Publications

winter 2007
Article

Oracle vs. PeopleSoft: A Case Study

By: D. Millstone and Guhan Subramanian

Keywords: Applications and Software; Information; Information Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

11 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

How Hackathons Help Decide Platform Winners and Losers

Choosing the right software platform is a critical task for developers. It can be a business life-or-death decision picking between Android or iPhone, Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud Platform, Xbox or PlayStation. At the same time,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology

August 2007 (Revised December 2007)
Case

Microsoft in China and India, 1993-2007

By: Tarun Khanna and Prithwiraj Choudhury

Relates to Microsoft's expansion in China and India in the period 1993-2007 and the strategic issues faced by multinationals in emerging markets. View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Multinational Firms and Management; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Emerging Markets; Information Technology Industry; China; India

22 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 22, 2007

explore the use of more distributed institutional forms. In this article, we review the emerging scholarship on the formation and function of self-regulatory institutions. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-089.pdf Evolution Analysis of Large-Scale... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Bridgit: Persevere or Pivot?

By: Reza Satchu and Patrick Sanguineti

In late 2012, Mallorie Brodie and Lauren Lake, two young women in their final year of college, founded Bridgit, a technology startup that developed solutions to simplify vital but laborious processes within the construction industry. In the Fall of 2013, after months... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneur; Founder; Co-founders; Women Executives; Pivot; Startup; Business Model; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Applications and Software; Product Launch; Research and Development; Competition; Construction Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Canada

November 2017
Case

iRobot: Moving Beyond the Roomba

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott Johnson

The makers of the Roomba, a robotic vacuum cleaner, connected the latest version of their product to the Internet. This new feature opened up a wealth of new opportunities and challenges for the company. View Details

Keywords: Irobot; Smart Home; Connected Home; Roomba; Vacuum; Mapping; Internet Of Things; Connected Products; Organizational Structure; Organizational Design; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; United States

17 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 17, 2017

Digital Agility: The Impact of Software Portfolio Architecture on IT System Evolution By: MacCormack, Alan, Robert Lagerström, Martin Mocker, and Carliss Y. Baldwin Abstract—The modern industrial firm increasingly relies on View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 29, 2008

world that was not a traditional game, Second Life had achieved profitability and strong growth. However, growth had strained the company's infrastructure, resulting in frequent software crashes. Software... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

05 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Venture Capital Goes Boom—or Bust?

Ninety percent of new entrepreneurial businesses that don't attract venture capital fail within three years. A software engineer at the government contractor EG&G, Don Brooks had been working on computer systems for the Idaho National... View Details

Keywords: by Paul A. Gompers & Josh Lerner

January 2002 (Revised February 2002)
Case

Postgirot Bank and Provment AB: Managing the Cost of IT Operations

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Nancy Bartlett

Describes a specific approach for measuring the efficiency of the groups of computers inside an organization and suggests ways this tool may be used to reduce the company's computing investment while maintaining service. It is a software-enabled industrial engineering... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Investment; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Style; Information Technology; Applications and Software

11 Jun 2020
In Practice

Are Digital Organizations Better at Overcoming COVID?

strain. They had a robust configuration that enabled new purposes, new software deployments, and new coordinated routines across teams. The best can use this as an opportunity to experiment and learn where technology can deliver service... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

30 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

New Paths to Success in Asia

business, Portnet.com, that licenses its world-class transshipment port operations and technology to ports around the world. In some cases, PSA not only sells the software but also operates the port. I'm looking at how Singapore is using... View Details

Keywords: by Alejandro Reyes & Deborah Blagg

06 Jun 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: June 6, 2017

implications from suboptimal peer-selection. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51919 Designing an Agile Software Portfolio Architecture: The Impact of Coupling on Performance By: MacCormack, Alan,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 31, 2006

A.S.—(Norway)—The Cenapio Project Harvard Business School Case 806-090 Describes the creation of an open source software venture in Norway, Australia, and the United States that lands a strategic OEM deal with a leading Japanese... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2008 (Revised April 2008)
Teaching Note

AT&T v. Microsoft: IP Litigation (TN) (A) and (B)

By: Willy Shih

Teaching Note for [608080], and [608081]. View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Information Technology; Communications Industry; Information Technology Industry

01 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

Sometimes Success Begins at Failure

market for the technology. (Xerox thought of itself as The Document Company, not a software company.) Xerox lacked the necessary practices for recognizing and coping with false negatives. Of the rejected projects that started inside... View Details

Keywords: by Henry Chesbrough; Health; Pharmaceutical

January 2024
Case

Flashfood: The Magic of Commitment

By: Reza Satchu and Patrick Sanguineti

Josh Domingues had accomplished what countless young entrepreneurs long to achieve: founding a promising company that aspires to make the world a tangibly better place. Shocked to learn that international food waste cumulatively amounted to the world’s third largest... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneur; Founder; Startup; Business Model; Business Startups; Food; Applications and Software; Mission and Purpose; Environmental Sustainability; Canada

June 2010 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Dr. Cameron Powell and AirStrip Technologies: After the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference

Dr. Cameron Powell and his partner, Trey Moore, co-founders of the innovative company, AirStrip Technologies, have developed a series of apps for the iPhone and other smartphones that can help doctors monitor the vital signs of their patients anytime, anywhere. They... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Entrepreneurship; Applications and Software; Health Care and Treatment; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Product Development; Information Technology Industry; Health Industry; United States