest banks headquartered in Manhattan. The session would last for three hours, but as Gotsch recalls, the executives in... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; illustrations by Dan Page

December 1990
Case

Allen-Bradley's ICCG: Repositioning for the 1990s

By: Nitin Nohria

Allen-Bradley's Industrial Computer and Communication Group (ICCG) underwent a period of rapid transformation in the 1980s, instituting a wide array of innovations from product development to information systems. In 1990 the Ohio-based group announced a major... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Organizational Culture; Business Organization; Problems and Challenges; Information Technology Industry