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→
Publications
Publications
  • November 2002 (Revised June 2003)
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Corning, Inc.: Technology Strategy in 2003

By: Rebecca Henderson
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:14
ShareBar

Abstract

Corning, Inc. has a 150-year history of building a strategy around innovation. Founded as a glass manufacturer in 1851, the company quickly established itself as a maker of specialty glass products and over the next 100 years diversified into light bulbs, television, cookware, silicones, medical products, and, finally, optical fiber. As the telecommunications industry boomed in the late 1990s, the optical fiber business boomed with it, and Corning's stock hit record highs. The firm made more than $9 billion worth of acquisitions in fiber and photonics (acquiring more than $6 billion worth of goodwill in the process) before the crash hit. Corning's stock collapsed, and in 2002 the company faced serious operating challenges. Designed to be used as an opening case in a course on technology strategy. Outlines the history of innovation at Corning, stressing the company's history of "patient money" and long-term commitment to technology. Briefly summarizes the firm's recent history and then the challenge that faces the firm's chief technology officer in seeking to justify spending on research and development.

Keywords

Information Technology; Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Situation or Environment; Research and Development; Consumer Products Industry; United States

Citation

Henderson, Rebecca. "Corning, Inc.: Technology Strategy in 2003." Harvard Business School Case 703-440, November 2002. (Revised June 2003.)
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

Rebecca M. Henderson

General Management
→More Publications

More from the Author

    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Firms, Morality, and the Search for a Better World

    By: Rebecca Henderson
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    A Political Economy of Justice

    By: Danielle Allen, Yochai Benkler, Leah Downey, Rebecca Henderson and Joshua Simons
    • September 2021
    • Management Science

    Innovation in the 21st Century: Architectural Change, Purpose, and the Challenges of Our Time

    By: Rebecca Henderson
More from the Author
  • Firms, Morality, and the Search for a Better World By: Rebecca Henderson
  • A Political Economy of Justice By: Danielle Allen, Yochai Benkler, Leah Downey, Rebecca Henderson and Joshua Simons
  • Innovation in the 21st Century: Architectural Change, Purpose, and the Challenges of Our Time By: Rebecca Henderson
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