Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(540)
- Faculty Publications (135)
- September 2004 (Revised June 2005)
- Case
Otis Elevator: Accelerating Business Transformation with IT
By: F. Warren McFarlan and Brian DeLacey
Focuses on a major transformation of Otis Elevator's infrastructure. Led by the CEO, this transformation represents a remarkable long-term reengineering of all the processes of the firm to drive its operating costs down and service image up. The transformation is the... View Details
- September 2004 (Revised August 2007)
- Case
Enterprise IT at Cisco (2004)
By: Andrew P. McAfee, F. Warren McFarlan and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld
Illustrates the challenges associated with centralizing IT decisions at Cisco after a decade of decentralized planning and project funding. When Brad Boston became Cisco's new CIO in 2001, he found that managers were starting to get frustrated with the results of their... View Details
- June 2004 (Revised May 2006)
- Case
Millennial Net
By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Johanna Regine Naunton Blaxall
Millennial Net created self-organizing, ultra-low-power, wireless sensor networks, a space that was getting a lot of attention in 2004. The company was founded in 2000 and in early 2004 was looking for a second round of funding. The area had attracted a number of new... View Details
- May 2004
- Background Note
56K Modem Battle
By: David B. Yoffie and Deborah Freier
Examines the battle to set the standard for the 56K modem. Set in 1996, this case looks at how computers accessed the Internet via a telephone line, or dial-up connection, and a hardware modem. In 1995, there were 18.6 million total modem unit shipments, with market... View Details
- November 2003 (Revised December 2003)
- Case
Enabling Business Strategy with IT at the World Bank
By: F. Warren McFarlan and Brian DeLacey
World Bank IT provides services (communications, applications, video conferencing, knowledge sharing, distance learning, information sharing, client commerce, crisis management, etc.) on a global basis to the poorest countries in the globe via satellites. This case... View Details
- March 2003 (Revised January 2004)
- Case
CDC Capital Partners: December 2002
By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon
Paul Fletcher, CEO of CDC Capital Partners, a private equity group investing in the world's poorest countries, is wrestling with questions raised by the imminent reorganization of the firm. Previously an arm of the United Kingdom's international aid agency, CDC is... View Details
- February 2003 (Revised October 2003)
- Case
Cable Data Systems
By: Paul W. Marshall and Todd H Thedinga
Describes the operating challenges of Cable Data Systems (CDS), a minority-owned cable installation company with a dual mission of maximizing profits and providing employment opportunities to minorities in urban markets. Following the merger of two cable installation... View Details
- August 2002 (Revised January 2003)
- Case
Australia-Japan Cable: Structuring the Project Company
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Carrie Ferman
In late September 1999, representatives from Telstri, Japan Telecom, and Teleglobe met to discuss the structure of the Australia-Japan Cable (AJC) project, a $520 million submarine cable system that would run from Australia to Japan. The sponsors, excited by the... View Details
- June 2000 (Revised September 2000)
- Case
Amazon.com: Exploiting the Value of Digital Business Infrastructure
By: Lynda M. Applegate and Meredith Collura
Enables a thorough analysis of Amazon.com and the company's value proposition, in terms of its business concept, digital business capabilities, and community and shareholder value. Examines the company's complex set of business models and web of business relationships,... View Details
- May 2000 (Revised April 2003)
- Case
Contractual Innovation in the UK Energy Markets: Enron Europe, The Eastern Group, and the Sutton Bridge Project
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Peter Tufano
In December 1996, Enron Europe and The Eastern Group were on the verge of signing an innovative transaction in the utility industry. Eastern was going to buy a long-term option to convert natural gas into electricity from Enron, thereby giving it the economic right to... View Details
- January 2000 (Revised April 2000)
- Case
StarMedia: Launching a Latin American Revolution
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Jon K Rust
By the fall of 1999, StarMedia had sprinted to a sizable lead in the race to acquire Latin American Internet users. Its pan-regional, horizontal portal was the first to target Spanish- and Portuguese-language speakers on the Internet, registering 1.2 billion page views... View Details
- November 1999 (Revised April 2003)
- Case
Financing the Mozal Project
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Fuaad Qureshi
It is June 1997, and a team from the International Finance Corp. (IFC) is recommending that the board approve a $120 million investment in a $1.4 billion aluminum smelter in Mozambique, known as the Mozal project. Four factors make the investment controversial: it... View Details
- 1999
- Other Unpublished Work
Private Investment in Infrastructure: Managing Non-commercial Risk
By: L. T. Wells Jr.
- April 1999
- Background Note
Note on the Caspian Oil Pipelines
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Mathew M Millett
The Caspian region may become one of the world's next major energy producers. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan-all former Soviet republics--hold vast and largely undeveloped reserves of oil and gas, but the region's export infrastructure is nearly... View Details
- February 1997 (Revised April 1998)
- Case
first direct (A)
Describes the operations and strategy of the world's largest, fastest growing branchless bank. Using a person-to-person interface over conventional phone lines, First Direct provides standard banking and related financial products to nearly 700,000 customers throughout... View Details
- June 1996 (Revised July 1997)
- Case
Hostile Bid for Red October, The
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Alan Bigman
Manatep Bank, a Russian investment bank, has just announced the country's first hostile tender offer for Red October, a confectionery company located in Moscow. As the chief financial officer of the target company, Yuri Yegorov must decide how to respond, how much his... View Details
- September 1995
- Case
Richina Capital Partners Limited
By: William A. Sahlman and Jason Green
Richard Yan and Suzanne Foels raise a $52.5 million fund to invest in Chinese companies in concert with major multinational companies. They face all the challenges of starting a business from scratch in addition to the challenges of operating in a cross-cultural... View Details
- September–October 1995
- Article
Is Foreign Infrastructure Investment Still Risky?
By: L. T. Wells Jr. and E. S. Gleason