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March 2025
Case

Stagwell: AI and the Future of Marketing

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Radhika Kak

In early 2025, Mark Penn, Founder, CEO and Chairman of Stagwell, a global marketing company with a network of over 70+ agencies that served over 4000 blue-chip customers across 40 countries, was looking at ways that marketers should navigate the disruption emanating... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Advertising; Retention; Innovation Strategy; Advertising Industry; Technology Industry

April 2021
Case

Transforming BlackBerry: From Smartphones to Software

By: Ranjay Gulati and Nicole Tempest Keller

On the verge of failure, BlackBerry brought in John Chen as CEO in 2013 to orchestrate a bold turnaround of the company. Once an iconic leader in the smartphone market, BlackBerry was best known for its tactile QWERTY keyboard, strong security, and a focus on business... View Details

Keywords: Pivot; Managing Change; Turnaround; Smartphone; Change Management; Leading Change; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Platforms; Change; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Competitive Strategy; Cybersecurity; Technology Industry; Transportation Industry; Canada

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Birth of the American Salesman

to the sales strategies worked out at NCR. The well-known IBM motto "Think!" first appeared on an NCR trade card, apparently at Watson's suggestion. Q: The salesman is perhaps the most familiar and consistent image of American... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

06 Sep 2022
Blog Post

Student Spotlight: Summer Internships in Business & Environment

investment solutions ranging from green bonds and renewable infrastructure to thematic strategies that allow clients to align their capital with specific ESG outcomes. The Sustainable Investing team is responsible for ESG integration in... View Details

21 Jun 2022
HBS Case

Free Isn’t Always Better: How Slack Holds Its Own Against Microsoft Teams

end in a draw. “You can imagine a number of different scenarios, where Slack turns out to be very successful in certain segments—engineering, IT—and Teams is more successful in others,” he says. “That’s a very reasonable scenario.” Related Reading: Why View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Information Technology; Technology

November 2018 (Revised January 2022)
Case

JUUL and the Vaping Revolution

By: Michael W. Toffel, John Masko and Sarah Mehta

In late 2019, San Francisco-based electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) maker JUUL Labs (pronounced “jewel”) faced intense pressure. Sales of JUUL products exceeded $1 billion in 2018, dominating the e-cigarette category. While JUUL Labs’ stated goal was to help current... View Details

01 Jun 2023
News

Curb Appeal

York’s Finest from paper logs to digital apps and implemented tools like ShotSpotter, an audio gunshot-detection system, and the Domain Awareness System, a video surveillance platform that uses machine learning to detect potential... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photography by Vance Jacobs; Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities; Government

November 2008 (Revised August 2011)
Case

UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery

This case introduces emerging Web 2.0 social media in virtual worlds, social networking sites, and video-sharing sites and encourages students to explore the opportunities and risks they present for brands. The case allows students to grapple with the strategic and... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Risk and Uncertainty; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet and the Web; Apparel and Accessories Industry

December 2005
Case

IBM and Eclipse (A)

IBM faces a collective action problem: It open sourced its $40 million application platform and has to convince other companies to contribute. Explores the events leading up to IBM's decision to make the Eclipse platform available as an Open Source project. In 1998,... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Open Source Distribution; Cooperation; Adoption; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry

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Web

Frequently Asked Questions | HBS Online

the General Questions section or on our Policies page . You can also chat with us if you have a question that hasn't been addressed. CLIMB Credential of Digital Innovation and Strategy CORe AI Essentials for... View Details

Web

Online Business Essential Courses | HBS Online

Further with a GenAI Bonus Bundle Harvard Business School Online is collaborating with the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard to offer access to generative AI lessons—for a limited time. Learn More Free E-Book Your Guide to... View Details

07 May 2020
Research & Ideas

The One Good Thing Caused by COVID-19: Innovation

accommodating an appropriate level of economic activity. Businesses have historically overcome this type of challenge through the introduction of risk-mitigating technologies, which in this pandemic include technologies, business practices, and View Details

Keywords: by Hong Luo and Alberto Galasso

01 Jun 2002
News

Up to the Challenge: Ipsita Dasgupta - Global Perspective, Local Results

interact with different people and maintaining a strong knowledge of who you are.” Last year, in conjunction with the School's Nonprofit and Public Management Summer Fellowship Program, Dasgupta worked with Women's World Banking to design and implement technology View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; development; leadership; social issues; management; technology; Finance; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

06 Oct 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

18 Tips Managers Can Use to Lead Through COVID's Rising Waters

business administration. STRATEGY Tip: Confront unknown unknowns in your strategic planning The term VUCA originated in the US War College to describe situations that are volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. In this world,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

23 Mar 2022
Blog Post

Learning Curve: The Brother-and-Sister Team Behind a New Edtech Nonprofit

children and parents alike. “Our interests really aligned on early childhood education,” Mahajan says. Recognizing that more than 50 percent of Indians have smartphones—and that mobile internet penetration is high, even among low-income groups—Gupta and Mahajan... View Details

September 2019 (Revised November 2019)
Case

Pinduoduo

By: Feng Zhu, Krishna G. Palepu, Bonnie Yining Cao and Dawn H. Lau

Founded in 2015 by serial entrepreneur, Colin Huang, Pinduoduo Inc. (PDD) had become China’s fastest-growing e-commerce platform in history. PDD pioneered a new approach to online shopping that allowed shoppers to share products, invite friends to form shopping teams,... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Strategy; E-commerce