Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
  • Featured Topics
    • Featured Topics
    • Business & Environment
    • Business History
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Finance
    • Globalization
    • Health Care
    • Human Behavior & Decision-Making
    • Leadership
    • Social Enterprise
    • Technology & Innovation
    →
  • Technology & Innovation→

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

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 August 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; Financial Institutions; Geographic Location; Government Administration; Adoption; Financial Services Industry; Morocco
Citation
Educators
Related
Cohen, Lauren, and Sophia Pan. "Bridging Trust and Tech: Digitizing Morocco’s Financial System." Harvard Business School Case 226-011, August 2025. (Revised August 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
Related
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
Educators
Purchase
Related
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
Related
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.

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
Citation
Educators
Purchase
Related
Nagle, Frank, Sam Boysel, and Susan Pinckney. "AI at QuantumBlack: McKinsey's Open Source Dilemma." Harvard Business School Case 725-433, June 2025.

Redefining the Edge: Jahez’s Strategic Pivot in Saudi Arabia’s Food Delivery Battle

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Ahmed Dahawy
  • June 2025 (Revised August 2025) |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
Jahez made its mark in Saudi Arabia’s food delivery market by serving customers willing to pay more for reliable, high-quality service—a segment largely overlooked by other platforms. As the company grew, it expanded into the mass market and developed a network of subsidiaries to support its core focus on food delivery. The most prominent of these was Logi, its in-house logistics arm, which gave Jahez greater control over delivery speed and service quality compared to competitors that relied on third-party drivers. By late 2024, however, the competitive landscape was shifting. Rivals were closing the quality gap, and deep-pocketed international player Meituan had entered the Saudi market. In response, Jahez leaned more heavily on Logi to stay ahead. But at the same time, Logi had begun providing deliveries for external courier companies—creating new opportunities for the logistics arm, but also raising difficult questions about Jahez’s priorities and long-term direction. Should Logi remain focused on supporting the company’s core food delivery operations, or be allowed to grow by serving external clients? And more broadly, should Jahez continue to define itself around food delivery—or was it time to evolve into a multi-vertical platform, leveraging the broader ecosystem it had built?
Keywords: Acquisition; Business Conglomerates; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation Strategy; Digital Platforms; Logistics; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry; Saudi Arabia
Citation
Educators
Related
Palepu, Krishna G., and Ahmed Dahawy. "Redefining the Edge: Jahez’s Strategic Pivot in Saudi Arabia’s Food Delivery Battle." Harvard Business School Case 325-112, June 2025. (Revised August 2025.)

AI Wars in 2025

By: Andy Wu and Anna Yang
  • June 2025 (Revised August 2025) |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In June 2025, Google leaders in Mountain View, CA convened after its parent company Alphabet shed a quarter-trillion in market capitalization in a matter of months. The immediate spark—the quiet revelation that Google searches had dipped for the first time in 20 years—masked a deeper shift: hundreds of millions were now turning first to generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and upstart DeepSeek, asking questions that once flowed automatically to Google Search. After two decades of dominating search, Google’s mission to “organize the world’s information” was now in peril. The company now faced a future in which the world’s queries might bypass it altogether.
Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Technology Adoption; Disruptive Innovation; Mission and Purpose; Business Strategy
Citation
Educators
Purchase
Related
Wu, Andy, and Anna Yang. "AI Wars in 2025." Harvard Business School Case 725-484, June 2025. (Revised August 2025.)

TagHive: Edtech Pricing and Distributor Decisions

By: Isamar Troncoso, Frank V. Cespedes and Stacy Straaberg
  • June 2025 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
Education technology (edtech) company TagHive, founded in 2017, used a direct sales team and third-party distributors to sell its Class Saathi hardware and software solution to 300 clients, mainly primary and secondary schools in India. The product aimed to improve student engagement and performance, reduce the time it took teachers to develop and grade learning assessments, enable administrators to better track data, and provide parents more insight into their children’s learning.
Founder and CEO Pankaj Agarwal initially priced Class Saathi using a one-time fee, or perpetual licensing, model. However, in 2023, the company began piloting a recurring subscription fee model to ensure steadier revenue. To support the new pricing structure, TagHive enhanced its software with artificial intelligence and expanded its customer support team and their responsibilities to subscription fee customers. By December 2024, TagHive was cash flow positive and planning to scale. Pankaj and his leadership team were considering whether to extend the pilot to all customers and what the effects on other parts of the organization might be. For example, the pilot had prompted TagHive to increase the capacity and responsibilities of its customer support team. If all clients were under the subscription fee model, could the company afford to continue expanding the team or should it rely on its distributors to provide post-sale customer support? Distributors were responsible for half of sales, but outsourcing customer engagement and support could put customer satisfaction and TagHive’s reputation at risk.
Keywords: Business Model; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Social Marketing; Information Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technology Adoption; Teaching; Price; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Satisfaction; Growth and Development; Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Distribution Channels; Sales; Reputation; Education Industry; Technology Industry; India; South Korea
Citation
Educators
Purchase
Related
Troncoso, Isamar, Frank V. Cespedes, and Stacy Straaberg. "TagHive: Edtech Pricing and Distributor Decisions." Harvard Business School Case 525-001, June 2025.

Balancing Digital Safety and Innovation

By: Tomomichi Amano and Tomomi Tanaka
  • May–June 2025 |
  • Article |
  • Harvard Business Review
Designers of consumer-facing digital products have tended to focus on novelty and speed (“move fast and break things”). They’ve spent more effort on innovating than on anticipating how customers—and bad actors—might engage with products. But as digital products become a primary way in which consumers connect with others, pay for things, and store private information, that view needs to change. The authors contend that companies must embed safeguards into the core of their digital products—starting during the earliest parts of the design process. They must also establish a road map for continued improvement and a dialogue with customers. The safety-by-design model can facilitate innovation rather than constrain it by providing a principled approach to product development.
Keywords: Technological Innovation; Cybersecurity; Demand and Consumers; Safety
Citation
Find at Harvard
Register to Read
Purchase
Related
Amano, Tomomichi, and Tomomi Tanaka. "Balancing Digital Safety and Innovation." Harvard Business Review 103, no. 3 (May–June 2025): 120–127.
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 16
  • 16 Sep 2025
Technology & Operations Management (TOM) Seminar
Stefan Wager, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Sep 30
  • 30 Sep 2025
Technology & Operations Management (TOM) Seminar
Dean Eckles, MIT Sloan School of Management
→Seminars & Conferences

Harvard Business Publishing

    • May–June 2025
    • Article

    Balancing Digital Safety and Innovation

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

    Elon Musk, 2025: The Master of Big Bets?

    By: David B. Yoffie
→More Harvard Business Publishing
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.