Publications

2019
Book

The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power

By: Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer and David B. Yoffie

The Business of Platforms explores the strategic, economic, and technology management challenges of digital platform businesses. We have five major themes in the book: 1) The world’s most valuable companies are all platforms, in part because platforms have... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Technology; Platform; Internet and the Web; Management; Competitive Strategy; Digital Platforms

January 2025
Case

Hebbia: Redefining Productivity for Knowledge Workers Using AI

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Minoshka Narayan

In early 2025, George Sivulka, founder and CEO of Hebbia, reflected on the company’s rapid ascent as a pioneer in GenAI-powered productivity tools for knowledge workers. With its proprietary technology, Hebbia had redefined information retrieval and analysis and earned... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Customer Relationship Management; AI and Machine Learning; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Service Delivery; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; United States; New York (city, NY)

February 2020
Case

Leading Change in Talent at L'Oréal

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Vincent Dessain and Emer Moloney

Jean-Claude Le Grand just stepped into a new role as Executive Vice-President for Human Resources at the global cosmetics company, L’Oréal. He is now responsible for the hiring, development, promotion, and retention of 83,000 employees worldwide. The highly successful... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Business Headquarters; Business Divisions; Business Organization; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Competency and Skills; Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Demographics; Diversity; Gender; Nationality; Multinational Firms and Management; Human Resources; Employees; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Management; Jobs and Positions; Employment; Human Capital; Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Personal Development and Career; Planning; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Networks; Social Psychology; Attitudes; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Business Strategy; Advertising Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; France; Paris

May 2014 (Revised July 2016)
Case

RCA: Color Television and the Department of Justice (A)

By: Willy C. Shih and Gregory Dieterich

This case examines the early history of the color television receiver market and the global consequences of an historic 1958 consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice that opened RCA's patents to licensing by domestic competitors royalty-free. This externality... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Patents; Rights; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Business History; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Communications Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Electronics Industry; United States; Japan

18 Jul 2018
Research & Ideas

No More General Tso's? A Threat to 'Knowledge Recombination'

blocked from more traditional work, opened restaurants. But they had to cater to the American palate by adding sweetness to their dishes and combining Chinese and American ingredients into innovations like... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health; Food & Beverage; Accounting

2011
Chapter

Clusters and Competitiveness: Porter's Contribution

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

While clusters have been known to exist at least since the days of Marshall, Michael Porter's work, first in The Competitive Advantage of Nations (Porter, 1990) and then in On Competition (originally published in 1998; updated edition in Porter, 2008), has undoubtedly... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Framework; Policy; Industry Clusters; Practice; Competitive Advantage

16 Apr 2015
News

Why Larry Summers Thinks Alternative Lending Will Save the World

August 2014
Case

Netflix: Designing the Netflix Prize (A)

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Wesley M. Cohen, Kynon Ingram, Tushar Kothalkar, Maxim Kuzemchenko, Santosh Malik, Cynthia Meyn, Greta Friar and Stephanie Healy Pokrywa

In 2006, Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, was looking for a way to solve Netflix's customer churn problem. Netflix used Cinematch, its proprietary movie recommendation software, to promote individually determined best-fit movies to customers. Hastings determined that a... View Details

Keywords: Crowdsourcing; Prizes; Digitization; Algorithms; Recommendation Software; Disruption; Transformation; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Sharing; Applications and Software; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Technology Industry; United States

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

How the Giants of Enterprise Seized the Future

his camera than the telephone. It was not long after he began his career that his mother never had to work again. When Sam Walton opened his first five and dime store in Newport, Arkansas, after being mustered out of the Army in 1945, his... View Details

Keywords: by Richard S. Tedlow

27 Jan 2009
First Look

First Look: January 27, 2009

innovations that allow local sectors to catch up with frontier technology. In poor countries, catching up requires the cooperation of a foreign investor who is familiar with the frontier technology and a domestic entrepreneur who is... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Profile

Marla Malcolm Beck

gave a seminal speech that laid out his vision for the future of e-commerce, a moment that left Beck transfixed. At the same time, the nascent New Venture Competition was just being unveiled and Beck found herself at the intersection of... View Details

25 Apr 2019
Research & Ideas

Incubators Take Notice: Your Entrepreneurs Are Networking with the Wrong People

Companies and government leaders have long tried to recreate the kind of Silicon Valley innovation magic that made Facebook and Google such goldmines. Cities from Cincinnati to Saskatoon have launched startup labs. Companies including... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

May 2014
Supplement

RCA: Color Television and the Department of Justice (B)

By: Willy C. Shih and Gregory Dieterich

This case is a supplement to 614-072, which examines the early history of the color television receiver market, and the global consequences of an historic 1958 consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice that opened RCA's patents to licensing by domestic... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Patents; Rights; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Business History; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Communications Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Electronics Industry; United States; Japan

04 Jun 2014
News

Meeting of the minds

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Fortinet: Cybersecurity Pioneer Ken Xie Considers the Long Game

By: Tsedal Neeley, Jeff Huizinga and Emily Grandjean

Ken Xie, cofounder of cybersecurity giant Fortinet, faced a critical decision that would validate his leadership. Fortinet became the industry’s second-largest pureplay cybersecurity firm by developing differentiated hardware and investing in R&D. However, after a... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Marketing Strategy; Communication Strategy; Cybersecurity; Competitive Advantage; Information Technology Industry; United States; Sunnyvale

Dennis Yao is the Lawrence E. Fouraker Professor of Business Administration and Chair of the Doctoral Programs at Harvard Business School. He joined the faculty in 2004 after having been at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. From 1991-1994 he served as... View Details

Keywords: automotive; defense; federal government; high technology

25 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 25

of tomorrow's innovative new products, arguing that companies must reinvest in new product and process development in the U.S. industrial sector. Only by reviving this "industrial commons" can the world's largest economy build... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 May 2013
Op-Ed

Making America an Industrial Powerhouse Again

As part of his administration's strategy to rejuvenate American manufacturing, President Obama has called for the creation of a National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) to advance and diffuse novel manufacturing technologies.... View Details

Keywords: by Gary Pisano; Manufacturing

October 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Strategic Inflection: TiVo in 2005

By: David B. Yoffie, Pai-Ling Yin and Barbara Mack

In the late 1990s, TiVo pioneered the digital video recorder (DVR), a new consumer electronics category. By 2005, the company was the clear leader in technology and installed base. It had also built extraordinary loyalty among its customers. However, TiVo lost a half... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Competition; Partners and Partnerships; Information Infrastructure; Television Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry