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Technology & Innovation

Technology & Innovation

    • December 2014
    • Article

    The Distinct Effects of Information Technology and Communication Technology on Firm Organization

    By: Nicholas Bloom, Luis Garicano, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

    Empirical studies on information communication technologies (ICT) typically aggregate the "information" and "communication" components together. We show theoretically and empirically that this is problematic. Information and communication technologies have very different effects on the decisions taken at each level of an organization. Better information access pushes decisions down, as it allows for superior decentralized decision making without an undue cognitive burden on those lower in the hierarchy. Better communication pushes decisions up, as it allows employees to rely on those above them in the hierarchy to make decisions. Using an original dataset of firms from the U.S. and seven European countries we study the impact of ICT on worker autonomy, plant manager autonomy, and span of control. Consistent with the theory, we find that better information technologies (Enterprise Resource Planning, ERP, for plant managers and CAD/CAM for production workers) are associated with more autonomy and a wider span of control. By contrast, communication technologies (like data networks) decrease autonomy for both workers and plant managers. Treating technology as endogenous using instrumental variables (distance from the birthplace of ERP and heterogeneous telecommunication costs arising from different regulatory regimes) strengthens our results.

    • December 2014
    • Article

    The Distinct Effects of Information Technology and Communication Technology on Firm Organization

    By: Nicholas Bloom, Luis Garicano, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

    Empirical studies on information communication technologies (ICT) typically aggregate the "information" and "communication" components together. We show theoretically and empirically that this is problematic. Information and communication technologies have very different effects on the decisions taken at each level of an organization. Better...

    • 2014
    • Working Paper

    Bridging Science and Technology Through Academic-Industry Partnerships

    By: Sen Chai and Willy C. Shih

    Scientific research and its translation into commercialized technology is a driver of wealth creation and economic growth. Partnerships to foster the translational processes from public research organizations, such as universities and hospitals, to private firms are a policy tool that has attracted increased interest. Yet questions about the efficacy and the efficiency with which funds are used are subject to frequent debate. This paper examines empirical data from the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation (DNATF), an agency that funds partnerships between universities and private companies to develop technologies important to Danish industry. We assess the effect of a unique mediated funding scheme that combines project grants with active facilitation and conflict management on firm performance, comparing the likelihood of bankruptcy and employee count as well as patent count, publication count and their citations and collaborative nature between funded and unfunded firms. Because randomization of the sample was not feasible, we address endogeneity around selection bias using a sample of qualitatively similar firms based on a funding decision score. This allows us to observe the local effect of samples in which we drop the best recipients and the worst non-recipients. Our results suggest that while receiving the grant does bring an injection of funding that alleviates financing constraints, its core effect on the firm's innovative behavior is in fostering collaborations and translations between science and technology and encouraging riskier projects rather than purely increasing patenting.

    • 2014
    • Working Paper

    Bridging Science and Technology Through Academic-Industry Partnerships

    By: Sen Chai and Willy C. Shih

    Scientific research and its translation into commercialized technology is a driver of wealth creation and economic growth. Partnerships to foster the translational processes from public research organizations, such as universities and hospitals, to private firms are a policy tool that has attracted increased interest. Yet questions about the...

    • April 2014
    • Article

    Botsourcing and Outsourcing: Robot, British, Chinese, and German Workers Are for Thinking—Not Feeling—Jobs

    By: Adam Waytz and Michael I. Norton

    Technological innovations have produced robots capable of jobs that, until recently, only humans could perform. The present research explores the psychology of "botsourcing"—the replacement of human jobs by robots—while examining how understanding botsourcing can inform the psychology of outsourcing—the replacement of jobs in one country by humans from other countries. We test four related hypotheses across six experiments: (1) Given people's lay theories about the capacities for cognition and emotion for robots and humans, workers will express more discomfort with botsourcing when they consider losing jobs that require emotion versus cognition; (2) people will express more comfort with botsourcing when jobs are framed as requiring cognition versus emotion; (3) people will express more comfort with botsourcing for jobs that do require emotion if robots appear to convey more emotion; and (4) people prefer to outsource cognition-oriented versus emotion-oriented jobs to other humans who are perceived as more versus less robotic. These results have theoretical implications for understanding social cognition about both humans and nonhumans and practical implications for the increasingly botsourced and outsourced economy.

