Publications

August 2024
Case

Zipline: Expanding the World's Largest Autonomous Drone Delivery Network

By: Tarun Khanna and George Gonzalez

Zipline initially established the world's largest logistics network in Rwanda and Ghana by delivering medical supplies to hospitals via automated drones from a centralized hub. The company is now looking to expand to the U.S. home delivery market and designed a... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Logistics; Expansion; Air Transportation; Business Model; Rwanda; Ghana; United States

July 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Compass Ethics: Governing Through Ethical Principles at WeCorp Industries

By: Elisabeth Kempf and Jesse M. Shapiro

Andrew Hill is Chief Information Officer at WeCorp, a UK-based defense technology startup specializing in drone technology. WeCorp faces decisions about international licensing and AI integration in its drones. In partnership with Compass Ethics, Hill aims to establish... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Making; Ethics; Entrepreneurial Finance; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Industry; United Kingdom

July 2023
Teaching Note

Zipline: The World’s Largest Drone Delivery Network

By: Tarun Khanna and Felicia Belostecinic

Teaching Note for HBS Case 721-366, "Zipline: The World’s Largest Drone Delivery Network." View Details

Keywords: Design Thinking; Emerging Markets; Strategy; Innovation and Invention

January 2021 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Tech with a Side of Pizza: How Domino's Rose to the Top

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott and Susan Seligson

After hitting an all-time low in 2008, Domino’s Pizza underwent a vigorous rebranding, product development, and embraced innovative technologies to become the world’s leading international fast-food retailer. Domino’s considered itself as much a tech company as it was... View Details

November 2020 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Zipline: The World's Largest Drone Delivery Network

By: Tarun Khanna and George Gonzalez

Zipline established the world's largest logistics network in Rwanda and Ghana by delivering medical supplies to hospitals via automated drones. The company is now looking to expand in the U.S. and partnered with Walmart to expand into home delivery. Zipline must... View Details

Keywords: Drones; Business Startups; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States; Africa

January 2020
Case

A Tough Call: SEAL Team Leader in Kandahar (A)

By: George A. Riedel

The case, which is a disguised version of real events, is set in Kandahar, Afghanistan (2013) during the long running Afghan war. Lt. Paul Rickson, a Navy SEAL Platoon Commander, is leading a team of 30 U.S. and Afghan soldiers on a mission to clear hostile forces in... View Details

Keywords: War; Leadership; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Decision Choices and Conditions; Afghanistan

October 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Background Note

Evolution of the Drone Industry

By: Rory McDonald, Andy Wu, Emilie Billaud and Ryan Bayer

This note focuses on the development of the drone industry in recent years and provides insights on the drone technology, regulations, applications, market size, top players, and ecosystem. This note was written in conjunction with the case study “Parrot: Navigating... View Details

Keywords: Drones; Information Technology; Disruption; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Engineering; Product Development; Technology Industry; Asia; Europe; North America; United States

2018
Working Paper

Some Facts of High-Tech Patenting

By: Michael Webb, Nick Short, Nicholas Bloom and Josh Lerner

Patenting in software, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence has grown rapidly in recent years. Such patents are acquired primarily by large U.S. technology firms such as IBM, Microsoft, Google, and HP, as well as by Japanese multinationals such as Sony, Canon,... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Applications and Software; Technological Innovation; United States

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July–August 2018
Article

When Technology Gets Ahead of Society

By: Tarun Khanna

New technologies can be unsettling for industry incumbents, regulators, and consumers, because norms and institutions for dealing with them don’t yet exist. Interestingly, businesspeople in emerging economies face similar challenges: The rules are unclear and... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Society; Situation or Environment; Infrastructure; Entrepreneurship; Performance Effectiveness; Cooperation

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February 2018 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Rise of the Drones: Identified Technologies

By: Andy Wu and George Gonzalez

The founder and CEO of Identified Technologies, a Pittsburgh-based drone software and services company, faces a dilemma when San Francisco–based DroneDeploy begins to disrupt the industry with its drone software platform. Identified Technologies needs to consider... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Disruption; Network Effects; Computer Industry; Web Services Industry; Pittsburgh; San Francisco

October 2015 (Revised September 2016)
Technical Note

Flight: Now without Humans Aboard

By: Mitchell Weiss, Karim Lakhani, HT Kung and Kerry Herman

This note provides an overview of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones) industry in September 2015. UAVs offered many potential applications in industries as diverse as aerial imaging and photography, agriculture, construction, infrastructure inspection and... View Details

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Drones; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Product Design; Research and Development; Technological Innovation; Rights; Ethics; Strategy; Transportation Networks; Market Entry and Exit; Innovation and Management; European Union; Asia; United States