15.912 | Fall 2008 | Graduate

Technology Strategy

Readings

SES # TOPICS READINGS
0. Introduction
1 Creating, capturing, and delivering value with technology strategy  
I. Creating value: technology, market, and organizational perspectives
2 Case: eInk

McGahan, Anita. “How Industries Change.” Harvard Business Review, October 1, 2004.

Foster, R. “The S-curve: A New Forecasting Tool.” Chapter 4 in Innovation, The Attacker’s Advantage. New York, NY: Summit Books, Simon and Schuster, 1986, pp. 88-111. ISBN: 9780671622503.

Utterback, James. “Invasion of a Stable Business by Radical Innovation.” Chapter 7 in Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780875843421.

3 Case: Apple 2006

Moore, G. Crossing the Chasm. Revised ed. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1999. (Read chapter 1 “High-Tech Marketing Illusion,” and chapter 2 “High-Tech Marketing Enlightenment,” pp. 9-62.) ISBN: 9780066620022.

Christensen, Clayton. “How Can Great Firms Fail? Insights From the Hard Disk Industry.” Chapter 1 in The Innovator’s Dilemma. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1997, pp. 3-28.

4 Industry life cycles and evolution of markets No required reading
5 Case: Novartis

Tushman, Michael, and Wendy Smith. “Technological Change, Ambidextrous Organizations and Organizational Evolution.” In Companion to Organizations. Edited by J. Baum. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2002. ISBN: 9780631216940.

Eisenhardt, Kathleen, and Charles Galunic. “Coevolving: At Last, A Way to Make Synergies Work.” Harvard Business Review, January 1, 2000.

6 Partnership case: Intel (A): photolithography strategy in crisis

Eisenhardt, Kathleen, and Shona Brown. “Patching: Restitching Business Portfolios in Dynamic Markets.” Harvard Business Review, May 1, 1999.

Henderson, Rebecca “Going for Growth: Managing Discontinuous Innovation.” Chapter 7 in Strategy and Technology. (forthcoming)

7 Organizational of innovation: structure, processes and incentives No required reading
II. Capturing value: appropriability, competition, and interdependence
8 Case: Abgenix and the XenoMouse Henderson, Rebecca. “Making Money From Innovation.” Chapter 3 in Strategy and Technology. (forthcoming)
9 Appropriability: uniqueness and complementary assets No required reading
10 Case: Ember: developing the next ubiquitous network standard

Shapiro, Carl, and Hal Varian. “The Art of Standards Wars.” California Management Review 41, no. 2 (1999): 8-32.

Arthur, Brian. “Increasing Returns and the New World of Business.Harvard Business Review, July 1, 1996. 

11 Open standards, increasing returns, and propriety control No required reading
12 Case: Red Hat and the Linux revolution Henderson, Rebecca, and Kim Clark. “Architectural Innovation: The Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of Established Firms.” Administrative Science Quarterly 35 (1990): 9-30.
13 Partnership case: Google and AOL Brown, Shona, and Kathleen Eisenhardt. “The Art of Continuous Change: Linking Complexity Theory and Time-paced Evolution in Relentlessly Shifting Organizations.” Administrative Science Quarterly 42 (1997): 1-34.
14 Horizontal / vertical strategies and the evolution of the value chain No required reading
15 Case: Nokia, Apple iPhone, and Google phone

Brandenburger, Adam, and Barry Nalebuff. Co-Opetition. New York, NY: Broadway Business, 1997. (Read chapter 1 “War and Peace,” chapter 2 “Co-Opetition,” and chapter 5 “Added Value,” pp. 3-39 and 110-158.) ISBN: 9780385479509.

Additional articles

16 Strategic management of platforms and ecosystems No required reading
III. Delivering value: organizational dynamics and inter-firm relationships
17 Case: we’ve got rhythm! Medtronic Corporation’s cardiac pacemaker business

Repenning, Nelson, and John Sterman. “Nobody Ever Gets Credit For Fixing Problems That Never Happened.” California Management Review 43, no. 4 (2001): 64-88.

Eisenhardt, Kathleen and Don Sull. “Strategy as Simple Rules.” Harvard Business Review, January 1, 2001.

Eisenhardt, Kathleen and Shona Brown. “Time Pacing: Competing in Markets that Won’t Stand Still.” Harvard Business Review, March 1, 1998.

18 Case: Toyota Motor corporation: launching Prius

Eisenhardt, Kathleen, Jean Kahwajy, and L. J. Bourgeois III. “How Management Teams Can Have a Good Fight.” Harvard Business Review, July 1, 1997.

Eisenhardt, Kathleen. “Making Fast Strategic Decisions in High-Velocity Environments.” Academy of Management Journal 32 (1989): 543-576.

19 Organizational dynamics: overload, time-pacing, simple rules, and probing No required reading
20 Partnership case: Alza/Ciba (1): structuring a deal? Hamel, Gary, Yves L. Doz, and C. K. Prahalad. “Collaborate With Your Competitors — And Win.” Harvard Business Review, January 1, 1989.
21 Partnership case: Alza/Ciba (2): managing the relationship, 1977-1979 No required reading
IV. Practicing technology strategy
22 Case: Kodak and the digital revolution (A) No required reading
23 Selected student presentations No required reading
24 Conclusions and reflections No required reading

Course Info

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As Taught In
Fall 2008
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Lecture Notes
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