Publications

May 2012 (Revised August 2012)
Case

Apple Inc. in 2012

By: David B. Yoffie and Penelope Rossano

On October 5, 2011, Steve Jobs tragically died of cancer. The recently retired CEO of Apple Inc. was a legend: he had changed Apple from a company near bankruptcy to one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world. Moreover, he had revolutionized several... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Market Positioning; Strategic Planning; Technology; Computer Industry; Strategy Implementation; Consumer Electronics; Telecommunications; Information Infrastructure; Innovation and Invention; Competitive Strategy; Leadership; Product Positioning; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry

June 2003
Case

Rise and Fall (?) of Palm Computing in Handheld Operating Systems,The

Describes the evolution of the handheld operating system market. Describes the rise to dominance of Palm's operating system and the significant challenge to that dominance posed by Microsoft's Windows CE. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Network Effects; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

September 2019 (Revised January 2021)
Case

Vispera: Visual Intelligence for Retail

By: Yael Grushka-Cockayne and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in 2019 as Aytul Ercil, co-founder and CEO of Vispera, computer vision technology provider for retail, is contemplating the company’s agenda trying to decide how to prioritize the impeding options. The case chronicles the founding of Vispera, the... View Details

Keywords: Computer Vision Technology; Visual Analysis; Retail; Information Technology; Business Model; Operations; Performance Efficiency; Competitive Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Global Strategy; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Turkey

2019
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 15 The IBM PC

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

The IBM PC was the first digital computer platform that was open by as a matter of strategy, not necessity. The purpose of this chapter is to understand the IBM PC as a technical system and set of organization choices in light of the theory of how technology shapes... View Details

Keywords: IBM; Personal Computer; Digital Platforms; System; Strategy

SSRN

Read Now

24 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

How Kayak Users Built a New Industry

whole new design spaces, keep emerging from them. The computer industry has behaved this way, building design spaces on design spaces. With such mutable designs, the pathways from innovation to commercial... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation

August 2003
Teaching Note

Computer Associates International Inc.: Governance and Investor Communication Challenge (TN)

By: Paul M. Healy

Teaching Note for (9-103-007). View Details

Keywords: Computer Industry; Computer Industry

June 1993
Case

General Dynamics and Computer Sciences Corporation: Outsourcing the IS Function (A) and (B) (Abridged)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Katherine N. Seger

Describes the largest information systems outsourcing agreement in the industry from the perspectives of both companies involved in the deal. View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Transition; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Business Strategy; Information Technology

Article

Applying KISS to Healthcare Information Technology

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Margo Seltzer and Mark Gaynor

Current public and private healthcare information technology initiatives have failed to achieve secure integration among providers. Applying the "keep it simple, stupid" principle offers the key guidance for solving this problem. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Health Care; Public Health; Information Technology Industry; Computer Networks; Computer Services Industries; Software; Hardware; Medical Services; Health Care and Treatment; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Information Infrastructure; Standards; Health Industry; Health Industry; United States

Read Now

April 1993 (Revised May 1994)
Case

General Dynamics and Computer Sciences Corporation: Outsourcing the IS Function (A)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Katherine Seger

Designed to generate discussion on the issues of outsourcing from the perspective of a firm thinking about turning over its IS activities to a third-party vendor. View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Management Style; Information Technology; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Business Strategy; Economic Systems; Business or Company Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Processes; Employment; Emerging Markets; Activity Based Costing and Management; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

April 1993 (Revised December 2001)
Case

General Dynamics and Computer Sciences Corporation: Outsourcing the IS Function (C)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Katherine Seger

Outlines the full architecture of an outsourcing agreement and allows the class to discuss what should and should not be in such agreements. View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Agreements and Arrangements; Technology Industry

November 2004
Article

Contractibility and Asset Ownership: On-Board Computers and Governance in US Trucking

By: George P. Baker and Thomas Hubbard

Keywords: Assets; Ownership; Technology; Governance; Contracts; Transportation Industry; United States

01 Dec 1998
News

Year 2000 Computer Problem and You: Disaster for Some, Lessons for All

outsourcing, and integration services company that he founded in 1965. First in a Wall Street Journal ranking of one thousand companies listed according to best stock performance from 1987 to 1997, Keane Inc is considered among the nation's top consulting firms on the... View Details

November 2012
Teaching Plan

The Langer Lab: Commercializing Science (TP)

By: Vicki L. Sato and Annelena Lobb

The Langer Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was a unique operation. Its head, Robert Langer, had always focused on selecting ideas to research that would have the greatest positive impact for humanity, and he encouraged an unusual... View Details

Keywords: Computers; Industry Evolution; Entrepreneurship; Intellectual Capital; R＆D; Technology Transfer; Patents; Research and Development; Massachusetts

January 1996 (Revised September 2001)
Teaching Note

General Dynamics and Computer Sciences Corporation: Outsourcing the IS Function Series TN

By: F. Warren McFarlan

Teaching Note for (9-193-144), (9-193-145), and (9-193-178). View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Information Technology; Technology Industry

November 1992 (Revised December 1992)
Case

Deere & Co. (A): The Computer Aided Manufacturing Services Division - A Window to the World (Abridged)

By: Robert H. Hayes

The Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) Services Division of John Deere has just received approval to sell their software and computer systems to external customers. These tools, initially developed for internal use, have been widely used throughout Deere. Still,... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Machinery and Machining; Technological Innovation; Markets; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Outcome or Result; Computer Industry; Computer Industry

20 May 2013
Op-Ed

Making America an Industrial Powerhouse Again

industries. Research funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) sowed the seeds for the internet and advanced computer graphics. And massive investments by the National Institutes of Health in biomedical research,... View Details

Keywords: by Gary Pisano; Manufacturing

January 2013
Supplement

Microsoft Server & Tools (C)

By: Marco Iansiti and Alain Serels

Supplement for case 613031. Update on progress of Microsoft's Server & Tools Business through August 2012. Pleased with the Windows Azure product, Satya Nadella must decide how to attract customers to the cloud based platform. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Computing; Enterprise Computing; Servers; Cloud Computing; Microsoft; Technology Evolution; Technological Innovation; Disruptive Innovation; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry

January 2013 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Microsoft Server & Tools

By: Marco Iansiti and Alain Serels

In 2011, Microsoft's Server & Tools Business (STB) was large, fast growing and highly profitable on the strength of traditional packaged product lines led by the Windows Server operating system. Even as the current packaged business was performing exceptionally well,... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Computing; Enterprise Computing; Servers; Cloud Computing; Microsoft; Technology Evolution; Technological Innovation; Disruptive Innovation; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry