Software - Publications - Faculty & Research

06 Aug 2018
Research & Ideas

Supersmart Manufacturing Tools are Lowering Prices on TVs, Bulbs, and Solar Panels

tough challenge. As the tools get better and cheaper, it’s not enough to just crank out products with them. You have to add value in other ways, maybe with differentiating software or wrap-around services, or you have to move upstream to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing; Electronics

May 2004 (Revised December 2004)
Case

Slingshot Technology, Inc. (C)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth Collins

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Private Ownership; Opportunities; Partners and Partnerships; Information Technology; Entrepreneurship; Applications and Software; Intellectual Property; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry

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05 Dec 2017
Research & Ideas

What We've Learned from 101 Entrepreneurs in Emerging Markets

exploring how to automate access to some of the video interviews. It’s trickier than we thought but we’re making progress. So far, it still seems simpler to manually extract relevant quotes since the software for automating this is too... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

19 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Racist Umpires and Monetary Ministers

the University of California, San Diego. The researchers used computer software to analyze the tone of each columnist's writing, determining whether they wrote with a generally bearish or generally bullish perspective. "Some authors... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Sports; Information; Publishing

25 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 25

Network Methods to Map Product Architecture By: Baldwin, Carliss Y., Alan MacCormack, and John Rusnak Abstract—In this paper, we describe an operational methodology for characterising the architecture of technical systems and demonstrate its application to a sample of... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

20 Mar 2017
Book

Why Companies Are Placing Users at the Core of Their Innovation Strategies

who took notice: Harvard Business School Professor Karim Lakhani. As a doctoral student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the late 1990s, he took von Hippel’s class on innovation. After reading Lakhani’s paper describing the rising source of open View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

17 Nov 2015
First Look

November 17, 2015

Hoffenheim: Football in the Age of Analytics In 2015, Dietmar Hopp, owner of Germany’s Bundesliga football team TSG Hoffenheim and co-founder of the global enterprise software company SAP, was considering how to ensure long-term... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

The Ingredients of a Deal Disaster

theme parks—was to ensure a steady flow of creative software for its global hardware businesses. Senior MCA management agreed to the acquisition, expecting the new, cash-rich Japanese parent to provide capital for acquiring more record... View Details

Keywords: by Ron S. Fortgang, David A. Lax & James K. Sebenius

16 Jul 2024
Op-Ed

Corporate Boards Are Failing in Their No. 1 Duty

2013, the Microsoft board recognized that the company needed a leadership change as its stock had been flat since CEO Steve Ballmer had taken over in 2000 from founder Bill Gates. By doubling down on its proprietary Office and Windows View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

07 Jun 2016
First Look

June 7, 2016

people hate entering data, rarely do it accurately, and almost always input data that can't be synthesized in a way that is useful for the manager. Together with a friend, he developed software to solve this problem—while also working... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 May 2012
Research & Ideas

A Pragmatic Alternative for Creating a Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy

environmental, educational, and humanitarian organizations. Microsoft donates almost $300 million annually in software products to nongovernmental organizations around the world. There has to be an internal logic for how these efforts... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

10 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

Homers: Secrets on the Factory Floor

workers trained on such software was taking on work that used to be done in the workshops. The seemingly anecdotal homers encapsulated micro-struggles for recognition, ones in which the identity threats that craftsmen were facing were... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing

26 Jun 2000
Research & Ideas

Presentation Round-Up

creation, production, delivery and use of the Web, as well as toward a service delivery infrastructure. Panelist Katie Burke (HBS MBA '95) noted Web-based e-mail as a good example of how and why software is turning into a service.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace & Kenneth Liss; Technology; Communications; Telecommunications

February 2011 (Revised August 2012)
Teaching Note

Emotiv Systems Inc.: It's the Thoughts that Count (TN)

By: Elie Ofek and Natalie Kindred

Teaching Note for 510050. View Details

Keywords: Product Launch; Technological Innovation; Applications and Software; Decision Choices and Conditions; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Marketing Channels; Price

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July 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Case

The Mozilla Foundation: Launching Firefox 1.0 (A)

Explores the Mozilla Foundation's decisions leading up to the launch of Firefox 1.0, including its default browser, managing corporate partnerships, managing product development, and moving toward a revenue-based model. Mitchell Baker, president of the Mozilla... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Commercialization; Open Source Distribution; Partners and Partnerships; Information Technology; Social Entrepreneurship; Applications and Software; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology Industry; United States

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June 1998 (Revised January 2001)
Case

Browser Wars, 1994-1998, The

By: David B. Yoffie and Mary Kwak

Analyzes the competition between Netscape and Microsoft in the market for Web browsers and related products. Despite its first mover advantage, Netscape sees its market share fall once Microsoft becomes "hard-core" about the Internet. By the spring of 1998, the future... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Competition; Supply and Industry; Information Technology Industry

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24 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 24, 2017

Massachusetts, is assessing its investment in Tableau, a data visualization company. Tableau, which conducted an IPO a few years ago, has been experiencing substantial growth as it aims at disrupting the business intelligence software... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 23

Yammer's scalability, software development, and organizational culture. David Sacks, CEO of Yammer, debated the challenges and opportunities related to competition, product, and culture as he thought about the offer on the table. Purchase... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

04 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 4

Increasing Energy Efficiency through Normative Influence (B) Maarten W. Bos, Amy J.C. Cuddy, and Kyle T. DohertyHarvard Business School Supplement 911-061 The case profiles OPOWER, an energy efficiency software company that applies... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2020 (Revised March 2022)
Case

JOANN: Joannalytics Inventory Allocation Tool

By: Kris Ferreira and Srikanth Jagabathula

Michael Joyce, Vice President of Inventory Management at JOANN, championed an effort to develop and implement an inventory allocation analytics tool that used advanced analytics to predict in-season demand of seasonal items for each of JOANN’s nearly 900 stores and... View Details