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New research on technology from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including technological innovation, technology networks, and technology adoption.
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Disrupting the Waste Industry with Technology

Rubicon began with a bold idea: create a cloud-based, full-service waste management platform, providing efficient service anywhere in the US. Their mobile app did for waste management what Uber had done for taxi service. Five years after the case’s publication, Harvard Business School Associate Professor Shai Bernstein and Rubicon founder and CEO Nate Morris discuss how the software startup leveraged technology to disrupt the waste industry and other enduring lessons of professor Bill Sahlman’s case about Rubicon. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Assessing the Strength of Network Effects in Social Network Platforms

by Marco Iansiti

Network-specific traits, such as the degree of clustering and the prevalence of multihoming, influence the strength and competitive impact of network effects. However, network size alone is often misleading, and network effects should be examined on a case-by-case basis.

Beyond Pajamas: Sizing Up the Pandemic Shopper

by Ayelet Israeli, Eva Ascarza, and Laura Castrillo

COVID-19 forced many shoppers to make their first online purchases. But will these customers stick around? Research by Ayelet Israeli, Eva Ascarza, and colleague. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Developing Resilience on the Path to Becoming a CEO

As a Black female CEO, Shellye Archambeau is no stranger to adversity. Now she faces her most critical leadership decision. The software company she leads, MetricStream, is losing customers, hemorrhaging cash, and struggling to make payroll. Harvard Business School professor Tsedal Neeley discusses Archambeau’s leadership style and the importance of developing resilience, particularly when managing through a crisis, in her case, “Shellye Archambeau: Becoming a CEO.” Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

The Value of Descriptive Analytics: Evidence from Online Retailers

by Ron Berman and Ayelet Israeli

Analytics are descriptive when they describe what happened. Descriptive-analytics solutions are popular among marketers and retailers. This paper provides a benchmark for the benefits of using a descriptive dashboard and illustrates how to potentially extract these benefits.

Dog Eat Dog: Measuring Network Effects Using a Digital Platform Merger

by Chiara Farronato, Jessica Fong, and Andrey Fradkin

With heated debate over antitrust regulation of online platforms, this study finds that when a larger platform acquired its greatest competitor, users were not better off with a single platform compared with two competitors, despite marked efficiency improvements experienced by the acquiring platform.

Is A/B Testing Effective? Evidence from 35,000 Startups

by Kristen Senz

A/B tests help startup founders capitalize on good ideas—and move on from duds—faster, says research from Rembrand Koning. How can established companies benefit? Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Aggregate Advertising Expenditure in the US Economy: What's Up? Is It Real?

by Alvin J. Silk and Ernst R. Berndt

We analyze total United States advertising spending from 1960 to 2018. In nominal terms, the elasticity of annual advertising outlays with respect to gross domestic product appears to have increased substantially beginning in the late 1990s, roughly coinciding with the dramatic growth of internet-based advertising.

How Can We Get Companies to Invest More in Low-Wage Workers?

by James Heskett

Does income inequality hold back economic growth? James Heskett ponders what underlying factors keep low-wage workers down. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

The Challenges of Commercializing Fertility

Entrepreneur Christy Jones wants to create a venture to help women preserve their eggs and postpone motherhood. But what would an egg-freezing service sell—and to whom? Debora Spar discusses the challenges of commercializing fertility in a new case study. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

IT Job Wages Are No Longer 'Exceptional'

by Rachel Layne

Wage growth in IT jobs has moderated following the dot-com boom, according to new research by Ruiqing Sam Cao and Shane Greenstein. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Can Entrepreneurs Make Mobile Voting Easy and Secure?

Making voting more accessible through technology could have tremendous payoffs for democracy—but also pose critical downsides if the product fails. Mitch Weiss, who teaches a course on public entrepreneurship, discusses his case study on Voatz and their plan to turn mobile phones into voting booths. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Where the Cloud Rests: The Economic Geography of Data Centers

by Shane Greenstein and Tommy Pan Fang

This study quantifies how data center managers make a trade-off between the setup and operational costs of running a facility and capturing local demand.

Centrino and the Restructuring of Wi-Fi Supply

by Roberto Fontana and Shane Greenstein

This study examines Intel’s launch of Centrino and interprets it as a platform leader’s attempt to restructure a supply chain.

Time and the Value of Data

by Ehsan Valavi, Joel Hestness, Newsha Ardalani, and Marco Iansiti

This paper studies the impact of time-dependency and data perishability on a dataset's effectiveness in creating value for a business, and shows the value of data in the search engine and advertisement businesses perishes quickly.

You're Right! You Are Working Longer and Attending More Meetings

by Danielle Kost

A study of 3 million people confirms what many work-from-home employees already know: We're swamped. Research by Raffaella Sadun, Jeffrey Polzer, and colleagues. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Entrepreneurs (Co-) Working in Close Proximity: Impacts on Technology Adoption and Startup Performance Outcomes

by Maria P. Roche, Alexander Oettl, and Christian Catalini

In one of the largest entrepreneurial co-working spaces in the United States, startups are influenced by peer startups within a distance of 20 meters. The associated advantages for learning and innovation could be lost using at-a-distance work arrangements.

Is a Pandemic the Best Time To Try Out a New Idea?

Singapore's new nationwide, Bluetooth-based contact tracing program TraceTogether must overcome privacy issues to be effective. Would Singaporeans adopt TraceTogether? Professor Mitch Weiss discusses his new case study. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Is the 'Experimentation Organization' Becoming the Competitive Gold Standard?

by James Heskett

SUMMING UP: Digital experimentation is gaining momentum as an everyday habit in many organizations, especially those in high tech, say James Heskett's readers. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Racism and Digital Design: How Online Platforms Can Thwart Discrimination

by Kristen Senz

Poor design decisions contribute to racial discrimination on many online platforms. Michael Luca and colleagues offer tips for reducing the risk, used by Airbnb and other companies. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.