    • April 2014
    • Article

    Botsourcing and Outsourcing: Robot, British, Chinese, and German Workers Are for Thinking—Not Feeling—Jobs

    By: Adam Waytz and Michael I. Norton

    Technological innovations have produced robots capable of jobs that, until recently, only humans could perform. The present research explores the psychology of "botsourcing"—the replacement of human jobs by robots—while examining how understanding botsourcing can inform the psychology of outsourcing—the replacement of jobs in one country by humans...

    • Article

    Digital Ubiquity: How Connections, Sensors, and Data Are Revolutionizing Business

    By: Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani

    When Google bought Nest, a maker of digital thermostats, for $3.2 billion just a few months ago, it was a clear indication that digital transformation and connection are spreading across even the most traditional industrial segments and creating a staggering array of business opportunities and threats. The digitization of tasks and processes has become essential to competition. General Electric, for example, was at risk of losing many of its top customers to nontraditional competitors—IBM and SAP on the one hand, big data start-ups on the other—offering data-intensive, analytics-based services that could connect to any industrial device. So GE launched a multibillion-dollar initiative focused on what it calls the industrial internet: adding digital sensors to its machines; connecting them to a common, cloud-based software platform; investing in software development capabilities; building advanced analytics capabilities; and embracing crowd-based product development. With all this, GE is evolving its business model. Now, for example, revenue from its jet engines is tied to reduced downtime and miles flown over the course of a year. After just three years, GE is generating more than $1.5 billion in incremental income with digitally enabled, outcomes-based business models. The company expects that number to double in 2014 and again in 2015.

    • Article

    Digital Ubiquity: How Connections, Sensors, and Data Are Revolutionizing Business

    By: Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani

    When Google bought Nest, a maker of digital thermostats, for $3.2 billion just a few months ago, it was a clear indication that digital transformation and connection are spreading across even the most traditional industrial segments and creating a staggering array of business opportunities and threats. The digitization of tasks and processes has...

    • 2014
    • Working Paper

    The Decoupling Effect of Digital Disruptors

    By: Thales S. Teixeira and Peter Jamieson

    While the Internet's first wave of disruption was marked by the unbundling of digital content, the second wave, decoupling, promises to generate more casualties in an even broader array of industries. Digital start-ups are disrupting traditional businesses by inserting themselves at every juncture in the customer's consumption chain. By decoupling—the act of separating activities that people are used to co-consuming—new digital businesses are disrupting retailing, telecom and other industries. Decoupling allows consumers to benefit from the value created at a lower cost or effort compared to what is delivered by traditional businesses. For those companies, the only solutions are to either recouple activities or rebalance to create and capture value (i.e., revenues) from both activities separately. Here, digital technologies can be seen as an instrument that will both disrupt traditional business models and potentially preserve them.

    • 2014
    • Working Paper

    The Decoupling Effect of Digital Disruptors

    By: Thales S. Teixeira and Peter Jamieson

    While the Internet's first wave of disruption was marked by the unbundling of digital content, the second wave, decoupling, promises to generate more casualties in an even broader array of industries. Digital start-ups are disrupting traditional businesses by inserting themselves at every juncture in the customer's consumption chain. By...

The early works of William Abernathy on roadblocks to innovation and Richard Rosenbloom on technology and information transfers in the 1960's and 1970's started the Technology Strategy field and helped pave the path for our research today, which focuses on value creation of platforms and two-sided markets; use of open architecture and leverage of its collective value; development and execution of innovation strategies; innovative attributes of executives and firms; development of new markets through the creation of disruptive innovations that displace earlier technologies; development of innovations in sectors; and the impact of innovation on economic growth.

Recent Publications

When LLMs Go Abroad: Foreign Bias in AI Financial Predictions

By: Sean Cao, Charles C.Y. Wang and Yi Xiang
  • 2025 |
  • Working Paper |
  • Faculty Research
We document foreign biases in AI-generated financial predictions: ChatGPT (U.S.-based) is systematically more optimistic about Chinese firms than DeepSeek (China-based), predicting higher end-of-year stock prices and generating more buy recommendations. This AI-specific phenomenon contradicts the traditional home bias in which investors favor domestic assets. We trace this bias to differential information access: ChatGPT's optimism increases when US media coverage of Chinese firms' negative news is scarce relative to Chinese media. Supporting this mechanism, placebo tests with synthetic Chinese firms without such asymmetries show no prediction gap between models. Crucially, providing ChatGPT with Chinese news through prompts—which cannot alter model weights—completely eliminates the prediction gap, demonstrating that the bias stems from missing training data. Our findings imply that the parallel development of LLMs in different countries can create divergent financial forecasts, potentially amplifying rather than reducing cross-border information asymmetries as these tools shape investment decisions globally.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Financial Statement Analysis; Large Language Model; AI and Machine Learning; Financial Statements; Forecasting and Prediction; Technological Innovation; News; United States; China
Citation
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Cao, Sean, Charles C.Y. Wang, and Yi Xiang. "When LLMs Go Abroad: Foreign Bias in AI Financial Predictions." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 26-013, September 2025.

From LLM to Agent? Anthropic’s Next Move, 2025

By: David B. Yoffie, Annika Z. Wei, Mahek Modi, Dhruv Jain and Swapnil Lad
  • September 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
This case examines Anthropic in 2025 as it confronts the industry shift from large language models (LLMs) to autonomous AI agents. Having established itself as a leading LLM developer with its Claude 4 models, Anthropic has a reputation for its safety-first commitment. Dario Amodei, the cofounder and CEO, must decide whether, and how, to expand beyond foundational models into the AI agent industry. The case details Anthropic’s growth, governance model, and product strategy, while situating the company within an intensifying competitive landscape. It highlights the potential paths forward and raises the question of whether Anthropic’s cautious, principle-driven approach will provide a sustainable competitive advantage in the agent era.
Keywords: AI; Generative Ai; Technological Innovation; Strategy; Technology Industry; United States
Citation
Educators
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Yoffie, David B., Annika Z. Wei, Mahek Modi, Dhruv Jain, and Swapnil Lad. "From LLM to Agent? Anthropic’s Next Move, 2025." Harvard Business School Case 726-407, September 2025.

The Atlantic and OpenAI

By: Caroline M. Elkins, Debbie Millman, Peter Litzow and Rory Finnegan
  • September 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In March 2024, The Atlantic announced a strategic content and product partnership with artificial intelligence giant OpenAI. OpenAI would license The Atlantic’s content to train its models and respond to user queries, while The Atlantic would receive a fee, privileged access to OpenAI’s technology, and “premium” positioning within the tech giant. At the time, over 70 similar deals had been struck between publishers and AI companies. The Atlantic’s journalists, however, were incensed, concerned that partnering with OpenAI was “a devil’s bargain.” The New York Times had also just sued the tech giant for allegedly using 16 million pieces of the Times’ copyrighted content without permission to train its large language models. For Laurene Powell Jobs, the billionaire owner of The Atlantic, was it in the magazine’s best financial interest to continue the OpenAI partnership? What impact might a continued partnership have on the magazine’s journalism, or on the ideas landscape as a whole? What responsibility did Powell Jobs have – if any – to protect creativity and expression? Was Jobs undermining The Atlantic’s reputation, or was she bringing a new business model to bear on an industry facing major headwinds?
Keywords: Journals and Magazines; Newspapers; AI and Machine Learning; Technological Innovation; Copyright; Partners and Partnerships; Creativity; Culture; Journalism and News Industry; Technology Industry; United States
Citation
Educators
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Elkins, Caroline M., Debbie Millman, Peter Litzow, and Rory Finnegan. "The Atlantic and OpenAI." Harvard Business School Case 726-017, September 2025.

The Rise of Advanced Packaging: Kulicke & Soffa's Strategic Crossroads

By: Maria P. Roche, Ram Mudambi and Solon Moreira
  • August 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In early 2025, semiconductor equipment maker Kulicke & Soffa (K&S) confronts a pivotal strategic decision. As Moore’s Law slows and chiplet-based architectures take center stage, advanced packaging has become the industry's new frontier. K&S, long dominant in wire bonding, must choose between investing in cutting-edge technologies like hybrid bonding to serve top-tier customers, or reinforcing its leadership in the mid-market with proven, high-volume solutions. The case explores the transformation of the semiconductor value chain, the strategic implications of architectural innovation, and how a legacy firm should navigate a technology-driven shift that could either elevate or marginalize its future role.
Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Supply Chain; Disruption; Decision Choices and Conditions; Product Development; Investment; Technological Innovation; Industry Growth; Semiconductor Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Computer Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Auto Industry; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Singapore; United States; China; South Korea; Taiwan; Japan
Citation
Educators
Related
Roche, Maria P., Ram Mudambi, and Solon Moreira. "The Rise of Advanced Packaging: Kulicke & Soffa's Strategic Crossroads." Harvard Business School Case 726-371, August 2025.

