PC - Publications - Faculty & Research - Harvard Business School

19 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Alfred Chandler on the Electronic Century

period a small number of followers entered the new path. The inability of the British, French, Italian, and then German companies to compete with IBM's mainframes and the plug-compatibles in the 1970s and IBM and its PC clones in the... View Details

Keywords: by Alfred D. Chandler, Takashi Hikino & Andrew Von Nordenflycht; Computer; Consumer Products; Electronics; Manufacturing; Technology

05 May 2010
What Do You Think?

Is Denial Endemic to Management?

"denial is avoidable and leads to failure," such as Henry Ford's presumption that consumers would continue to want black autos in the face of evidence that they were becoming more interested in color; IBM's dogged pursuit of PC... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

07 May 2019
News

How Sonja Hoel Perkins Saved John McAfee from an Especially Bad Deal

attending Harvard Business School, Hoel Perkins landed a job on the ground floor of the venture capital firm TA Associates in Boston. There she impressed management with her computer skills—all self-taught—and her knack for finding prospects for investment. Around that... View Details

20 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 20, 2007

capitalist, author, and co-founder and chairman emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, announced his intention to build a PC so cheap as to make it possible to provide Internet- and multimedia-capable... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Apr 1996
News

Technology for Learning's Sake

year, more than 150 first-year cases had software that was specifically designed to help students analyze cases. PC use eventually became commonplace in second-year courses and exams as well. (More than 90 percent of all exams today are... View Details

Keywords: by Deborah Blagg; photo by David Zadig

01 Dec 2014
News

Five Degrees of Doriot

also played a role in launching the world’s largest software maker: Microsoft founders Paul Allen and Bill Gates wrote their first PC software using a DEC computer. (Library of Congress) Body armor While serving in World War II, Doriot... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; George Doriot; Educational Services

01 Mar 2007
News

Microsoft’s Ballmer Makes His Pitch

Microsoft’s Windows operating system and Office suite of products, Ballmer dismissed the challengers as caring more about altruism than profit. He insisted there will continue to be demand for Microsoft software that delivers feature-rich capabilities to View Details

Keywords: News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

06 Dec 2012
News

New Thinking on Healthcare Reform

of minicomputers created more of a midpoint (clinics) before desktop PCs became prevalent (home healthcare and services such as MinuteClinic). "We need to bring technology to outpatient clinics and patients' homes so they can provide more... View Details

Keywords: Ambulatory Health Care Services; Health, Social Assistance

01 Oct 2000
News

After the Revolution: Putting the Internet in Perspective

technology for the dizziness, said Nolan. "The Internet is the fastest-growing technology to ever reach fifty million users, and it did it in four years." In contrast, he said, "television took thirteen years to reach that many people, and the View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

23 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Brand Power from Wedgwood to Dell: Part Two

kitchen; Howard Schultz's early office was the prep room for his first café; and Michael Dell began assembling PCs in his college dorm room. How did they go from these beginnings to creating global organizations that became industry... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

05 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Radical Change, Entrepreneurial Opportunity

others to buy into your perspective? Is a digital camera a substitute for an analog camera? Is it a PC peripheral? Is it something like a camcorder? And how do consumers make sense of it? What features do they value? Ideally, producers... View Details

Keywords: by Michael J. Roberts; Technology

05 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 5, 2019

digital platforms not only shaped individual organizations but changed the structure of the entire computer industry. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55092 Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 15... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

01 Oct 2001
News

New Economy Notables: Thomas S. Volpe

longer cyclical. The Internet is a big deal, but it's not world-changing. It's another improvement, like the PC was. I have never been more optimistic than I am today about the future of technology. Advice for current MBAs It is a... View Details

Keywords: Young, Susan; Finance

06 Apr 2009
Research & Ideas

Cheers to the American Consumer

needs, design new products to solve customer problems, and motivate purchase through attractive pricing and heavy advertising, with the occasional dose of built-in obsolescence. An example is Intel's remarkably effective pull advertising campaign that had consumers... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

28 Nov 2007
Research & Ideas

B2B Branding: Does it Work?

ingredient brand. It makes zero sales to end consumers, yet Intel built a consumer demand pull for its chips that required every PC manufacturer to incorporate them and to advertise Intel Inside on their products and in their ads. Other... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Consumer Products

25 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Cyber-Marketing: Scouting the Digital Communications Frontier

implement broadly. In contrast, the most familiar digital communications technology today is a personal computer linked to the Internet. Unlike the ubiquitous television set, however, Internet-linked PCs are still found in less than half... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

17 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 17, 2006

music to mobile handsets (via streaming, side-loading content from a PC or downloading it wirelessly over the air), created a potentially market-changing opportunity for players in several industries. Examines the key players, including... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Aug 2006
First Look

First Look: August 29, 2006

Business School Case 706-496 Apple has reaped the benefits of its innovative music player, the iPod. However, its PC and server business continue to hold small market share relative to the worldwide computer over the past few years. Will... View Details