Publications

September 2014
Supplement

Netflix: Designing the Netflix Prize (B)

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

This supplemental case follows up on the Netflix Prize Contest described in Netflix: Designing the Netflix Prize (A). In the A case, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings must decide how to organize a crowdsourcing contest to improve the algorithms for Netflix's movie... View Details

Keywords: Crowdsourcing; Prizes; Digitization; Algorithms; Recommendation Software; Disruption; Transformation; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Sharing; Applications and Software

September 2017 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Intermountain Healthcare: Pursuing Precision Medicine

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Kathy E. Giusti, Robert S. Huckman and Julia Kelley

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Intermountain Healthcare operates 23 hospitals and hundreds of clinics in Utah and Idaho and provides insurance to approximately 850,000 patients through its insurance arm, SelectHealth. In 2013, Intermountain, known for its commitment... View Details

Keywords: Precision Medicine; Healthcare; Innovation; Cancer; Cancer Research; Health Care; Technology; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation Leadership; Disruptive Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; Utah; United States; North America

January 2021 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Ocado Group: Ready for the Future

By: José B. Alvarez, Damien McLoughlin and Natalie Kindred

Profile

Marcela Sapone

For Marcela Sapone, 2014 was a good year. The fast-rising entrepreneur not only graduated from Harvard Business School, but Boston-based Alfred, the venture she and her classmate Jessica Beck launched a year earlier, won both the prestigious HBS New Venture Competition... View Details

01 Sep 2016
News

Clay Christensen on Competing Against Luck

Why They Buy The first big puzzle Professor Clay Christensen tackled when he joined the HBS faculty in 1992 was an elemental one: Why was success so hard for businesses to sustain? The search led to his theory of disruptive innovation,... View Details

01 Apr 1998
News

Professor Ramchandran Jaikumar Remembered

research on the integration of computers into the manufacturing process led to the development of a "minimalist" architecture for manufacturing. His framework emphasizes the elimination of process disruptions and the mini- mization of... View Details

23 Apr 2020
Blog Post

Fireside Chats with Harvard Faculty: A COVID-19 Symposium

Professor Dani Rodrik and Professor Debora Spar discuss the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Global Economy and Globalization, as a whole. COVID-19: What We Learned in China View Video Flex CEO, Revathi Advaithi, and Professor Willy Shih discuss the company’s... View Details

Student-Profile

Celia Stafford

impacted, which reinforces physician’s dissatisfaction. I’m interested in finding interventions that will disrupt that reinforcing loop and increase satisfaction for both patients and physicians.” View Details

Web

2.3 Community Standards of Conduct | MBA

including, for example, in regard to educator/student relationships. In addition, students may not provide false information to university officials or disrupt or obstruct teaching, research or other University activities, nor may they... View Details

01 Jun 2020
News

Vital Signs

Halle Tecco (MBA 2011) Halle Tecco (MBA 2011) Halle Tecco (MBA 2011) has been a health care investor since she graduated from HBS. Her fascination with the massive disruptions underway in the industry led her to found the Rock Health... View Details

Keywords: Jen Mele; COVID-19; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Health, Social Assistance

May 2006 (Revised November 2006)
Case

DVD War

By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind

In 2006, the DVD was the most popular storage medium in the entertainment and computer industries. The development of high-definition (HD) technology created a need for a format with greater storage capacity. Instead of agreeing on a single standard for a new HD disc,... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Entertainment; Business History; Intellectual Property; Product; Competition; Technology Adoption; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

December 2014 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Simplot Plant Sciences: Designing a Better Potato

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Mary Shelman

Privately held Simplot has developed a new genetically engineered potato that substantially reduces waste and does not turn brown after cutting. Unlike other GMOs, it does not contain foreign genes. The case describes the company's commercialization plans in light of... View Details

Keywords: GMO; Sustainability; Agribusiness; Biotechnology; Food And Environment; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Food; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Marketing; Product Positioning; Genetics; Value Creation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

June 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Tennant Company: Innovating Within and Beyond the Core

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Toby E. Stuart and James Weber

Tennant, a leading producer of floor cleaning equipment, must determine the business model to use for its new chemical-free cleaning technology. In 2005, Tennant Company had developed an innovative, environmentally friendly cleaning technology that could potentially... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Disruptive Innovation; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Value Creation; Consumer Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry

September 1999 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Roadside Attractions LLC

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, John T. Gourville and Nicole Tempest

Eric d'Arbeloff, producer of independent films, must decide between two offers for distribution of his new movie, "Trick." The case tracks the assembly of resources and the effects of technological change in the film business. View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Distribution; Technological Innovation; Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Film Entertainment; Entertainment and Recreation Industry