Bridging Trust and Tech: Digitizing Morocco's Financial System

By: Lauren Cohen and Sophia Pan
  • August 2025 (Revised September 2025) |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
Fadwa Jouali, Senior Expert of Payment Development and FinTechs at Bank Al-Maghrib (Central Bank of Morocco), wondered how she could fast-track adoption of the country’s mobile payments system. Historically, many Moroccans had never held a bank account, perhaps due to cultural preferences towards cash. The Central Bank of Morocco succeeded in creating a National Payment System, which would allow consumers and merchants alike to facilitate transactions through a mobile device. However, adoption faltered behind expectations. Comparing progress to that of Pix, the payment scheme led by Brazil, Morocco’s mobile payments adoption was underwhelming. Jouali recognized that Morocco had unique characteristics, such as lower costs and a lingering presence of consumer distrust. Taking this into account, how would she help nurture the FinTech industry in Morocco to ensure broad stakeholder engagement and create the right incentives for the adoption of mobile payments?
Keywords: Technology Platform; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Technology Adoption; Urban Development; Behavior; Attitudes; Motivation and Incentives; Trust; Technological Innovation; Behavioral Finance; Social Entrepreneurship; Central Banking; Geographic Location; Government Administration; Adoption; Culture; Financial Services Industry; Morocco
Citation
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Cohen, Lauren, and Sophia Pan. "Bridging Trust and Tech: Digitizing Morocco's Financial System." Harvard Business School Case 226-011, August 2025. (Revised September 2025.)

Meta and the Superintelligence Talent Race

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott
  • August 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In June 2025, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg upped the ante in the ongoing AI talent wars. Some analysts praised Zuckerberg’s aggressive approach to building Meta's AI capabilities, while others pointed to the high costs this strategy entailed and questioned how effectively this new team would function. Was Zuckerberg’s approach likely to be successful? What were the risks?
Keywords: AI; Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning; Talent Acquisition; Hiring; Technology; Metaverse; Competition; Compensation; Innovation; Talent Development; Competing To Win; Competitive Dynamics; AI and Machine Learning; Talent and Talent Management; Recruitment; Compensation and Benefits; Competency and Skills; Competitive Strategy; Technological Innovation; Technology Industry
Citation
Educators
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Groysberg, Boris, and Sarah L. Abbott. "Meta and the Superintelligence Talent Race." Harvard Business School Case 426-003, August 2025.

Elon Musk, 2025: The Master of Big Bets?

By: David B. Yoffie
  • July 2025 (Revised August 2025) |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
This case explores Elon Musk’s influence across business and politics in 2025, as he navigates the challenges of simultaneously leading multiple companies, such as Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, while briefly serving in the U.S. government. It examines Musk’s high-stakes bets on autonomous driving, humanoid robots, and generative AI, as well as the backlash from his political alignments and decisions. The case details Musk’s management style, product innovation, and his impact on investor confidence, market valuations, and public perception. It also poses the question of evaluating whether Musk’s extraordinary ambition and multitiered involvement across industries and politics represent visionary leadership or overextension, and whether his governance model is sustainable amid growing scrutiny and risk.
Keywords: Strategy And Leadership; Technological Innovation; Government and Politics; Leadership; Power and Influence; Management Style; Strategy; Public Opinion; Business or Company Management; Auto Industry; Technology Industry; Aerospace Industry; United States
Citation
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Yoffie, David B. "Elon Musk, 2025: The Master of Big Bets?" Harvard Business School Case 726-357, July 2025. (Revised August 2025.)

