Publications

10 Nov 2020
Cold Call Podcast

The Challenges of Commercializing Fertility

Keywords: Re: Debora L. Spar

November 2014
Teaching Note

Claritas Genomics

By: Robert F. Higgins and Matthew G. Preble

Dr. Patrice Milos is the first CEO of Claritas Genomics (Claritas) and she faces a number of challenges in scaling the young company. Claritas was formed around a lab spun out from Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) which had performed genomic tests for the hospital. Now... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Healthcare Startups; Genetic Testing; Genetics Diagnostics; Spinning Out Hospital Services; Spin-out; Health Care and Treatment; Genetics; Entrepreneurship; Biotechnology Industry; Health Industry; United States

February 1985 (Revised April 1991)
Case

Computervision-Japan (A)

The CAD/CAM market in Japan is about to take off. Computervision wants its exclusive distributor to dramatically expand its sales and service coverage. The distributor wants a joint venture with Computervision before expanding. Several distribution alternatives... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels; Information Technology Industry; Japan

13 Jan 2020
Blog Post

Blending my Tech and Managerial Mindsets

We recently caught up with Yuval Gonczarowski (MBA 2017), the Chief Technology Officer at ClimaCell Inc, a weather technology SaaS startup utilizing unique data sources like wireless signals and connected... View Details

December 2008 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Proteus Biomedical: Making Pigs Fly

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Lauren Barley and Ginger Graham

Proteus is a healthcare start-up that has developed technology to embed electronics for computing and sensing in existing medical devices and drugs. The technology could potentially change the basis of competition in the pharmaceutical industry. The company is... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Rights; Negotiation Deal; Business Strategy; Health Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

24 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Why the Internet Doesn’t Change Everything

As the technology wave breaks over us, some think the Internet looks to many about to wash out the established order of everything from vacation booking to the nation-state itself. But hold on a minute, Debora Spar cautions. We've seen... View Details

Keywords: by Debora L. Spar

24 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

How To Be an Angel Investor

Recently, I heard from a third party that at about the same time the technology guru at Alex Brown had the same reaction with respect to the superiority of the telephone. I guess I can stop kicking myself." Chapter 12 The Harvard... View Details

Keywords: by David Amis & Howard Stevenson

11 Jun 2018
Blog Post

Meet the 2018-2019 Blavatnik Fellows in Life Science Entrepreneurship

including; the New Venture Competition, the Harvard Innovation Lab, Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and entrepreneurial-focused courses. More than 50 percent of HBS graduates create ventures in a quest to change... View Details

November 2000
Case

FireDrop

By: William A. Sahlman and Michael J. Roberts

Describes the evolution of FireDrop, a new venture-backed company that has developed a new platform for e-mail communication. The FireDrop application--called a Zaplet--allows for e-mails to be continually updated so they are current when read (rather than when sent).... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Internet and the Web; Communication Technology; Venture Capital; Technological Innovation; Information Technology Industry

May 2018 (Revised February 2019)
Case

The Powers That Be (Internet Edition): Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Julia Kelley and Nathaniel Schwalb

As of early 2018, five U.S. technology companies—Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft—were among the largest companies in the world. Similarly, three Chinese technology firms—Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, or BAT—had emerged as global players due in part to the... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Business Ventures; Customers; Analytics and Data Science; Safety; Corporate Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Technology Industry

December 1998
Supplement

Vermeer Technologies: Making Transitions

By: Ashish Nanda

After being acquired by Microsoft, Vermeer Technologies executives discuss the process of integrating their team into Microsoft. View Details

Keywords: Integration; Acquisition; Information Technology Industry

December 2000 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Rise and Fall of Iridium, The

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Kerry Herman

Examines the history of Iridium Communications, a provider of mobile satellite services. Discusses the genesis of Iridium's technical design, then follows the venture through various stages of development. Describes Iridium's attempts to build a subscriber base after... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Business Model; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Structure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry

May 2024
Supplement

Miami’s Climate Tech Potential (B): The 2024 Tech Hub Proposal

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

Miami-Dade County led the work to get South Florida designated a national climate resilience tech hub, the only one of 31 focused on climate change, an urgent major issue for the region in light of global warming and sea level rise. Venture capitalists saw the... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Venture Capital; Investment; Entrepreneurship; Green Technology; Government Administration; City

June 1995
Case

Northern Telecom and Netas (A): Turkey's Telecommunications Team

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Kalman D. Applbaum and Pamela A. Yatsko

The Turkish general manager of a successful telecommunications equipment-manufacturing joint venture between the Canadian company Northern Telecom and local partners in Turkey reviews the solutions to a crisis in 1989 and wonders whether the company will be able to... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Crisis Management; Problems and Challenges; Change Management; Developing Countries and Economies; Political Elections; Telecommunications Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Turkey; Canada

04 Feb 2014
News

Facebook turns 10

Article

Thinking About Technology: Applying a Cognitive Lens to Technical Change

We apply a cognitive lens to understanding technology trajectories across the life cycle by developing a co-evolutionary model of technological frames and technology. Applying that model to each stage of the technology life cycle, we identify conditions under which a... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Transformation; Outcome or Result; Economics; Cognition and Thinking; Business Model; Forecasting and Prediction

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August 2021
Case

Mylestone: Can Multiple Pivots Preserve the Life of a Death Tech Startup?

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Marilyn Morgan Westner

Dave Balter and Jim Myers co-founded Mylestone, a death tech startup that applied technology to transform how grieving people memorialize the dead. The startup addressed a cultural problem and promised to solve a pressing need in the antiquated, multi-billion dollar... View Details

Keywords: Pivot; Startup; Business Model; Cryptocurrency; Ethical Decision Making; Emotions; Growth and Development Strategy; Ethics; Market Entry and Exit; Customer Relationship Management; Loss; Change Management; Relationships