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• Case | HBS Case Collection | March 2018

  X: The Foghorn Decision

  Robert S. Huckman, Karim R. Lakhani and Kyle R. Myers

  In February 2016, Kathy Hannun--a project leader at X, Alphabet Inc.'s so-called "moonshot factory--had to prepare a recommendation for the senior leadership of X regarding the future of Foghorn, a project she was leading to develop a carbon-neutral process for converting sea water into fuel. Recognizing the blueprint for projects at X--(1) addressing a huge problem with a (2) radical solution using (3) breakthrough technology--Hannun had to decide whether to recommend killing the project. Despite the technical feasibility of the Foghorn process, its expected cost per gallon of fuel produced was signficiantly higher than the established "kill metric"--the maximum unit cost that Hannun and colleagues had set for continuing the project. The case provides an opportunity to examine the management of radical innovation and the challenges associated with assessing early stage ideas. Topics covered include the importance of experimentation and failure as well as the management of opportunity costs in solving large problems.

  Keywords: innovation; R＆D Project Management; radical innovation; Clean Technology; energy; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Research and Development; Projects; Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technology Industry; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; California;

  Citation:

  Huckman, Robert S., Karim R. Lakhani, and Kyle R. Myers. "X: The Foghorn Decision." Harvard Business School Case 618-060, March 2018.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2018

  EmQuest: Travel Distribution in the Digital Era

  Karim R. Lakhani and Gamze Yucaoglu

  EmQuest, Emirates Group’s travel distribution company, must decide what to do with its contract with the global distribution system it uses, Sabre. Since its founding in 1988, EmQuest was servicing travel agents in the MENA region by providing a connection to over 400 airlines as well as numerous other travel suppliers. EmQuest mainly relied on Sabre to provide this service to the agents, and its contract was coming to an end.
  In the last decade years, since the beginning of EmQuest’s Sabre contract, while EmQuest grew, a lot happened in the travel industry: the Internet transformed customer habits, low-cost carriers emerged, and the Middle East experienced a boom in tourism. The conditions under which EmQuest had first signed its contract with Sabre a decade before were much different in 2017.
  With change happening so rapidly and impacting the fundamentals of the travel business model so dramatically, it was a real challenge to predict where the industry would be in the next decade. Yet the management needed to make a decision regarding the Sabre contract in 2017, amidst such a whirlwind in the market.

  Keywords: UAE; emerging markets; for-profit firms; business model; Business Strategy; competitive advantage; growth and development strategy; value creation; change management; decision; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Travel Industry; United Arab Emirates;

  Citation:

  Lakhani, Karim R., and Gamze Yucaoglu. "EmQuest: Travel Distribution in the Digital Era." Harvard Business School Case 618-040, February 2018.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | September 2015 (Revised October 2017)

  Vistron Inc.: The Z Glass Project

  Roy Shapiro and Marco Iansiti

  Keywords: Technology Industry;

  Citation:

  Shapiro, Roy, and Marco Iansiti. "Vistron Inc.: The Z Glass Project." Harvard Business School Case 616-002, September 2015. (Revised October 2017.)  View Details

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