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IFC India 2025: Decarbonizing Rice Paddy Farming - Pioneering Sustainability in Indian Agriculture - Blog - Business & Environment

Blog Blog Filter Results Arrow Down Arrow Up Read posts from Author Alumni Author HBS Faculty Author HBS Staff Author Staff Author Students Topics Topics Accelerating Climate Solutions Conference 2023 Alumni Alumni Programs Alumni in Climate Networking Series Business... View Details

September 22, 2023
Article

How Software Companies Can Avoid the Trap of Product-Led Growth

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Oliver Jay

Companies like Slack and Dropbox have pioneered the use of Product-Led Growth (PLG). They start by building a product that’s indispensable for small teams, then count on low friction and customer advocates to expand throughout the organization. PLG works, at least at... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Product; Network Effects; Business Strategy

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September 2, 2021
Article

The Digital Economy Runs on Open Source. Here's How to Protect It.

By: Hila Lifshitz-Assaf and Frank Nagle

Free and open source software (FOSS) is essential to much of the tech we use every day—from cars to phones to planes to the cloud. While traditionally, it was developed by an army of volunteer developers and given away for free, companies are increasingly taking a more... View Details

Keywords: Free And Open-source Software; FOSS; Open Source Distribution; Applications and Software; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Organizations; Policy; Cybersecurity

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2007
Working Paper

The Impact of Component Modularity on Design Evolution: Evidence from the Software Industry

By: Alan MacCormack, John Rusnak and Carliss Y. Baldwin

Much academic work asserts a relationship between the design of a complex system and the manner in which this system evolves over time. In particular, designs which are modular in nature are argued to be more "evolvable," in that these designs facilitate making... View Details

Keywords: Product Design; Adaptation; Software; Information Technology Industry

2021
Other Unpublished Work

Computer-Implemented Methods and Systems for Measuring, Estimating, and Managing Economic Outcomes and Technical Debt in Software Systems and Projects: US Patent 11,126,427 B2

By: Daniel J. Sturtevant, Carliss Baldwin, Alan MacCormack, Sunny Ahn and Sean Gilliland

An interrelated set of tools and methods is disclosed for: (1) measuring the relationship between software source code attributes (such as code quality, design quality, test quality, and complexity metrics) and software economics outcome metrics (such as... View Details

Keywords: Technical Debt; Applications and Software; Economics; Measurement and Metrics; Patents

November 1996 (Revised June 1999)
Case

Living on Internet Time: Product Development at Netscape, Yahoo!, NetDynamics, and Microsoft

By: Marco Iansiti and Alan D. MacCormack

Describes how four companies in the Internet software market approach product development. Drawing upon short case studies of three recent projects, students are invited to synthesize the common attributes of development practice in turbulent environments. View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Situation or Environment; Volatility; Risk and Uncertainty; Research and Development; Information Technology Industry; United States

June 1996 (Revised July 2004)
Case

Enron Development Corporation: The Dabhol Power Project in Maharashtra, India (C)

By: Krishna G. Palepu, V. Kasturi Rangan and Sarayu Srinivasan

Discusses the resolution of the canceled power project in Maharashtra. The contract between the American gas giant and Indian state government is renegotiated. View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Deal; Infrastructure; Outcome or Result; Performance Effectiveness; Energy Industry; United States

2009
Working Paper

Principles that Matter: Sustaining Software Innovation from the Client to the Web

By: Marco Iansiti

Economic analysis often reviews the role of principles—such as respect for intellectual property rights—in driving innovation. Given the interdependent nature of innovation in information technology, three core principles have emerged that work together to ensure that... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Technological Innovation; Intellectual Property; Partners and Partnerships; Competition; Information Technology; Internet and the Web

November 2019
Case

DeepMap: Charting the Road Ahead for Autonomous Vehicles

By: Shane Greenstein and Nicole Tempest Keller

Founded in 2016, DeepMap developed high definition (HD) mapping software and localization services for Level 4+ autonomous vehicles. Traditional navigational maps were accurate to a few meters, which was sufficient for drivers but not for machine-driven vehicles that... View Details

Keywords: Mapping Software; Autonomous Vehicles; Business Startups; Applications and Software; Technological Innovation; Technology Adoption; Service Delivery; Global Range; Resource Allocation; Strategic Planning; Technology Industry; Auto Industry

17 Jul 2006
Lessons from the Classroom

Developing a Strategy for Digital Convergence

course returns to the classroom in the 2006-2007 academic year with several new cases. "These range from the very technical—VMWare, which develops software for virtualization on servers, and SAP, which... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Computer; Education

July 2012 (Revised April 2014)
Case

Research In Motion: The Mobile OS Platform War

By: Alan MacCormack, Brian Dunn and Chris F. Kemerer

The case describes competition in the market for smart phones in the US, and the position of one player, Research In Motion (RIM) who manufacture the popular Blackberry line of products. Early in 2011, RIM is in trouble. Its stock price has plummeted, amidst poor... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Product Development; Technology Strategy; Platform Strategy; Software; Hardware; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Digital Platforms; Applications and Software; Telecommunications Industry; Technology Industry; Canada; United States

August 2001
Case

Pharmaceutical Industry and the AIDS Crisis in Developing Countries, The

Explores the controversy over the pricing of AIDS drugs in poor countries. This issue has received wide publicity due to two events: 1) a court case in South Africa that seeks to force drug companies to license their patents and 2) the announcement by the Indian... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Developing Countries and Economies; Business and Government Relations; Pharmaceutical Industry; South Africa; India

8 Aug 2008
Conference Presentation

Where Will Open Development Communities Prevail?

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Keywords: Product Development; Applications and Software; Civil Society or Community

April 2011
Article

The Emotional Impact and Behavioral Consequences of Post-M&A Integration: An Ethnographic Case Study in the Software Industry

By: David Ager

This ethnographic case study has focused in depth on one type of acquisition, that of two small, young firms (each with less than 2,000 employees and less than ten years in operation) acquired by one company in the software development industry based in the United... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Behavior; Groups and Teams; Mergers and Acquisitions; Emotions

Keywords: Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development; Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development; Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development; Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development

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07 Jul 2022
Blog Post

Pathlight: Reimagining the Developer Onboarding Experience

me graduating with a specialization in computing. In my senior year, I picked up a job at a small business selling open source services. This combination of baseline coding skills and open source knowledge got me to my first job at Red Hat as a View Details

01 Jun 2009
News

Porter Helps Jerusalem Mayor with Economic Development

Nir Barkat, a software entrepreneur elected mayor of Jerusalem last November, visited HBS in late March to take part in a roundtable discussion on the economic development of his city, Israel’s poorest. HBS... View Details

February 1997
Case

Enron Development Corp.: The Dabhol Power Project in Maharashtra, India (C) (Abridged)

By: Louis T. Wells Jr.

Discusses the resolution of the canceled power project in Maharashtra. The contract between the American gas giant and Indian state government is renegotiated. View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Policy; Contracts; Negotiation Process; Conflict and Resolution