Publications

Andy Wu is the Arjun and Minoo Melwani Family Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School, where he teaches in the MBA and Executive Education programs. He researches, teaches, and advises managers... View Details

Keywords: software; e-commerce industry; venture capital industry; biotechnology; video games

September 2023
Background Note

Amager Bakke: Municipal Waste to Energy

By: Willy Shih, Michael W. Toffel and Kelsey Carter

This background note describes the Amager Bakke waste-to-energy (WtE) plant in Copenhagen, which merges traditional waste incineration with a combined heat and power (CHP) plant and air pollution control (scrubbing) technology, and had plans to add carbon dioxide (CO2)... View Details

April 2017
Case

Imprimis (A)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karen Elterman and Marc Appel

This case examines the strategic choices and evolving business model of Imprimis Pharmaceuticals from the perspective of CEO Mark Baum. The (A) case provides a brief history of the company and of the compounding business, outlining the challenges faced by Imprimis in... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Healthcare; Drug Compounding; Pharmaceuticals; Compounding; Drug Development; Decision-making; Mark Baum; Imprimis; Small Business; Decisions; Cost vs Benefits; Business Strategy; Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

January 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Rural Taobao: Alibaba's Expansion into Rural E-Commerce

By: Tarun Khanna, Ryan Allen, Adam Frost and Wesley Koo

Alibaba's Rural Taobao initiative had been launched in 2014 as a public service initiative to increase e-commerce adoption in China’s remote rural areas. In the first two iterations of the initiative, dubbed “1.0” and “2.0,” Alibaba had partnered with local businesses... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Growth; Ecommerce; Corporate Social Responsibility; Business And Government; Emerging Market; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Emerging Markets; Rural Scope; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Decision Making; E-commerce; China

July 2016
Case

Spotify

By: Anita Elberse and Alexandre de Pfyffer

In November 2014, Spotify's chief content officer Ken Parks learns that record label Big Machine Records has requested the immediate removal of superstar artist Taylor Swift's entire catalogue from Spotify's music streaming service. Is it time for Spotify to reconsider... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Marketing; Superstar; Music; Entertainment Marketing; Media; Digital Technology; Creative Industries; Product Portfolio Management; General Management; Management; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Open Source Distribution; Creativity; Music Entertainment; Product Marketing; Music Industry

November 2020
Teaching Note

DayTwo: Going to Market with Gut Microbiome

By: Ayelet Israeli

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-010. DayTwo is a young Israeli startup that applies research on the gut microbiome and machine learning algorithms to deliver personalized nutritional recommendations to its users in order to minimize blood sugar spikes after meals.... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

When information is digitized, it can be aggregated and shared nearly instantly. I am interested in how this acceleration in the aggregation and availability of information, via digitization, affects firms and firm strategy. Platforms have emerged as marketplaces for... View Details

Keywords: Market Platforms; Social Media; Information Disclosure; Platform Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Intellectual Property; Information; Technology Platform; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

June 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Driving Towards a Disruption?

By: Willy Shih and William Noble

As Clayton Christensen drove to the studio to deliver an online executive education class, he pondered the future of management education. How big a threat did online degree programs, corporate universities, and other innovations in the delivery of management training... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Technology; Performance Trajectories; Disruptive Innovations; Business Education; Business School; Internet And Online Services Industries; Disruptive Innovation; Higher Education; Corporate Strategy; Internet; Performance; Education Industry; Boston

Marco Iansiti, David Sarnoff Professor of Business Administration,is a codirector of the Laboratory for Information Science at Harvard and of the Digital Initiative at HBS.

Prof. Iansiti's research examines the digital transformation of companies and... 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; high technology; high technology

Research Summary

Overview

Hisano’s research addresses the social and cultural implications of technological development and economic changes mainly in the twentieth-century United States. By analyzing the regulation, manipulation, and presentation of food color, her current book project links... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Consumer Behavior; Agribusiness; Food And Environment; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Business And Government; Advertising; Goods and Commodities; Food; History; Government and Politics; Marketing; Business and Government Relations; Advertising Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Chemical Industry; United States

October 2015 (Revised October 2016)
Case

Building Watson: Not So Elementary, My Dear! (Abridged)

By: Willy C. Shih

This case is set inside IBM Research's efforts to build a computer that can successfully take on human challengers playing the game show Jeopardy! It opens with the machine named Watson offering the incorrect answer "Toronto" to a seemingly simple question during the... View Details

Keywords: Analytics; Big Data; Business Analytics; Product Development Strategy; Machine Learning; Machine Intelligence; Artificial Intelligence; Product Development; AI and Machine Learning; Information Technology; Analytics and Data Science; Information Technology Industry; United States

March 2018
Teaching Note

Twine Health

By: Robert S. Huckman and Ariel D. Stern

In late 2014, Dr. John Moore (CEO), Frank Moss (chairman), and Scott Gilroy (CTO) of Twine Health (Twine) had to resolve several challenges that threatened to restrict the widespread dissemination of its sole product, Twine. Twine was a cloud-based platform that... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Chronic Disease; Digital Health; Health Acceleration Challenge; Strategy; Disease Management; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technology Adoption; Health Industry; United States; Massachusetts

Research Summary

General research interests

Implications of information technology for strategy and operations
Organizational knowledge, learning, and information processing
Business growth and scalable organizational architectures
Japanese busines
High technology... View Details

April 2018
Teaching Note

Formlabs: Selling a New 3D Printer

By: Frank Cespedes

Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-001. Formlabs is a venture that manufactures and sells 3D printers used in a variety of industries and applications. As the young company prepares to ship its latest model, the head of Customer Development is tasked with developing a... View Details

February 2017
Teaching Note

Oversight Systems

By: Frank Cespedes

This Teaching Note accompanies the case, set in May 2016, which discusses sales strategy and channel partnerships at Oversight Systems, an early stage software firm that developed analytics for organizations to monitor their data for errors, fraud, and operational... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Sales Strategy; Entrepreneurial Sales; Entrepreneurial Sales And Marketing; Software Sales; Marketing; Marketing Management; Pricing; Salesforce Management; Distribution Channels; Marketing Strategy; Technology Industry; North America

Felix Oberholzer-Gee is the Andreas Andresen Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. An award-winning instructor, his academic work and consulting are focused on competitive strategy and the effects of digital technology on corporate... View Details

Keywords: media; professional services; manufacturing; advertising

01 Sep 2020
News

Action Plan: Finding Fluency

Photo courtesy of Cammie Dunaway Photo courtesy of Cammie Dunaway Every day of 2020, Cammie Dunaway (MBA 1990) has practiced her French using the Duolingo app. “It is something positive I can do for myself,” Dunaway says of the hobby she has maintained throughout... View Details

Keywords: April White; foreign language; education and technology; digital marketing; change management; COVID-19; Educational Services

Career Coach

Carrie Goodrich

Carrie pivoted from Sales and Trading to Strategy and Operations at DoorDash and, more recently, a Product Management Internship at Amazon. Given this, Carrie can help students navigate industry transitions into technology, as well as... View Details

2011
Teaching Note

UFIDA (E) (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donghong Li and Lijuan Liu

In 2004, China's largest management software provider UFIDA began internationalization. In the subsequent 6 years, UFIDA entered Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and other overseas Asian markets. Nonetheless, UFIDA's overseas business footprint was still... View Details

Keywords: Computer Software; Corporate Strategy; Emerging Markets; Globalization; China; Applications and Software; China