Publications

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The ubiquity of digital technology and internet connectivity is driving both new and old players across all industries to invest in new capabilities, define new business models, and compete in new ways. From software to automobiles, from healthcare to financial... View Details

October 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Lexar Media: The Digital Photography Company?

Examines growth options for a start-up that has parlayed its core technology in flash memory controllers into a rapidly growing position in the emerging digital photography industry. The new CEO must decide whether LexarMedia should maintain its identity as a digital... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth Management; Market Entry and Exit; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Technology Industry

2014
Working Paper

The Decoupling Effect of Digital Disruptors

By: Thales S. Teixeira and Peter Jamieson

While the Internet's first wave of disruption was marked by the unbundling of digital content, the second wave, decoupling, promises to generate more casualties in an even broader array of industries. Digital start-ups are disrupting traditional businesses by inserting... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Information Technology

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September 2017 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Goldman Sachs' Digital Journey

By: Sunil Gupta and Sara Simonds

Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, proclaimed, “We are a technology firm. We are a platform.” By 2017, he led a series of initiatives to translate this vision into reality. These included giving clients access to its proprietary database without... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Strategy; Transformation; Digital Strategy; Digital Transformation

08 Jun 2022
News

Embracing a Digital Approach

09 Jun 2015
News

Facing digital disruption

December 2007
Background Note

The Music Recording Industry: Digital Rocks

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Nancy Bartlett

Digital and mobile technologies profoundly and forever changed the long-held value proposition for the recorded music industry--the 12-song physical CD selling at $15. By 2007, it was apparent that the music recording business had become a digital business, and... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Disruption; Music Entertainment; Distribution; Practice; Technology Adoption; Value; Music Industry

09 Dec 2016
Video

Digital Innovation and Transformation: Goggles Not Required

Article

Digital Chess

By: D. B. Yoffie

Keywords: Information Technology; Games, Gaming, and Gambling

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March 2020 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Michelin: Building a Digital Service Platform

By: Sunil Gupta and Christian Godwin

Michelin, a tire company with over a century of experience, attempts to develop a digital service platform for its fleet and dealer customers. The case focuses on the challenges of bringing a large, well-established company into the digital age. Concerned about the... View Details

Keywords: Change; Transformation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Making; Leading Change; Growth and Development; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Auto Industry; Travel Industry; Transportation Industry; United States; France

January 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Digital Transformation at Tata Steel

By: Krishna Palepu, Das Narayandas, Radhika Kak and Rachna Tahilyani

T.V. Narendran, CEO of Tata Steel, India’s oldest steel manufacturing firm, had taken concrete business and cultural transformation steps to future-ready the firm since taking over in 2013. He had deleveraged and instilled financial discipline, acquired new businesses,... View Details

Keywords: Digital Transformation; Digital Strategy; Change Management; Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Steel Industry; Asia; India

Person Page

Educational Technology

Streamlined Real-Time Slide Generation and Editing

Lets an instructor build slides during class, based on class discussion -- "the chalkboard alternative." Student view offers a clean display with no distracting details (no menus, toolbars, or the... View Details

2024
Working Paper

The New Digital Divide

By: Mayana Pereira, Shane Greenstein, Raffaella Sadun, Prasanna Tambe, Lucia Ronchi Darre, Tammy Glazer, Allen Kim, Rahul Dodhia and Juan Lavista Ferres

We build and analyze new metrics of digital usage that leverage telemetry data collected by Microsoft during operating system updates across forty million Windows devices in U.S. households. These measures of US household digital usage are much more comprehensive than... View Details

Keywords: Mathematical Methods; Measurement and Metrics; Geographic Location; Behavior; Technology Adoption; Demographics

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June 2000 (Revised March 2003)
Case

IBM Technology Group

By: Andrew P. McAfee and Kerry Herman

Explores two main issues: how the IBM Technology Group was able to build a robust, scalable, and functional IT platform using packaged enterprise resource planning (ERP) software from SAP, and how the division should best leverage this capability going forward. View Details

Keywords: Management; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Competitive Advantage; Projects; Information Technology Industry

23 Jul 2018
News

Driving Digital Strategy to Reimagine Your Business

25 Feb 2015
Lessons from the Classroom

Scholars and Students Unpack the Digital Business Revolution

in the music, news, and entertainment industries. The gathering will look at the emerging collaborative and sharing economies, explore organizational change in a digital context, consider the implications of new View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Technology; Technology

January 2020 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Huawei: A Global Tech Giant in the Crossfire of a Digital Cold War

By: William C. Kirby, Billy Chan and John P. McHugh

By 2020, Ren Zhengfei, CEO of Huawei, had transformed the small telephone switch manufacturer he founded in 1987 into a $120 billion telecommunications company poised to lead the lucrative rollout of fifth-generation (5G) cellular networks. However, an emerging... View Details

Keywords: International Strategy; Government And Business; Digital Infrastructure; Political Risk; Information Technology; Infrastructure; Business and Government Relations; Government and Politics; Information Infrastructure; Technology Industry; China; United States

October 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Case

The NFL's Digital Media Strategy

By: Anita Elberse, C. Kelsey Calhoun and Daven Johnson

In late 2009, Brian Rolapp, senior vice president of media strategy and digital media for the NFL, was faced with the challenge of determining the league's strategic approach to the wireless market—and presenting his views to NFL team owners. What was the league's best... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Media; Distribution Channels; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Sports Industry