Technology Adoption →
- 08 Oct 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Developing Theory Using Machine Learning Methods
This paper provides a step-by-step roadmap for using machine learning (ML) techniques to explore novel and robust patterns in data. It introduces management researchers to a new use case for ML tools: building new theory from quantitative observational data. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Sep 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Ratcheting, Competition, and the Diffusion of Technological Change: The Case of Televisions Under an Energy Efficiency Program
The diffusion of innovation in many markets is greatly influenced by the presence of policy intervention. Importantly, diffusion is further affected by the fact that firms often also have a say in affecting the implementation of policy. This analysis of the Japanese TV market suggests that firms may delay the introduction of more high quality products when there are across-the-board policy standards.
- 09 Jul 2018
- Research & Ideas
Overcoming the Challenges of Selling Brand New Technology (Hey, Need a 3-D Printer?)
Selling technology that is new to the market involves tricky tradeoffs around prospect targeting, channels, and tactics. Frank Cespedes makes the point with 3-D printers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 May 2018
- Research & Ideas
Distance Still Matters in Business, Despite the Internet
The internet makes distance less a problem for conducting business, but geography still matters in the digital age. Shane Greenstein explains why. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Apr 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Digital Innovation with High Costs of Entry: Evidence from Software-Driven Medical Devices
Although technology shifts often allow new entrants to edge into a market, established firms seem to be maintaining leadership in the medical devices industry, where software integration is increasingly important.
- 01 Mar 2018
- What Do You Think?
Two Decades Later, is the 'New Economy' Finally Here?
SUMMING UP Have recent advances in technology such as artificial intelligence ushered in (finally) the "new economy?" Not so fast, answer James Heskett's readers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 26 Feb 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Different Strokes for Different Folks: Experimental Evidence on Complementarities Between Human Capital and Machine Learning
This study contributes to scholarship on how adoption of machine learning tools will shape knowledge worker productivity. Among its implications for managers, it suggests that complementarities between prior skills and technology will determine the productivity of workers using AI tools.
- 25 Oct 2017
- Research & Ideas
Will Machine Learning Make You a Better Manager?
Big data...artificial intelligence...Internet of Things. These technologies have taken their shares of the headlines the past few years, but now machine learning is the buzz. Mike Teodorescu explains how it is changing the lives of consumers and businesses. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Aug 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Machine Learning Methods for Strategy Research
Marketing, logistics, knowledge flow analysis, and other domains have become highly dependent on machine learning methods and tools. This article provides a survey of these methods and their management applications. Aimed at a broad readership, the article explains tools and concepts in a way that is accessible to non-specialists, including those without a programming background.
- 17 Aug 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
The Empirical Economics of Online Attention
This study uses extensive data on user online activity between 2008 and 2013 to examine the links between user allocation of attention and characteristics of user. Findings show remarkable stability in how households allocated their scarce attention over the five years. Results imply that suppliers are competing for a finite supply of user time while generally lacking the ability to use price discounts to attract user attention.
- 15 Aug 2016
- Research & Ideas
Black Swans and Big Trends Can Ruin Anyone's Internet Prediction
Coming off the dot-com bust, Thomas R. Eisenmann was confident enough in his internet vision that he wrote a book about what would happen next. For the most part, he was wrong. He offers lessons learned for navigating the boom-bust cycle. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 29 Feb 2016
- HBS Case
Bigbelly's Big Bet on the Digital Trash Can
Bigbelly wants to transform its solar-powered trash cans into digital hubs offering Wi-Fi access, advertising, and data-collecting sensors. (Oh, and garbage receptacles, too.) A new case study by Mitchell Weiss explores the challenges of a bold strategy pivot. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Nov 2015
- Book
Dear Internet: You Are Extraordinary, But Not Exceptional
Professor Shane Greenstein is annoyed by “Internet exceptionalism,” the prevalent idea that the Internet defies economic logic, that there’s never been anything like it in business history, and that its impact supersedes everything. In his new book, Greenstein argues that the Internet actually follows classic patterns of economic behavior, detailing the commercial forces that guided the Internet’s path from cool invention to successful innovation. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Aug 2015
- Research & Ideas
New Medical Devices Get To Patients Too Slowly
The FDA has streamlined drug testing to ensure new therapies come to market quickly. But when it comes to life-giving medical devices, approvals seem unnecessarily slow, according to research by Ariel Dora Stern. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Jul 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Technology Reemergence: Creating New Value for Old Technologies in Swiss Mechanical Watchmaking, 1970–2008
Focusing on Swiss watchmaking from 1970 to 2008, this study demonstrates key factors that contribute to, and influence, the re-emergence of market demand for a legacy technology in a mature institutional field. This paper shows how processes of preservation and transformation serve as necessary counterweights that encourage retaining some valued elements of the old institutional order alongside new elements that allow for change and survival. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 May 2015
- Research & Ideas
A Road Map to Fix America’s Transportation Infrastructure
Why is America's transportation system so outdated, why should we care, and what can we do about it? Rosabeth Moss Kanter offers a road map to roadway recovery in her new book, Move: Putting America's Infrastructure Back in the Lead. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 04 May 2015
- Research & Ideas
Need to Solve a Problem? Take a Break From Collaborating
Organizations spend a lot of money enabling employees to solve problems collectively. But inducing more collaboration may actually hinder the most important part of problem-solving: actually solving the problem. Research by Jesse Shore, Ethan Bernstein, and David Lazer. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Oct 2014
- Research & Ideas
Apple Pay’s Technology Adoption Problem
Apple wants to convert your iPhone into a digital wallet with Apple Pay. Professors Benjamin Edelman and Willy Shih assess its chances for success and wonder if consumers have a compelling reason to make the switch. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Oct 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is an online communication protocol that facilitates virtual currency including electronic payments. Since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin has served approximately 41.8 million transactions between 62.8 million accounts, and the total market value of all bitcoins in circulation exceeds $8 billion. This article, forthcoming in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, presents the platform's design principles and properties for a non-technical audience; reviews its past, present, and future uses; and points out risks and regulatory issues as Bitcoin interacts with the conventional financial system and the real economy. Key features of Bitcoin's design are irreversible transactions, a prescribed path of money creation, and a public transaction history. Collectively, these yield a system that is understood to be more flexible, more private, and less amenable to regulatory oversight than other forms of payment--though as discussed in this paper, all these benefits face important limits. Yet the authors argue that the decentralization initially touted by Bitcoin has not fully come to fruition. Indeed there seem to be significant forces pushing towards concentration despite Bitcoin's design, calling into question the benefits that Bitcoin can offer compared to existing payment mechanisms and other stores of value. Key concepts include: The key innovation in Bitcoin is its decentralized core technologies. In particular, Bitcoin relies on network consensus rather than central authorities both for verifying transactions and for minting new currency. While it originally appeared that Bitcoin's decentralization made it unregulable, there now seems to be ample possibility of regulatory oversight, as well as circumstances in which such intervention could be useful. Bitcoin receives regulatory scrutiny for three classes of criminal concerns: Bitcoin-specific crime, money laundering, and Bitcoin-facilitated crime. The Bitcoin platform faces systemic operational risks through potential vulnerabilities in the protocol design or breakthroughs in cryptanalysis. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 6 The Value Structure of Technologies, Part 1: Mapping Functional Relationships
Technology shapes organizations by influencing the search for value—something that someone perceives as a good—in an economy made up of free agents. To understand the organizations that will develop and implement particular technologies we must first understand the technologies’ value structure, including three main issues that make it difficult to value technologies.