Publications

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September 1999
Background Note

Revolution in the Communications Switching Industry

By: Jay O. Light, Lynda M. Applegate and Daniel J. Green

As data packet switches threatened the voice circuit switch industry in 1999, major switch and router vendors began paying high premiums to acquire venture-backed switch companies. This note explains what a switch is and suggests why large vendors might be so anxious... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Restructuring; Capital; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Communications Industry; Electronics Industry

July 2020
Technical Note

Digital Natives Growing Without a Sales Force

By: Das Narayandas, Michael Norris and Amram Migdal

This brief case describes the rise of so-called digital natives (also called born-in-digital) in the 2000s and 2010s that successfully grew without a sales force. The case highlights the emergence of business-to-business Internet and cloud-based companies and their... View Details

11 Feb 2019
Working Paper Summaries

The IBM PC

Keywords: by Carliss Y. Baldwin; Computer

January 2002 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Digital China Holdings Limited: ERP as a Platform for Building New Capabilities

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Guoqing Chen and Kai Reimers

This case analyzes a complex ERP implementation that takes place in one of the leading companies in China. The issues are indistinguishable from those facing a U.S. organization. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Information Technology; Complexity; Problems and Challenges; China

September 1991 (Revised May 1994)
Background Note

Note on the PC Network Software Industry--1990

By: David B. Yoffie

Examines the economics, technology, customer segments, and competitors of the PC networking software industry. View Details

Keywords: Customers; Economics; Competition; Applications and Software; Technology Adoption; Information Infrastructure

April 2025
Case

Salesforce Agentforce: The Limitless Workforce

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Allison Ciechanover and George Gonzalez

In early 2025, Salesforce was a global leader in cloud-based enterprise software, best known for pioneering customer relationship management (CRM) delivered as a service. Over the past two decades, the company had expanded into marketing, customer service, analytics,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Relationship Management; Price; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Adoption; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Sales; Business Strategy; Ethics; Product Launch; Technology Industry; United States

April 2012
Case

Bank of America: Mobile Banking (Abridged)

By: Sunil Gupta and Michael Norris

In January 2010, Bank of America is discussing its future mobile strategy. Should the company add complexity to its app, design multiple apps for business segments, or expand into other mobile channels? View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; United States

01 Jun 1996
News

Reinventing Marketing

becoming the victim of its own success, according to the leaders of the Marketing unit at HBS. "Advances in technology and fundamental changes in how products and services are delivered are enabling other disciplines - such as... View Details

Keywords: Mary Jane Higgins; Illustration by Peter Hoey

September 2011 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Telemonitoring at Visiting Nurse Health System

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Mark Keil and Mala Kaul

The Telemonitoring at Visiting Nurse Health System case presents one home healthcare organization's efforts to use telemonitoring to improve the quality of care provided to at-risk patients who were discharged from hospitals and needed home care. After two years of... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Cost vs Benefits; Risk Management; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

2024
Working Paper

Navigating Software Vulnerabilities: Eighteen Years of Evidence from Medium and Large U.S. Organizations

By: Raviv Murciano-Goroff, Ran Zhuo and Shane Greenstein

How prevalent are severe software vulnerabilities, how fast do software users respond to the availability of secure versions, and what determines the variance in the installation distribution? Using the largest dataset ever assembled on user updates, tracking server... View Details

Keywords: Cybersecurity; Applications and Software; Technology Adoption; Consumer Behavior

Find at Harvard

A prolific inventor, Sperry was instrumental in creating technological advances in navigation. He invented gyroscopic compasses and stabilizers that became fundamental components for both ships and airplanes. His inventions were View Details

Keywords: Fabricated Goods

25 Aug 2022
News

Full Stream Ahead

play out, the current wave of technologies will be subsumed by the next—just as Blockbuster was eaten by at-home DVDs, which were in turn devoured by on-demand video, Soares says. Platforms that license music like TikTok and Roblox will... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

August 2023
Article

Explaining Machine Learning Models with Interactive Natural Language Conversations Using TalkToModel

By: Dylan Slack, Satyapriya Krishna, Himabindu Lakkaraju and Sameer Singh

Practitioners increasingly use machine learning (ML) models, yet models have become more complex and harder to understand. To understand complex models, researchers have proposed techniques to explain model predictions. However, practitioners struggle to use... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Technological Innovation; Technology Adoption