Publications

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April 1999
Case

Inktomi: Scaling the Internet

By: Marco Iansiti, Myra M. Hart and Richard Bergin

Presents the early months of Inktomi, a company that invented the world's first truly scalable architecture for the Internet. This core technology provides a platform for a variety of innovative applications. The company must decide the direction it wants to take. View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Leadership; Corporate Strategy; Internet

June 2023
Case

Verve Therapeutics: Taking DNA Editing to Heart

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

Verve Therapeutics, a public biotech company based in Boston, created a novel approach to addressing cardiovascular disease (CVD) - a leading cause of deaths globally. The company's approach was a single shot treatment to permanently lower cholesterol, thus reducing... View Details

Keywords: AI; Genetic Engineering; Medicine; Health Care and Treatment; Genetics; Innovation Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Medical Specialties; Innovation and Invention; Entrepreneurship; Biotechnology Industry

Seth Neel is an Assistant Professor housed in the Department of Technology and Operations Management (TOM) at HBS, and a Faculty Affiliate in Computer Science at SEAS. He is Principal Investigator of the Trustworthy AI Lab in Harvard's new View Details

November 2021 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Farfetch: Digital Transformation for Luxury Brands

By: Sunil Gupta, Jill Avery, Elena Corsi and Federica Gabrieli

Farfetch, a global luxury technology platform and digital marketplace had been surfing the wave of digital transformation in the luxury fashion industry since 2008. While the company’s stock price and market valuation had fluctuated since its IPO in 2018, it had... View Details

March 2000 (Revised October 2004)
Background Note

Adding Voice to the Web: A Note on Start-ups

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Tara Donovan

A study of start-up companies that have leveraged the technology of Internet Protocol (IP) telephony to develop applications that are positioned to have an impact on the offerings of traditional telecommunications organizations. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Internet and the Web; Communication Technology; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

17 Jul 2006
Lessons from the Classroom

Developing a Strategy for Digital Convergence

look at how maturing technology companies make the transition to the next generation of products. But as he did research and talked to tech companies, he came to an inescapable conclusion: View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Computer; Education

February 2018 (Revised June 2021)
Case

New Constructs: Disrupting Fundamental Analysis with Robo-Analysts

By: Charles C.Y. Wang and Kyle Thomas

This case highlights the business challenges associated with a financial technology firm, New Constructs, that created a technology that can quickly parse complicated public firm financials to paint a clearer economic picture of firms, remove accounting distortions,... View Details

Keywords: Fundamental Analysis; Machine Learning; Robo-analysts; Financial Statements; Financial Reporting; Analysis; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; North America; Tennessee

October 2014 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Mobileye: The Future of Driverless Cars

By: David B. Yoffie

Mobileye was an Israeli company, officially headquartered in The Netherlands, which was a Tier 2 supplier to the global automobile industry. After 15 years of building a leading technology for autonomous driving systems, Mobileye emerged in 2014 as one of the most... View Details

Keywords: Driverless Car; Competitive Advantage; Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Technology; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Israel

Elie Ofek is a Professor in the Marketing unit at the Harvard Business School. Professor Ofek's research focuses on new product strategies in technology-driven business environments as well as in consumer-oriented companies in general. He explores interactions... View Details

Keywords: high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology

November 2010 (Revised April 2011)
Case

WiTricity: Electricity cuts the cord

By: William A. Sahlman and Evan Wade Richardson

Eric Giler, WiTricity CEO, must decide how to grow a company based around an untested but potentially ground-breaking technology for wireless electricity transmission. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Wireless Technology; Electronics Industry

Ryan W. Buell is a Professor of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches View Details

Keywords: high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology; high technology

March 1998 (Revised February 2001)
Case

PlanetAll

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

PlanetAll is a Web-based contact manager that automatically updates users' contact information. In early 1998, the young company must decide whether to compete with large Web sites and become a destination site or to become an enabling technology for other contact... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

March 2016
Case

N12 Technologies: Building an Organization and Building a Business

By: David A. Garvin and Aldo Sesia

N12 Technologies was a startup founded in 2010 that employed nanotechnology to manufacture a patented material to improve the performance of carbon fiber composites, which were used in a wide variety of products, ranging from bicycles to automobiles to aircraft parts.... View Details

Keywords: Startup; Organizational Structure; Nanotechnology; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Management Systems; Commercialization; Industrial Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Bicycle Industry; Transportation Industry; United States

21 Mar 2018
News

Why Artificial Intelligence Isn't a Sure Thing to Increase Productivity

June 2003 (Revised October 2006)
Case

George McClelland at KSR (A)

By: Joshua D. Margolis, Ayesha Kanji and Wan Wong

George McClelland accepts a position as the chief administrative officer/chief operating officer at Kendall Square Research (KSR), a fledgling computer company that is taking its promising parallel computer technology to market. McClelland is a veteran of the computer... View Details

Keywords: History; Technological Innovation; Leadership; Business History; Accounting; Problems and Challenges; Business Strategy; Growth and Development; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

04 Oct 2017
News

Researchers Combat Gender and Racial Bias in Artificial Intelligence

11 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Cheap, Fast, and In Control: How Tech Aids Innovation

Innovation and experimentation are vital to the longevity of any organization, says Stefan H. Thomke in his new book Experimentation Matters: Unlocking the Potential of New Technologies for Innovation. In this interview, Thomke, an... View Details

Keywords: by Wendy Guild

January 1987 (Revised January 1988)
Case

Frito-Lay, Inc.: A Strategic Transition (A)

The setting is a food manufacturing company which has stumbled in terms of its historic growth and profit achievements. In trying to recapture its momentum, the president has used information technology as one element in his program of transition. The case focuses on... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

April 2009 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Immusol and Novartis

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Keyne M. Monson, Juan D. Betancourt and Victor Li

Should Immusol strive to become a fully integrated pharmaceutical company? How should a small pharmaceutical company structure a deal for its novel technology with the giant Novartis? View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Rights; Negotiation Deal; Negotiation Participants; Alliances; Pharmaceutical Industry