Publications

June 2022
Teaching Note

Bespoken Spirits: Disrupting Distilling

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 721-419. On October 7, 2020, Bespoken Spirits publicly announced it had received $2.6 million of seed funding for its “sustainable maturation process,” a process that could produce award-winning whiskeys in just days rather than years... View Details

Keywords: B2B Vs. B2C; Technological Innovation; Business Startups; Cost Management; Business Model; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

18 Feb 2019
Book

What’s Really Disrupting Business? It’s Not Technology

entrepreneurs I meet today incorporate the internet into their business ideas. When comparing their innovative products to the best options that are currently available, the less elaborate ideas tend to... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Beauty & Cosmetics; Insurance; Service; Retail

2010
Working Paper

The Architecture of Complex Systems: Do Core-periphery Structures Dominate?

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

Any complex technological system can be decomposed into a number of subsystems and associated components, some of which are core to system function while others are only peripheral. The dynamics of how such "core-periphery" structures evolve and become embedded in a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Product Design; Practice; Core Relationships; Software; Information Technology Industry

Read Now

December 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Blockbuster Inc. & Technological Substitution (B): Confronting New Digital Formats

Investigates how the rise of digital video formats threatens to make videocassette technology obsolete; how this technological substitution might alter the economics and structure of the video rental and retail industries; and how Blockbuster Inc., the industry leader,... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Decisions; Technological Innovation; Competition; Change Management; Service Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

10 Feb 2021
Research & Ideas

Has #MeToo Changed How Hollywood Hires?

Business School and Zhang is Assistant Professor of Strategy and Innovation at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. Although the study results show the #MeToo movement has prompted meaningful change in Hollywood, the authors... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Media & Broadcasting

01 Sep 2023
Blog Post

Harvard Business School Announces 2023 Goldsmith Fellows

and hold an expansive definition of social enterprise.” Marlíse Arellano-Sutton. Marlíse comes from Boston Children's Hospital’s Innovation & Digital Health Accelerator, where she led sourcing, launch, and scaling of digital health... View Details

Web

Curriculum - Business & Environment

Sourcing at Nike This case explores the evolution of Nike's global product sourcing strategy, in particular ongoing efforts to improve working conditions at its suppliers' factories. Sian Flowers: Fresher by Sea? The setting for this case... View Details

26 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 26, 2006

expertise of South African generic drug manufacturer Aspen Pharmacare are shown to be ameliorating misguided policy decisions by the South African government; communications campaigns, operational synergies, alternative distribution channels, and View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Nov 2015
Research & Ideas

Does Competition Make Us More Creative?

much competition pushes them in the opposite direction. The findings could help organizations generate more innovative ideas, sharpen R&D, and even improve “bake-off” competitions between vendors used to award contracts. “You could... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising

April 2017 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Korea Telecom: Building a GiGAtopia (A)

By: Shane Greenstein, Feng Zhu and Kerry Herman

Korea Telecom (KT) has committed $4 billion in investments and R&D to build a GiGAtopia, essentially ushering in the next generation of mobile (5G) and wired infrastructure. CEO Dr. Chang-Gyu Hwang, and his team are considering which areas to prioritize in terms of new... View Details

Keywords: Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technological Innovation; Infrastructure; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Telecommunications Industry

28 Nov 2018
HBS Case

On Target: Rethinking the Retail Website

past. Measure success in narrow terms A successful customer interaction on Target.com was narrowly defined: Only when a customer searched for a product, received recommendations, and actually purchased the product would the company bother... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail

June 2011
Case

CA Technologies: Bringing the Cloud to Earth

By: Marco Iansiti and Kerry Herman

Adam Famularo, general manager, Cloud Computing business, CA Technologies, and David Dobson, WVP and group executive, Customer Solutions Group, were preparing for a presentation on communicating and positioning CA Technologies' new strategy for cloud computing.... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Product Positioning; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption

March 2017
Exercise

Designing Transformational Customer Experiences

By: Stefan Thomke

Anyone who has recently travelled, gone shopping, or tried to have a problem solved may have little recollection of the experience. Worse yet, some are frustrated by the lack of responsiveness or empathy that they encountered. The reality is that most customer... View Details

Keywords: Customer Experience; Exercise; Learning By Doing; LEGO; Storytelling; Customer Satisfaction; Design; Innovation and Management; Transformation; Service Delivery