Toilets for the Underserved: The SURT Commercialization Challenge

By: Maria P. Roche, Anne Marie Knott and Alexander Oettl
  • July 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In 2021, a breakthrough in sanitation technology developed under the Gates Foundation’s “Reinvent the Toilet” initiative stood ready for commercialization. The Single User Reinvented Toilet (SURT), engineered by Dr. Shannon Yee, offered an off-grid, self-contained system capable of processing waste, generating water, and reducing environmental impact. Despite technical success, bringing the SURT to market faced complex challenges in behavior change, infrastructure compatibility, financing models, and stakeholder incentives. This case explores the commercialization dilemma: Should SURT be piloted independently in a developing market, licensed to appliance firms, or tailored for government/military procurement? Students must grapple with the strategic, operational, and ethical complexities of scaling a technology designed to serve the world’s most underserved populations.
Keywords: Technological Innovation; Commercialization; Social Issues; Social Enterprise; Public Sector; Private Sector; Market Entry and Exit; Strategic Planning; Engineering; Infrastructure; Innovation Strategy; Utilities Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; South Africa; India; France
Citation
Educators
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Roche, Maria P., Anne Marie Knott, and Alexander Oettl. "Toilets for the Underserved: The SURT Commercialization Challenge." Harvard Business School Case 726-369, July 2025.

The Future in Sight: LumineticsCore and the First Autonomous AI for Diagnostics

By: Michael Lingzhi Li and Tinglong Dai
  • July 2025 (Revised August 2025) |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
After two decades of research, Dr. Michael Abramoff successfully launched LumineticsCore—the first autonomous AI system authorized by the FDA to diagnose diabetic retinopathy without physician oversight. The case traces his journey across algorithm design, clinical validation, regulatory navigation, and the challenges of real-world adoption. It explores the interplay between technological innovation and healthcare institutions, highlighting the need to establish evaluation metrics grounded in clinical outcomes rather than physician consensus. As adoption lags despite regulatory approval, Abramoff faces decisions about which operational, reimbursement, and trust-building barriers to prioritize—decisions that may shape not only LumineticsCore’s future but also the broader path of AI in medicine.
Keywords: Healthcare; AI; Regulation; Medical Technology; Health Care and Treatment; AI and Machine Learning; Medical Specialties; Health Testing and Trials; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Product Launch; Product Design; Health Industry; Technology Industry; United States
Citation
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Li, Michael Lingzhi, and Tinglong Dai. "The Future in Sight: LumineticsCore and the First Autonomous AI for Diagnostics." Harvard Business School Case 626-019, July 2025. (Revised August 2025.)

AI at QuantumBlack: McKinsey's Open Source Dilemma

By: Frank Nagle, Sam Boysel and Susan Pinckney
  • June 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
The case describes the history of QuantumBlack. In 2015, McKinsey acquired data analytics company QuantumBlack. QuantumBlack produced Kedro, a ML data pipeline tool that helped McKinsey’s customers manage their data in an effective manner to gain insights from machine learning models. By 2019, McKinsey’s customers requested access to Kedro after the end of their consulting engagements. McKinsey considered releasing Kedro as open source software, or software with freely available code, despite the fact that this decision could remove the product’s revenue generation potential. The case examines open source decision making and open source business plans to evaluate McKinsey’s potential decision.
Keywords: Open Source; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Startups; Change Management; Transformation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Digital Strategy; Digital Transformation; Technological Innovation; Copyright; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Timing; Competition; AI and Machine Learning; Mergers and Acquisitions; Analytics and Data Science; Applications and Software; Open Source Distribution; Computer Industry; Consulting Industry
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Nagle, Frank, Sam Boysel, and Susan Pinckney. "AI at QuantumBlack: McKinsey's Open Source Dilemma." Harvard Business School Case 725-433, June 2025.
More Publications

Faculty

Karim R. Lakhani
David B. Yoffie
Willy C. Shih
Lynda M. Applegate
Rosabeth M. Kanter
Marco Iansiti
Tom Nicholas
Josh Lerner
Michael L. Tushman
William R. Kerr
Alan D. MacCormack
Elie Ofek
→See All

Seminars & Conferences

Sep 30
  • 30 Sep 2025
Technology & Operations Management (TOM) Seminar
Dean Eckles, MIT Sloan School of Management
Oct 07
  • 07 Oct 2025
Technology & Operations Management (TOM) Seminar
Sendhil Mullainathan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
→Seminars & Conferences

Harvard Business Publishing

    • May–June 2025
    • Article

    Balancing Digital Safety and Innovation

    By: Tomomichi Amano and Tomomi Tanaka
    • August 2025 (Revised September 2025)
    • Case

    Bridging Trust and Tech: Digitizing Morocco's Financial System

    By: Lauren Cohen and Sophia Pan
→More Harvard Business Publishing
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