Publications

June 2003
Case

Ford Argentina: Transforming a Global Industry in a Local Market

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Ramiro Montealegre, Laureano Berasategui and Paula Rodriguez Etchard

The president of Ford Argentina has to decide on the e-business approach at this subsidiary of Ford Motor Co. The approach must take into consideration the ambitious global e-business transformation proposed by the parent company within the context of a major economic... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Financial Crisis; Global Strategy; Technological Innovation; Problems and Challenges; Internet

11 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 11

Michael Beer and Lynda St. ClairHarvard Business School Case 913-521 A new Dallas-based health and beauty spa aims to use a highly distinctive human resource system as the foundation of its competitive strategy. View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Sep 2014
News

Innovation: Revenge of the Nerds

of Cambridge and Boston, approaching any independent business owner who might have a business problem the “nerds” could help them address. They also convinced Professor Lynda M. View Details

Keywords: April White

June 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Communities In Schools (Atlanta): Innovating a College Program

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Lynda M. Applegate and Alexis Lefort

Frank Brown, CIS of Atlanta's new Black CEO, was keen to extend CIS's well-honed case management in schools program to youth in college. Founded 50 years ago by Bill Milliken, CIS, a network of 110 affiliates, had built a strong program of assisting and supporting... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Education; Expansion; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Atlanta

July 2001 (Revised October 2004)
Case

PSA: The World's Port of Call

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Nancy Bartlett, Dolly Chang-Leow and Neo Boon Siong

Details the evolution of an e-business strategy and capabilities over a 16-year period. What began in 1984 as an effort to automate the port of Singapore to achieve productivity savings, by 2000 had evolved into a global e-business called Portnet.com. Closes as senior... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Business or Company Management; Shipping Industry; Information Technology Industry

2009
Working Paper

Virtual Team Learning: Reflecting and Acting, Alone or With Others

By: Deborah L. Soule and Lynda M. Applegate

This paper examines virtual team learning in new product development situations. New product development activities manifest novelty, uncertainty and complexity, presenting an extreme need for learning in the course of the work. We present data from an exploratory... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Learning; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Product Development; Groups and Teams; Behavior

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September 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

FJ Management Inc.

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Matthew G. Preble

In late 2015, Crystal Call Maggelet, president and CEO of FJ Management, is working with her investment committee to help set the company’s strategic direction. Maggelet, daughter of the company’s founder, has led FJ Management since 2009 when she stepped in as CEO... View Details

June 2018
Case

The Grommet in 2018

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Karen Gordon Mills and Lena Goldberg

The Grommet, an online product launch platform, was at the brink of scaling its business. The Grommet's daily launch and sale of innovative consumer products, using personal videos created by product makers, had led to its initial success. In 2014, the company launched... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Value Capture; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Product Launch; Value; Retail Industry

19 Apr 2017
News

Chicago Becomes a Hub of Startup Action

developing “ecosystem” for starting new ventures. HBS professor Lynda Applegate moderated the event, which was inspired by a case she coauthored with Alexander Meyer (MBA... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Emmanuel

April 2013 (Revised October 2013)
Case

National Instruments

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Keri Pearlson and Natalie Kindred

This case explores the use of social media to support product design, customer support, marketing and HR activities at National Instruments (NI). Based in Austin, Texas, with over $1 billion in 2011 sales, NI designs, produces, and sells software and hardware platforms... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Applications and Software; Organizational Culture; Technological Innovation; Digital Platforms; Innovation and Management; Media; Management Systems; Social and Collaborative Networks; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry; Texas

23 Aug 2011
First Look

First Look: August 23

case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/211092-PDF-ENG Purchase this supplement (B):http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/211102-PDF-ENG The Sandbox: Creating a Bottom-Up Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Shikhar Ghosh, Lynda View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 1998 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Taco Bell Inc. (1983-1994)

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Dave DeLong

Details the actions of John Martin, newly named CEO, as he leads Taco Bell through a decade of incremental and radical changes. By the end of the case, total system sales within Taco Bell, a Mexican style fast-food restaurant chain and a division of PepsiCo, have grown... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Transformation; Economic Growth; Food; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Design; Performance Effectiveness; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; Mexico

September 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Ze-gen: Commercializing Clean Tech

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Kaitlyn Lyons and Scott Prozeller

The Ze-gen case covers the first five years in the life of a clean-tech start-up. Ze-gen had developed an innovative technology that converted solid waste into synthesis gas (called syngas). This technology was in testing at the company's pilot plant, built next to the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Renewable Energy; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Environmental Sustainability; Commercialization; Green Technology Industry; New Bedford

June 2012
Case

Innovating at AT&T: Partnering to Lead the Broadband Revolution

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Phillip Andrews and Kerry Herman

In 2010, the U.S. retail market value for next-generation non-handset wirelessly-enabled devices was just over $1 billion. By 2011 it had grown 1,141% to $13.2 billion and was forecast to reach $24.7 billion in 2015. At the same time, user demand for data was surging... View Details

Keywords: Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Team Leadership; Emerging Technologies; Business Models; Business To Business; Corporate Vision; Growth Strategy; Corporate Culture; Innovation and Invention; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Partners and Partnerships; Leadership; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Business Model; Technology Industry; United States

January 2009 (Revised February 2009)
Case

F-Secure Corporation: Software as a Service (SaaS) in the Security Solutions Market

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Robert D. Austin, Kalle Lyytinen, Esko Penttinen and Timo Saarinen

Describes the development of a business model based on "software as a service" (SaaS) for security solution distributed through Internet Service Providers (ISPs). F-Secure disruptively entered a mature business with dominant players by executing an innovative new... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Disruptive Innovation; Service Delivery; Internet; Information Technology Industry

2009
Working Paper

Don't Just Survive - Thrive: Leading Innovation in Good Times and Bad

By: Lynda M. Applegate and J. Bruce Harreld

Battered by contracting markets and frozen credit, many businesses today are fighting for survival. Indeed, the current global financial crisis provides a mandate for restructuring. But survival is not the end goal. In fact, cost cutting and restructuring are simply... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Risk Management; Leading Change; Innovation and Management; Crisis Management; Growth and Development Strategy

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March 2023 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Akamai Technologies: Expanding the Talent Pipeline

By: Christopher Stanton, Lynda M. Applegate, Allison Ciechanover, Emily Grandjean and Sophie Beck

In 2022, senior executives of Cambridge, MA-based Akamai Technologies met to consider whether and how to scale a successful technical training program. The program, Akamai Technical Academy (ATA), was launched in 2016 to address a key challenge at Akamai and in the... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Diversity; Talent and Talent Management; Technology Industry; United States; Boston