Publications

07 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Fail—and How Their Founders Can Bounce Back

Internet boom, companies armed with nothing more than a PowerPoint presentation of a lousy idea could secure tens of millions of dollars—which sometimes gave them enough time to figure out a viable business... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

May 2010 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Data.gov

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Robert D. Austin and Yumi Yi

This case presents the logic and execution underlying the launch of Data.gov, an instantiation of President Obama's initiative for transparency and open government. The process used by Vivek Kundra, the federal CIO, and his team to rapidly develop the website and to... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Rights; Analytics and Data Science; Internet and the Web; Ethics; Cost vs Benefits; Innovation and Management; Information Management; Public Administration Industry; Information Industry; United States

22 May 2024
HBS Case

Banned or Not, TikTok Is a Force Companies Can’t Afford to Ignore

government exerts on TikTok, concerns the app could compromise US national security and user data, and stark differences between the content and rules mandated in China versus abroad. "You must ask yourself, ‘What is the power of this... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology

2009
Working Paper

Principles that Matter: Sustaining Software Innovation from the Client to the Web

By: Marco Iansiti

Economic analysis often reviews the role of principles—such as respect for intellectual property rights—in driving innovation. Given the interdependent nature of innovation in information technology, three core principles have emerged that work together to ensure that... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Technological Innovation; Intellectual Property; Partners and Partnerships; Competition; Information Technology; Internet and the Web

Read Now

January 2017
Supplement

Hello Alfred: Come Home Happy — Operating the Business Model Exercise

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Christopher Payton

On a mission to "automate the on-demand economy," Harvard Business School classmates Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck launched Hello Alfred in 2013 to provide subscribers with an "Alfred" to complete various chores for a monthly fee. In early 2016, the company has built... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Business Startups; Service Operations; Service Industry; New York (city, NY); Boston

24 Feb 2020
Research & Ideas

The Hidden Vulnerabilities of Open Source Software

million, of secure web servers on the internet and allowed numerous data breaches, including the theft of 4.5 million medical records from a large hospital chain. In response to Heartbleed, the Linux... View Details

Keywords: by Frank Nagle and Jenny Hoffman; Computer

May 2021
Supplement

Hello Alfred: Come Home Happy — Operating the Business Model Exercise, Instructor Version

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Christopher Payton

On a mission to "automate the on-demand economy," Harvard Business School classmates Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck launched Hello Alfred in 2013 to provide subscribers with an "Alfred" to complete various chores for a monthly fee. In early 2016, the company has built... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Business Startups; Service Operations; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Service Industry; New York (city, NY); Boston

21 Jan 2014
First Look

First Look: January 21

competition intensity need not improve consumer privacy when consumers exhibit low willingness to pay. Our findings are particularly relevant to the business models of Internet firms and contribute to inform the regulatory debate on... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2014 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Prodigy Network: Democratizing Real Estate Design and Financing

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Katja Hutter and Greta Friar

This case follows Rodrigo Nino, founder and CEO of commercial real estate development company Prodigy Network, as he develops an equity-based crowdfunding model for small investors to access commercial real estate in Colombia, then tries out the model in the U.S. U.S.... View Details

18 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

What Is an "Essential" Purchase for a Low-Income Family?

controlling for participants' income levels. A third experiment asked participants to rate the "permissibility" of 20 household items in the US Department of Labor's Consumer Price Index, purchased either by a lower- or higher-income consumer. The items... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

14 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 14

GMCR secures exclusive distribution rights to Keurig's system. Purchase this case:http://hbr.org/search/812103-PDF-ENG Keurig: Confidential Information for Negotiation with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Thomas R. Eisenmann, Shikhar... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2019
Case

Twiggle: E-Commerce with Semantic Search

By: Shane Greenstein and Danielle Golan

Four years after being founded, in 2014, by former Google executives Amir Konigsberg (CEO) and Adi Avidor (CTO), Twiggle had developed a search enhancement that plugged into an online merchant’s existing framework. The company utilized advanced structuring and... View Details

Keywords: Search Technology; Customer Acquisition; Internet and the Web; Technological Innovation; Commercialization; Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Technology Industry; Israel

30 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

The Future of IT Consulting

designing their own backbone and architecture. We think it is important that it is tempting but risky to completely turn over IT initiatives to IT consulting firms.— Nolan and Bennigson And, there are forces that will drive new demand. View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston; Consulting

June 2011
Case

CA Technologies: Bringing the Cloud to Earth

By: Marco Iansiti and Kerry Herman

Adam Famularo, general manager, Cloud Computing business, CA Technologies, and David Dobson, WVP and group executive, Customer Solutions Group, were preparing for a presentation on communicating and positioning CA Technologies' new strategy for cloud computing.... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Product Positioning; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption