Publications

07 Mar 2018
Research & Ideas

Electronic Health Records Were Supposed to Cut Medical Costs. They Haven't.

twice the administrative overhead found in Canada and is significantly higher than most other high-resource countries. Adoption of certified EHR systems was seen as a potential antidote. By digitizing patient records and adding billing... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Health

April 2001
Case

Technology Legend in China, A

Describes the sources of Legend's surge to dominance of the Chinese computer market and the subsequent split of distribution and manufacturing into Digital China and Legend Computing. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Production; Distribution; Competitive Strategy; Computer Industry; China

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Case

THE YES: Reimagining the Future of E-Commerce with Artificial Intelligence (AI)

By: Jill Avery, Ayelet Israeli and Emma von Maur

THE YES, a multi-brand shopping app launched in May 2020 offered a new type of buying experience for women’s fashion, driven by a sophisticated algorithm that used data science and machine learning to create and deliver a personalized store for every shopper, based on... View Details

Keywords: Data; Data Analytics; Artificial Intelligence; AI; AI Algorithms; AI Creativity; Fashion; Retail; Retail Analytics; E-Commerce Strategy; Platform; Platforms; Big Data; Preference Elicitation; Preference Prediction; Predictive Analytics; App Development; ＂Marketing Analytics＂; Advertising; Mobile App; Mobile Marketing; Apparel; Online Advertising; Referral Rewards; Referrals; Female Ceo; Female Entrepreneur; Female Protagonist; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Creativity; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Forecasting and Prediction; Marketing Channels; Digital Marketing; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; AI and Machine Learning; E-commerce; Digital Platforms; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

December 2020
Case

Urban Company

By: Krishna G. Palepu

Urban Company is an India-based market platform that helps customers book home services and at home beauty services. The company differentiated itself by investing heavily in building customer trust. Rather than merely positioning itself as a lead generating... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Emerging Markets; Strategy; Service Delivery; Trust; Technology Industry; Service Industry; India

March 2022 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Proximie: Using XR Technology to Create Borderless Operating Rooms

By: Ariel D. Stern and Alpana Thapar

In mid-January 2022, Nadine Hachach-Haram, founder and CEO of Proximie, was thinking about the company’s growth plans. Launched in 2016, Proximie was a platform that enabled clinicians, proctors, and medical device company personnel to be virtually present in operating... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Technological Innovation; Partners and Partnerships; Strategic Planning; Health Care and Treatment; Analytics and Data Science; Digital Platforms; Health Industry; Lebanon; United Kingdom; United States

Research Summary

Moving Beyond Direct-to-Consumer

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger

Changing consumer behaviors have redefined what it means to be direct to consumer ("DTC"). What once began online a decade ago as a distribution and disintermediation strategy has since evolved into a multifaceted approach for the modern-day brand.

The... View Details

01 Mar 2022
News

Is It Time for More Reverse Mentoring?

October 2022 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Framebridge (A): Reimagining Custom Framing

By: Rembrand Koning and Alicia Dadlani

In December 2018, Susan Tynan, founder and CEO of Framebridge, a four-year-old venture-backed startup that sold online custom framing, formulated plans for the future. Her vision was to revolutionize the $4 billion industry by making custom framing easy, transparent,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Business Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Operations; Consumer Products Industry; United States; District of Columbia; Kentucky

October 2021 (Revised March 2022)
Supplement

PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion

By: Ayelet Israeli and Fabrizio Fantini

PittaRosso, a traditional Italian shoe retailer, is implementing an AI system to provide pricing and promotion recommendations. The system allows them to implement changes that would affect both the top of funnel and bottom of funnel activities for the company: once... View Details

21 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 21, 2018

2018 Boston: Harvard Business Review Press Driving Digital Strategy: A Guide to Reimagining Your Business By: Gupta, Sunil Abstract—Disruption and transformation get a lot of hype and for good reason. View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

08 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

The Critical Computer Science Principles Every Strategic Leader Needs to Know

of digital technology that can help leaders achieve their strategic priorities. It’s vital for managers to engage with some of the basics of computer science because “they give people a framework to think about the direction that... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Technology; Information Technology

Jeffrey F. Rayport

Jeffrey F Rayport is a faculty member in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School, where he teaches in the School’s MBA and Executive Education Programs and on HBS Online. His primary focus in teaching and research is growth-stage technology... View Details

09 Jun 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

Monetizing IP: The Executive’s Challenge

to adopt strategies to monetize their holdings. In other cases, however, companies have adopted "scorched earth" policies that aim to confront and litigate with rivals about intellectual property, which have often proved to be... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Video Game; Web Services

November 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Supplement

PittaRosso (B): Human and Machine Learning

By: Ayelet Israeli

This case supplements the "PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion" case, and provides major highlights on what happened at the company since the first case. View Details

22 Sep 2016
Cold Call Podcast

Innovation Under Constraint: Constructing a Turnaround at Lego

Keywords: Re: Jan W. Rivkin & Stefan H. Thomke; Entertainment & Recreation

2012
Article

Exploring Re-Identification Risks in Public Domains

By: Aditi Ramachandran, Lisa Singh, Edward Porter and Frank Nagle

While re-identification of sensitive data has been studied extensively, with the emergence of online social networks and the popularity of digital communications, the ability to use public data for re-identification has increased. This work begins by presenting two... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Analytics and Data Science; Social and Collaborative Networks

27 Dec 2010
Research & Ideas

HBS Faculty on 2010’s Biggest Business Developments

Business School professors—former Medtronic chairman and CEO Bill George, economist and entrepreneurship expert Bill Sahlman, and innovation and strategy authority Rosabeth Moss Kanter—to offer their thoughts on some of the year's most... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

August 2023
Supplement

Reimagining Hindustan Unilever (B)

By: Sunil Gupta and Rachna Tahilyani

In April 2023, as the CEO and MD of Hindustan Unilever (HUL), India’s largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firm, prepared to hand over the firm’s reins to his successor, he proudly reflected on the last decade. His quest to digitally transform HUL into an... View Details

Keywords: Experimentation; Digital Transformation; Digital Strategy; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Strategy; Marketing; Performance; Competition; E-commerce; Consumer Behavior; Transformation; Distribution; Decisions; Consumer Products Industry; Asia; India

January 2025
Teaching Note

Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service

By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel and Stacy Straaberg

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 124-007. The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of... View Details