Publications

May 2023
Article

Where Sales Technology (Really) Helps

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Interest in Sales Enablement (SE), the catch-all term for attempts to increase sales productivity with AI and other technologies, is driven by multiple factors. One is the declining costs of the tools. Also, selling is now data-hungry work and not just in tech sectors.... View Details

May 1993 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Connor Formed Metal Products

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Donna B. Stoddard and Melinda Conrad

Connor Formed Metal Products was a small, privately owned manufacturer of custom metal springs and stampings. Since becoming president in 1984, Bob Sloss had implemented many changes to the company's organizational structure, management control systems, and information... View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; Organizational Structure; Production; Change; Governance Controls; Information Technology; Manufacturing Industry

May 2005 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Founder-CEO Succession at Wily Technology

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Henry McCance

Before he accepts the new CEO position, Dick Williams wants founder Lew Cirne to step down as chairman. While considering Williams' incredible demand, Cirne reflects on everything he has already given up to get Wily Technology to this point. He agreed to step down as... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Succession

February 1994
Case

Alpha-Beta Technology, Inc.: Pioneering Carbohydrate Technology

Alpha-Beta was founded in 1988 by two scientist-entrepreneurs with ten patents on carbohydrate technology. In 1991, the company faces critical questions about how to focus its product definition from among several promising, but risky, choices. How should they analyze... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Product Design; Entrepreneurship; Product Development; Biotechnology Industry

February 2011 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Product Development at OPOWER

By: Thomas Eisenmann and Rob Go

OPOWER, a software startup that helps utilities engage their customers in ways that reduce energy consumption, is scaling rapidly. The company's new head of product management has designed a system to address a point of constant tension: whether to build custom... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Relationship Management; Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Product Development; Sales; Customization and Personalization; Energy Conservation; Environmental Sustainability; Information Technology Industry; Utilities Industry

August 1998
Case

Electronic Commerce at Air Products

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Melissa Dailey

In 1998,chief information officers (CIOs) in the highly competitive international gases and chemicals business faced the reality that electronic commerce capability was a strategic necessity. The results of annual surveys of technology officers in the chemical industry... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Information Technology; Globalized Markets and Industries; Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Business Strategy; Chemical Industry; United States

1995
Article

Technology Development and Integration: An Empirical Study of the Interaction between Applied Science and Product Development

By: Marco Iansiti

Keywords: Information Technology; Research and Development; Integration; Information; Science; Product

25 Oct 2018
Cold Call Podcast

Vodafone’s Innovative Approach to Advanced Technologies

Keywords: Telecommunications

2025
Working Paper

Trade and Industrial Policy in Supply Chains: Directed Technological Change in Rare Earths

By: Laura Alfaro, Harald Fadinger, Jay Schymik and Gede Virananda

Trade and industrial policies, while primarily intended to support domestic industries, may unintentionally stimulate technological progress abroad. We document this mechanism in the case of rare earth elements (REEs)—critical inputs for manufacturing at the knowledge... View Details

Keywords: Industrial Policy; Global Value Chains; Directed Technological Change; Input-output Linkages; Innovation; Trade; Metals and Minerals; Technological Innovation; Supply Chain; Technology Industry

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Article

How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition

By: Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann

Information technology is revolutionizing products. Once composed solely of mechanical and electrical parts, products have become complex systems that combine hardware, sensors, data storage, microprocessors, software, and connectivity in myriad ways. These "smart,... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Competition; Information Technology; Transformation; Information Technology Industry

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Teaching Interest

Immersive Field Course: Decarbonization and Sustainable Production

By: Willy C. Shih

A course looking at pioneering efforts in sustainable production methods and technologies supporting the energy transition. View Details

Keywords: Decarbonization; Sustainability Management; Green Technology; Energy Generation; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Europe; Denmark; Netherlands

March 2025
Teaching Plan

Wasabi Technologies (A) and (B)

By: N. Louis Shipley and Stacy Straaberg

Teaching Plan for HBS Case Nos. 823-021 and 825-035. Set in 2019, the “Wasabi Technologies (A)” case centers on Wasabi Technologies (Wasabi), a successful hot cloud storage company based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founder and CEO David Friend is ready to scale the... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Product Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Divisions; Business Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Information Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Boston

October 1993 (Revised September 1994)
Background Note

Accounting for Productivity Growth

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Introduces students to the arithmetic of the accounting for national productivity growth. It defines labor productivity, capital productivity, and total factor productivity, describes the relationships among them, and discusses the phenomena that cause them to change... View Details

Keywords: Performance Productivity; Macroeconomics; Analytics and Data Science; Government and Politics; Mathematical Methods; United States; Singapore

January 1996 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Linking Strategy and Innovation: Materials Technology Corporation

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Materials Technology Corp. (MTC), a high-tech materials company, is struggling in its development portfolio and to achieve a better record of delivering new products on time. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Innovation and Invention; Business Strategy; Time Management; Product; Production; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Information Technology Ecosystem Health and Performance

Keywords: by Marco Iansiti & Gregory L. Richards; Technology

April 2002
Comment

Comment to James Bessen's 'Technology Adoption Costs and Productivity Growth: The 70s as a Technological Revolution'

By: Diego Comin

Keywords: History; Cost; Technology Adoption; Growth and Development