Publications

June 2015 (Revised August 2016)
Case

Qualcomm Inc., 2009-2015

By: David B. Yoffie

In the years after 2009, Qualcomm navigated the wireless industry's transition from 3G to 4G, retaining its technological leadership and experiencing dramatic growth in revenue and profit. In March 2014, Qualcomm appointed a new CEO, Steve Mollenkopf, who had to... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technologies; Technology; Wireless Technologies; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Strategy; Communication Technology; Competitive Strategy; Change Management; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; California

July 2012 (Revised April 2014)
Case

Research In Motion: The Mobile OS Platform War

By: Alan MacCormack, Brian Dunn and Chris F. Kemerer

The case describes competition in the market for smart phones in the US, and the position of one player, Research In Motion (RIM) who manufacture the popular Blackberry line of products. Early in 2011, RIM is in trouble. Its stock price has plummeted, amidst poor... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Product Development; Technology Strategy; Platform Strategy; Software; Hardware; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Digital Platforms; Applications and Software; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Canada; United States

January 2010 (Revised August 2012)
Background Note

Note on Telemedicine

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Jillian Copeland

This note provides background in all the modalities of telemedicine. It accompanies the cases "Medtronic: Patient Management Initiative" (A) and (B), HBS Nos. 302-005 and 309-064. View Details

Keywords: Interactive Communication; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry

December 2000
Teaching Note

Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication TN

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ellen Pruyne

Teaching Note for (9-399-084). View Details

Keywords: Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; New Jersey

January 1999
Case

Bell Atlantic and the Union City Schools (D): Results and Replication

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ellen Pruyne

The last in a five-part series about Bell Atlantic Corp.'s technology-in-education partnership with the Union City, New Jersey school system. Reviews the various outcomes of the partnership called Project Explore, from the perspective of Bell Atlantic managers and... View Details

Keywords: Mobile and Wireless Technology; Strategic Planning; Change Management; Leadership Development; Outcome or Result; Horizontal Integration; Partners and Partnerships; Trends; Education; Technological Innovation; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; New Jersey

June 1995
Case

Northern Telecom and Tong Guang Electronics (B): Building Success

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Pamela A. Yatsko

This case continues the story of the joint venture in China between Northern Telecom (Nortel) of Canada and Tong Guang Electronics of China. It shows how North Americans learned to operate in a very different cultural environment in China and provides an opportunity to... View Details

Keywords: Mobile and Wireless Technology; Joint Ventures; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Leadership; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Culture; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Canada; China

16 Nov 2009
News

Spotlight on Startups

Keywords: Telecommunications; Telecommunications; Telecommunications; Telecommunications

21 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 21, 2010

heterogeneous telecommunication costs arising from different regulatory regimes) strengthens our results. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-023.pdf Employee Selection as a Control System Author:Dennis Campbell... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Oct 2000
News

Laura Scher of Working Assets

socially responsible Working Assets Money Market Fund. Working Assets Funding Service emerged from the fund entity in 1988 and now operates various enterprises, with telecommunications as its core service. The company purchases... View Details

Keywords: Marguerite Rigoglioso

12 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 12, 2008

unexpectedly in the midst of chaos brought by the resistance of its staff who feared losing their civil servant status after privatization. Also facing Mao was the forthcoming deregulation of the telecommunication industry on the island... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Feb 2005
Research & Ideas

The World in Your Palm?

rather by telecommunications carriers. It's the carriers who create design specifications for the manufacturers to meet, and services are largely tied into the carrier's proprietary network. "There are lots of things we'd like to put... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

16 Sep 2013
Research & Ideas

Earnings Calls That Get Lost in Translation

as Japan and China, tend to have the hardest time communicating effectively. Also, all industries are not equal in their use of complicated speech. The financial industry has the highest level of linguistic complexity, followed by the View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

27 Sep 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Ratcheting, Competition, and the Diffusion of Technological Change: The Case of Televisions Under an Energy Efficiency Program

Keywords: by Tomomichi Amano and Hiroshi Ohashi; Telecommunications; Entertainment & Recreation

April 1993
Teaching Note

Grupo Industrial Alfa, S.A.,1982 (TN)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Teaching Note for (9-292-008). View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Borrowing and Debt; Restructuring; Rights; Business Strategy; Negotiation; System; Business Conglomerates; Currency Exchange Rate; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Mexico

January 2018 (Revised May 2018)
Case

AT&T Managing Technological Change and the Future of Telephone Operators in the 20th Century

By: Daniel P. Gross and William R. Kerr

By the 1930s, AT&T dominated the American phone industry, serving 10 million telephones and employing over 100,000 switchboard operators. But beginning in the mid-1910s, the company began changing from manually operated switchboards to mechanical switching systems that... View Details

Keywords: AT＆T; Bell Telephone; Phone Lines; Phone Operators; Mechanical Switching; Layoffs; Technological Change; Transition; History; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Disruption; Change Management; Communications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States

May 1995 (Revised April 1998)
Case

AT&T Paradyne

By: Robert S. Kaplan

A company making data communication devices has adopted a Total Quality philosophy for working with suppliers, employees, and customers. The finance group finds its existing cost system has become obsolete because of a shift from manual to automatic production... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Product; Corporate Accountability; Activity Based Costing and Management; System; Performance Efficiency; Financial Reporting; Operations; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry

March 2014
Case

MediaTek: From Feature Phones to Smartphones

By: Willy Shih

MediaTek was the third largest fabless semiconductor company in the world, and was the second largest supplier of the silicon microchips that powered mobile phones. Yet as the company's chairman reflected on his R&D strategy, he wondered why it hadn't moved faster on... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Technology Adoption; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; China; Taiwan

June 2010
Supplement

Chet Huber on OnStar, video

By: Willy C. Shih

Chet Huber, general manager of GM's OnStar unit, givbes an update on how OnStar is doing, talks about the job OnStar does for consumers, and reflects on assembling the OnStar team. The video is organized into three chapters so that instructors may use then... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Product Development; Service Delivery; Performance Evaluation; Groups and Teams; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry

2009
Working Paper

Running Out of Numbers: Scarcity of IP Addresses and What to Do About It

By: Benjamin Edelman

The Internet's current numbering system is nearing exhaustion: Existing protocols allow only a finite set of computer numbers ("IP addresses"), and central authorities will soon deplete their supply. I evaluate a series of possible responses to this shortage: Sharing... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Resource Allocation; Market Transactions; Internet; Technology Networks; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry