Case Studies: Innovation
Nolej Studios: Growing a Creativity- Based Company
Ashley Martin T'08
Length: 27 pages
Publication date: 2008
Case#: 6-0028
Nolej focuses on providing dynamic websites, brand identities, and unique interactive demos primarily for clients targeting a young adult, urban, hip demographic. The company develops cross-platform marketing and advertising that engages the audience and generates visibility for their clients' products and services. When a new client approached Nolej for help in developing and marketing a new product for the toy industry -- a product area new to the company -- Crawford knew that taking on this potentially lucrative project would push the company out of its comfort zone. Saying "yes" meant the company would have to quickly expand its creative team by outsourcing tasks and integrating technical vendors.
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Topics: Innovation, Marketing
Industry: Advertising
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Biogen-Idec: Growing a Customer-Focused Supply Chain
M. Eric Johnson, Julia Kidd
Length: 19 pages
Publication date: 2005
Case#: 6-0022
Biogen CEO Jim Mullen was taking the biotech firm from a research-focused business model to a more customer-centric enterprise. This case looks at his plan for a significant IT investment in a new customer relationship management (CRM) system to support more patient interaction in the company's call center, improve the flow of medication to patients, and provide better access to account information for its increasingly international and mobile sales force.
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Topics: Innovation, Marketing, Supply Chain
Industry: Biotechnology
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Victoria’s Secret
Kathleen L. Biro , Theodore Durbin
Length: 11 pages
Publication date: 2004
Case#: 6-0014
Amid some of the toughest retail conditions in years, Victoria's Secret announced a gain of 9% in first half-year 2002 sales and 30% in operating income. However, market growth was slowing down: profit margins for the VS's Direct division, which focused on catalogues and the Internet sales, had been declining over the past several years.
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Topics: Innovation, Marketing
Industry: Apparel
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Hasbro Interactive
Chris Trimble
Length: 16 pages
Publication date: 2004
Case#: 2-0021
In the mid 1990s, Hasbro created Hasbro Interactive, a new business unit chartered to develop video games for PCs and other gaming systems based on Hasbro's many toy and game brands. After a few successful years, ambitions for Hasbro Interactive escalated dramatically. Would all games in the future be interactive?
Topics: Innovation, Marketing
Industry: Toys/Video Games
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McGraw Hill: GradeSummit
Yiorgos Bakamitsos, Evelyn Hsia T'02 , Hans Brechbühl
Length: 30 pages
Publication date: 2003
Case#: 6-0018
This case outlines the interesting challenges McGraw Hill faced in launching an online testing and assessment product for higher education. It offers the opportunity for in-depth discussion on new product development, product/service bundling, channel management, and value networks.
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Topics: Innovation, Marketing, Services
Industry: Publishing
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Garden.com - At the End of the Runway
M. Eric Johnson
Length: 25 pages
Publication date: 2002
Case#: 6-0017
In the etailing gold rush of 1999, Garden.com was celebrated by both the dot.com media and the traditional business press as the quintessential virtual supply chain. INC magazine called Garden the "Perfect Internet Business." Yet by early 2001, Bill Pond, Director of Product Management found himself laying off his last employee and shipping his last order.
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Topics: Innovation, Product Development, Supply Chain
Industry: Garden Supply
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Microsoft’s Xbox Gamble
by John Greco T'02, under the supervision of Visiting Professor Melissa M. Appleyard
Length: 24 pages
Publication date: 2002
Case#: 6-0011
In 2001, Microsoft released its first Xbox console, going head to head with the latest from Nintendo and Sony. Would the market accept the new platform that offered higher performance, but at a higher price than the competition? Could the market support three players? How would the gaming market evolve over time, and would it accommodate a broader strategy that extended beyond video games?
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Topics: Innovation, Strategy
Industry: Toys/Video Games
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AT&T Comcast Corporation: Making Good on the Broadband Promise?
Kate Thunnissen T'02, under the supervision of Visiting Professor Melissa M. Appleyard
Length: 18 pages
Publication date: 2002
Case#: 6-0012
On December 19, 2001, AT&T's Board of Directors unanimously approved Comcast's bid for AT&T Broadband. AT&T's strategy to offer telephone and cable through "one-stop shopping" had been deemed a dismal failure by many analysts. Would Comcast be any more successful capitalizing on the broadband assets that AT&T had amassed?
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Topics: Innovation
Industry: Communications
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Video On Demand (VOD): A Killer App or “Too Little, Too Late”?
Ed Ludwigson T'02, under the supervision of Visiting Professor Melissa M. Appleyard
Length: 7 pages
Publication date: 2002
Case#: 6-0013
In the early 1990s, cable providers envisioned Video on Demand offering consumers access to hundreds of movie titles just a few clicks away on the remote. However, the cost of building the infrastructure coupled with the cost of upgrading the cable networks, had proved too expensive to support VOD as a stand-alone service. Over the past eight years, cable companies have invested over $45 billion to upgrade to broadband hybrid fiber/coaxial (HFC) systems, and VOD has once again emerged as a promising source of growth for cable operators.
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Topics: Innovation
Industry: Entertainment
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Agile Software - I Want My WebTV!
M. Eric Johnson, Hau Lee
Length: 16 pages
Publication date: 2002
Case#: 1-0074
Preview: Carol Schrader shifted in her chair, trying to focus on the conversation bouncing around the room. It wasn’t that she was uninterested in the topic. The group was debating the strategic direction of the firm’s software products. But like a jeep caught in the deep ruts of a muddy road, her thoughts kept falling back to the week’s stock market headlines. August of 1999 had not been a kind month for NASDAQ initial stock offerings. In fact, the whole summer was beginning to feel like a downward spiral. The worst headline had appeared that morning on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, “For Net-IPO Party, the Balloons Begin to Pop.”
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Topics: Innovation, Supply Chain
Industry: Computer
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NTT DoCoMo in the 3G Wilderness
Evelyn Hsia T'02, Kanichiro Kato T'02, under the supervision of Visiting Professor Melissa M. Appleyard
Length: 8 pages
Publication date: 2002
Case#: 6-0010
When NTT DoCoMo launched its third generation (3G) wireless mobile communication network in 2001, it was well ahead of potential 3G rivals in Europe and the US. However, was there a trade-off between cultivating a first-mover advantage and investing too far ahead of the curve? Would shouldering the costs of early deployment, experimentation, and content development in the short term hurt DoCoMo's chances for leadership internationally over the long term?
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Topics: Innovation
Industry: Communications
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New York Times Digital
Chris Trimble
Length: 21 Pages
Publication date: 2002
Case#: 2-0006
In 1995, the New York Times, launched New York Times Digital, a new venture dedicated to building a profitable business focused on distributing news context in multimedia format online. In implementing the venture, the company created a unit that was quite distinct organizationally. Many challenges followed.
Topics: Innovation, Marketing, Product Development
Industry: Media
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Groove Networks: Making P2P a Reality
Ed Ludwigson T'02, under the supervision of Visiting Professor Melissa M. Appleyard
Length: 7 pages
Publication date: 2002
Case#: 6-0008
Is P2P the future of collaboration in the workplace? Groove Networks certainly believes so, as do backers Accel Partners, Intel Capital, and most recently Microsoft. But will the Microsoft relationship launch Groove on to the desktops of millions or see Groove subsumed within the Redmond software giant? Will Groove's future exist solely as a project collaboration tool or will it create a completely new platform for P2P computing?
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Topics: Innovation, Marketing
Industry: Communications
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Technology Note: Internetworking Products
Philip Anderson, Vijay Govindarajan, Chris Trimble, Katrina Veerman T'01
Length: 8 pages
Publication date: 2001
Case#: 1-0005
Intended as background reading for students unfamiliar with internetworking products and markets, this Technology Note can be used alongside the two Cisco Systems cases described below.
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Topics: Innovation
Industry: Network Hardware
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Cisco Systems (A): Evolution to e-Business
Philip Anderson, Vijay Govindarajan, Chris Trimble, Katrina Veerman T'01
Length: 25 pages
Publication date: 2001
Case#: 1-0001
Cisco Systems prides itself as an "end-to-end networking company." The phrase describes not only their product line but the way they run their business. They created many of the e-business practices that later became cornerstones of the software packages used throughout industry to make businesses more efficient. This case reviews their accomplishments and their method.
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Topics: Information Technology, Innovation, Product Development, Services
Industry: Network Hardware
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Cisco Systems (B): Maintaining an Edge in e-Business
Philip Anderson, Vijay Govindarajan, Chris Trimble, Katrina Veerman T'01
Length: 6 pages
Publication date: 2001
Case#: 1-0002
As of March 2001, Cisco Systems enjoys a reputation as the most sophisticated e-business in the world. For its executives, the question of how to maintain this leadership position is paramount. Funding mechanisms, organizational models, and measures of successful innovation are just some of the issues that become increasingly complex as Cisco grows.
Topics: Information Technology, Innovation, Product Development
Industry: Network Hardware
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Simon & Schuster
Richard A. D'Aveni, Fred Wainwright T'02
Length: 48 pages
Publication date: 2001
Case#: 6-0004
In July of 2000, Simon & Schuster (S&S), one of the world's preeminent publishers of consumer books, agreed to a long-term strategic alliance with Lightning Source, a digital fulfillment service owned by Ingram Book Company. This alliance would include digital file conversion, digital rights management, e-book delivery to various devices and on-demand printing.
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Topics: Innovation, Services
Industry: Publishing
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Polaroid: The i-Zone Brand
Richard A. D'Aveni, W. Andrew Mims T'02, assisted by Alison Corcoran T'86 and Jeff Walker T'98
Length: 26 pages
Publication date: 2001
Case#: 6-0007
To alleviate the strain that digital photography was putting on film sales, Polaroid began focusing on digital output, partnering with companies, such as Olympus, to produce digital/instant hybrids that create digital images and print instant photos. Polaroid was also working on a wireless, mobile device that would print digital photographs onto film, which, although similar to instant film in some respects, was a much higher-performance medium.
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Topics: Innovation
Industry: Consumer Electronics
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Participate.com
Publication date: 2001
Case#: 6-0002
Participate.com views itself as a leader in the provision of outsourced community management services. Their CEO, Alan Warms, believes they have gained leadership position because they are number one in market revenues, they service a set of prestigious customers, they have the most experience in the community space, and they have intellectual capital and proprietary research. He knows too, that the difference between success and failure in online communities is about management and process, not just good technology. Now they are entering a phase in which they have to prove that their business model will sustain the high growth and profitability expected by investors. Can they add enough value to existing services and create new ones to reach their all-important revenue goals?
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Topics: Innovation, Services
Industry: Consulting
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Experience.com, Inc.
Alva H. Taylor, Phil Anderson, Lloyd Baskin T'01
Length: 18 pages
Publication date: 2001
Case#: 6-0001
The cornerstone of the recruiting solutions company Experience.com, Inc. had always been its relationships with college career centers: they worked with over 500 schools and 150 of these relationships were exclusive. In 2001, with the Monster/Jobtrak merger stepping up the competition, Experience.com began looking for a partner, primarily to leverage another firms' resources, including established sales forces and connections with employers.
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Topics: Innovation, Services
Industry: Career Consulting
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